Signature Theatre Hosts Annual New Years Eve Bash

The holiday season is just around the corner and New Year's Eve will be here before you know it. And what better way to celebrate 2012 than to go back in time to the funkadelic 60's as Signature Theatre hosts their annual New Year's Eve party. Party-goers are invited to attend a performance of the Tony Award®-winning musical Hairspray at 8:00pm -- then help us count down to the new year with the entire cast! Directed by Signature's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer, the production stars national radio host Robert Aubry Davis (WETA's "Around Town" and Sirius/XM Radio) in the iconic role of Edna Turnblad, Carolyn Cole (as Tracy Turnblad) and an many Signature favorites, Nova Y. Payton, Sherri L. Edelen, Stephen Gregory Smith, PatRick Thomas Cragin, and Harry A. Winter.

Tickets for Hairspray and the New Year's Eve party can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 703-573-SEAT (7328) or by calling the Signature Box Office at 703-820-9771. Performance prices are $82 and $87 (excludes handling fees). The New Year's Eve party, which includes two drinks, hors d'oeuvres, a champagne toast, and dancing to our DJ's tunes, are $100 for the general public and $75 for Signature season ticket holders.

"Signature's New Year's Eve parties have been such a blast every year," said Schaeffer. "And this year promises to be one to remember for years to come. It will be ‘The Madison' and the ‘Mashed Potato' to ring in the new year!"

In Hairspray, it's 1962 - the '50s are out and change is in the air. Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion-to dance. She wins a spot on the local TV dance program, "The Corny Collins Show" and, overnight, is transformed from outsider to irrepressible teen celebrity. But can a plus-size trendsetter in dance and fashion vanquish the program's reigning princess, win the heart of heartthrob Link Larkin, and integrate a television show without denting her 'do? Only in Hairspray! Welcome to the '60s!

Hairspray will play at Signature Theatre from November 21, 2011 through January 29, 2012. Based on the 1988 New Line Cinema film directed by John Waters, Hairspray features music by Academy Award® nominee Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. The musical, which played on Broadway for 6 ½ years, took home a remarkable eight 2003 Tony Awards®, including "Best Musical."
SIGNATURE'S 2011-12 SEASON TICKET INFORMATION

The remaining line-up for Signature Theatre's 2011-2012 season features the Tony Award®-winning shows Hairspray and God of Carnage and the Washington DC premiere of the cult classic musical Xanadu. Signature is also home to the world premiere works Brother Russia, and Really Really. In addition to the mainstage shows, Signature is presenting a special limited engagement of the world premiere musical A Second Chance (playing through December 11th). Discount subscription packages (starting at 3 shows) are available by calling the Signature Box Office at (703) 820-9771 or visiting www.signature-theatre.org.

ABOUT SIGNATURE

Recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, Signature Theatre is a non-profit professional theater company in Arlington, Virginia dedicated to producing contemporary musicals and plays, reinventing classic musicals, and developing new work. Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland, Signature has presented 35 world premiere productions and is renowned for combining Broadway-quality productions with intimate playing spaces.
In addition to hosting the finest talent from the DC metropolitan area and New York, Signature has been home to such theatre luminaries as Chita Rivera, George Hearn, Hunter Foster, Emily Skinner, Marc Kudisch, Judy Kuhn, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cameron Mackintosh, Terrence McNally, and the company's signature composer, Stephen Sondheim. Since its founding in 1989, Signature has won 72 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region's professional theater and has been honored with 293 nominations.

Signature is partially supported by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and by a gift from Arlington County through the Arlington Commission for the Arts and the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources.

DIRECTIONS

Signature Theatre is located at 4200 Campbell Avenue (22206) off I-395 at the Shirlington exit (#6). After the exit, blue Signature signs mark the way to the theatre. Free parking is available in two adjacent public garages. Please note that Campbell Avenue is a new street and some GPS online mapping systems do not yet recognize Signature Theatre's address. For directions visit http://signature-theatre.org/map.htm.

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