(Beverly Hills, CA May 25) This June, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts celebrates Pride Month with two very special programs that put the spotlight on the LGBTQ community. On Saturday, June 3 at 8pm, The Wallis welcomes the return of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles performing a special celebratory Pride @ The Wallis concert featuring the music of Cindy Lauper, Melissa Etheridge, Radiohead and Rodgers & Hammerstein, and more. Beginning June 8 through July 9, The Wallis’ Artist-in-Residence Michael Arden tackles the issues of emotional isolation, love and the evolution of gay identity in the Los Angeles premiere of The Pride, Alexi Kaye Campbell’s highly provocative Olivier Award-winning play.
“For almost 40 years, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles has brought the beauty of choral music to the greater L.A. community and we are thrilled to welcome them back to The Wallis,” said Paul Crewes, Artistic Director for The Wallis.
“The Pride is without doubt a remarkable piece of writing exploring relationships and our changing attitudes towards sexuality,” continued Crewes. “It certainly is a play very relevant today, and I’m delighted that we can present its Los Angeles debut along with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles during the upcoming Pride Month celebrations.”
Single tickets for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles are now available for $39 – $59 at TheWallis.org/GMCLA, and for The Pride for $40 – $75 at TheWallis.org/Pride. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit TheWallis.org, call 310.746.4000, or stop by in person at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Services located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Ticket prices subject to change.
About The Pride:
The Pride—starring Neal Bledsoe, Jessica Collins, Augustus Prew and Matthew Wilkas, and directed by Tony Award-nominee Michael Arden—is an elegantly-drawn elliptical play that alternates between two very distinct time periods and the lives of three characters whose fate is written by their eras. Oliver, Philip, and Sylvia are caught in a kind of erotic time warp. Their complex love triangle, replete with conflicting loyalties and passions, jumps from 1958 to 2008 and back in a maelstrom of fantasy, repression and rebellion in this innovative new drama. As the play continues, we realize that these characters share the same names and are shadows of one another. Philip, Oliver and Sylvia are all fighting for what they hope will be an easier life than the one they have known. The actions that they take in 1958 mirror, affect and illustrate those that take place in 2008. Playwright Alexi Kaye Campbell’s witty dialogue and perceptive observations bring the characters to vivid life as it explores fate, love, fidelity and forgiveness. The Pride asks questions about contemporary life (gay and straight), without presuming to answer any of them concretely. The Pride received the Laurence Olivier Award, the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and the John Whiting Award for Best New Play in 2009.
About the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles:
For over 38 years, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles has built an international reputation for musical excellence while remaining deeply rooted in service to the Los Angeles community. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “one of the last important links to a glorious tradition in music,” GMCLA is one of the country’s largest male choruses with over 250 singers. GMCLA has commissioned more than 600 new works and arrangements, released fifteen albums, appears frequently on national television, and is the first openly gay chorus to tour central Europe (1991), broadcast over Russian television (1999), tour South America (2006), and perform for two sitting U.S. Presidents. GMCLA also has an extensive youth outreach program that brings a message of love, acceptance, and hope and has reached over 50,000 students in the Los Angeles area through our Alive Music Project and an additional tens of thousands of young people nationally through our It Gets Better Tour. This year GMCLA expanded their educational outreach to include juvenile detention centers in the Los Angeles area as part of the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network.
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TICKET INFORMATION:
What:
Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Bram Goldsmith Theater
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210
When:
Saturday, June 3, 2017 at 8pm
Tickets:
Single tickets: $39 – $59 (prices subject to change)
Online – TheWallis.org/GMCLA
By Phone – 310.746.4000
Box Office – Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Service
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210
What:
The Pride
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Lovelace Studio Theater
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210
When:
June 8 – July 9, 2017
June 8 – 13, 2017 (Previews)
June 14, 2017 (Opening Night)
Performance Schedule: Tues – Fri at 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm & 7pm
Tickets:
Single tickets: $40 – $75 (prices subject to change)
Online – TheWallis.org/ThePride
By Phone – 310.746.4000
Box Office – Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Ticket Service
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210
