FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ami Bennitt, [email protected], 617.797.8267 Announcing the Eleventh Annual MAYOR’S HOLIDAY -- LAUNCHING NOVEMBER 10, 2014 Thousands of Half-Priced Tickets to Over 130 Beloved Holiday Performances throughout Greater Including Theatre, Music, Dance, Comedy, and Kids/Family Shows Featuring THE NUTCRACKER, HOLIDAY POPS, BLUE MAN GROUP, WHITE CHRISTMAS THE MUSICAL, A CHRISTMAS CELTIC SOJOURN, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, THE CHRISTMAS REVELS, and Dozens More!

[Boston, MA -- November 10, 2014] ArtsBoston, in partnership with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the City of Boston, and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, announce the eleventh annual Mayor’s Holiday, an eight-week celebration of the area’s performing arts featuring thousands of half-priced tickets to over 130 holiday shows throughout Boston and beyond. Tickets for Mayor’s Holiday 2014 go on sale November 10, 2014, at MayorsHoliday.com and at both BosTix booth locations at Copley Square and Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

Mayor Martin J. Walsh BosTix Booth/Copley Square

Continuing the decade-plus holiday tradition originally supported by former Mayor Thomas M. Menino, this year’s Mayor’s Holiday features favorites including Boston Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Holiday Pops, The Christmas Revels , Handel’s Messiah as part of Handel and Haydn Society’s bicentennial season,

1

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas The Musical presented by Citi Performing Arts Center, Blue Man Group, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O'Donovan, the Broadway hit The Trip to Bountiful (featuring Tony Award winner Cicely Tyson, Vanessa Williams, and Blair Underwood), New Repertory Theatre’s The Little Prince, José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker, Anthony William’s Urban Nutcracker, Back Bay Ringers, and more. See below for the full list of Mayor’s Holiday performances.

“We know the arts factor into what makes Boston such a special place throughout the year, and this is especially true during the holiday season,” says ArtsBoston Executive Director Catherine Peterson. “Where else can you experience Keith Lockhart conduct Holiday Pops in the world famous Symphony Hall, or share in George Frideric Handel’s masterpiece Messiah by Handel and Haydn Society, the organization that originally premiered the piece in America in 1818? Mayor’s Holiday makes it easy and affordable for friends and family to spend time together they’ll cherish all season long.”

“The City of Boston is proud of our fruitful partnership with ArtsBoston and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, offering so much cultural access to our community,” says Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “Add up just the top 10 arts venues in the Boston area during the holidays, and they generate over $8.8 million annually beyond the cost of admission on restaurant dining, overnight accommodations, transportation, and parking. That’s real money translating into local jobs and sustainable income for our residents. Plus who doesn’t love to feel a little more magic, like the kind you can only get from a live performance, during the holiday season? ”

“Mayor’s Holiday reinforces our region as a ‘must do’ destination for tourists and visitors during the holidays,” says Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau President Pat Moscaritolo. “Taking time to enjoy the amazing array of local, live arts offerings, restaurants, and hotels allows you to share an experience that is totally unique to our region.”

Additional Mayor’s Holiday Offerings Mayor’s Holiday 2014 also includes special offers to over thirty area restaurants, including P.F. Chang’s, Tremont 647, Brasserie Jo, Flora, and the Melting Pot. Further, Mayor’s Holiday is again the exclusive online retailer for First Night Boston 2015 admission buttons (only $10), available at mayorsholiday.com, as well as at both BosTix booths in Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Copley Square.

Additional Support for Mayor’s Holiday 2014 Mayor’s Holiday 2014 is supported in part by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Boston Globe, Boston.com, Magic 106.7 FM, Boston Central, and Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

About ArtsBoston ArtsBoston is a champion for Greater Boston’s arts and cultural institutions and a collaborative partner for public, private, and nonprofit leaders who seek to engage more deeply with the region’s arts and cultural sector. It gathers, analyzes, and disseminates data that provides a window into the significance of arts and cultural organizations to the region. It also helps those organizations build their audiences and work more productively and effectively. In the nearly 40 years since its founding, it has become a

2 more powerful voice for the sector and a positive force for the region. It remains committed to its original mission: to enrich the lives of citizenry by connecting people of every age and background with the arts and cultural organizations that call Greater Boston home. ArtsBoston has an active membership of over 170 performing and visual arts organizations throughout Greater Boston.

