PRESS RELEASE

The WEST COAST PREMIERE of SPRING AWAKENING

Winner of 8 Tony Awards® including BEST MUSICAL;

Coming to San Diego’s Historic BALBOA THEATRE

AUGUST 15 – 31, 2008

“An unexpected jolt of sudden genius!”

Clive Barnes, New York Post

Broadway’s most talked about new musical and the biggest Tony Award®-winner in years is coming to San Diego. Spring Awakening, the 8-time Tony Award® winning Broadway musical, will open at the historic Balboa Theatre and play for two and a half weeks August 15 - 31. Presented by Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation, the San Diego engagement will be the West Coast premiere of Spring Awakening, and the first major Broadway production to play in the newly-renovated Balboa Theatre in its 84 year history.

Spring Awakening swept the 2007 Tony Awards® winning eight out of its eleven nominations, including Best Musical, Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Book (Steven Sater), Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), Best Featured Actor (John Gallagher Jr.).

Hailed as the “Best Musical of the Year” by the NY Drama Critics Circle, the Drama Desk, the Outer Critics Circle and the Tony Awards®, Spring Awakening has emerged as the most talked about new musical on Broadway.

“Broadway may never be the same.

This brave new musical, haunting and electrifying by turns, restores the mystery and the thrill to that shattering transformation that stirs in all of our souls.”

Charles Isherwood, The New York Times

Based on the infamous 1891 Frank Wedekind play, Spring Awakening features an electrifying score by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, direction by Michael Mayer, choreography by award-winning Bill T. Jones and Book by Mr. Sater.

Set against the backdrop of a repressive and provincial late 19th century Germany, Spring Awakening tells the timeless story of teenage self-discovery and budding sexuality as seen through the eyes of three teenagers. Haunting and provocative, Spring Awakening celebrates an unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood and answers the questions teenagers have been asking forever.

“A miracle that must be seen to be believed … The best new musical in a generation.”

John Heilpern, The New York Observer

“We are delighted to host the West Coast Premiere of Spring Awakening, as our first presentation in the historic Balboa Theatre,” stated Joe Kobryner, Vice President of the Nederlander Organization, the parent company of Broadway/San Diego. “It’s the perfect blend of a timeless work, performed in a legendary theatre – each having been refreshed and updated. In both cases the old is made new again in artistically satisfying ways.”

“The opportunity to present this Tony® Award-winning musical is a testament to our city’s devotion to extraordinary theatrical achievements, whether they begin here, and go to Broadway, or come from Broadway directly to San Diego first,” added General Manager, Diane Willcox. “This show is groundbreaking, compelling, and challenging as well as entertaining – the kind of work San Diego audiences have come to expect, and that we are honored to provide.”

Set design is by Christine Jones, costume design is by Tony Award-winner Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Tony Award-winner Kevin Adams and sound design by Brian Ronan.

Spring Awakening opened on Broadway on December 10, 2006 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, following its world premiere at the Atlantic Theatre Co. The original cast recording of Spring Awakening has recently been nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Spring Awakening is produced by Ira Pittelman, Tom Hulce, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and the Atlantic Theatre Co.

“The most explosive new musical since RENT!”

Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger

Spring Awakening contains mature themes, sexual situations and strong language.

Performance Schedule, August 15 - 31: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7PM; Thursday at 7:30PM; Friday at 8PM; Saturday at 2PM and 8PM; Sunday at 1PM & 6PM. Additional matinee performance on Thursday August 28 at 1PM; no Sunday evening performance on August 31. The Balboa Theatre is located at 868 Fourth Avenue at E Street, San Diego CA 92101.
Tickets will range from $15. - $85.

www.springawakening.com

IRA PITTELMAN won a Tony Award® in 2002 for Private Lives starring Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan. In that same year he co-produced TopDog/UnderDog, which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for (Best) Drama. His additional Broadway credits include the acclaimed revival of The Iceman Cometh starring Kevin Spacey, Neil Simon’s The Dinner Party starring Henry Winkler and John Ritter, Stones In His Pockets, 45 Seconds From Broadway, Baz Luhrman’s production of La Boheme and Mark Twain Tonight starring Hal Holbrook and Neil Simon's The Odd Couple starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. His Off-Broadway productions include; Our Lady of 121st Street, Border Clash with Staceyanne Chin and Loves Fire which featured new works by Wendy Wasserstein, Tony Kushner, John Guare, and Marsha Norman, among others. His London credits include The Prisoner of Second Avenue starring Richard Dreyfus and Marsha Mason and Collected Stories with Helen Mirren. Mr. Pittelman has also been active in the music industry for more than thirty years as a producer and co-founder of Heartland Music. Over that period he has worked with artist as diverse as Placido Domingo, John Denver, Randy Newman, Johnny Mathis, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, George Strait, Smokey Robinson and Ringo Starr.

