OCPAC Presents Two-Time Tony® Award Winner Christine Ebersole in Concert

COSTA MESA, CA—Award-winning chanteuse, actress and comedienne Christine Ebersole returns to the Orange County Performing Arts Center for her third visit on October 8 – 11 in the intimate Samueli Theater to open the 2009-2010 Cabaret Series. Ebersole has enchanted audiences throughout her performing career—from the Broadway stage to television series and specials, films, concert appearances, and recordings—with her amazing voice, endearing personality and vast repertoire of ballads, jazz, pop, torch, opera, swing and country. Ebersole's exclusive engagement at the Center is her only appearance in Southern California until next year.

Ebersole has received virtually every Off-Broadway award and her second Tony® Award for Leading Actress in a Musical for her "dual role of a lifetime" as Edie Beale and Little Edie Beale in Grey Gardens. She just ended a successful run in the Broadway revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit as Elvira. Other memorable New York stage performances include her Tony® Award-winning performance as Dorothy Brock in the smash hit revival 42nd Street, Steel Magnolias, On the Twentieth Century, Oklahoma!, Dinner at Eight (Tony® and Outer Critics Circle nominations) and The Best Man. She has starred in five City Center Encores! Productions, most recently receiving unanimous praise for her starring role as Margo Channing in Applause.

Ebersole has appeared in many hit movies, including Tootsie, Richie Rich, Black Sheep, Amadeus, Dead Again, Folks!, Ghost Dad, True Crime, My Girl 2, Mac and Me and the recently released Confessions of a Shopaholic. On television, she was seen as the stripper Tessie Tura in Bette Midler's Gypsy, co-starred in the reunion film Mary and Rhoda, with Diana Ross in Double Platinum, and with Jane Fonda in the  critically-acclaimed The Dollmaker. She starred in the television series The Cavanaughs, Valerie, Ryan's Hope, Related, and Rachael Gunn, R.N., along with appearing in guest starring roles in such hit shows as Will and Grace, Murphy Brown, Cashmere Mafia, Boston Legal, Law and Order SVU, Lipstick Jungle, Samantha Who and Royal Pains. In addition, Ebersole was a series regular on Saturday Night Live during the 1981-82 season.

In concert, Ebersole has appeared in numerous halls throughout the country. This past fall, she delighted audiences by participating in the Opening Night Gala of Carnegie Hall's 118th Season. She appeared with the San Francisco Symphony in their tribute to Leonard Bernstein. After making her debut with the Boston Pops two years ago, she returned to Boston's Symphony Hall and Tanglewood last season to star as Desiree Armfeldt in a concert version of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music with the Boston Pops. In televised concerts, she has often appeared on PBS, including her star turns in Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall and The Rodgers & Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty.

A recording artist as well, Ebersole has released such albums as Christine Ebersole: Live at the Cinegrill, In Your Dreams and Sunday in New York.

Photo by Kit Kittle.

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Tickets to see Christine Ebersole are $72 and are available at OCPAC.org, at the Center’s Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.

Orange County Performing Arts Center – Samueli Theater
October 8 – 11, 2009
Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday performance at 7 p.m.

The Center's Cabaret Series combines an array of artists, from entertainment legends to the best, brightest and most exciting performers making their marks on the music world today. Upcoming performers include Broadway leading lady Christine Andreas (November 12 – 15, 2009), TV's Katey Segal (Center Debut, December 10 – 13, 2009), three-time Tony® award nominee Kelli O'Hara (Center Debut, January 21 – 24, 2010) and her South Pacific co-star, Tony® winner Paulo Szot (Center Debut, April 8 – 11, 2010).

Visit www.ocpac.org for more information. For more information on Christine Ebersole, please visit her Web site at www.christineebersole.com.