About the City of Boston Boston, first incorporated as a town in 1630, and as a city in 1822, is one of America's oldest cities, with a rich economic and social history. What began as a homesteading community eventually evolved into a center for social and political change. Boston has since become the economic and cultural hub of New England. As the region's hub, Boston is home to over 640,000 residents, many institutions of higher education, some of the world's finest inpatient hospitals, and numerous cultural and professional sports organizations. Boston-based jobs, primarily within the finance, health care, educational, and service areas, numbered nearly 660,000 in 2002. Millions of people visit Boston to take in its historic neighborhoods, attend cultural or sporting events, and conduct business.

About the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (GBCVB) is the primary private sector marketing and visitor service organization charged with the development of meetings, conventions and tourism-related business. Its goal is to enhance the economy of Boston, Cambridge and the metropolitan area. The GBCVB is a not-for-profit, membership-driven sales and marketing business comprised of over 1,200 companies across New England that depend upon the visitor and convention industries for their own success and growth.

Mayor’s Holiday 2014 Full List of Performances (alphabetical by arts organization)

Show Title Arts Organization 1964 A Far Cry Measure for Measure Actors' Shakespeare Project Phèdre Actors' Shakespeare Project The Light Princess American Repertory Theater The Donkey Show American Repertory Theater O.P.C American Repertory Theater Ruby Wax: Sane New World American Repertory Theater The Old Man and the Old Moon ArtsEmerson The Trip to Bountiful ArtsEmerson A Candlelight Christmas Back Bay Chorale Christmas Memories - Boston Back Bay Ringers Christmas Memories - Danvers Back Bay Ringers Christmas Memories - Waltham Back Bay Ringers Capturing Music: Writing and Singing Music in the Middle Ages Blue Heron Christmas in 15th-century France & Burgundy Blue Heron Blue Man Group Blue Man Group The Nutcracker Boston Ballet Handel’s Messiah Boston Baroque Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 Boston Baroque New Year's Celebration Boston Baroque Daniel: A Medieval Masterpiece Revisited Boston Camerata The Velveteen Rabbit Boston Children's Theatre

3

Celebrating Richard Strauss Boston Civic Symphony Little Murders Boston Conservatory Piano Masters Series: David Korevaar Boston Conservatory String Masters Series: Andrew Mark and Max Levinson Boston Conservatory The Italian Girl in Algiers Boston Conservatory BEMF Chamber Opera Series: Pergolesi's La serva padrona & Livietta e Tracollo Boston Early Music Festival The Tallis Scholars Boston Early Music Festival Noel Boston Gay Men's Chorus Focusing the Abstract Boston Musica Viva Sibelius & Brahms Boston Philharmonic Chosen Child Boston Playwrights' Theatre Boston Pops - Holiday Pops Boston Symphony Orchestra Boston Pops - Home Alone Boston Symphony Orchestra New Year’s Eve Concert - Boston Pops Swing Orchestra Boston Symphony Orchestra An Evening of One Acts Boston University College of Fine Arts Holiday Pops Cambridge Symphony Orchestra San Francisco Symphony Celebrity Series of Boston Tania Pérez-Salas Compañia de Danza Celebrity Series of Boston What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow and Voices Boston: Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols Celebrity Series of Boston Candlelight Christmas at Old South Chorus pro Musica Family Holiday Concert Chorus pro Musica Irving Berlin’s White Christmas The Musical Citi Performing Arts Center Brahman/i: A One-Hijra Stand-Up Comedy Show Company One Theatre Shiv Company One Theatre The Chronicles of Kalki Company One Theatre Mendelssohn/Wolf Chamber, Year I, Concert II Emmanuel Music Holiday Sing Handel and Haydn Society Handel Messiah Handel and Haydn Society A Christmas Carol Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts Boston Pops Holiday Concert Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts Pat Metheny Unity Group Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts Awake and Sing! Huntington Theatre Company Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Huntington Theatre Company Afternoon Delight Improv Asylum Vanity Project Improv Asylum Les Délices: Myths & Allegories Isabella Steward Gardner Museum The Nutcracker - Boston José Mateo Ballet Theatre The Nutcracker - Duxbury José Mateo Ballet Theatre The Nutcracker - Cambridge José Mateo Ballet Theatre Judy Garland Live In Concert Judy Garland Show A Latin Holiday Voyage: A Concert for Peace in Venezuela La Donna Musicale Andy Gross Laugh Boston Chris Distefano Laugh Boston Finesse Mitchell Laugh Boston Jake Johannsen Laugh Boston Julian McCullough Laugh Boston

