My Fair Lady at Woodminster press release

Woodminster Summer Musicals
Oakland's Summer Theater Under the Stars
Summer 2011 – 45th consecutive season of musical theater in Oakland's beautiful Joaquin Miller Park

Press contact: Kathy Kahn, woodminsterpr@yahoo.com, 510-418-8523
Theater contact: Harriet Schlader, harriet@woodminster.com, 510-531-9597

PRESS RELEASE (For immediate release)

Woodminster's 45th Season Continues With My Fair Lady
Lerner & Loewe Classic Was Top Vote-Getter in Audience Poll

Organization Makes Live Theatre Affordable for Local Families

July 21, 2011, Oakland, CA -- Producers Associates, Inc. continues the 45th season of the Woodminster Summer Musicals with the Lerner & Loewe classic, My Fair Lady, playing August 5-14 at Woodminster Amphitheater in Oakland's Joaquin Miller Park. Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, My Fair Lady tells the story of cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, who is reinvented through elocution lessons. The show includes a number of well-known Broadway standards, including "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," and "Get Me To the Church On Time."

My Fair Lady was chosen by Woodminster audience members in Fall 2010, when they were invited to vote for the shows they would most like to see out of a field of 7 musicals. My Fair Lady was mentioned by about 40% of the 650 people who were polled, the highest of any show. Says Harriet Schlader, Managing Director, "We have a long tradition of listening to our audiences when it comes to show selection. and I was not at all surprised by the results of last year's poll. This show, with its delightful characters and wonderful music, is always a pleasure."

My Fair Lady opened on Broadway in 1956, was nominated for 9 Tony awards, and won 6 of them, including Best Musical, Best Actor (Rex Harrison), and Best Director (Moss Hart.) It set what was then the record for the longest-running Broadway musical in history. It had a hit London production, a film version, and numerous revivals.

Woodminster’s My Fair Lady is directed by Joel Schlader. Choreography is by Peggy Nixon, with vocal direction by Kim Vetterli and Brandon Adams. The orchestra is composed of members of Musicians’ Local #6, conducted by Brandon Adams. The cast of 33 includes 9 members of Actors' Equity Association, and represents 20 Bay Area cities. Featured are popular Woodminster actors Susan Himes Powers as Eliza Doolittle and Robert Moorhead as Henry Higgins. The duo last played opposite each other at Woodminster as Marion the Librarian and Harold Hill in The Music Man in 2010.

My Fair Lady will be performed at 8 p.m. on August 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, and 14. Tickets are $26-$42, with discounts for seniors, half-price tickets for groups of 25, and season tickets that offer a savings of about 15%. The organization continues its “Kids Come Free” program, which provides about 3,000 free tickets each season to children and teens 16 or younger. The organization also continues its $10 Preview Night, instituted in 2010, which opens the last dress rehearsal to the public for a flat $10 at the door. The Preview for My Fair Lady will be Thursday, August 4, at 8 p.m.

Woodminster's Kids Come Free program has, for more than 15 years, provided free tickets for children and teens 16 and younger who attend any regular (not preview) performance with paying adults. The major sponsor of Kids Come Free is Chevron. Other sponsors in 2011 are Alexander & Baldwin/Matson Navigation Corporation, Clorox, Dance/10, Mechanics Bank, Strategy & Communications, The Reach-A-Star Foundation, and Wells Fargo.

The Woodminster Summer Musicals are performed under the stars at Woodminster Amphitheater, an open-air performance facility in Joaquin Miller Park high in the Oakland Hills. The park's spectacular views and serene woodsy environment made it the perfect setting for the amphitheater, cascades, reflecting pool, and paths that were originally built as a WPA project in 1939-40. For many East Bay families, it is a long-standing summer tradition to enjoy a picnic in the park and then see a musical at Woodminster.

Producers Associates, Inc. was founded in 1967 by the late James Schlader and his wife Harriet to provide affordable live summer family entertainment in the East Bay, and to foster a love of live theatre. For more than four decades, the organization, in partnership with the Oakland Park and Rec Department, has been producing summer musicals at Woodminster Amphitheater. Healthy season tickets sales, attendance by groups, and special opportunities for families have made Woodminster shows the best attended performances in Oakland. Today, it sells the highest number of individual tickets of any resident performing arts organization in the city. For more information about the 2011 season or history of the organization, visit www.woodminster.com.

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