DUDU FISHER KICKS OFF CENTRE EAST’S 2008-2009 SEASON OCT. 25, 8 P.M

DUDU FISHER  KICKS OFF CENTRE EAST’S

2008-2009 SEASON OCT. 25, 8 P.M.  

SKOKIE, Ill. – Centre East favorite Dudu Fisher opens Centre East’s 2008-2009 season with Jerusalem, a multimedia musical showcase in honor of Israel’s 60th anniversary. The performance takes place Saturday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m.at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd.  Tickets are $72 and are available through the box office at 847-673-6300 or www.centreeast.org. 

Fisher’s career in musical theater began when he starred as Jean Valjean in the Israeli version of Les Miserables in the late 1980s.  Despite having no prior theater experience, Fisher was soon catapulted to playing leading roles on Broadway and in London’s West End.  As an observant Jew, he was the first actor on Broadway and the West End to be excused from performing on Friday nights, Saturday matinees and all Jewish holidays.   

Fisher has recorded more than 20 albums during his career; sung with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Queen’s Symphony Orchestra; and performed for Britain’s royal family, the Thai royal family and President Clinton.  His off-Broadway one-man shows Never on Friday, Something Old, Something New, and Dudu Fisher Coming to America thrilled audiences and garnered rave reviews.  The New York Times says “[Fisher] sets out to entertain, and that he surely does.” In addition to his brilliant renditions of Broadway music, Fisher continues to perform traditional Hassidic, Yiddish and cantorial music to audiences all over the world. 

Founded in 1979, Centre East is the resident performing arts presenter at the award-winning North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie.  Known for offering an extraordinarily wide selection of stage presentations representing every performing arts genre, Centre East also offers a Youtheatre Program offering curriculum-based theater, music and dance productions that support the Illinois State Goals for learning in the fine arts, language arts, and social studies for grades K through 12; and SHOWCASE, an annual conference of performing arts for young people.  

Centre East’s 2008-2009 season begins Saturday, Oct. 25, 2008 and continues through Saturday, May 9, 2009 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie, Blvd.  For tickets and information call the box office at 847-673-6300 or visit www.centreeast.org.  

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Centre East gratefully acknowledges the generous support of James R. & Suzanne G. Blomberg, Cole Taylor Bank, Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center Chicago North Shore, The Irving M. & Sylvia Footlik Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, Macy's Gives, Maurice R. and Meta G. Gross Foundation, Niles Township Commission, Skokie Fine Arts Commission, Harry & Lila Tankus, and the Village of Skokie.