4

Juston McKinney Laugh Boston Yannis Pappas Laugh Boston Holiday Fanfare! Lexington Symphony Kids' Holiday Pops! Lexington Symphony The Sleeprunner Luminarium Dance Company The Tale of the Allergist's Wife Lyric Stage Company of Boston 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti Merrimack Repertory Theatre The Best Brothers Merrimack Repertory Theatre Viva Vivaldi! Holiday Concert - Andover Mistral Viva Vivaldi! Holiday Concert - Brookline Mistral The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) Moonbox Productions Handel: The Messiah Music Worcester Mark O'Connor's Hot Swing Music Worcester St. Petersburg Symphony Music Worcester An American Christmas Musica Sacra ComedySportz Boston New England Fun The Great War at 100: Great Britain in Song and Verse - Brookline New England Light Opera The Great War at 100: Great Britain in Song and Verse - Melrose New England Light Opera The Little Prince New Repertory Theatre A Sea Symphony Newton Choral Society Bat Boy: The Musical Harvard University The Muse of Midwinter: Carols and an anthem from England - Boston Oriana Consort The Muse of Midwinter: Carols and an anthem from England - Cambridge Oriana Consort The Muse of Midwinter: Carols and an anthem from England - Somerville Oriana Consort Beauty and the Beast Puppet Showplace Theater Cinderella Puppet Showplace Theater Mr. Punch's Christmas Carol Puppet Showplace Theater Raccoon Tales Puppet Showplace Theater The Joshua Show Puppet Showplace Theater The Story of King Midas Puppet Showplace Theater The Velveteen Rabbit Puppet Showplace Theater The Yankee Peddler: Stories and Songs from Old New England Puppet Showplace Theater An Evening with Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters Regent Theatre Elvis & The Beatles: The Greatest Concert That Never Was Regent Theatre Jukebox Heroes Live! Regent Theatre Sing-A-Long Mary Poppins Regent Theatre Sing-A-Long Sound of Music Regent Theatre Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra performs Jesus Christ Superstar Regent Theatre The Christmas Revels Revels Jane Monheit: Hello Bluebird, Celebrating the Life of Judy Garland Rockport Music Sergey Schepkin, piano Rockport Music Arturo Sandoval Scullers Jazz Club Guitar Night: Bucky Pizzarelli, Gene Bertoncini, and Ed Laub Scullers Jazz Club René Marie sings Eartha Kitt Scullers Jazz Club Shear Madness Shear Madness

5

A Future Perfect SpeakEasy Stage Company Necessary Monsters SpeakEasy Stage Company Late Night Catechism: Sister's Christmas Catechism, The Mystery of the Magi's Gold Spectacle Management Tomaseen Foley's A Celtic Christmas Spectacle Management Faith Joyously Affirmed!: A Holiday Prelude Spectrum Singers Meet Me in St. Louis Stoneham Theatre Urban Nutcracker Tony Williams Dance Center Virginia Woolf's Orlando Wellesley Summer Theatre Overtures, A Clock, Sonata, & Rhapsody Wellesley Symphony Orchestra Meet Me in St. Louis Weston Friendly Society of the Performing Arts A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O'Donovan - Boston WGBH A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O'Donovan - Worcester WGBH Alice Wheelock Family Theatre 4 Girls 4: A Christmas Together Blind Boys of Alabama: Holiday Tour Wilbur Theatre George Lopez Wilbur Theatre Chamber Series II - Young Artist: Rebecca Printz Winsor Music Ronald K. Brown\Evidence, A Dance Company World Music/CRASHarts Fall Jazz at the Firehouse: Featuring the Nick Grondin Group ZUMIX Holiday Jazz at the Firehouse ZUMIX

*Half-price ticket quantities are limited, and allotments change daily.

Images and interviews are available. Contact Ami Bennitt at [email protected].

###

6