Moonlight offering special events, concerts in summer

Moonlight Stage Productions, Moonlight Presents and Moonlight Cultural Foundation will be offering a slate of special new events and concerts in the amphitheater this summer.

These events include an outdoor film viewing; two one-night-only fundraising concerts; and three concerts in the new Moonlight Cabaret series, which is part of Moonlight Presents and will launch in January 2016.

Tickets for the two fundraising concerts are now on sale at 760-724-2110 and online at vistixonline.com. Tickets range in price from $35 to $75; there is also a special $150 VIP ticket package that includes a meet and greet with the performer. Tickets for the Moonlight Cabaret concerts will go on sale at noon on Saturday, April 25. Tickets will be $80 and will be available at 760-724-2110.

To celebrate the opening of Moonlight Stage Production’s summer season, it will be hosting a movie night starting at 8 p.m. Friday, May 22. The movie screened will be Tim Burton’s “Big Fish.” The stage production of “Big Fish” will be performed by Moonlight Stage Productions as its final summer season production. Gates will open at 7 p.m. for the screening.

Moonlight Cultural Foundation, the non-profit producing partner that is responsible for raising funds for Moonlight Stage Productions and Moonlight Presents, is presenting two one-night-only concerts this year to benefit the amphitheater and its productions.

The first concert is “The Four Girls Phenomenon,” starring Randy Graff, Andrea McArdle, Maureen McGovern and Faith Prince on July 3.

These four award-winning stars of stage and screen are coming together to perform. Graff is a Tony award winner for “City of Angels,” as well as appearances in Broadway’s “Les Miserables” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” McArdle is Broadway’s original Annie who also starred in “Starlight Express” and “Beauty and the Beast.” McGovern is a Grammy nominated artist also featured in Broadway’s “Little Women.” Prince is a Tony winner for Broadway’s “Guys and Dolls,” and Tony nominated for “Bells are Ringing.” She was also featured on the television show “Drop Dead Diva.”

The second fundraising concert will be “Megan Hilty Under the Stars” and will feature Megan Hilty, star of the television show “Smash,” performing on Friday, Oct. 2.

Moonlight Presents is a brand created to bring new types of performing arts to the Moonlight amphitheater beginning in 2016. There will be several series, the first of which is Moonlight Cabaret.

Moonlight Cabaret will feature three concerts in 2016, and will be held in Club M, a new space created by transforming the amphitheater’s outdoor stage into an intimate indoor space. Club M will include audience seating at tables that will seat two, four or six people and will include dinner and bar service with your ticket. The Artisan Café will create a different menu for each concert.

The first concert, on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, will be “Susan Egan: The Real Housewife of Broadway.” Egan is best known for originating the role of Belle in Broadway’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

The second concert will be a tribute to Frank Sinatra. “That’s Life: a Toast to Sinatra” celebrates what would be Sinatra’s 101st birthday and will be held on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, featuring vocalists Lee Lessack and Scott Coulter with musical director John Boswell performing all of Sinatra’s most popular hits.

The final concert in the Moonlight Cabaret series will be “Laura Ellis: in a Jazz Mood,” on Friday, March 11, 2016. Ellis and her Jazz Noir band will perform vintage jazz, both popular tunes and rare gems from the past.

The two remaining series of Moonlight Presents, Moonlight Live! and Moonlight Variety will be announced later this summer.

For more information on these and other upcoming shows at Moonlight, visit www.moonlightstage.com.