Another Banner Season is Scheduled at The Bushnell for 09-10!
From song and dance to football to Tupperware, The Bushnell has something for everyone! Tickets go on sale Monday, June 22 at 10 a.m.
June 1, 2009 – HARTFORD, CT – The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts is ramping up for the 2009-2010 season and the single ticket on-sale days are about to begin. On Monday, June 22, 2009 at 10 a.m., six exciting shows will go on sale.
Tickets can be purchased in-person at The Bushnell Box Office, located at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford, by calling The Bushnell Box Office at 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org. Group leaders may order tickets by calling 860-987-5959 or by emailing groups@bushnell.org.
Rhythm & Passion
September 19, 2009
Mortensen Hall
This stunning show features world renowned international artists in a full display of music, color, energy, rhythm and passion. The Rhythm & Passion show is the only one of its kind, taking audiences on a journey through time with a multitude of genres ranging from the sizzling Afro-Cuban rhythms of the Salsa, the sensuous Tango, and the explosive Gauchos. The international cast performs before a backdrop of exquisite period scenery, re-creating the settings where these passionate and sensual dances were born to the evolution of the modern interpretation of these dances.
Tickets: Starting at $18.50
A New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
October 6-11, 2009
Mortensen Hall
Part of The Hartford Financial Services Group Broadway Series
The classic Mel Brooks movie is ALIVE...and it's headed here! You'll have a monstrously good time at this spectacular new production. This wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend follows bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that’s Fronkensteen) as he attempts to create a monster – but not without scary and hilarious complications. The brains behind the laughter is mad genius and three-time Tony® winner Mel Brooks himself – who wrote the music and lyrics and co-wrote the book – along with his record-breaking team from The Producers: five-time Tony®-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman and three-time Tony®-winning writer, Thomas Meehan.
Tickets: Starting at $15.00
Runt of the Litter
October 27, 2009
Belding Theater
A Father’s expectations. A son’s dream. A brother’s rivalry. He was 2nd to one.
Written and performed by Bo Eason, Runt of the Litter opens in the final hour of Bo’s lifelong dream; only one thing stands in his way -- his brother. The play looks at what happens to two brothers in a family of over-achievers: when their parents assure their oldest son he is destined for football superstardom, and tell their youngest son he is too small to compete. A line in the family sand is drawn that colors the rest of their lives. Runt of the Litter is a semiautobiographical account of Bo Eason's life and career as a defensive back for the Houston Oilers in the 1980’s. His determination and killer instincts on the playing field remain the stuff of legend. His brother, Tony Eason was the quarterback who led the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl in 1986. Recommended for 18+.
Tickets: Starting at $18.00
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder
November 6, 2009
Mortensen Hall
2009 marks Ricky's 38th year as a professional musician, and this fourteen-time Grammy Award winner continues to do his part to lead the recent roots revival in music. Known affectionately today as bluegrass music's official ambassador, Ricky has brought the genre to greater levels of popularity in the past few years than the father of bluegrass music, the legendary Bill Monroe, could ever have imagined. With eight consecutive Grammy-nominated classics behind him, all from his own Skaggs Family Records label (Bluegrass Rules! in 1998, Ancient Tones in 1999, both Soldier of the Cross and Big Mon: The Songs of Bill Monroe in 2000, History of the Future in 2001, Live at the Charleston Music Hall in 2003, Brand New Strings in 2005, and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Instrumentals in 2007), bluegrass music is undoubtedly in good hands, with the masterful Skaggs at the helm. Visit www.rickyskaggs.com.
Tickets: Starting at $20.00
Dixie’s Tupperware Party
November 13-15, 2009
Autorino Great Hall
Dixie Longate, the fast-talking Tupperware Lady, packed up her catalogues, left her children in an Alabama trailer park and took Off-Broadway by storm! Now join Dixie as she travels the country throwing good ol' fashioned Tupperware parties filled with outrageously funny tales, heartfelt accounts, FREE giveaways, audience participation and the most fabulous assortment of Tupperware ever sold on a theater stage. Loaded with the most up-to-date products available for purchase, see for yourself how Ms. Longate became the #1 Tupperware seller in the U.S. & Canada as she educates her guests on the many alternative uses she has discovered for her plastic products!
Tickets: $32.00
August: Osage County
November 17-22, 2009
Mortensen Hall
Part of The Hartford Financial Services Group Broadway Series
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award® for Best Play, Steppenwolf’s August: Osage County is a grand, gripping new play that tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with matriarch Violet (played by Academy Award®-winner Estelle Parsons), a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of this storm. Written by Tracy Letts and directed by Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County is a rare theatrical event – a large-scale work filled with unforgettable characters, a powerful tale told with unflinching honesty. The New York Times cheers, “August: Osage County is flat-out, without qualification, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years,” and Time Magazine named August: Osage County the “#1 Show of the Year!”
Recommended for mature audiences. Contains strong language.
Tickets: Starting at $15.00
Ticket Information
• Individual tickets for all of the above performances go on sale to the public on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. Tickets may be purchased by visiting The Bushnell Box Office, located at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford, or by calling 860-987-5900. Tickets will also be available online at www.bushnell.org.
• Subscriptions to The Hartford Financial Services Group Broadway Series are available now. The 2009-2010 series includes: A New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, August: Osage County, Christmas with the Rat Pack – Live at The Sands, In The Heights, Spring Awakening, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, and Porgy and Bess.
• For information on group sales, please call 860-987-5959 or email groups@bushnell.org.
• Prices do not include applicable fees.
About The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
The Bushnell is Connecticut’s premier performing arts center, hosting more than 350 events yearly, including major Broadway tours, symphony orchestras, family presentations, local arts and community events. The Bushnell is home to two theaters- the historic 2,800-seat Mortensen Hall, and the 907-seat Belding Theater, a state-of-the-art performance hall that opened in 2001. The Bushnell’s nationally-recognized arts-in-education program, PARTNERS (Partners in Arts and Education Revitalizing Schools), now in its 16th year, is a cross-community educational effort serving 15 schools in 6 districts throughout the Greater Hartford area. The Bushnell opened in January 1930 and is a non-profit organization. For more information, call The Bushnell at (860) 987-6000, The Bushnell Box Office at (860) 987-5900 or visit our website at www.bushnell.org.
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With support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.




