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Theater and Arts
Legendary rocker Pat
Benatar opens Lewis
Playhouse season
With multiple Grammy Awards and a string of
top hits that rocked the airwaves, Pat Benatar
has secured her spot in music history. The legendary
rocker teams up with her husband Neil
Giraldo on Saturday, September 6 at 8pm to open the
2008/2009 season at the Lewis Family Playhouse.
The audience is sure to be dancing in their seats to
Benatar’s powerhouse anthems Hit Me With Your Best
Shot, We Live For Love, Heartbreaker, and We
Belong. Limited seats remain for this special onenight
engagement, with tickets priced at $86.50.
Born as Patricia Andrzejewski in Brooklyn, New
York, the young singer got her big break during a
performance at New York’s Catch a Rising Star
club, when talent scouts from Chrysalis Records
walked into the room. The label quickly signed
her and released the million-selling In the
Heat of the Night in 1979. Crimes of
Passion, released just a year later, went multi-platinum and Benatar soon
proved herself as one of the most formidable talents in rock ‘n’ roll. From
1980 to 1983, Benatar became the first female performer to win four
straight Grammy’s, with a string of six platinum and four gold albums.
Benatar first worked with accomplished guitarist, producer and songwriter
Neil Giraldo in 1979, when he penned the song We Live for Love
for her inaugural album. The couple married in Maui in 1982 and has
continued their amazing collaboration for the past two and a half decades.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Giraldo first picked up a guitar at the age of
six, emulating his heroes Elvis Presley, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric
Clapton. First hitting the music scene in Cleveland, Giraldo moved to
New York and was quickly hired by Chrysalis Records to perform as lead
guitarist and musical arranger for an up-and-comer named Pat Benatar.
Giraldo is credited with shaping the band’s sound and for producing every
one of Benatar’s albums. He has also lent his producing talents to such
musicians as John Waite, The Del Lords, Rick Springfield and Kenny
Loggins.
“Musically, we’re still in touch with each other,” Benatar has said. “We
like to play together. It’s who’s cooking dinner tonight that’s the problem!”
Benatar and Giraldo are the first of a string of performers slated
through June 2009 as part of the 2008/2009 season at the Lewis Family
Playhouse. An intimate, 536-seat venue, the Lewis Family Playhouse is the
crown jewel of the three-acre, 89,000-square-foot Victoria Gardens
Cultural Center. The complex at 12505 Cultural Center Drive is located
off the I-15 at Foothill Boulevard, as a major anchor of Victoria Gardens.
The Box Office is open Sunday from 12pm to 5pm, Monday through
Thursday from noon to 6pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to
6pm, with free parking available.
For additional information or to purchase tickets, visit
www.lewisfamilyplayhouse.com or contact the Lewis Family Playhouse Box
Office at (909) 477-2752 or (877) 858-8422. IER
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September, 2008 INLAND ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW