BELLS ARE RINGING Opens Bayou City Concert Musicals' 2015-16 Season

Bayou City Concert Musicals is back with a 2015-16 season full of fun and great music, starting with the delightful musical comedy Bells Are Ringing, a hilarious slice of the mid-Twentieth Century world lost to voice mail and texting, and rounded out by two cabaret evenings of the music of two giants of the Great American Songbook, Hoagy Carmichael and George Gershwin.

BCCM's production of Bells Are Ringing will be at the Heinen Theatre, 3517 Austin, for five performances: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, September 17; 8:00 p.m., Friday, September 18; 8:00 p.m., Saturday, September 19; and two performances on Sunday, September 20, a matinee at 2:00 p.m. and an evening performance at 7:30 p.m.

Bells Are Ringing takes us back to a time before cell phones and the internet, a time when, if a man (and it was almost always a man) needed to get all his phone messages, he had only one choice, an answering service. Meet Ella and the whole crew from Susanswerphone who have the knack for attracting some pretty zany clients and getting involved in their lives. Written by the legendary team of Betty Comden and Adoph Green, with music by Jule Styne at his best, Bells Are Ringing opened on Broadway on November 29, 1956, and ran for just shy of a thousand performances, much to the delight of everyone who loves great musical comedy. It was nominated for four Tony Awards and won two.

Jennifer Gilbert will play Ella, the role made famous by Judy Holliday. One of Houston's most talented musical comedy performers, Gilbert was last seen on BCCM's stage as Gladys in The Pajama Game. Ella can't seem to help getting involved in the lives of her clients, but when it comes to Jeff Moss (John Gremillion), a writer facing severe writer's block, Ella takes it to the extreme with hilarious...and romantic...results.

BCCM Artistic Director Paul Hope will direct BCCM's production with co-director Mitchell Greco, musical director Michael Mertz and choreographer Melissa Pritchett. BCCM's Associate Artistic Director, Dr. Dominique Røyem, will conduct the orchestra.

Proceeds from Bayou City Concert Musicals' production of Bells Are Ringing will benefit the Tim Harris Memorial Fund, which supports local musicians who have suffered catastrophic illness or injury.

Bayou City Concert Musicals will round out its 2015-16 season with two cabaret productions at the Performance Centre at the Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main. The first, February 20-22, 2016, will feature the songs of Hoagy Carmichael, one of America's great songwriters who may be as well known for his acting as his songwriting. But Carmichael's musical resumé rivals anyone in the Great American Songbook with songs like Stardust, Georgia On My Mind, and How Little We Know. BCCM will bookend its very successful May 2015 cabaret Ridin' High: Cole Porter in the 1930s with Embraceable You: George Gershwin in the 1930s, May 14-16, 2016. Gershwin's last years (he died in 1937 at the age of only 39) featured some of his best songs, including I Got Rhythm, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, and of course, the score of Porgy and Bess.

BCCM season tickets and individual tickets to Bells Are Ringing are available by phone at 713-465-6484 or on-line at www.bayoucityconcertmusicals.org. Single ticket prices range from $25 to $50.

Bayou City Concert Musicals is funded in part by grants from the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.