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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MUSICAL THEATRE WEST ANNOUNCES 2005/2006 SEASON

February 19, 2005
Paul Garman, executive director/producer of Musical Theatre West, has announced an All-American composers season lineup of popular musicals, beginning with the Tony award winning THE KING AND I, Nov. 5 - 20, 2005, the West Coast premieres of NEVER GONNA DANCE, Feb. 18 - March 5, 2006, followed by the West Coast Premiere of I LOVE A PIANO, April 22 - May 7, 2006 and ending with the Cole Porter masterpiece ANYTHING GOES, July 8 - 23, 2006. The 53rd season of Musical Theatre West will be presented at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton Street, Long Beach. Special events the company will stage include the Summer Youth Conservatory production of BYE, BYE BIRDIE, Aug. 19, 20 and 21, 2005, outdoors at Recreation Park in Long Beach, sponsored by the Youth Cultural Enrichment Program of Musical Theatre West and the annual Holiday show this year titled, A MUSICAL MERRY CHRISTMAS, December 9, 2005. Season subscriptions are available at prices ranging from $100 to $188 for the four-show season package. Season show discounts are available for children and teachers. For greater flexibility, a three-show package is also available. Special events are priced separately.

Tickets may be purchased in person at the Musical Theatre West office, 4350 E 7th Street, by calling (562) 856-1999.
(Tickets are NOT available at the Carpenter Box Office.)
Single tickets for individual shows go on sale September 14, 2005.

East meets West in Rodgers & Hammerstein's, THE KING AND I, a dramatic and uplifting tale of enormous fascination. An English widow and her young son arrive in 1862 Siam to serve as a tutor to the King's children and wives. Anna and the King grow to understand and eventually respect one another, in a truly unique love story. Songs include "Getting to Know You", "I Have Dreamed", "Shall We Dance?" and "Hello, Young Lovers".

The West Coast premiere of NEVER GONNA DANCE will be the next offering on the MTW season. Inspired by the classic RKO film musical "Swing Time" features some of the greatest music by Jerome Kern paired with legendary lyricists like Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein. A ne'er - do - well goes to New York to make his fortune doing anything but dancing, so of course the show fills the stage with resplendent dance numbers. Songs include "The Way You Look Tonight", "A Fine Romance" and "I Won't Dance."

Another West Coast premiere follows with I LOVE A PIANO, a look at America through the insightful and hopeful eyes of Irving Berlin. The show follows the journey of a piano through seventy years as it moves in and out of people's lives, witnessing their ups and downs and celebrating the music and lyrics of Irving Berlin through 64 of his best-loved songs.

The season will close with the classic example of 1930's song-and-dance as we set sail from the Carpenter Center with a stage full of tap-dancers and a sparkling Cole Porter score. ANYTHING GOES is a ship full of hilarious mismatched lovers including a Wall Street banker, a former night club singer, and Public Enemy No. 13. The score has many of Porter's best songs, including "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and the title song.

Musical Theatre West began in 1952 as the Whittier Light Opera Association and has grown to become one of the largest, oldest and most respected theatre companies in Southern California. "Now in its ninth year in Long Beach, the company continues to increase its subscription base dramatically and recently raised more than $300,000 in a capital campaign to purchase a 5,000 square-foot rehearsal facility, production and box offices which we moved into in June, 2004," said Garman.

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Musical Theatre West is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation.