NEXT TO NORMAL, 9 to 5 THE MUSICAL, GUYS AND DOLLS & More Set for Ordway's 2010-11 Season

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts today announced its 2010-11 performance season. The ambitious schedule features a theater season with six productions, the Target® World Music and Dance Series with seven productions, two community partnerships, and the annual Flint Hills International Children's Festival.

Taken together, The Combined Ordway seasons span vast periods in time and space, from a gospel-infused retelling of a Greek tragedy to the sounds and rhythms of England, Africa, China, Latin America, and the American South.

"Our mission is to bring audiences the best in musical theater, world music and dance from around the globe, and on this point the new season certainly delivers," says Patricia A. Mitchell, Ordway president and CEO. "The Target® World Music and Dance Series features breathtaking choreography and cutting edge music from around the world, while our theater season illuminates the American creative spirit at its finest, whether it be the sounds of gospel, iconic music of the '50s, '60s and '80s, or award-winning contemporary scores."

James A. Rocco, Ordway's vice president of programming and producing artistic director adds, "Musical Theater is a potent and rich art form that is steeped in American culture and tradition. It puts classic performing art into popular cultural contexts and creates entertainment that inspires and exhilarates. That's what the Ordway is all about: a melting pot of classic international performing arts that speaks directly to our hearts."

"The Target World Music and Dance Series is bursting with global energy and adventure," says Heather T. Spicuzza, the Ordway's director of world music, dance and the International Children's Festival. "These performers reach out and touch our hearts with their dazzling technique and generosity of spirit."

World Music Series audience members who are tempted to jump out of their seats and dance will be encouraged to do so, as the hall will be set up for dancing in the aisles and in front of the stage.

In addition to performing on the Ordway stage, the Target World Music and Dance artists participate in Ordway's community engagement programs, where they interact with students and adults in workshop and master class settings.

2010-11 Ordway Theater Season

THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS
August 5 - 11, 2010
Conceived and directed by Lee Breuer; music by Bob Telson.
"The Gospel at Colonus" retells Sophocles' classical tragedy "Oedipus at Colonus" through the medium of modern gospel. Taking up the dramatic tension and emotional turmoil of classical tragedy and infusing it with inventive performances and an electrifying musical montage, this soul-stirring production features the heart-pounding sounds of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Legendary Soul Stirrers, and The Steeles.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR® DREAMCOAT
December 7, 2010 - January 2, 2011
An Ordway Production
Lyrics by Tim Rice; music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
It's going to be a Technicolor® holiday from biblical Egypt onstage as the Ordway produces Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's irresistible story of Joseph, his jealous brothers and one very colorful garment. American Idol finalist Anthony Fedorov is slated to appear as Joseph. Joining the performers onstage will be 40 Twin Cities-area school children. This new and playful production is filled with surprising humor for adults and dazzling delights for children.

Twin Cities favorite Lori Dokken will entertain patrons with special holiday music in the Marzitelli Foyer prior to each performance.

STOMP
March 29 - April 3, 2011
Explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy, and utterly unique, STOMP appeals to audiences of all ages. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments - matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps - to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms. Updates include two new pieces, "Paint Cans" and "Donuts," plus revisions to the favorite piece "Bins." "Donuts" implements huge tractor-tire inner tubes worn around the waist on a bungee cord. The San Francisco Chronicle declared "STOMP has a beat that just won't quit!"

NEXT TO NORMAL
May 10 - 22, 2011
From the director of "Rent" comes "Next to Normal," an emotional powerhouse of a musical with a thrilling contemporary score about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards including Best Score, "Next to Normal" is the most talked about new show on Broadway, having recently been chosen as "one of the year's ten best" by major critics around the country. The New York Times calls "Next to Normal" "a brave, breathtaking musical. A work of muscular grace and power. It is much more than a feel-good musical; it is a feel-everything musical."

GUYS and DOLLS
June 15 - 26, 2011
Frank Loesser's "Guys and Dolls" is one of the greatest musical theater scores of all time, set amidst the colorful background of Damon Runyon's New York and filled with everyone from gangsters, gamblers, and scantily clad showgirls to a doll trying to save their souls. This classic American musical comes to the Ordway with a spanking new production by the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. The Ordway's last collaboration with the 5th Avenue brought Twin Cities audiences the unforgettable Ivey Award-winning production of "Cabaret."

9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL
July 12 - 24, 2011
A hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era. This new musical comedy, direct from Broadway, is based on the hit movie and features Dolly Parton's original hit title song along with her new Tony Award and Grammy Award nominated score. "9 to 5: The Musical" tells the story of three unlikely friends who conspire to take control of their company and learn there's nothing they can't do - even in a man's world. Outrageous, thought-provoking and even a little romantic, "9 to 5: The Musical" is about teaming up and taking care of business.

2010-11 Target® World Music and Dance Season

Bridgman/Packer Dance
October 12, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Guggenheim Fellows Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer are acclaimed for their innovative choreography and integrated video technology that explodes the partnering form into a magically populated stage where image and reality collide. To the Ordway stage they bring their latest dance work, "Double Expose," a fantastical, raucous, sensual exploration of identity, relationship, and the human psyche.