Desert Ensemble Theatre to Close Season with MISS GULCH RETURNS!

Desert Ensemble Theatre concludes its fourth season beginning on April 17 with a two-weekend run of Miss Gulch Returns!, Fred Barton's cabaret cult classic about the feisty Kansas spinster from The Wizard of Oz. Award-winning Palm Springs musical comedian Jerome Elliott stars. Tony Padilla is Director, Charlie Creasy is Music Director, and Michael Holmes of The Judy Show adds his unique perspective as Associate Director. The show plays at the Pearl McManus Theater (Palm Springs Woman's Club) at 314 S. Cahuilla Road. Tickets are $22 ($18 for seniors, students and military) and can be reserved by calling 760-565-2476 or by purchasing at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/848618.

Fred Barton premiered Miss Gulch Returns! in 1984 to national press, winning a 1985 Back Stage Bistro Award for Musical Comedy Performance, and played long runs in New York's cabarets followed by engagements around the country. The 1986 recording remains a popular seller, almost 30 years after its initial release. Miss Gulch's song "Pour Me A Man" is now a cabaret standard, sung on three continents. The show has received award-winning, critically acclaimed productions in regional theaters around the U.S. and England, and Fred Barton presented a revised 20th Anniversary production in New York in 2004.

Jerome Elliott won a 2013 Desert Theatre League Award for his performance in Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. His critically acclaimed cabaret shows include Up in Flames, Sweet Nerd of Youth, Crawling Back to Broadway, A Dry Heat and Bat Out Of Jersey. He has played major cabaret rooms in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and St. Louis.

Desert Ensemble Theatre Company, established in 2011, guides audiences on in-depth and entertaining explorations of classical works, nurtures development of emerging theater artists and playwrights, and maintains the vitality of theater through performance of important contemporary works.