ROCK OF AGES, DREAMGIRLS, WEST SIDE STORY & DisneyÂ's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Part of The McCallum TheatreÂ's Starry 25th Anniversary Season Line-Up

The McCallum Theatre, the Coachella Valley's premiere theatrical venue, will celebrate its 25^th Anniversary Season with a star-studded lineup of Classical Music, Jazz, Cabaret, Comedy and a Broadway Blockbuster Series which includes Rock of Ages, Dreamgirls and West Side Story. The season kicks off on August 31 with comedy legend Steve Martin joined by the Grammy nominated Steep Canyon Rangers. This wonderfully eclectic season also includes Pink Martini, Howie Mandell, Barbara Cook, Michael Feinstein, Elaine Page and Yo-Yo Ma, to name a few.

The McCallum Theatre opened its doors on January 2, 1988 with a gala performance honoring Bob Hope that was nationally televised. Since the, the intimate 1100 seat McCallum has been the Coachella Valley's mecca for world-class entertainment and, due to audience demand, has expanded its Broadway and Cabaret offerings for this Silver Anniversary Season. Other highlights include Jazz Artists Boney James, George Benson, and Chris Botti, Humorists David Sedaris and Gary Muledeer, and international sensations Kenny Rogers, The Ten Tenors and Blue Man Group. 

"Our audience has very high expectations" says The McCallum's Director of Presentations and Theatre Operations, Mitch Gershenfeld. "Fortunately our audience, for large measure, has resources that allow us to bring in fairly substantial artists into a very small auditorium (1100 seats). I think the level of talent you see here you normally see in venues two or three times our size. Our audience has very high expectations and we have to work very hard to serve that audience. We also have the broader community – the people who are here year-round – and we certainly reach out to that audience and we try to make things affordable; we try to do different kinds of things that appeal to different audiences."

Additional productions will be added over the summer, but the preliminary season rundown is as follows: 

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers Fri, August 31 8:00 pm

Pink Martini Sat, September 8 8:00 pm

Howie Mandel Sat, September 20 8:00 pm

Benise Fri, November 2 8:00 pm

Dan Zanes and Friends Sun, November 4 3:00 pm

Boz Skaggs Sat, November 17 8:00 pm

Riders In the Sky Sun, November 19 3:00 pm

Rock Of Ages  Fri, November 23 8:00 pm   Sat, November 24 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm                   Sun, November 25  2:00 pm and 7:00 pm

David Sedaris Mon, November 26 8:00 pm

Steve Soloman's "My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm Hone for the Holidays" Sat, December 1 8:00 pm Sun, December 2 2:00pm and 8:00 pm

Straight No Chaser Tue, December 4 8:00 pm

Moscow Classical Ballet The Nutcracker Tue, December 18 7:00 pm

The Highwaymen Sat, January 12 8:00 pm

Neil Berg's 101 Years of Broadway Tue, January 15 8:00 pm and Wed, January 16 8:00 pm

The New York Tenors Thu, January 17 8:00 pm and  Fri, January 18 8:00 pm

Manhattan Transfer Sat, January 19 8:00 pm

Gary Mule Deer Sun, January 20 8:00 pm

Marvin Hamlisch Mon, January 21 8:00 pm

David Green is the Executive Director of The Carol Channing-Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts -- working to restore the Arts to our nation’s public schools and provide an arts education to every child in America. He is the founder and President of the nationally acclaimed Conservatory Musical Theatre University, a training ground for talented young people with aspirations for careers in theatre, most specifically musical theatre. Mr. Green's Broadway alumni include Tony -nominee Matthew Morrison, Stephanie Block, Lindsay Mendez, Scott Barnhardt, Anneliese VanDerPol and Krysta Rodriguez, to name a few. As a producer and director, he has staged over 150 theatrical productions for both educational and professional theatre and with such stars as Carol Channing, Cathy Rigby, Jonelle Allen, Eric Kunze, Davis Gaines, Stephanie Zimbalist, John Raitt, Betty Garrett and more. Mr. Green is honored to serve the Inland Empire of Southern California as a contributor to BroadwayWorld.

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