Michael Learned and Richard Thomas Reunite in CONFIDENTIALLY, CHAIKOVSKI Today

The Berger Performing Arts Center presents CONFIDENTIALLY, CHAIKOVSKI, written by Harry Clark and directed by Troy Hollar. This production, starring Michael Learned (The Sisters Rosensweig, The Outgoing Tide) and Richard Thomas (Enemy of the People, Race), theatrically reunites the famous TV mother and son for the first time since The Waltons.

Performances will play The Berger Performing Arts - 200 West Speedway Blvd, Tucson, Arizona today, January 27th, 3pm. Tickets are $40 reserved seating by calling 520.400.5439 or visiting www.cmpsouthwest.org.

CONFIDENTIALLY, CHAIKOVSKI, is based on relationship between Nadezhda Philaretovna von Meck (1831 - 1893) and Peter Ilyich Chaikovski (1840-1893). Nadezhda, a wealthy Russian widow of 45 when she first heard Chaikovski's music, The Tempest, a symphonic fantasia first conducted by Anton Rubinstein. Overwhelmed by the beauty of the work, she decided to use part of her large fortune to support the composer, who was 36 at the time. Thus ensued a vast correspondence between the two stretching from 1876 to 1890. She steadfastly refused to meet the composer (a refusal with which he was in agreement) though they did occasionally make eye contact at concerts or at the opera house. Once they even came face to face in the street, both turned away, embarrassed. In 1893, three years after his last letter to Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky died from cholera. Within three months his beloved friend, too, was dead.

Michael Learned is a four-time Emmy award-winning actress (three for The Waltons and one for Nurse). She has received a People's Choice Award and has been a three-time Golden Globe nominee. Her Broadway appearances include Gore Vidal's The Best Man and Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosenweig, and recently appeared in the successful production of The Outgoing Tide.

Richard Thomas' Broadway career spans more than 50 years, from his childhood appearance in Sunrise at Campobello to dramas such as Fifth of July, Democracy, Race, An Enemy of the People and more. TV fans still cherish Thomas' starring role as "John Boy" in The Waltons.

Playwright, Harry Clark's career as both cellist and playwright is a rare and successful combination. Harry began his first efforts writing portraits of composers; this body of work nearing 40 scripts is titled RHYTHMS OF LIFE-fusions of theater and music. Critics have declared Clark's work as "An extraordinary interweaving of music and biography ... his work has passion, joy, and mystery" and "From his mighty pen Clark has inked a classical-music program that's both inviting and exhilarating for the learned and ignorant ear alike." CONFIDENTIALLY, CHAIKOVSKI is drawn from the extraordinary correspondence between Chaikovski, von Meck, and Modeste Chaikovski, brother and confidante of Peter Ilyich.

Built in 1991, the Berger Performing Arts Center (BPAC) is a modern theatre mixing classic Southwestern architecture with state of the art amenities. BPAC is a 496-seat Proscenium theater located in Tucson on the campus of the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. A non-profit theatre, the BPAC is an excellent multi-purpose concert hall and theatrical facility. Spacious seating, an excellent line of sight throughout the house and superb acoustics make this hall one of the finest theatres in Tucson, Arizona.

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