Respect: A Musical Celebration of Women Opens at Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix

From "Stand By Your Man" to Aretha's "R.E.S.P.E.C.T," the international hit musical Respect: A Musical Celebration of Women returns to Phoenix for a limited engagement to celebrate the exciting story of women in the 20th century through more than 60 Top 40 songs. The show will run at Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe, from Feb. 5 to March 2.

Created by Vanderbilt University professor Dr. Dorothy Marcic based on her book, RESPECT: Women and Popular Music, the show includes hits like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," "Where The Boys Are," "I Am Woman" and dozens more up to the present day. Marcic's book analyzed Top-40 female song lyrics since 1900.

"RESPECT is fun! Women Love RESPECT. It's wildly successful," wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer. Patti LaBelle "loved the show. It was the sound track of my life. Everyone should go see it," and the Chicago Tribune wrote that RESPECT is "Somewhere between Oprah and Mama Mia! A savvy, self confident good time."

Performances are Wednesdays at 2 and 7 p.m., Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $49.50 for balcony seats and $57.50 for orchestra and mezzanine. Tickets are available at the Herberger Theater Center Box Office at (602) 252-8497 or online at www.herbergertheater.org. Group discounts are available for 20 or more.

This popular, high-energy musical for "Girls (and Guys) Who Just Wanna Have Fun" combines excerpts from 60 songs with women's owns stories about finding dreams, lost loves, relationship issues and entering the workplace. It's the story of women from co-dependent to independent and from property of their husbands to presidents of corporations.

The original version of the show in 1999 featured Marcic, and was developed into a full-scale musical theater production in 2004. The show has now played all over the USA including Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Green Bay, San Diego, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Coral Springs, FL. as well as around the world in cities including Melbourne and Brisbaine, Australia.

The show is produced by Philip Roger Roy, Dana Matthow and Bud Martin whose been shows at The Herberger Theater have included My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm In Therapy! (2011 - 2012); A Jew Grows In Brooklyn (2008) and My Father's Jewish & I'm Home for the Holidays (2012).

For more information, visit www.respectamusicaljourney.com.