GALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
December 3, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
409-765-7834
molly.dannenmaier@galvestonhistory.org

Musical Broadcast Production of Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” to Show at Tremont House during Galveston’s Dickens on The Strand Weekend

A new broadcast version of Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” the critically acclaimed 2007 Broadway musical hit, will be shown at the historic downtown Tremont House hotel throughout Galveston’s Dickens on The Strand festival weekend. “A Tale of Two Cities” will be shown four times during the weekend in the Ann Gray Room on the first floor of the Tremont House. Showing times are Saturday, December 5 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 6 at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Viewings of the 85-minute broadcast production are free and open to all guests of the 36th annual Dickens on The Strand festival in Galveston. For full information about the festival or to purchase tickets online, go to www.dickensonthestrand.org.

The historic Tremont House hotel is located within the Dickens festival gates at 2300 Ship's Mechanic Row in Galveston. For more information about the hotel or the showing times, call 409-763-0300.

2009 is the 150th anniversary of Dickens’ completion of “A Tale of Two Cities.”

USA Today said of the Broadway production, “It's impossible not to be moved.” The Associated Press wrote, “’Tale of Two Cities’ marks the return to the era of big blockbusters such as ‘Les Miserables,’ ‘Phantom,’ and ‘Miss Saigon.’”

“A Tale of Two Cities” is still used in high schools nationwide. Against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this a tale set in London and Paris about injustice, vengeance and the redemptive power of love.

About the Broadcast Production

- Actor Michael York appears several times during the program to lead viewers through the story. His segments are filmed on location at Charles Dickens’ home, Notre Dame Cathedral and other great sites in London and Paris.

- Author Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of author Charles Dickens is interviewed at the end of the production. Ms. Hawksley is the special guest at Dickens on The Strand this year, and will be autographing copies of her ancestor’s works throughout the festival.

- This is a concert performance with costumes, and some scenery, rather than a fully-produced play.

- Recorded in summer 2009 at the historic Theatre Royal in Brighton, England

- Features 20 songs

- International cast of 35 performers and a 32-musician orchestra

- Performers include principals from the Broadway production: Brandi Burkhardt (Lucie Manette), the lead in Mamma Mia and J. Mark McVey (Dr. Manette), veteran Broadway performer, including Les Miserables.

- Michael Reed, musical director, who was also musical director of the original London production of Phantom of the Opera.

- “A Tale of Two Cities” is a great love story and historical drama

A Tale of Two Cities Synopsis

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French peasantry under the oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and a number of unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period (hence the work's title). It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette. Family secrets and political intrigue combine to draw Lucie and her family back to Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror. Dickens creates an unlikely hero in Carton, inspired by love to make an extraordinary sacrifice.