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Appleton, WI June 2 - 7, 2009; Fox Cities PAC
Topic Started: Jan 27 2009, 07:42 PM (656 Views)
mouser
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June 2 thru 7, 2009


Fox Cities PAC.
400 W. College Avenue
Appleton, WI 54911
(920) 731-5000


TICKETS: Single tickets go on sale March 27, 2009. Groups on sale now.

Ticket Price:
$44 .
To purchase tickets when they are available, call Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787 or go online at www.foxcitiespac.com. Groups of 15 people or more can order tickets now by calling (920) 730-3786.
June 2 thru 5 shows at 7:30 PM
June 6 shows at 2 and 7:30 PM
June 7 shows at 1 and 6:30 PM


CAST: http://www.greaseonbroadway.com/

SEATING CAPACITY: 2100 people with the secondary hall, seating approximately 450 people. ...


SEATING CHART: Posted Image


THE VENUE:

Posted Image

The long-held dream of a major Fox Cities facility devoted to the performing arts is now a reality. Built to serve the cultural, educational and entertainment needs of our communities for generations. The performing arts possess an especially powerful language for eliciting emotion and compelling people to see, hear, feel, think and learn. Without an active, vibrant gathering place dedicated to this pursuit, however, the performing arts fall silent and still. Not a new dream — but a vital one.

The vision that became the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center has its beginning as long ago as the 1970’s. It was then that local arts groups and civic leaders have imagined a community gathering place in which to house the region’s wealth of performing artists — a place to educate and enlighten the community and our children — a stage from which to present some of the most spectacular and moving performing arts from around the world.

These visionaries understood the ongoing support of performing arts is crucial to the entire region’s quality of life. What the project needed at this point was a catalyst — an individual or corporation to take the lead and provide the initial momentum necessary to move this long-held dream successfully toward reality.

The fall of 1999 was a pivotal point for the dream of bringing a performing arts facility to the Fox Cities. It was then that Thrivent Financial for Lutherans stepped forward in overwhelming support of the Center.

Recognizing the opportunity to marry the community’s need for a performing arts center with its upcoming centennial celebration, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans contributed a very generous $8 million gift toward the goal — the largest philanthropic corporate gift in the history of the Fox Cities.

This was the starting point for the creation of the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

The Power of Collective Commitment
Following Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lead, both private and public sectors of the community embraced the vision and showed tremendous effort in bringing the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center to life.

In an unprecedented display of regional cooperation, 14 Fox Cities municipalities dedicated $8 million in hotel and motel room taxes to the construction of the Center. The City of Appleton also pledged an extra portion of their lodging tax toward the Center’s operational needs.

Once funding was underway, an optimal location was needed. The City of Appleton designated the site for the arts and entertainment complex, an ideal location along West College Avenue. The city’s economic Redevelopment Authority committed the $4.2 million necessary to acquire this land and prepare the site for the new theater.

Recognizing the positive impact the Center would have on our community, Kimberly-Clark Corporation contributed $3 million to create the Kimberly-Clark Theater, a 450-seat performance space within the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

Under the leadership of John Bergstrom, the Performing Arts Center’s board of directors and an army of volunteer fundraisers undertook a campaign to raise $45 million. This was the amount of funds needed to build the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

So that everyone in the region would have the opportunity to participate in the endeavor as a contributor, the committee sought support throughout the area. Local foundations, professionals, businesses and thousands of individuals within the community shared the dream of a performing arts center gave generously.

A Historic Mission. An Accomplished Team
After an extensive search, Zeidler Roberts Partnership, Inc. (ZRP) of Toronto, Canada, was hired to design the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.

With significant experience in the design of major performing arts facilities, ZRP began their extraordinary design work in January of 2000.

ZRP conceived of a structure as impressive as it is functional. The Center offers the area not only a spectacular addition to the architecture of the area, but a truly superior venue for accommodating local arts groups and those from around the world.

Another critical member of the design team, Artec, Inc., of New York, was selected to provide acoustical and theatrical consulting for the Center. Features of their design include an expansive acoustical panel that enhances and disperses sound throughout the main theater to provide an exceptional experience.

The Foundation and Future of the Arts
Finally, in May 2000, the O.J. Boldt Construction Company began work on this historic mission. Construction continued for the next 30 months as one of the most complex and long-awaited facilities to be built in the Fox Cities began to take shape in the heart of Appleton’s downtown.

An impressive structure, the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center was built using more than 21,000 cubic yards of concrete, 3.3 million pounds of reinforcing steel and 530 tons of structural steel.

