A Giant Announcement: Dallas Theater Center, NYC's Public Theater Team Up!

[Update at 5:10 p.m.: The Dallas Theater Center's Jacob Cigainero sends word that the National Alliance for Musical Theatre press release, mentioned below, is incorrect. He writes, via e-mail, "NAMT included some misinformation in their release by mistake. Dallas Summer Musicals is NOT attached to the grant or the project."]At...

By Robert Wilonsky

April 8, 2010

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[Update at 5:10 p.m.: The Dallas Theater Center's Jacob Cigainero sends word that the National Alliance for Musical Theatre press release, mentioned below, is incorrect. He writes, via e-mail, "NAMT included some misinformation in their release by mistake. Dallas Summer Musicals is NOT attached to the grant or the project."]

At 10:30 tomorrow morning, on the rooftop of the Wyly, Dallas Theater Center artistic director Kevin Moriarty will announce to the assembled press the 2010-2011 season lineup. But -- twist! -- word of a 2011-2012 season offering was announced today ... by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre in New York City. NAMT sent out a press release announcing eight awards from its National Fund for New Musicals, and named the DTC among them. From the release:

Dallas Theater Center (Dallas, TX), in a co-production with The Public Theater (New York, NY), for Giant by Michael John LaChuisa and Sybille Pearson, with support from Dallas Summer Musicals

Short and sweet. Which is why we now turn to Playbill, which offers further coverage of the announcement -- since, after all, it's rather significant. How significant? Writes Adam Hetrick, Michael John LaChiusa's musical adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel (and the '56 movie, natch) debuted at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virgina, one year ago; has a book by Sybille Pearson and score by LaChiusa, a Tony Award nominee and one of your kid's heroes (if your kid likes Wonder Pets); and the musical runs, oh, 'round four hours. Oh, and: After its Dallas debut, it's going off-Broadway.

Jacob Cigainero, DTC's public relations director, tells Unfair Park today there "are no official dates yet, but it will be part of our '11-'12 season." In fact, dates won't be announced for a while: "We've still got to get next season announced tomorrow," Cigainero says. We'll attend tomorrow's press conference, incidentally. In case you were wondering.

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