TOM HULCE Tom Hulce starred in Equus and A Few Good Men (Broadway), The Normal Heart (London’s West End), and Hamlet (The Shakespeare Theater). Mr. Hulce’s films include Amadeus, Dominick and Eugene, Parenthood, The Inner Circle, Animal House, Fearless, Echo Park, Slam Dance, Wings of Courage and in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony®, four Golden Globes, two Helen Hayes and an Emmy (which he won for The Heidi Chronicles). In addition to Spring Awakening, Mr. Hulce has shepherded two other major projects to fruition; the greatly acclaimed six-hour two-evening stage adaptation of John Irving’s The Cider House Rules and Talking Heads, a festival of Alan Bennett’s solo plays which won 6 Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, a special Outer Critics Circle Award, and a NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. He produced the film of Michael Cunningham’s A Home at the End of the World, directed by Michael Mayer and featuring a score by Duncan Sheik and two original songs by Mr. Sheik and Steven Sater, which premiered in 2004. Mr. Hulce is concurrently shepherding a new musical project by Keith Bunin and Grammy Award nominated singer-songwriter Patty Griffin towards its spring 2007 premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company.

JEFFREY RICHARDS (Producer) Broadway: David Mamet’s November; Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming; Tracy Lett’s August: Osage County; Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio starring Live Schreiber; August Wilson’s Radio Golf; David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross (Tony Award®); The Pajama Game(Tony Award®) starring Harry Connick Jr; Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial; Matthew Barber’s Enchanted April; A Thousand Clowns, starring Tom Selleck, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award). Off-Broadway: Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story ( Outer Critics Circle Award); David Ives’ Mere Mortals; The Compleat Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Peter Ackerman’s Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight.

JERRY FRANKEL (Producer) Credits include: November; The Homecoming; August: Osage County; Talk Radio starring Live Schreiber; Radio Golf; Glengarry Glen Ross (winner 2005 Tony Award® for Best Revival); Death of a Salesman (Tony Award®); Enchanted April (winner Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony-nominated® for Best Play); Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (winner Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play); The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Jekyll & Hyde; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Drama Desk Award). Mr. Frankel has presented numerous productions at the Park Cities Playhouse in Dallas including Love Letters with Charlton Heston, and Shakespeare for My Father with Lynn Redgrave.

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Managing Director) is the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre that produces great stories simply and truthfully, utilizing an artistic ensemble. Since its inception 21 years ago, Atlantic has produced more than 100 plays, including the Tony Award-nominated The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh and his Tony Award-winning production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane; the world premiere of David Mamet’s Romance; Harold Pinter’s The Room and Celebration; Woody Allen’s Writer’s Block; the world premiere of Spring Awakening; the Pulitzer Prize-nominated The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones; The Cider House Rules, adapted by Peter Parnell; Conor McPherson’s Dublin Carol; and Tina Howe’s translation of Eugene Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano and The Lesson.

DUNCAN SHEIK (Music) In addition to writing the music for Spring Awakening, Grammy award nominated singer–songwriter Duncan Sheik has collaborated with Playwright Steven Sater on The Nightingale, a musical based on the Hans Christian Andersen classic which is currently playing in New York as a private workshop production. Sheik has composed original music for the Public Theatre's Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night and for The Golden Rooms of Nero, which opened at the Magic Theater in San Francisco earlier this year. His self-titled debut album was an enormous popular and critical success and spent 30 weeks on the Billboard 200. Other albums include "Humming," "Daylight," "Phantom Moon" and "White Limousine.” His latest release, Brighter/Later, is a two-disc anthology of his Atlantic/Nonesuch albums. Sheik also composed and produce the original score for the feature film A Home at the End of the World, and his songs have laced the soundtracks of dozens of movies and TV shows.

STEVEN SATER (Book & Lyrics) won the 2007 Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score for his work on Spring Awakening. His plays include the long-running Carbondale Dreams, Perfect for You, Doll (Rosenthal Prize, Cincinnati Playhouse), Umbrage (Steppenwolf New Play Prize), A Footnote to the Iliad (New York Stage and Film, The Miniature Theatre of Chester), Asylum (Naked Angels), Murder at the Gates (commissioned by Eye of the Storm), In Search of Lost Wings (Sanford Meisner) and a reconceived version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, with music by Laurie Anderson, which played London's Lyric Hammersmith and toured internationally. In addition to Spring Awakening, Sater has collaborated with Duncan Sheik on the NY premiere of Umbrage (HERE), Nero (The Magic Theatre), The Nightingale (O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference, La Jolla Playhouse), the critically-acclaimed album Phantom Moon (Nonesuch), and the songs for Michael Mayer's feature film A Home at the End of the World.

MICHAEL MAYER (Director) received the 2007 Tony Award as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for this production. Other Broadway: ‘night Mother, After the Fall; Thoroughly Modern Millie (Drama Desk Award and Tony® nomination); An Almost Holy Picture; Uncle Vanya; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Tony® nomination); The Lion in Winter; Side Man (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards); A View From the Bridge (Drama Desk award, Outer Critics Circle and Tony® nominations); Triumph of Love. Off-Broadway credits include Dawn Upshaw in Round About at Lincoln Center, The Credeaux Canvas, Stupid Kids, Antigone in New York, Baby Anger, View of the Dome, Missing Persons, America Dreaming, Hundreds of Hats. National tour: Angels in America (Jefferson and Carbonell awards). West End: Thoroughly Modern Millie, Side Man. Film: A Home at the End of the World, Flicka. Mr. Mayer received the 2007 Drama League Award for Excellence in Direction.