The Curtain Rises on the Dream
For nearly 30 years, the people of this community have imagined what a gathering place for the performing arts could mean to the Fox Cities — the cultural programs it would create and enhance — the visitors it would draw to our doorstep.

We dreamed of a place where we could be entertained and inspired, educated and challenged — where we would be stimulated and invigorated by world-class talent. A place to see beyond our immediate world and deepen our insight as human beings.

That dream is now a reality. On with the show!
http://www.foxcitiespac.com/AboutUS/history.html



HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS:

http://www.foxcitiespac.com/visitorInfo/restaurants.html RESTAURANTS

http://www.foxcitiespac.com/visitorInfo/hotels.html HOTELS


POINTS OF INTEREST:

1. HEARTHSTONE HISTORIC HOUSE MUSEUM

Posted Image
First house in the world lit with an Edison central hydroelectric station September 30, 1882.
Hearthstone was lit on September 30, 1882 along with the Appleton Paper and Pulp Company and the Kimberly-Clark Vulcan Paper Mill. Only Hearthstone survives. This was the first time in the world that several buildings were lighted with a central hydroelectric station using the Edison system. Only one other central station in the nation existed. Thomas Edison's Pearl Street Station in New York City began its operation September 4, 1882. Edison's station was powered by steam and lit only businesses.
Hearthstone's rare 1882 Edison light switches and electroliers still are in operation. It is possible that Hearthstone is the sole surviving example of wiring and fixtures in their original location from the dawn of the electrical age.
William Waters, a prominent, Fox Valley, turn-of-the-century architect, designed the stunning home. He gained national recognition for his Wisconsin building at Chicago's 1893 World Columbian Exposition, and is noted for numerous prestigious private and public buildings throughout the Fox Cities, Oshkosh and Wisconsin.
Mr.& Mrs. Henry J. and Crimora Rogers and their daughter, Kitty, lived in their home approximately 11 years. They left Appleton in 1893. The house then changed hands nine times. In the 1930s it was a public restaurant called The Hearthstone because of its nine fireplaces.
In 1986 the City of Appleton considered razing the building. A grass-roots effort by 13 or more Appleton residents raised enough money to purchase the property in December 1986, saving it from destruction. The group formed the Friends of Hearthstone, Inc. and opened the home as a museum emphasizing its Edison heritage. The building is being restored to the historic era 1880-1895. Today guests from throughout the country and the world tour this amazing example of early domestic electricity.

http://www.focol.org/hearthstone/placeinhistory.htm


2. BADGER SPORTS PARK

W3225 Van Roy Road
Appleton WI USA
54915
920 830-6900

Have a fun family weekend at Badger Sports Park and enjoy all we have to offer! Mini Golf, GoKarts , Batting Cages, Game Room , Inflatable ( bounce house, caterpillar crawl, or giant slide )


MEDIA:

1,
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20090527/APC05/90527070/1033/+American+Idol++champ+Taylor+Hicks+brings+the+star+power+as++Grease++takes+us+back+to+Rydell+High



'American Idol' champ Taylor Hicks brings the star power as 'Grease' takes us back to Rydell High
By Kara Patterson • Post-Crescent staff writer • May 27, 2009

Soul Patrol, look no further. Recording artist Taylor Hicks of “American Idol” fame has earned his Broadway wings.


He’s the latest in a long line of celebrities who have crooned from above as the Teen Angel in “Grease,” including Frankie Avalon, Chubby Checker, Davy Jones and Jimmy Osmond. There even were a few lady Angels, like 1960s leading vocals powerhouse Darlene Love.

Hicks, 32, whose fans dubbed themselves the Soul Patrol during his 2006 run on “Idol,” reprises his Broadway role on the new national tour of “Grease,” playing Tuesday through Sunday at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton. He reflects on his first professional on-stage role, one which he says is allowing him to observe musical theater from a unique vantage point.

“It’s kind of a small but flashy role, and it’s almost an introductory role as well,” Hicks, a Birmingham, Ala. native, said via phone from a tour stop in Seattle, Wash. “It’s allowing me to begin acting for the first time and it’s allowing me to be in front of a live audience. It’s a signature role that has been made famous by different singers and actors. I just wanted to put my own spin on it so I designed my own costume and wrote some R&B horn lines. I ‘Taylorized’ it, so to speak.”

Jim Jacobs, co-creator of “Grease” alongside the late Warren Casey, will hold a post-show question-and-answer session for Wednesday ticket-holders at the PAC. The show follows the ups and downs of life inside and outside the fictional Rydell High during the late 1950s.

