CHICAGO HAS A NEW BABY SHREK!

CHICAGOAN ERIC PETERSEN

‘SHREK’ FROM SHREK THE MUSICAL

AND WIFE LISA MORABITO PETERSEN

GIVE BIRTH TO BABY SOPHIA MARIE

CHICAGO (July 16, 2010) — After just two days of preview performances as the loveable green ogre ‘Shrek’ in SHREK THE MUSICAL, Chicagoan Eric Petersen and his wife Lisa Morabito Petersen proudly gave birth to their own beautiful baby. Sophia Marie Petersen, weighing 8 lbs, 7 ounces and 20.5 inches long, was born at 5:12 p.m., Thursday, July 15, 2010 at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial’s Prentice Women’s Hospital.

The proud parents and baby are happy and doing well. It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for them, as they relocated to Chicago for the opening of the National Tour, interviewed their new delivery doctor Patricia Katz, MD, all while Eric and company prepared the show for the official opening at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, Sunday, July 25^th. The pending event has given extra energy and excitement to the cast and crew as they shouldered the intensely grueling schedule required to open a tour.

Eric Petersen is a native of Carol Stream, Illinois, where he attended Glenbard North High School. He received a BS in Theatre Performance from Bradley University in Peoria. He joined the National tour of SHREK THE MUSICAL from the Broadway production. He recently appeared as the socially challenged ‘Barfee’ in the National tour of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Lisa Morabito Petersen, also a performer, is from Winter Garden, Florida.

SHREK THE MUSICAL tells the story of a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess and learns that real friendship and true love aren’t only found in fairy tales.

SHREK THE MUSICAL features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize^® winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), music by Olivier Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline, or Change), and is directed by Tony Award^® nominee Jason Moore (Avenue Q) and Tony and Emmy Award-winner Rob Ashford (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Promises Promises). SHREK THE MUSICAL has set and costume designs by Tony Award^® winner Tim Hatley (Private Lives, Spamalot), lighting design by Olivier Award winner Hugh Vanstone (A Steady Rain), sound design by Peter Hylenski (Rock of Ages); choreography by Josh Prince, music supervision by Tim Weil, music direction by Andy Grobengieser, and orchestrations by Danny Troob & John Clancy.

SHREK THE MUSICAL was initiated when Sam Mendes, a big fan of the first Shrek film, suggested the idea of creating a musical to DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg around the time the second film was in production. The musical is produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, President of DreamWorks Theatricals and Co-President of Production for DreamWorks Animation) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).

Individual tickets to SHREK THE MUSICAL, playing now thru September 5^th, are $25 - $90 and are on sale now. Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St. and 18 W. Monroe St.); the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000; all Ticketmaster retail locations (including Hot Tix and select Carson Pirie Scott, Coconuts and fye stores); and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com. Groups of 10 or more should call (312) 977-1710.

The chart-topping original Broadway cast album for SHREK THE MUSICAL is available on Decca Broadway.

DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.

(NASDAQ: DWA)

For more information, visit www.ShrekTheMusical.com or www.BroadwayInChicago.com. Join the award-winning Shrekster.com, the Official Fan community of Shrek The Musical delivering news, media and exclusive contests to fans of the Shrek Series and Shrek the Musical. Log in and join your city group for access to the most up to the date news, information and member’s only exclusive content form Shrek and Donkey’s first “whirlwind, big city adventure” across the country: www.shrekster.com/chicago.

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For images, email mwilmoth@korshak.com or kmartin@korshak.com

For Immediate Release

“All You Got To Do Is Dream”


NATIONAL TOUR OF THE SMASH HIT MUSICAL
MAKES ITS DALLAS PREMIERE, PRESENTED BY DALLAS SUMMER MUSICALS AT MUSIC HALL AT FAIR PARK
JUNE 30 – JULY 18

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

DALLAS, TX…Producer John Breglio and Dallas Summer Musicals have announced tickets for the smash hit musical DREAMGIRLS are on sale now. Ticket prices range from $20 to $85 and will be available at The Box Office, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, all Ticketmaster outlets, by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 214-631-ARTS (2787). Group orders of 15 or more may be placed by calling 214-426-GROUP.

Full of onstage joy and backstage drama, DREAMGIRLS tells the story of an up-and-coming, 1960s singing girl group, and the triumphs and tribulations that come with fame and fortune. Hopeful talents Deena Jones, Lorrell Robinson and Effie White are performing as The Dreamettes when ambitious agent Curtis Taylor, Jr. discovers them. He lands them a job as backup singers for the soul and rock ‘n’ roll sensation James “Thunder” Early and begins to guide their quickly rising career. However, when the beautiful Deena emerges as the star of the group rather than the full-voiced Effie, the girls are brought to personal and professional crossroads.