BILL T. JONES (Choreographer) received the 2007 Tony Award for this production of Spring Awakening. He also won the 2006 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for the New York Theatre Workshop’s production The Seven. Mr. Jones began his career choreographing and performing worldwide as a soloist and duet company with his late partner, Arnie Zane before forming the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. Creating more than 100 works for his own company, Mr. Jones has also choreographed for numerous companies worldwide. In 1994, Mr. Jones received a MacArthur "Genius" Award. Bill T. Jones has been awarded several New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Awards; the 2005 Wexner Prize, the 2005 Samuel Scripps American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, a 2005 Harlem Renaissance Award and the 2003 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. In 2000, The Dance Heritage Coalition named Mr. Jones "An Irreplaceable Dance Treasure."

KIMBERLY GRIGSBY (Music Director) Broadway: The Light in the Piazza: Caroline, or Change; The Full Monty; You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Twelfth Night (music by Jeanine Tesori). Off- Broadway: Mother Courage; Spring Awakening; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Songs From An Unmade Bed; Junie B. Jones; Caroline, or Change; The Immigrant; Radiant Baby; Twelfth Night (music by Duncan Sheik). Ms. Grigsby holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and Manhattan School of Music.

CHRISTINE JONES (Set Designer) Broadway: The Green Bird directed by Julie Taymor. Off-Broadway: Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park) (Playwrights): Burn This (Signature Theatre); Flesh And Blood, Nocturne (NYTW); True Love (The Zipper). Opera: Giulio Cesare Houston Grand Opera, Lucia Di Lammermoor, (New York City Opera), The Elephant Man (Minnesota Opera). Current: The Onion Cellar in development with The Dresden Dolls for A.R.T.; Leonard Cohen’s The Book of Longing, a staged concert by Philip Glass. M.F.A. from NYU, Professor at Princeton University and NYU.

SUSAN HILFERTY (Costume Designer) has designed more than 200 productions for theatres across America and internationally. Her directorial collaborators include Athol Fugard (set, costumes, co-director), James Lapine, Robert Falls, Robert Woodruff, Joe Mantello, JoAnne Akalaitis, the late Garland Wright, Mark Lamos, Frank Galati, Des McAnuff, Sharon Ott, David Petrarca, Richard Nelson, Chris Ashley, Marion McClinton, Laurie Anderson, Tony Kushner, Carole Rothman, Mark Linn-Baker, Garry Hynes and Emily Mann. Recent work: Assassins, Into the Woods (Hewes Award, Tony® nomination), Lapine's Fran's Bed, Jitney, Dirty Blonde, Love Stories (Alvin Ailey) and Rodney's Wife. Elton John's Lestat; Manon, L.A. Opera; and August Wilson's play Radio Golf. She designs opera, film, TV and dance and chairs the Department of Design for Stage/Film at NYU Tisch. Her numerous awards include 2004 Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for Wicked.

KEVIN ADAMS (Lighting Designer) Broadway includes Spring Awakening (2007 Tony Award for Best Lighting of a Musical), Passing Strange, The 39 Steps, Take Me Out, The Good Body (national tour), Sexaholix (HBO and national tour), Hedda Gable. Off-Broadway he designed the pop/rock shows Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening, Passing Strange, Next to Normal and Betty Rules as well as new work by Edward Albee, Terrence McNally, Neil Simon, Christopher Durang, Paula Vogel, Anna Deveare Smith, Eric Bogosian, Rinde Eckert and Charles Mee, Jr. Other: Steppenwolf Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, PS 122, CBGB Gallery, Grand Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera. Concerts: Audra McDonald (Joe's Pub, Town Hall, Lincoln Center, American Songbook), Patti LuPone, (Gypsy, Candide, Anyone Can Whistle), Sandra Bernhard, The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs in two nights at Lincoln Center). For his work Off-Broadway he received Lortel Awards in 1998 and 2007 and a 2002 Obie for Sustained Excellence. www.ambermylar.com

BRIAN RONAN (Sound Design) Broadway: Grey Gardens, Pajama Game, All Shook Up, 12 Angry Men, Master Harold and the Boys, Look of Love, The Boys from Syracuse, Fortune's Fool, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, The Rainmaker, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Little Me, Cabaret, Triumph of Love, 1776 and State Fair. Off-Broadway: Bug.

SIMON HALE (String Orchestrations) After graduating from the University of London with an honours degree in composition, Simon Hale’s acclaimed solo album, East Fifteen, led to recordings with many artistes, including George Benson, Simply Red, Jamiroquai and Björk. In 1996 he orchestrated Duncan Sheik’s first album, and their musical collaboration has continued ever since. Simon is very proud to be involved with Spring Awakening, as it not only marks his tenth year of working with Duncan, but also his Broadway debut