“Grease” originally opened in 1971 and premiered on Broadway in 1972, with a feature film onscreen in 1978. Jacobs and Casey brought “Grease” to life as a spoof on what Jacobs called “the old rock ’n’ roll, juvenile delinquent movies.”

“In all of those movies, even the early Elvis movies, they always found the guy who was moody and a rebel … at the end of the movie some girl … turned him into a fine, upstanding citizen,” said Jacobs, 66, a Chicago native who lives in California. “The deal was to do a twist on the ending of all of those movies and instead of the guy becoming this fine, upstanding citizen we were going to make the girl suddenly become the hottest chick in the gang and everybody was going to dig her.”

The writing duo loosely modeled some of the show’s archetypes and situations after people and events from Jacobs’ youth.

“We had high school dances and the drive-in movies and we stole hubcaps and there was a tough girls’ gang at my high school called the Pink Ladies who smoked and drank and were tougher than the guys,” Jacobs said. “It was the whole greasy era. The guys were always under the hoods of their cars and were always greasy, and (so were) the food and the burgers and the slimy fries, and the hair, the goop. Warren (Casey) just thought that was very funny. That was the root of the idea.”

Jacobs said at its heart, “Grease” is an ensemble show that celebrates coming of age and allows each character his or her moment to shine.

“It’s all the firsts in one’s life … the first romance, whether it was a girl or your first car … those growing pains. The hopes and fears and dreams of young kids,” he said.

The show also fulfills Jacobs’ dream of a musical with rock ’n’ roll at its core. Oldies-but-goodies booming through the house draw audience members to dance in the aisles before shows.

“The original reviews on ‘Grease’ were, oh, what a sweet innocent valentine to a bygone era,’” Jacobs said. “I will tell this to every cast who ever does this show, ‘You are very fortunate. You get paid to come and have a party every single night on stage, and the more fun you have on stage, and the more fun this party is, the more fun the audience will have.’”

The Teen Angel advises a teenaged “greaser” to return to high school after she drops out only to fall behind in beauty school. Just because the number is iconic doesn’t mean it’s predictable, though.

“Taylor’s entrance is a complete surprise,” said New London native Lyn Marie Neuenfeldt, the assistant hair and makeup supervisor for “Grease” and Hicks’ makeup artist.

Neuenfeldt, 34, who keeps a residence in Oshkosh, said “Grease” has multigenerational appeal, and Hicks’ presence helps that.

“Having Taylor, such a contemporary figure, as Teen Angel is fantastic,” she said.

During encores, Hicks, the 2006 “American Idol” champion, performs “Seven Mile Breakdown” from “The Distance,” an album he released in March on his label Modern Whomp Records via Artist 2 Market.

“When I think of ‘Grease’ I think of a great American story with great American songs,” Hicks said. “I think that’s what people are attracted to.”

Kara Patterson: 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or kpatterson@postcrescent.com





SOUL PATROL MEMORIES:

1. sonsup2sonsdown ( Jenna ) tweeted

What a great show. Thank you to the people at the PAC for bringing it & its co-creator to the valley.

2. Stutzman Family

We had a GREAT morning at the Bouncy Place and an even better afternoon when Joe got to MEET Taylor Hicks AND get his autograph on his CD.

Posted Imagecourtesy of Stutzman's

3. meggr

Now for a big surprise. Part way through BSD, Taylor strolled over to the side of the stage, reached out, and a stage hand handed him a Cheesehead hat! He promptly put it on, a bit crooked, and finished his entire performance wearing it. The audience hooted and howled over it all, and even Taylor couldn't keep a straight face, especially when Frenchy said, " As if this number weren't cheesy enough...." It was a show stopper for a few moments until the aucience could recover enough to stop laughing and let the show go on. I have to admit that Taylor in a Cheesehead hat is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. It was belly laugh, laugh until you cry funny!

Posted Imagecourtesy of Daniel A. Swalec. from the Grease Album for Sharing


Posted Imagecourtesy of roseyjt


4. Angie
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Grease and Taylor Hicks

This weekend we had the pleasure of going to the musical Grease at the Performing Arts Center in Appleton. Of course there was no flash photography during the performance so I don't have any fun pictures to share but Marley was able to get an autograph from Taylor Hicks and I do have pictures of that!

Posted Imagecourtesy of angie

5. Michele

Taylor Hicks . . . what a great "icing on the cake"


Posted Imagecourtesy of Michele
Edited by mouser, Oct 5 2009, 02:47 PM.
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