SPAMALOT, SPRING AWAKENING, And RIVERDANCE Among Broadway San Jose's Inaugural 2009/10 Season

Team San Jose announced today that they have selected the Nederlander Organization to be the exclusive presenter of touring Broadway musicals and special events at the Center for the Performing Arts. The Inaugural 2009-2010 Season, under the local banner of Broadway San Jose ~ A Nederlander Presentation begins September 15, 2009.

“We are thrilled to welcome Broadway San Jose ~ A Nederlander Presentation to San Jose,” said Dan Fenton, President and CEO, San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau and CEO of Team San Jose. “We look forward to the best of Broadway in our community for years to come.”

The Nederlander Organization owns nine Broadway theaters in New York, home to shows such as Wicked, West Side Story, Disney’s The Lion King, In The Heights and Guys and Dolls.  Nederlander and Team San Jose announced the 2009-2010 Season at a press conference today.  Team San Jose also announced an exclusive agreement with Nederlander Concerts, based out of Los Angeles, to present concert events at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.

James L. Nederlander, President of The Nederlander Organization, stated “We have had a long-standing theatrical and concert presence in California and the Southwest, presenting both popular classics and groundbreaking new musicals, along with concerts and unique theatrical events. We’ve known for a long time that San Jose has great potential to be a first class entertainment market.  Adding San Jose to our valued list of touring cities will continue to allow us to bring the Best of Broadway and beyond to more Californians than ever.”

Broadway San Jose’s inaugural season begins in September 2009 with Monty Python’s Spamalot, the outrageous Tony Award®-winning musical comedy about King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table. It will be followed in October by Spring Awakening, winner of 8 Tony Awards® including best musical, which celebrates an unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood with a power, a poignancy and a passion you will never forget. Riverdance closes out the year in its Farewell Performances with the thunderous celebration of Irish music that has tapped its way into the hearts of millions of people across the globe.  Start the new year by attending Avenue Q, the smash-hit Broadway musical about real life in New York City, as told by a cast of people and puppets through a hilariously irreverent, Tony®-winning book and score; then take a trip from the sorority house to the halls of justice with America’s favorite blonde Elle Woods in Legally Blonde the Musical.

In a response to the loss of American Musical Theatre of San Jose, a 73-year-old production company entertaining patrons throughout the greater San Jose area, Team San Jose completed an aggressive search for the most experienced Broadway producer for San Jose.  Nederlander has 97 years of experience of bringing the best entertainment to communities across the country.

As a benefit for their support of musicals and the arts in San Jose, subscribers to the 2008-09 American Musical Theatre of San Jose will be provided advanced seating priority opportunity through Friday, June 19 to Broadway San Jose’s inaugural five-show season; with additional season ticket discount availability continuing. Former 2008-2009 AMT subscribers are urged to call 1-866-395-2929, or log onto BroadwaySanJose.com to sign up to receive updates and more information about these special subscriber prices and benefits.

Nederlander will have a local team dedicated to marketing and managing the Broadway Series at the Center for the Performing Arts. It will be led by new Broadway San Jose General Manager Ruth Pangilinan, a veteran San Jose arts marketing professional.  The Center for the Performing Arts was built in the 1970s by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. The auditorium seating is of continental design with no center aisle and has seating for over 2,600 people at capacity.

For more information, log onto BroadwaySanJose.com and sign up to receive “Broadway Alert” email updates on the Broadway San Jose season.
 
The 2009-2010 Broadway San Jose Inaugural season includes:

September 15 - 20, 2009

Monty Python’s Spamalot

Winner of the 2005 Tony Award® for Best Musical, Monty Python's Spamalot is the outrageous new musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic "Monty Python and The Holy Grail."  Directed by Tony Award®-winner Mike Nichols, with a book by Eric Idle and music and lyrics by the Grammy Award-winning team of Mr. Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot  tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail.  Flying cows, killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen and show-stopping musical numbers are just a few of the reasons audiences everywhere are eating up Spamalot. For more information, visit montypythonsSpamalot.com.

Family friendly for teens and older – by the creators of Monty Python – ‘nuff said.                                                    

October 28 – November 1, 2009

Spring Awakening

Winner of 8 Tony Awards®, including Best Musical! Broadway's most talked about new musical is now the biggest Tony Award® Winner in years. Spring Awakening is the groundbreaking fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll that has awakened Broadway like no other musical in years.  Spring Awakening celebrates the unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood with a power, a poignancy and a passion you will never forget. For more information, visit springawakening.com.

This Show Is Explicit:  Brutally honest, and ultimately optimistic, this show contains explicit language, brief nudity, scenes of sex and suicide.
 
December 29, 2009 – January 3, 2010

Riverdance Farewell Performances
Riverdance,  the thunderous celebration of Irish music, song and dance that has tapped its way onto the world stage thrilling millions of people around the globe, will play eight farewell performances in San Jose. For more information, visit Riverdance.com.

January 12 – 17, 2010

Avenue Q

Avenue Q tells the hilarious story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. He soon discovers that the only neighborhood in his price range is Avenue Q; still, the neighbors seem nice. There's Brian the out-of-work comedian and his therapist fianceé Christmas Eve; Nicky the good-hearted slacker and his roommate Rod – a Republican investment banker who seems to have some sort of secret; an Internet addict called Trekkie Monster; and a very cute kindergarten teaching assistant named Kate. Together, Princeton and his newfound friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life.

For mature audiences.  “Avenue Q has not been authorized or approved in any manner by The Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content.”

March 16 – 21, 2010

Legally Blonde the Musical

The hilarious MGM film is now a smash hit musical, and now Legally Blonde the Musical is coming to San Jose.  UCLA sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take ‘no’ for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone ‘serious,’ Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.  Legally Blonde the Musical  will take you from the sorority house to the halls of justice with Broadway's brightest new heroine (and of course, her chihuahua, Bruiser).  The verdict?  This much fun shouldn't be legal!  For more information, visit  LegallyBlondeTheMusical.com.

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