<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Cain Park Announces 2008 Musicals</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT COLOR="#800080"><FONT FACE="Arial"><H1>CAIN PARK ANNOUNCES 2008 THEATER SEASON<BR>
</H1></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT COLOR="#008000"><FONT SIZE="4"><B><I>THE WIZ</I></B></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><B> eases on down the road to the Evans Amphitheater June 19-July 6<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#FF00FF"><I>HAROLD & MAUDE</I></FONT> become intimate in the Alma Theater July 31-August 17<BR>
</B></FONT><H3><I>Auditions take place February 29-Mar 1 <BR>
<BR>
</I></H3><B>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 26, 2007<BR>
</B>FROM: Ksenia Roshchakovsky, Cain Park Public Relations/Marketing Manager 216.291.5792 ksenia@clvhts.com<BR>
<BR>
(Cleveland Heights, Ohio) Cain Park celebrates its 70th birthday by choosing two musical theater works connected with the Seventies: <I>The Wiz</I>, "the super soul musical," opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for four years; and <I>Harold & Maude: An Intimate Musical</I>, based on the screenplay by Colin Higgins for the 1971 cult-classic movie, focuses on a pair of 1970s rebels with just causes.<I> </I>Cain Park and Theater Co-Artistic Directors <B>Victoria Bussert </B>and<B> Russ Borski</B> announce that the Tony Award winning <I>The Wiz</I> will be directed by <B>Pierre-Jacques Brault </B>in the Evans Amphitheater and the regional premiere of <I>Harold & Maude: An Intimate Musical</I> will be directed by <B>Victoria Bussert</B> in the Alma Theater.<BR>
<BR>
<H3>2008 AUDITIONS<BR>
</H3>Auditions for both shows will occur on February 29 and March 1 at the Cleveland Heights Community Center (1 Monticello Boulevard at Mayfield). Callbacks are scheduled for Sunday, March 2. Those interested in receiving audition details should call 216.291.5792.<BR>
<BR>
<H3>THE WIZ <BR>
</H3>Music and Lyrics by Charlie Smalls. Book by William F. Brown. Based upon <I>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</I> by L. Frank Baum.<BR>
Dorothy's adventures in the Land of Oz are set to music in a dazzling, lively mixture of rock, gospel and soul in a multi-cultural journey that follows the well-known and beloved story of courage, brains, heart and home. Audiences will "Ease on Down the Road" with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion as they dance down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City. Winner of seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score, <I>The Wiz</I> also won two Drama Desk Awards (Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music & Lyrics) and was nominated for four Academy Awards for the movie version, which starred Diana Ross and featured Michael Jackson. <BR>
<BR>
<B>Pierre-Jacques Brault</B> (Director/<I>The Wiz</I>) is co-founder of Mercury Summer Stock and has directed locally (Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, The Fine Arts Association) and regionally (Stage Door Manor in the Catskills, Virginia Musical Theatre) as well as performed off-Broadway.<BR>
<BR>
<FONT SIZE="4"><B>HAROLD & MAUDE: AN INTIMATE MUSICAL </B><I>Northeast Ohio Premiere<BR>
</I></FONT>Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones. Music by Joseph Thalken.<BR>
This off-beat love story subversively celebrates the importance of living a full and unique life. Young Harold constantly attempts suicide to gain his mother's attention and love. Elderly and high-spirited Maude spends her time in eccentric pursuits of happiness. They meet while crashing a funeral and become the oddest of odd couples as Maude passes on her intense love of life and art to the young man who eventually falls in love with her. With witty lyrics and book by Tom Jones of <I>The Fantasticks</I> fame (based on Colin Higgins' screenplay) and tuneful music by Joseph Thalken, <I>Harold & Maude</I> "is smart, funny, irreverent, tuneful and fairly faithful to the movie's story and spirit but different enough to claim its own vibrant identity." [San Francisco Chronicle]<BR>
<BR>
Cain Park Theater Co-artistic Director <B>Victoria Bussert</B> celebrates her 22nd season at Cain Park by directing the Northeast Ohio premiere of <I>Harold and Maude: An Intimate Musical</I> in the 282-seat Alma Theater. Favorite Cain Park productions include <I>Bat Boy: The Musical, Follies, Violet, Avenue X, A Little Night Music, Side Show, Hair</I> and <I>Nine</I>. Vicky has worked locally and at theatres across the country. She is in her 12th year of heading the Baldwin-Wallace College music theatre program, which was recently selected by R&H Theatricals as one of six pre-release pilot productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's <I>The Phantom of the Opera</I>.<BR>
<BR>
Cain Park, a municipally owned and operated summer arts park and one of the nation’s oldest landmark outdoor theatres, is produced by the City of Cleveland Heights and is located on the south side of Superior Road between Lee and South Taylor roads.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>