Segerstrom Center to Present MEL BROOKS...BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN! This March

Join the incomparable Mel Brooks for an exclusive, inside look at his storied career, and the making of the legendary and groundbreaking movie Blazing Saddles on Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 3 p.m. in Segerstrom Hall. This outrageous masterpiece, considered one of the top comedy films of all time, will be presented on the big screen followed by a live conversation and audience Q&A with Mel Brooks himself. Somebody give the governor a harrumpp! Memorable and monumental, Mel Brooks and Blazing Saddles...back in the saddle again.

A very limited number of VIP meet 'and' greet tickets will be available. Tickets start at $49 and go on sale Sunday, December 20 at 10 a.m. PST and will be available online at SCFTA.org, by calling (714) 556- 2787 and at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746.

Mel Brooks, director, producer, writer and actor, is in an elite group as one of the few entertainers to earn all four major entertainment prizes - a Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Oscar. His career began in television writing for Your Show of Shows and, together with Buck Henry, creating the long-running TV series "Get Smart." He then teamed up with Carl Reiner to write and perform the Grammy-winning "2000 Year Old Man" comedy albums and books. Brooks won his first Oscar in 1964 for writing and narrating the animated short The Critic and his second for the screenplay of his first feature film, The Producers, in 1968. Many hit comedy films followed including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, To Be or Not to Be, Spaceballs, Life Stinks, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Dracula: Dead and Loving It. His film company, Brooksfilms Limited, also produced critically acclaimed films such as The Elephant Man, The Fly, Frances, My Favorite Year and 84 Charing Cross Road.

For three successive seasons, 1997-1999 Mel Brooks won Emmy Awards for his role as "Uncle Phil" on the hit sitcom "Mad About You." Brooks received three 2001 Tony Awards® and two Grammy Awards for The Producers: the New Mel Brooks Musical, which ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2006. The Producers still holds the record for the most Tony Awards ever won by a Broadway musical. He followed that success with The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, which ran on Broadway from 2007 to 2009 and both musicals continue to be performed and enjoyed by audiences all over the world.

In 2009, Mel Brooks received The Kennedy Center Honors, recognizing a lifetime of extraordinary contributions to American culture. His recent projects include the Emmy-nominated HBO comedy specials "Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again," and "Mel Brooks Strikes Back!" as well as a career retrospective DVD box set titled "The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection Of Unhinged Comedy." In the spring of 2013, he was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning American Masters documentary on PBS called "Mel Brooks: Make A Noise" and was the 41st recipient of the AFI's Life Achievement Award.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution and as well as a beautiful multi- disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 - 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world's greatest dancers and choreographers.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family- friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

The Center's arts-in-education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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