Billy Crystal News

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Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell of the Tisch School of the Arts announced today that Kristen Johnston '89 will host this year's annual gala, This is Tisch!, on Monday, November 2nd at the renowned Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. This is Tisch! will honor Academy Award winning producer Brian Grazer, two-time Academy Award winning director Ron Howard, Academy Award and Tony Award winning actress and Tisch alumna Marcia Gay Harden, arts philanthropist Diana King, and Academy Award®, Emmy Award and Peabody Award winning Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary Films.

On October 12, 2009, La Jolla Playhouse will join with theatres across the country in presenting a reading of the Tectonic Theater Project's new work: The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, by The Laramie Project creators Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber. This compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the original piece will premiere on October 12, 2009 at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and at more than 100 other theaters in all 50 states, Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Hong Kong and Australia.

The Kite Runner, directed by David Ira Goldstein, plays in Tucson at the Temple of Music and Art from September 10 through October 3. It continues its run in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center from October 8 through October 25.

Billy Crystal will perform his hit one-man show, 700 Sundays, at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts as a fundraising event for the organization. The performance will be followed by a black-tie dinner-dance in the Gimelstob Ballroom in the Cohen Pavilion.

As a 2009-2010 season special for Atlanta Broadway Series, Billy Crystal will bring 700 SUNDAYS, his Tony Award-winning Broadway blockbuster, to Atlanta's Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre December 16-20, 2009. 700 SUNDAYS, a play performed and written by Mr. Crystal with additional content by Alan Zweibel is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff.

The producers of A STEADY RAIN announced today that the show has shattered the record for highest weekly gross for any non-musical production ever on Broadway. For the week ending 9/20/09 the production posted an impressive weekly gross of $1,167,954, also a house record at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The highest gross for a non-musical was previously Billy Crystal's 700 SUNDAYS with $1,061,688 for the week ending 5/22/05.

La Jolla Playhouse presents the world premiere of Creditors, adapted and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) from the play by August Strindberg. A La Jolla Playhouse commission, Creditors opens tonight, September 29, and will run through October 25 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

La Jolla Playhouse presents the world premiere of Creditors, adapted and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife) from the play by August Strindberg. A La Jolla Playhouse commission, Creditors runs September 29 ? October 25 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce the complete cast of its world-premiere musical Bonnie & Clyde, music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel), lyrics by Tony Award-winner Don Black (Sunset Boulevard, Song and Dance), book by Ivan Menchell (The Cemetery Club, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), with direction and musical staging by Jeff Calhoun (Deaf West's Big River and Pippin, Grease!), playing November 10 - December 20, 2009 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.

As a 2009-2010 season special for Atlanta Broadway Series, Billy Crystal will bring 700 SUNDAYS, his Tony Award-winning Broadway blockbuster, to Atlanta's Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre December 16-20, 2009. 700 SUNDAYS, a play performed and written by Mr. Crystal with additional content by Alan Zweibel is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff.

The Friars Club Comedy Film Festival will open its inaugural year on Thursday, September 24th with the U.S. premiere of 'A Serious Man' - the new film from Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel & Ethan Coen. The Focus Features release will subsequently open in select U.S. cities on Friday, October 2nd.

In the inaugural week of its Washington D.C. run, the first stop of a six-city tour, Billy Crystal?s Tony Award-winning Broadway hit 700 Sundays shattered the box office record to become the highest-grossing play ever at Washington D.C.?s National Theatre. For the week ending September 13, 2009, the production grossed $939,578 in only 7 performances, breaking the National Theatre record of $713,258 previously held by Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance! in February, 2003. Mr. Crystal?s 700 Sundays stills holds the record for highest-grossing non-musical production in Broadway history, taking in $1,061,688 for the week ending May 22, 2005 at Broadway?s Broadhurst Theatre.

Short Stay at the National Theatre in DC Ends September 18 but Philadelphia is Next.

Legendary comedian Joan Rivers returns to Times Square for 6 more performances, Wednesdays, September 16, 23, 30 and October 7, 21, 28.

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to present HOOVER COMES ALIVE!, by Sean Cunningham, with songs by Michael Friedman, and directed by Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatchers), running September 8 - 13, 2009 in the Mandell Weiss Forum. HOOVER COMES ALIVE! is a Page To Stage presentation, as well as part of the Playhouse's THE EDGE series.

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to present The 39 Steps, directed by Maria Aitken and adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow, based on an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, based on the book by John Buchan. The production will run August 11 - September 13 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre (media night: Sunday August 16 at 7:00 pm). The 39 Steps will make its West Coast premiere at La Jolla Playhouse and Seattle Repertory Theatre before starting on a national tour.

On October 12, 2009, La Jolla Playhouse will join with theatres across the country in presenting a reading of the Tectonic Theater Project's new work: The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, by The Laramie Project creators Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber. This compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the original piece will premiere on October 12, 2009 at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall and at more than 100 other theaters in all 50 states, Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Hong Kong and Australia.