DREAMGIRLS will introduce Moya Angela as Effie White and feature, as The Dreams, Syesha Mercado as Deena Jones, Adrienne Warren as Lorrell Robinson, and Margaret Hoffman as Michelle Morris with Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Curtis Taylor, Jr., Chester Gregory as James “Thunder” Early, Trevon Davis as C.C. White, Milton Craig Nealy as Marty Madison in a cast of 26 that also features Tallia Brinson, Felicia Boswell, Ronald Duncan, Patrice Covington, Talitha Farrow, Brittney Griffin, James Harkness, Robert Hartwell, Eric Jackson, Chauncey Jenkins, Jared Joseph, Nikki Kimbrough, Brittany Lewis, Douglas Lyons, Kimberly Marable, Jarran Muse, Amaker Smith and Marc Spaulding.

DREAMGIRLS is directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom with co-choreography by Shane Sparks, scenic design by Robin Wagner, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Ken Billington, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, and media design by Howard Werner for Lightswitch. DREAMGIRLS features music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen with additional material by Willy Reale. DREAMGIRLS is produced by John Breglio for Vienna Waits Productions.

The original Broadway production of DREAMGIRLS opened December 20, 1981, at the Imperial Theatre and won six Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards in 1982. It closed on Broadway August 11, 1985, after 1,521 performances. The original Broadway production was directed by Michael Bennett and choreographed by Bennett and Michael Peters. DREAMGIRLS was adapted into a motion picture by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, and opened in December 2006. The film won two Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, and two Screen Actor’s Guild Awards in 2007 in addition to a Grammy Award for Best Song written for a Motion Picture (“Love You I Do”). The most popular song from the film, “Listen,” has been incorporated into the new stage version of DREAMGIRLS as a stirring Act II duet for Deena and Effie. This all-new production of DREAMGIRLS premiered at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater in New York City on November 22, 2009, before embarking on an international tour.

DREAMGIRLS will play June 30 through July 18 at Music Hall at Fair Park, with the following performance schedule:

Wednesday, June 30 – 8 p.m.
Thursday, July 1 – 2 and 8 p.m. (Official press opening is 8 p.m. July 1)
Friday, July 2 – 8 p.m.
Saturday, July 3 – 2 and 8 p.m.
Sunday, July 4 - 2 p.m.
Tuesday, July 6 – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, July 7 – 8 p.m.
Thursday, July 8 – 8 p.m.
Friday, July 9 – 8 p.m.
Saturday, July 10 – 2 and 8 p.m.
Sunday, July 11 – 2 and 8 p.m.
Tuesday, July 13 – 8 p.m.
Wednesday, July 14 – 8 p.m.
Thursday, July 15 – 2 and 8 p.m.
Friday, July 16 – 8 p.m.
Saturday, July 17 – 2 and 8 p.m.
Sunday, July 18 – 2 p.m. (closing performance)

Next up for Dallas Summer Musicals will be the State Fair of Texas musical, SHREK THE MUSICAL, September 28-October 17, 2010.


For more information, please visit the official DREAMGIRLS website at www.DreamgirlsOnStage.com. For up-to-date information about DSM, please visit www.dallassummermusicals.org.

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For media information about this show or the Dallas Summer Musicals, and for videotape, photos, interviews or reviewer’s passes, please call Jo Ann Holt at 469-363-7371 or send inquiries to joannholt@gmail.com.

National Tap Dance Celebration at Music Hall During Wicked

National Tap Dance Celebration 2010

“Preserving, promoting and celebrating America’s unique form of dance”

For the fourth year Dance Council of North Texas and Dallas Summer Musicals join forces to present The Tap Dancing Tribute. Five evening performances, July 15 - 19 before this season’s most requested Broadway hit show, Wicked will be on tap at The Music Hall under the canopy of trees in Fair Park.

Are you ready for some WICKED Tap Dancing?

W onderful

I ntricate

C lever

K ick up your Heels!

Every night from 7:00 - 7: 45 PM before the show

D elightful

Katelyn Harris is choreographing 2010 The Hoofin’ Crew, an exciting group of young people, who serve as hosts at each performance. Katelyn Harris is in her fourth year with Tapestry in Austin Texas, the only contracted tap dance company in North America. Through her work with Tapestry she has studied and worked with some of the finest tap dancing masters in the country including Acia Gray of Austin.

Special guests will be Brenna Kuhn, tap dancer, and Michael Stevens, jazz and r&b bassist. They blend their talents in a musical dialogue through spontaneous and energetic improvisation. Their performances have been called “daring, full of twists and turns” that have the audience holding its breath. Plans are being confirmed to offer two master classes in body percussion.

Back by popular request are The Evening Stars from McKinney performing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Dana’s Dance Academy of Irving will celebrate their 25^th Anniversary with “A Cappella Tap” by California choreographer, Keith Clifton.

