Ted Neeley/Rubicon PR

For Immediate Release: November 10, 2011

Rubicon Theatre Company Presents
TED NEELEY and THE LITTLE BIG BAND
January 21-29, 2012

(Ventura, CA) – December 12, 2011.  Ted Neeley’s national tour with his Little Big Band premieres at Rubicon, January 21-29 in Ventura.

Just as there is frequently great music in theatre, so can there be great theatre in music, and on the veritable eve of a new tour, Ted Neeley offers a living legacy to the fact.  Great music and great theatre have long been very cozy partners, and audiences at Rubicon Theatre know it as well as any. Music is truly thriving at Rubicon: in Main Stage musical productions like Lonesome Traveler, The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music Of Cy Coleman, and Daddy Long Legs (all of which are carrying Rubicon’s - and Ventura’s - musical legacy to enthusiastic audiences across the nation); in the ongoing Broadway Cabaret Series that brings a taste of the Great White Way to the Gold Coast with performances by the likes of David Burnham and Levi Kreis, and in unscripted events like Neeley’s upcoming nine-night stand.

Audiences can look forward to a melding of some four decades of musical passion in this theatrical concert event; backed by a (five-piece) “ little” band of big talents, Ted will lead audiences back to his Texas roots with a winsome bit of backwoods blues and country. He’ll perform highlights from such rock-and-roll musical mainstays as Tommy, Hair, Sgt. Pepper’s… and Superstar. He’ll perform excerpts from his film scores for Robert Altman and others, and will premiere new, never-before-heard pop compositions. Expect a mix of electric and acoustic music, some tasty anecdotes, and a few special surprises.

About Ted

Audiences might be surprised to learn that Neeley, who hails from Ranger Texas, has always been about the music. First signed to a record deal in 1965, The Teddy Neeley Five played the club circuit on the Capitol Records label for years. Before his epoch-making performance in Jesus Christ, Superstar shined the national spotlight, he had become a singer, songwriter, vocal arranger, and record producer, working with such artists as Ray Charles, Tina Turner,  Bo Diddley, Meat Loaf, and many others.

His career trajectory took a powerful turn after lead roles in the New York and Los Angeles productions of Hair led to the audition for Superstar. Neeley was first interested in the role of Judas, but when that part went to Ben Vereen, he took an understudy assignment for the title role - and the rest made history. By the time the production reached Los Angeles he had stepped fully into the role, one that he re-created in Norman Jewison’s acclaimed feature film of the play, for which he was
nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1974. The 1992 “A.D.” revival of Superstar became the longest-running revivial in North American theatrical history, criss-crossing the nation for some 1,700 performances.

Fresh from the success of Superstar, Neeley released a solo album, 1974 A.D., in 1974, and played the role of Billy Shears in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band  in New York. He was a frequent musical guest star on network television shows like The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and A Touch Of Gold, and appeared as a guest star in numerous network dramas during the 1970s and 1980s, such as Starsky and Hutch, and TV movies like Of Mice and Men, and McLaren's Riders.

Among his other credits, Neeley composed music for and appeared in Robert Altman's film A Perfect Couple, and performed the music for the TriStar feature film Blame it on the Night, NBC-TV's Highway to Heaven, and The Big Blue Marble for the Children's Television Network. He also wrote music for, and starred in Cowboy Jack Street, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

For tickets:

Ted Neeley and the Little Big Band previews January 20, 2012, and premieres January 21, at 7pm, running through January 29. Wednesday through Friday the curtain rises at 7pm, with a Saturday show at 8pm, and Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2pm.  For tickets and more information log on to www.RubiconTheatre.org, or call the box office at (805) 667-2900.