Dallas Theater Center will present Giant: The Celebration Performance and Gala on Saturday, January 28 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Potter Rose Performance Hall at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
Giant: The Celebration is the second night of the opening weekend festivities for the much-anticipated Dallas debut of Giant, a new musical based on Edna Ferber’s classic novel. With a rapturous score, an epic story tied to Texas history and powerful themes that resonate today, Giant is a major new work for the American stage.
DTC chose Giant as a lynchpin of its 2011-12 season because it speaks directly to Texas audiences. The story paints colorful, bigger-than-life characters as it chronicles a generation of change in Texas – and American – history, from the 1920s to the 1950s. Through the prism of a single family, we witness the state’s transition from a cattle economy to oil commerce and experience the conflicts that arise between white Texans and Mexican American migrant workers. Ferber’s sweeping tale bubbles with romance and melodrama as her characters forge a new way of life.
The evening will begin with a 6:00 p.m. performance of Giant at the Wyly Theatre. Following the performance, patrons will take a celebratory, champagne stroll from the Wyly to the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House. Once inside the C. Vincent Prothro Lobby, guests will enjoy a Texas-inspired menu catered by Food Company and live music by local band Limelight. Chaired by Pilar Henry and Barbara Page, Giant: The Celebration promises to be a chic, modern event brimming with glitz and glamour – envision Leslie Benedict at a Reata Ball.
“This epic story of cattle ranchers and oilmen can only be fully appreciated in the Lone Star State, so it is fitting for Giant to open here. And only in the Big D could the opening of a new musical receive the Texas-sized party that Dallas Theater Center has in the works,” says Giant campaign chair Rebecca Fletcher. “Giant: The Celebration will be an exciting evening celebrating the Texas premier of an epic, new musical highlighting the wonderful growth of Dallas Theater Center and the Dallas Arts District.”
Dallas Theater Center recognizes our generous supporters who made both the production and gala possible: Commissioning Sponsors Lyn and John Muse; Title Sponsor Pioneer Natural Resources; Premiere Sponsor Chase. Additional support provided by Kimberley and Scott Sheffield; Presenting Sponsors Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, Embrey Family Foundation, Philips Vari*Lite; Executive Producing Partner Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Assistant Producing Partners Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, HYATT house, PwC; Event Sponsors Godwin Ronquillo PC, Luther King Capital Management, Museum Tower; Event Partners Baker Botts L.L.P., K&L Gates LLP, Wiley Property, Ltd.
Giant: The Celebration underwriters include: Big Texas Sky Underwriters ($100,000) Mr. and Mrs. William A. Custard, Helen K. and Robert G. McGraw, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Donna M. Wilhelm; Reata Ranch Underwriters ($50,000); Diane and Hal Brierley, Sara Fraser Crismon, Bess and Ted Enloe and Rebecca and Barron Fletcher; Leslie Lynnton Underwriters ($25,000) TurningPoint Foundation, Dee and Charles Wyly; Bick Benedict Underwriters ($15,000) Missy and David Boone, Pilar and Jay Henry, Julie and Ken Hersh, The Eugene McDermott Foundation, Margot and Ross Perot, Kenny and Lisa Troutt; Jett Rink Underwriters ($10,000) The Chiles Foundation, Jay Oppenheimer and Dolph Haas, Barbara and Jon Page, Mrs. Edgar A. Robinson, Helen and Frank Risch, Anne and Alex Smith, Jacquelin and Phillip Taylor; Oil Tycoon Underwriters ($5,000) Kenneth Bernstein and Barbara Clay, Tamara and David Campbell, Kay and Elliot Cattarulla, Jeanne Marie Clossey/Stacey and Nicholas McCord, Mary and William Corrigan, Ann and Lee Hobson, Carol and John Levy, Susan and Bill Montgomery, Vin and Caren Prothro Foundation, Carolyn and Karl Rathjen, Catherine and Will Rose.
Individual tickets for Giant: The Celebration start at $1,250 and underwriting levels start at $5,000.