Keira Leverton, winner of DCNT 2010 Gene, Louise & Fred Kelly Teacher Scholarship, will perform as well as Rhythm Delivery Dance Ensemble. Doug Voet, DSM Director of Production and Operations, will serve as MC. Karen Cooper is Stage Manager and Trent Bauer will handle sound.

To close the Pre-Show, everyone in the audience is invited to get in the act and do the National Anthem of Tap, led by Buster Cooper, the 86 year-young-dance-legend. The free Pre- Show features dynamic, fresh and vigorous performers representing the finest area tap dancers:

The Drawbacks Youth Ensemble (Dallas)

Dallas Contemporary Ballet School

Dove Academy of Dance Arts (Richardson)

Class Act Dance Company (Dallas)

Next Step Performing Arts (Frisco)

The Rhythm Junkies (Dallas)

London School of Dance, (Garland)

iNStep Dancers, Dallas

Dance Council of North Texas 2010 Tap Dancing Scholarship Recipients will showcase their awesome skills including

Rheagan Carroll, age 15, from Tyler, Texas and recipient of Gene Pflug Scholarship;

Lauren Kravitz, age 17, from Plano and recipient Margaret Rylatt Scholarship;

Karissa Royster, age 16, from San Antonio and recipient of Buster Cooper Scholarship.

Dancers are available for media appearances. For photos and information contact Pam Deslorieux at Dance Council of North Texas at 214-219-2290. Sponsors for Dance Council of North Texas include Curtain Call Costumes, Sandy’s Shoes & Dancewear, Capezio Foundation, Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers, Downtown Business News, Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Dallas, and Texas Commission on the Arts.

Menopause The Musical coming to The Majestic

Hot Flash!

The Off-Broadway Smash Hit

“Menopause The Musical®”

Comes to The Majestic Theatre in Dallas

June 3-6, 2010

May 2010 – It’s time to kick-up those high heels. The international hit show Menopause The Musical^® is returning to Dallas and will be presented as a subscribers’ special for Dallas Summer Musicals, presented by Comerica Bank, at The Majestic Theatre in Dallas June 3-6, 2010.

Set in a department store, where four women with seemingly nothing in common but a black lace bra, meet by chance at a lingerie sale. The cast laughs at their woeful hot flashes, forgetfulness, mood swings, wrinkles, night sweats and chocolate binges. A sisterhood is created between these diverse women as they realize that menopause is no longer The Silent Passage! It is a stage in every woman’s life that is perfectly normal!

Menopause The Musical^® is the work of writer and producer, Jeanie Linders. The laughter-filled 90-minute production includes parodies from the classics of the ‘60s and ‘70s and ‘80s. Disco hit “Stayin’ Alive” becomes “Stayin’ Awake,” Motown favorite “My Girl” is transformed into “My Thighs,” "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" switches to "In the Guest Room or on the Sofa, My Husband Sleeps at Night,” and “Puff The Magic Dragon” becomes the anthem to exercise, “Puff, My God I’m Draggin’”.

Thursday and Friday performances at 8:00 pm

Saturday performances at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm

Sunday performance at 2:00 pm

Single tickets, priced from $16-$50, are on sale now at The Box Office,

542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, and all Ticketmaster outlets including The Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm Street in Dallas. Tickets are also on sale by calling 214-631-ARTS (2787) or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 20 or more, please call 214-426-GROUP.

Menopause The Musical^® has launched a women’s movement that has superseded entertainment and become a must-see event. It is estimated that nearly 11 million women have attended a performance since the 2001 opening in Orlando, Florida. Inspired by a hot flash and a bottle of wine, writer and producer Jeanie Linders created the show as a celebration of women who are on the brink of, in the middle of, or have survived “The Change”. "Most women know intuitively that every other woman is experiencing hot flashes or night sweats,“ says Linders. "There is always a close friend or two who can sympathize or identify with her, but when they are sitting in a theatre with hundreds of other women, all laughing and shouting‚ 'That’s me! That’s me on stage!' they know what they are experiencing is normal. They aren’t alone…or crazy. It becomes a sisterhood."

Since its first performance, the show has evolved as a grassroots movement of women who deal with life after 40 and all the challenges that result from the mental, physical, and spiritual freedom of being a woman. “It may not be Shakespeare, but our focus is different. We want to bring women together and empower them. This is an event – a happening,” says Kathi Glist, one of the show’s producers. “It resonates with just about any woman over 40, but it is enjoyed by all. And the men laugh just as hard,” she adds.

Menopause The Musical^® has entertained audiences across the country in more than 250 cities and in a total of 14 countries. Internationally, the show has visited Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, United Kingdom, Singapore, South Africa, and South Korea. Each week women of all ages and stages find their spirits lifted by the show’s light-hearted look at menopause. No longer is it The Silent Passage! Visit www.MenopauseTheMusical.com or www.dallassummermusicals.org for more information.

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For media information or reviewers’ passes, or to schedule interviews, please contact Jo Ann Holt at 469-363-7371 or email joannholt@gmail.com.