Velveteen Rabbit comes to life in new family musical

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

November 15, 2007

With an original score, puppets, masked actors, and magic, the book The Velveteen Rabbit will come to life with Enchantment Theatre Company’s brand new musical version of the classic tale. A delightfully new experience in family entertainment, this imaginative production comes to The Paramount Theater on Tuesday, November 27 for a special 6 pm show.

This performance is sponsored in honor of Peyton Anne LaPlume.

Based on Margery Williams’ beloved book, Enchantment Theatre’s Velveteen Rabbit tells the story of a plush toy bunny brought to life through the transforming power of a boy’s love. The production offers surprises galore, including larger-than-life puppets and spectacular magic that will captivate audiences both young and old.

While the story of The Velveteen Rabbit is familiar to many, the music is new. Highly-respected composer-arranger Don Sebesky -- whose enormous body of work has received 25 Grammy nominations (three time winner), three Tony nominations (2000 winner), two Drama Desk Awards, and three Emmy Award nominations -- was inspired by his great appreciation for the classic bedtime story he and his wife read to their daughters.

A work in progress for years, Sebesky collaborated with lyricist Gloria Nissenson (Parents Choice Award winner) and his singer/songwriter wife Janina Serden to write and record songs for The Velveteen Rabbit (the CD of which was produced in 2007).

Searching for the ideal theatrical company to bring Sebesky’s music to the stage, New York-based Healy Entertainment selected Enchantment Theatre Company above other family theater troupes for the national tour of The Velveteen Rabbit. “I envisioned a marriage between Enchantment Theatre’s unique style of storytelling and Don Sebesky’s music,” says president and Producer Elizabeth Healy. “It’s a wonderful union because each entity enhances each other’s work, bringing a quality production to the stage.”

Sebesky agrees. “My vision was the music and the CD, but Enchantment Theatre has presented their own adaptation of the music and book, drawing on mime, magic and puppets to tell the story. The result is an exciting and moving performance.”

Founded in 1979, Enchantment Theatre Company has taken its original productions all over the world, touring the Far East six times, and performing in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. It also has performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Enchantment Theatre stages additional repertoire with symphony orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, with which it collaborated on a theatrical adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” at The Kimmel Center.

An hour long, the 6 pm show of The Velveteen Rabbit on Tuesday, November 27 will feature a post-performance question and answer session. Tickets are $25.50, with a special $15.50 Youth/Child price for those aged twelve and under. Half-price student rush seats and group discounts are also available.

Tickets are currently on sale online and through The Paramount's Box Office at 434.979.1933.

For more about Enchantment Theatre Company and their production of The Velveteen Rabbit, please visit www.enchantmenttheatre.org.