Actor Dustin Hoffman and Broadway Legend Barbara Cook, Saturday, September 20, 2008 Mezzo-Soprano Frederica von Stade with the Los Angeles Premiere of Jake Heggie's At the Statue of Venus, October 11th, 2008
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- After 10 years of consulting with
internationally lauded performing artists and administrators on their vision
of a "dream venue," The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage opens with two sold-out
concerts. Broadway Legend Barbara Cook inaugurates the performing arts center
in a program featuring songs composed by Stephen Sondheim, Rogers and
Hammerstein, Rogers and Hart, and Cole Porter. Mezzo-Soprano Frederica von
Stade opens the 2008/2009 Season with a concert featuring the Los Angeles
premiere of Jake Heggie's At the Statue of Venus with Soprano Kristin Clayton
and Libretto by Terrence McNally. Ms. von Stade will also sing works by
Mozart, Bernstein and Poulenc. Classical KUSC 91.5 FM will broadcast this
concert LIVE from The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage on October 11th at 8:15PM.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage is the only Los Angeles performing arts
center of its kind in both design and artistic intent. Envisioned by opera
singer turned director Dale Franzen and Actor Dustin Hoffman as a "global
theater," The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage aspires to be more than a traditional
performing arts venue. "Los Angeles is one of the world's cultural and
artistic centers, with world-class museums, theater, opera and symphony," said
Eli Broad at a press conference outside the new Broad Stage in Santa Monica.
"We have the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, and now the
Westside will have its own premiere performing arts venue."
In addition to presenting renowned and respected artists, The Eli and
Edythe Broad Stage's vision for the long-term is to serve as a "laboratory of
creative spontaneity," where performing artists can nurture new work and
collaborate in all performance disciplines and where audiences of all ages and
backgrounds are welcomed into a more intimate arts experience. "The Westside
of Los Angeles has never had anything of its kind," enthuses Dustin Hoffman,
Chairman of the Artistic Advisory Board. "What makes it unique is that it's a
stage for dance, opera, and musicals ... It's also an intimate theater and it
looks great."
Prior to the gala inaugural opening, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage
presented three "soft-openings" in August to test the versatility of the
multi-use performance hall's unique acoustical design. Designed by Santa
Monica-based architect Renzo Zecchetto and with acoustic design by the
internationally renowned firm, JaffeHolden, led by Chairman and Director of
Design Mark Holden. The Broad Stage posed a particular acoustical challenge,
and Principal Acousticians on the project Mark Reber and Oveal Walker worked
in close collaboration with Zecchetto tweaking the angles of the walls without
altering the basic geometric structure of the striking architecture. Given the
hall's multi-use programming and unique interior geometry -- aesthetically
modern yet complicated and visually very different than anything done before
-- The Broad Stage provided unique challenges for JaffeHolden, whose
architectural acoustics have been celebrated in some of the world's major
performing arts centers, including the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center.
Architecturally, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage is unique in providing the
intimate immediacy of a 499-seat hall yet with a variable proscenium and a
stage comparable to UCLA's 1,833-seat Royce Hall, able to accommodate a full
orchestra, even beyond a 45-musician orchestra pit. Designed and built from
the stage out to suit the sensibilities of world-class artists, presenting
work on any scale, and with artistic dimensions that embrace the creative
process from inception to opening night, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage is
poised to become a vital and visionary cultural catalyst for Westside
audiences and for the city at large. "The Westside has always contributed
generously to the performing arts of Los Angeles but this may be our greatest
contribution yet," claims Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
Reinforcing that promise, within the complex, a smaller, black box theater
called The Edye Second Space "exists as an invitation to young artists and
audiences," says Franzen. Starting January 2009 performances in The Edye, the
Under the Radar Series will be presented for $20.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage was built at a cost of $45 million,
financed with a $35 million bond measure passed by the cities of Santa Monica
and Malibu in 2004; $5 million from other government agencies and from private
donors; and a bond measure for Santa Monica College improvements passed in
2002. "Embedded in the original Santa Monica College charter is the call for a
performing arts center, so The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage fulfills our mandate
and our traditions," explains Dr. Chui L. Tsang, president of Santa Monica
College. "Like KCRW, it is also a community 'service' of Santa Monica College,
a world-class global theater befitting our identity as a world-class leader in
education."
In its first season, educational programming also takes the spotlight at
The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage with a slate of master classes, workshops, a
residency, a lecture demonstration and open rehearsals. Free Family concerts
will feature creative interaction with performers -- including drumming
improvisation -- or celebrate significant achievements and individuals in arts
and culture in ways that are fun and inspiring for all.
Tickets for The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage 2008/09 Season and The Edye
Second Space are now on sale at http://www.TheBroadStage.com or call
310.434.3200. Tickets range from $20-$125.
Contact: Vanessa Butler
Vanessa Arts Marketing
213.446.0774
vanessa.butler@sbcglobal.net
SOURCE The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage
