“Play On Tour” Kicks Off This Thursday!

One of country music’s most anticipated tours of 2010, the Carrie Underwood “Play On Tour,” will kick off this Thursday, March 11 in Reading, PA at the Sovereign Center, with special guests Craig Morgan and Sons of Sylvia. The “Play On Tour,” hydrated by vitaminwater® and sponsored by PEDIGREE® Brand, is currently slated to run through June 20 in Saskatoon, SK at the Credit Union Centre.

Tour Director, Raj Kapoor has put together one of the year’s biggest country music tours by bringing in top name collaborators including Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” Production Designer, Michael Cotten, and Emmy Award Winning Costume Designer, Soyon An. The “Play On Tour” will bring to life Underwood’s hits with new and personal expressions of the songs. The tour also plans to bring Underwood closer to her fans with an unexpected surprise, guaranteeing that even the audience at the back of the house will sometimes have a front row seat at the concert. World-class production and one-of-a-kind special effects make sure that Underwood’s “Play On Tour” will be a night her fans soon won’t forget.

Underwood’s previous tour, 2008’s highly successful “Carnival Ride Tour,” wrapped after 137 shows with over 1.2 million fans in attendance.

Underwood is a six-time 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM) nominee and the reigning 2009 ACM Entertainer of the Year. She is also a five-time Grammy Award winner, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and a three-time CMA and ACM Female Vocalist winner. Underwood has amassed more than 11 million in U.S. album sales since her debut CD in 2005, more than any other American Idol winner. Along the way, she has consistently broken new ground and became the first country artist in history to achieve eleven consecutive #1 singles.

Craig Morgan is new on the charts with his latest single, “This Ain’t Nothin’,” from his BNA Records album, That’s Why, which also features his recent hits, “Bonfire” and “Love Remembers.” In 2008, Morgan received one of country music’s highest honors – he was inducted into the membership of the Grand Ole Opry. Morgan has made more than 150 appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, and plays over 200 sold-out concerts a year. He spent ten years on active duty in the U.S. Army before launching his music career, and makes a point to perform as often as possible at U.S. military installations both in the U.S. and abroad.

Sons of Sylvia are currently finishing up their debut album release on 19 Recordings/Interscope Records due this spring. Ashley, Austin, and Adam Clark (formerly known as The Clark Brothers who won FOX’s Next Great American Band) are longtime friends of Underwood, and the band is currently featured on her new album in a powerful collaboration called “What Can I Say.”

 
Brad Paisley Concert – March 6, 2010

Twitter/PaisleyOfficial
– Tnx4 prayers,after my fall,I was just discharged from the hospital.Just very very bruised. Nothing broken, had a ct scan all is okay!
– Allright, whoever posts the YouTube footage of it gets a meet and greet. I have got to see it. I hit hard. And I mean freaking hard.
– If ur wondering,it was the last song&last night of the tour&I was running fast on stage,tripped.really did think I broke a rib or something.
– Charleston rocked though. Out with a bang for the ASN tour.literally. Bring on the H2O. Actually, the frozen stuff’s on me right now.
– Man am I sore today. You guys should see the bruise.

12.27.2009 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Costumes bring ‘Dreamgirls’ back to life
“We have split-second costume changes,” he says. “I had to rig dance shoes to slip off.”

12.22.2009 Broadway World
BWW REVIEWS: ‘And I Am Telling You…’ See the New and Improved DREAMGIRLS
Wagner and Billington combine to use revolving walls that are, according to Longbottom, “technology driven,” with the use of LED lights on five large panels. These panels are used as movie screens, cityscapes, and even television monitors throughout the production.

12.13.2009 Baltimore Sun
‘Dreamgirls’ at Hippodrome features former contestants from ‘Idol’ and ‘Dance’
“I wanted the most talented people I could find on stage and behind the scenes,” he says. “The bar was set very high. These roles need to be played by very young women, and very young women don’t have a lot of production credits. There just aren’t that many people walking around Broadway who have the chops to pull off this show.”

11.30.2009 Financial Times
Dreamgirls, Apollo Theatre, New York
At the Apollo, “Listen” challenges the Deena of Syesha Mercado to match the Effie of Moya Angela in crowd-pleasing pyrotechnics. I am relieved to report – given the theatre’s often vociferous audience – that Mercado is up to the task. The other crowd favourite is the limber, comically gifted Chester Gregory as Early.

11.13.2009 Herald-Tribune
Syesha is now a Dreamgirl
Her casting, after what she calls a rigorous audition process, fulfills a family dream. Her mother, Zelda, a singer herself, auditioned for the original 1981 Broadway production.

11.09.2009 The New York Times
Showing Them Some Love: ‘Dreamgirls’ at the Apollo
The Apollo, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, has a relatively narrow stage and a tiny backstage. There is barely room to stand with your arms outspread in some parts of the wings, precious little space to lay out costumes for the performers’ lightning-quick changes, and no pit for the 15-piece orchestra.

11.07.2009 Playbill
The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of
A monthlong (Nov. 7-Dec. 6) engagement at that famed Harlem theatre — where the walls still shake and sway with R&B from generations ago — is an apt launching site for the eight-month, 14-city tour, directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom. This time out, the catfighting backup singers in the center ring are Moya Angela, Syesha Mercado, Adrienne Warren and Margaret Hoffman.