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CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK CELEBRATES 15 YEARS OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL WITH A BRAND NEW SCROOGE! Tickets on sale beginning tomorrow for this holiday favorite and all 2005-2006 season shows (CINCINNATI) – The holiday spirit will arrive early at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park as The Stona Fitch Family and KeyBank presentation of A Christmas Carol celebrates 15 years with a brand new Ebenezer Scrooge. Bruce Cromer, who has spent eight years with the production in the role of the kindly clerk Bob Cratchit, will portray the season’s most famous curmudgeon when the show returns December 1 to 30 in the Playhouse’s Robert S. Marx Theatre. Tickets go on sale tomorrow for this favorite Tristate tradition, as well as for all of the shows in the Playhouse’s 2005-2006 season. According to Michael Haney, Playhouse associate artistic director and the director of A Christmas Carol, “I’m really looking forward to working with Bruce on the role of Scrooge. He is one of the most exciting and inventive actors that I know. His eight years of experience with this production will make the transition from Joneal Joplin, our previous Scrooge, seamless. I’m certain Bruce will be a marvelous and perfect fit.” Tickets for A Christmas Carol go on sale exclusively on the Playhouse’s web site, www.cincyplay.com, beginning Friday, August 19. Tickets go on sale by phone at 513/421-3888 or in person through the Playhouse box office beginning Monday, August 22. Those who purchase tickets between August 19 and August 26 can receive $5 off the price of each adult admission for the December 1 through December 8 performances of the show. (Some restrictions apply.) A Christmas Carol is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year at the Playhouse, and it remains one of the best-loved events of the holiday season. The Playhouse’s version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale is a combination of faithful storytelling and lavish spectacle. Adapted by Howard Dallin, the fable of Scrooge and his night among the spirits blends with dazzling costumes and special effects to create a fun-filled event for the entire family. The show features a cast of more than 30 actors, including nine local children. Bruce Cromer is a favorite local actor, whose work has been seen not only at the Playhouse — in productions that also include King Lear and Barrymore — but also on numerous area stages, including Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. Regionally, he has performed at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Santa Fe Stages, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. He is an associate professor of theatre at Wright State University, a resident artist at The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton and a certified teacher and fight director with the Society of American Fight Directors. Regular prices for A Christmas Carol range from $38 to $51 depending on day and seat location. Tickets are $35 for the preview performance on Thursday, December 1. Tickets for children ages five to 12 range from just $15 to $20. Due to the full-length nature of the show, children under the age of five cannot be admitted. Single tickets also go on sale for all productions in the Playhouse’s 2005-2006 season. Tickets purchased between August 19 and August 26 to performances in the first week of each production are half off the regular price. Some restrictions apply. Prices range from $32.50 to $54.50 depending on the production, day and seat location. For tickets or more information, call the Playhouse box office at 513/421-3888 or toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800/582-3208. Call 513/345-2248 for TDD accessibility. For single tickets purchased by telephone through the Playhouse box office there is a $3 convenience fee per call. Tickets also can be purchased on the Playhouse web site at www.cincyplay.com. The Playhouse’s 2005-2006 season kicks off on September 6 with one of the funniest musicals ever written, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. With a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart (creator of Tootsie and MASH ) and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, this Tony Award winner for best musical is a marvelous mixture of mischief, mishaps, mistaken identities, misunderstandings and mayhem. Audiences will return to ancient Rome where a crafty slave attempts to win his freedom by arranging the elopement of his brainless, innocent master to an equally brainless, innocent courtesan. Singing, dancing and (almost) a human sacrifice all combine in an evening’s entertainment — tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! Forum is sponsored by The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. Artists fly to and from Cincinnati on Delta Connection Comair, the Playhouse’s official airline. The Playhouse is supported, in part, by the generosity of the tens of thousands of individuals and businesses that give to the Fine Arts Fund. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Playhouse with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The Playhouse also receives funding from the City of Cincinnati.### |