THE PAJAMA GAME to Open Bayou City Concert Musicals' 2013-14 Season, Begin. 9/12

Bayou City Concert Musicals kicks off its 2013-14 season with a fully-staged concert version of the classic musical, The Pajama Game, for five performances at the Heinen Theatre, 3517 Austin, September 12-15, 2013. "It's fitting," says BCCM Artistic Director Paul Hope, "that BCCM will begin a series of shows from the 1950s with the quintessential American musical comedy."

Based on Richard Bissell's novel 7 ½ Cents, The Pajama Game is the story of worker against management, both in a pay raise fight and in a budding romance. The original Broadway production premiered on May 13, 1954, and ran for 1,063 performances. It won the Tony Award in 1954 for Best Musical. Its most recent Broadway revival in 2006 won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. The 1957 film version of The Pajama Game starred Doris Day, John Raitt and the rest of the Broadway cast, and is a perennial favorite of musical film buffs.

The BCCM production will feature a large cast of Houston's finest singing and dancing talent. Artistic Director Paul Hope says the production will reunite Beth Lazarou and Cole Ryden, who won praise for their roles as the young lovers in BCCM's 2011 production of Finian's Rainbow. Houston favorites Susan Shofner, Jon Egging and Jennifer Gilbert will round out the featured cast. Artistic Director Paul Hope will direct BCCM's production, with musical director Michael Mertz and conductor Dominique Røyem. Melissa Pritchett and Krissy Richmond will choreograph.

The Pajama Game features an energetic score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross that includes "Hey There," "Once A Year Day," "Steam Heat" and "Hernando's Hideaway." Hope says The Pajama Game is "one of those rare musicals where every number is a home run."

Proceeds from Bayou City Concert Musicals' production of The Pajama Game will benefit the Tim Harris Memorial Fund, which supports local musicians who have suffered catastrophic illness or injury.

Bayou City Concert Musicals will round out its 2013-14 season with two cabaret productions at the Performance Centre at the Ensemble Theatre. The first,Cheek to Cheek-Irving Berlin in the 1930s, will feature Berlin's hits from the golden age of Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Cheek to Cheek-Irving Berlin in the 1930s is scheduled for three Mondays in February (February 3, 10, and 17, 2014).

The second cabaret will feature the music of Harold Arlen. Best known for composing "Over the Rainbow" and the other songs in The Wizard of Oz, Arlen's catalogue of hits includes "Stormy Weather," "That Old Black Magic," "Blues in the Night" and "Paper Moon." Let's Fall in Love: The Songs of Harold Arlen is scheduled for three Mondays in May (May 5, 12, and 19, 2014).

BCCM season tickets and individual tickets to The Pajama Game are currently on sale on-line at www.bayoucityconcertmusicals.org. Season tickets and individual tickets to The Pajama Game are also available by phone at 713-465-6484. Single ticket prices range from $50 to $25.

Bayou City Concert Musicals is funded in part by grants from the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.