OCPAC unveils ‘best of Broadway’ series

With musicals, classics and its first-ever completely dramatic production, the Orange County Performing Arts Center is set to offer an all-inclusive season with its 2007-08 Broadway and Curtain Call Series, the arts center plans to announce today.

Opening with last year’s Tony Award-winning musical “Jersey Boys,” which chronicles the true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the upcoming Broadway Series will bring the Radio City Rockettes to the West Coast to perform their Radio City Christmas Spectacular, followed by the dramatic “Twelve Angry Men,” the National Theatre of Great Britain’s “My Fair Lady” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic “A Chorus Line.”

“We’re very excited and very proud to share this exciting, dynamic and eclectic season — really the best of Broadway — with our Orange County community,” said arts center President Terrence Dwyer.

Dwyer added that he is “particularly thrilled” about “Jersey Boys,” as it was the last show he worked on as managing director of the La Jolla Playhouse, where it was originally produced.

“The Phantom of the Opera,” said to be the longest-running show in Broadway history, will be the highlight of the Curtain Call Series, returning to the arts center for the third time with a four-week run in the spring of 2008.

“We haven’t had ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ since 2002, and the demand has really been building up,” Dwyer said.

Evolved from the athleticism and showmanship of outdoor pageantry, “Blast!” will transport 35 brass, percussion and visual performers from the nation’s athletic fields to Segerstrom Hall after winning an Emmy for best choreography in 2001.