Desert Ensemble Theatre to Host Season Opening Gala SHOWSTOPPERS!

Tickets are now on sale for Desert Ensemble Theatre's 2nd Annual DETC Season Opening Gala. The October 16 event features a pre-show reception at 6pm followed by a 7pm performance of Showstoppers!, a revue of iconic songs from musical theater. The event takes place at the Pearl McManus Theater in the Palm Springs Woman's Club at 314 S. Cahuilla Road. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance through the company's website, www.detctheatre.org, or by calling (760) 565-2476 to reserve and pay at the door.

Showstoppers! features three of the Desert's most accomplished musical theatre talents-Charles Herrera, Theresa Jewett and Jerome Elliott-under the music direction of Charlie Creasy.

Elliott, who also serves as director for this production, stated: "I am thrilled to join Theresa Jewett, Charles Herrera and Charlie Creasy in creating this show for Desert Ensemble Theatre. Each performer brings enormous talent and energy to the stage. In this show we will look at the variety of ways that a musical number can 'stop the show,' from incendiary power ballads to side-splitting comic numbers to those magically quiet moments that can leave an audience breathless."

Showstoppers! will include numbers from great 20th century composers and lyricists including Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick, Fred Ebb/John Kander, and Andrew Lloyd Webber; to recent Tony Award winners Jeanine Tesori and Jason Robert Brown. Material comes from a diverse variety of shows including Guys and Dolls, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, The Apple Tree, Promises Promises, The Boy from Oz, and more.

Now in its fifth season, Desert Ensemble Theatre received 26 Desert Star Award nominations from the Desert Theatre League for the 2014-15 season. Desert Ensemble Theatre grows and expands the art of theatre through original and engaging stage productions and nurtures the growth of artists of all ages, on and off the stage, in an environment that rewards and cherishes them. The company's community outreach program gives high school students the on-the-job experience of working in professional productions.