Suzanne Somers Opens in The Girl in the Thunderbird on July 17

Suzanne Somers will come to New York this July with her one-woman musical show, The Blonde in the Thunderbird, which will begin performances on July 8th at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W. 47 St.) for a limited run of 64 performances through September 3rd. Written and directed by the Emmy Award-winning writing/composing team of Ken and Mitzie Welch, the show will have its official opening on Sunday, July 17th.

"The Blonde in the Thunderbird is Suzanne Somers' musical autobiography, a chronicle of hardship, pain and conflict that blossoms into a great love story. In addition to some well-known songs, the funny, warm and inspiring show features original music created especially for Ms. Somers," according to the press release. The show had its world premiere at the Spreckels Theatre in San Diego, CA, in January 2004.

 

The title of the show refers to the film that catapulted Somers to fame, when she captured the public's attention as the mysterious blonde driving the white Thunderbird in George Lucas' 1973 cult classic, American Graffiti. She has since starred in 21 years of various television series, including "Three's Company," "Step by Step," "She's the Sheriff," "The Suzanne Somers Show," and served as co-host of "Candid Camera" and host of VH1's "8 Track Series Flashback." Somers, who has entered into a long-term publishing agreement with Crown Publishers for seven books over the next several years, is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. They include Suzanne Somers' Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away, Suzanne Somers' Eat Great, Lose Weight, Suzanne Somers' Get Skinny on Fabulous Food, and her autobiography, Keeping Secrets, which remained on that list for 21 weeks. Her other titles include Suzanne Somers' Fast & Easy, which hit the bestseller list at #1 and remained there for several weeks, Somersize Desserts, 365 Ways to Change Your Life, After the Fall, Wednesday's Children, Touch Me, and The Sexy Years.

Mitzie and Ken Welch have written, composed, and produced TV specials and series for a broad range of artists: pop music stars Barbra Streisand, Cher, and Barry Manilow; comedians Carol Burnett, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Bea Arthur, and Bob Hope; country personalities Dolly Parton and Barbara Mandrell; operatic artists Beverly Sills and Placido Domingo, and singer/actors Hal Linden, Linda Lavin, Robert Guillaume and Ben Vereen, among many others. They share 14 Emmys between the two of them.

 

The Blonde in the Thunderbird's performance schedule will be Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8PM, with matinees on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 2 PM. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, (212) 307-4100 & (800) 755-4000 (or at www.ticketmaster.com).