Melissa Ritz to Bring JOURNEY OF A BOMBSHELL to Las Vegas Little Theater, 3/23-24

Straight from its sold-out run as part of the United Solo Theater Festival in New York City, the award-winning Journey of a Bombshell: The Ina Ray Hutton Story takes center stage at the Las Vegas Little Theater. Las Vegas' own Melissa Ritz brings years of research to this one-woman piece, which earned her the Best Emerging Actress 2014 Award at the festival.

Ina Ray Hutton was the first female conductor in the "all-girl" genre of the Big Band Era. She was renowned in her day, and even had her own show at The Dunes, but her personal life was even more compelling, with family secrets and twists and turns that piqued Ritz's interest. Ritz first came across the blond conductor-dancer-singer on YouTube while searching for another song, and was riveted. After watching several videos, She thought, "Why have I never heard of this woman?"

"She was so entertaining and dynamic," Ritz said, "And she had a career...that spanned over 30 years, but her story was slowly fading away to time."

This set Ritz on a two-year immersion into all things Hutton, which included gleaning personal and press information, interviewing surviving family members, recreating 14 of Hutton's original charts, and learning to tap dance. Ritz started her research in 2011 as a theater graduate student at UNLV. She honed the mountain of material she had gathered into a cohesive stage play, moved to New York City after graduating, and teamed up with director Julie Kline. The show incorporates visual projections, music and Ritz portraying a dozen characters.

Ritz relates to more than the performer aspect of Hutton's story. Having enlisted in the Air Force straight out of high school, she was fortunate enough to be selected for the military branch's elite performance troupe, Tops In Blue, and entertained audiences all across the country and across the world. With her military background, Ritz related to Hutton's blazing a career for herself in a man's world, and her love of '30s and '40s music clinched the deal. She began investigating, and Journey of a Bombshell: The Ina Ray Hutton Story was born.

Date and Time: March 23rd & 24th at 2pm & 7:30pm
Location: Las Vegas Little Theater STUDIO, 3890 Schiff Drive, Las Vegas 89103 Tickets are $20 and MUST be pre-purchased ONLY through http://www.BrownPaperTickets.com.
For more information, see www.JourneyOfABombshell.com.

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