Fort Lauderdale's Slow Burn Theatre Announces 2019-2020 Season

Celebrating the enduring stories and beloved characters that have charmed audiences across genres, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and the Carbonell Award-winning Slow Burn Theatre Company have announced the 2019/2020 Slow Burn Theatre season in the Amaturo Theater.

The season features: Shrek The Musical (Oct. 25-Nov. 10); A Christmas Story, The Musical (Dec. 13-29); Groundhog Day The Musical (Jan. 31-Feb. 16); Ragtime (March 20-April 5); and Footloose The Musical (June 5-21).

"These five musicals earned a total of 28 Tony Award nominations for their Broadway debuts which underscores the success of their acclaimed adaptations," said Slow Burn Theatre Artistic Director Patrick Fitzwater who will direct and choreograph the productions. "People first fell in love with these characters in books and films and now can enjoy another deep connection that is created by seeing a live performance."

Based on the Oscar-winning Dreamworks Animation motion picture and the book by William Steig, Tony Award-winning Shrek The Musical features all new songs from Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change) and a hilarious book by David Lindsay-Abaire. It's happily from start to ever-after for audiences in this funny fairy tale world of adventure and romance when an ogre and his sidekick donkey set off to rescue a temperamental princess from her tower. Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits and you've got an irreverent production that's fun for the whole family. This production is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

In a special holiday offering, Slow Burn Theatre stages A Christmas Story, The Musical, from the songwriting team behind the Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the Academy Award-winning film La La Land (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) with a book by Joseph Robinette. A boy's Christmas present dream of an official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle is challenged by his nightmare life of humiliating pink bunny pajamas, demented department store Santas, gaudy leg lamps and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole. The musical is based on the motion picture A Christmas Story distributed by Warner Bros., which was written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark upon In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash written by Jean Shepherd. The production is produced with permission of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Dalfie Entertainment.

Slow Burn Theatre presents the comedic Karma that is Groundhog Day The Musical, 2017's Olivier Award Winner for Best Musical on London's West End. A jaded metropolitan weatherman is stuck on assignment in rural Pennsylvania for the annual groundhog sighting only to discover there is no way out and he is stuck there reliving the same day again and again. Always ready with a one-liner or

clever quip about the all-too cheery people of Punxsutawney, he is about to discover during this extraordinary day that maybe the joke may be on him. Groundhog Day The Musical features a book by original co-screenwriter Dan Rubin and music and lyrics by Tony Award-winner Tim Minchin (Matilda the Musical) and is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Once on This Island, Seussical and Lucky Stiff) and noted playwright Terrence McNally, and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, Ragtime is the winner of Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations. Ragtime weaves an American tapestry of historical and fictitious characters that tracks three families in New York at the start of the 20th Century. The lives of wealthy men and women, immigrants, African Americans, jazz musicians, union organizers and early movie makers intertwine as they pursue life, love and often-illusive justice. This production is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

For its summer show, Slow Burn Theatre invites audiences to "kick off their Sunday shoes" with Footloose the Musical featuring the hit song from the best-selling film soundtrack. When a big city boy tries to adjust to high school life after moving to a small town, he faces a few missteps after the daughter of a reverend, who just happens to have banned dancing, falls for him and the locals decide to trip him up. This throwback to teen romance, angst and, of course, the desire to dance celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people and guiding them with a warm heart and an open mind. Footloose the Musical has music by Tom Snow and lyrics by Dean Pitchford with additional music by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman. The stage adaptation by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie is based on the original screenplay by Dean Pitchford.

Slow Burn Theatre will also once again stage two shows in the Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center and those titles will be announced in March 2019.

Five show subscriptions packages (starting at $196) and four-show subscriptions (starting at $166) will be available to renewing subscribers beginning January 21 and to new subscribers on March 25. Single tickets will go on sale in June.

Ticketmaster is the only official ticketing service of the Broward Center, Parker Playhouse and affiliated venues. Buy tickets online at BrowardCenter.org or Ticketmaster.com; by phone at 954.462.0222 or the Broward Center's AutoNation Box Office. Know who you are buying from when you purchase tickets.