SHN Announces Best of Broadway Coming to San Francisco

SHN is pleased to announce the 2008-2009 Best of Broadway season, under the direction of Carole Shorenstein Hays and Robert Nederlander presented at San Francisco's Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate Theatres. This brand new season marks the 30th birthday for SHN. At this milestone, SHN, the pre-eminent theatrical entertainment company in San Francisco, reasserts its mission to consistently deliver the ultimate Broadway experience to Bay Area audiences while inspiring new generations of theatergoers.

"Our new season represents a coming-of-age moment for SHN and the Bay Area," says Carole Shorenstein Hays, SHN President and Owner. "We have been enjoying Broadway in San Francisco together for 30 years and I am thrilled to begin a new generation of entertainment."

Hays continues, "Our new season reaches out to all segments of our theater family. We proudly welcome home the record-breaking spectacle WICKED which began its journey in one of our theatres; for everyone who believes in happy endings we embrace the world premiere of a new musical, EVER AFTER; all of us who are young-at-heart can rock and roll to the ever-popular GREASE; our celebration of family is the Pulitzer Prize-winning new play, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. Anything is indeed possible at the theatre as the house lights go down and the curtain rises. As SHN celebrates its 30th birthday, this new season honors where we have been while also looking ahead to where we are going."

This year, as a special attraction in conjunction with the 2008-2009 new Best of Broadway season, SHN will also present a holiday engagement of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Andrew Lloyd Webber's international phenomenon returning to San Francisco November 26 through January 4th at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets go on sale Sunday, September 7th. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, still running on Broadway after twenty years, had a sit-down San Francisco company that played here for a record-breaking five years at the Curran Theatre.

The fifth and final show, a Broadway blockbuster, will be announced in July to complete the 2008-2009 Best of Broadway series.

Renewal information for current subscribers will be sent in the mail during the month of July. Subscriptions to the 2008-2009 Best of Broadway series range in price from $170-$551. New subscriptions are available now online at shnsf.com or by calling (415) 551-2050 or toll free at (877) 797-SUBS (7827).

The 2008-2009 Best of Broadway Season:

WICKED
GREASE
EVER AFTER
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
The Fifth Show, a Broadway Blockbuster, To Be Revealed in July!

WICKED
Returns Home To San Francisco

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire
Book by Winnie Holzman
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Directed by Joe Mantello
Musical Staging by Wayne Cilento
Set Design by Eugene Lee
Costume Design by Susan Hilferty
Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner
Sound Design by Tony Meola
Orchestrations by William David Brohn
Dance Arrangements by James Lynn Abbott

February 2009
Orpheum Theatre

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME…
San Francisco audiences and critics alike feel a special connection with the smash hit musical WICKED and its history in the city by the bay. WICKED had its world premiere at San Francisco's Curran Theatre on May 28, 2003. This opening followed a long development process during which the entire creative team and cast immersed themselves in the brand new material at the Curran Theatre to launch a spectacular phenomenon that has since redefined theatrical pop culture. WICKED returned to San Francisco in the summer of 2005, where it played an unprecedented 6-week limited run selling out every seat for every single performance.

Since having its official Broadway opening at the Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003, WICKED has been sold out at virtually every performance, breaking house records with box office receipts of over $1.4 million per week. It has been called "Broadway's biggest blockbuster" by the New York Times and "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety. The Washington Post said WICKED is, "a breathtaking success story, of a magnitude the theater has not witnessed since the peak years of The Phantom of the Opera."

WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

GREASE
2008 Tony Award Nominee for Best Revival of a Musical

Directed and Choreographed by Kathleen Marshall
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Additional songs from the motion picture by Barry Gibb, John Farrar, Louis St. Louis & Scott Simon
Set Design by Derek McLane
Costume Design by Martin Pakledinaz
Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner
Sound Design by Brian Ronan

March 2009
Golden Gate Theatre

The one that you want is back! GREASE, Time Magazine's 2007 pick for "#1 musical of the year," is rockin' across the country in this brand new production direct from Broadway.

This new production of GREASE features songs from the smash hit 1978 motion picture for the first time ever on stage including "Sandy," the Academy Award nominated song "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Grease" and "You're the One That I Want," both of which were #1 hits on the Billboard Top 100 list. These songs are heard in addition to the Jacobs/Casey songs made famous by the original stage production including "Summer Nights," "Greased Lightnin'" and "We Go Together."

EVER AFTER
World Premiere

Book by Marcy Heisler and Theresa Rebeck
Music by Zina Goldrich
Lyrics by Marcy Heisler
Directed by Doug Hughes

April 2009
Curran Theatre

EVER AFTER is a romantic musical adventure that puts a new twist on the beloved Cinderella story. Gone are the magic pumpkins, talking mice and fairy godmother. What remains is a sweeping new musical about a spirited, young heroine who defies all societal constraints in her journey to live happily EVER AFTER.

EVER AFTER will make its world premiere in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre. This romantic musical adventure is based on the popular 1998 Twentieth Century Fox film and will feature the wildly imaginative directing talents of Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt).

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
2008 Pulitzer Prize Drama winner
Seven 2008 Tony Award Nominations, Including Best Play
National Tour Begins in San Francisco

Written by 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winner Tracy Letts
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Set Design by Todd Rosenthal
Costume Design by Ana Kuzmanic
Lighting Design by Ann G. Wrightson
Sound Design by Richard Woodbury
Composition by David Singer
Flight Choreography by Chuck Coyl

August 2009
Curran Theatre

Written by 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (Killer Joe, Bug), this grand, gripping new play tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with matriarch Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of this storm.

Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is a rare theatrical event - a large-scale work filled with unforgettable characters, a powerful tale told with unflinching honesty and the unforgettable breakthrough of a major American playwright.

The New York Times cheers, "AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is flat-out, without qualification, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years," and Time Magazine named AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY the "#1 Show of the Year!"

For sneak peek of the new 2008-2009 Best of Broadway season, please visit SHN at http://www.shnsf.com.

SHN is the pre-eminent theatrical entertainment company in San Francisco and owns and operates the Curran, Orpheum and Golden Gate Theatres—San Francisco's premier theatrical venues. SHN's Best of Broadway theater series provides Bay Area audiences with pre-Broadway world premieres, original Broadway cast productions, award-winners and current hits fresh from Broadway. For information on all SHN shows, please visit shnsf.com.

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