Northridge, CA:  Comedienne Lily Tomlin, internationally renowned State Street Ballet, politically attuned Second City Comedy Troupe, a variety of exciting holiday events, followed by Radio Days, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder are all joining ArtsNorthridge, as the Performing Arts Center is proud to present the upcoming 2006-2007 Season at California State University, Northridge.   Long a Mecca for local entertainment in the San Fernando Valley, the Performing Arts Center is now providing several new programs each month—a welcome alternative for those looking for thrilling live entertainment without the time and expense of a long drive.

An Intimate Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin kicks off the season at the Performing Arts Center with a wildly funny evening reprising of many of her most-loved characters on Saturday, September 30 at 8 p.m.  One of America’s foremost comediennes, Lily continues to venture across an ever-widening range of media, starring in television, theatre, motion pictures, animation and video—and now adds Cal State Northridge performer to the mix. 

Lily Tomlin has also had a long and successful film career, staring in several Robert Altman films—including the new Prairie Home Companion as well as Nashville, The Late Show, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, All of Me, Big Business, Shadows and Fog, Short Cuts, The Beverly Hillbillies, Flirting with Disaster, Getting Away with Murder, Tea with Mussolini, and The Kid.  TV roles on Murphy Brown and The West Wing have made her a familiar face to all.

Santa Barbara’s State Street Ballet is returning to the Performing Arts Center for its fifth consecutive year to sell-out crowds, on Saturday, October 28 at 8 p.m.  State Street Ballet will bring to life the American Legends Tour, with newly commissioned pieces using the choreography of DeMille, Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins in Copeland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Gershwin’s “Who Cares,” and Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” According to the Los Angeles Times, State Street’s Artistic Director Rodney “Gustafson has built a company respected for its choreography, dancing and fiscally responsible management, proving that ballet is alive and kicking in Southern California.”

Second City Comedy Troupe -- the comedy troupe that launched the careers of Mike Myers, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and countless others -- will come to the Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30.  Since Performing a special medley of classic scenes, songs, and improvisation, the Second City's National Touring Company is always original, daring, & hilarious.

"What do love, Iraq and rap music producers have in common? They're all targets of the Second City, the infamous comedy/improv troupe from Chicago," writes Anna Rosenstein in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It's like the Harvard of improvisational theater. That should assure you that the current class is some of the best and brightest. Sure, cheesy humor isn't beneath them and not a one will skip a sexual innuendo if the opportunity presents itself. Anything for a laugh. And the laughs come fast and furious," she adds.

The Holiday Season officially begins Sunday, December 3, at 2 p.m., as the Performing Arts Center proudly presents “Fiesta Navidad: A Musical Celebration of Christmas.”  Starring mariachi ensemble Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano and the dancers of Ballet Folklorico Ollin, the Mexican Christmas celebration of Fiesta Navidad is becoming a new tradition for U.S. audiences.  Considered “the West’s newest holiday tradition,” Fiesta Navidad tells the story of La Posada, commemorating the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem on the eve of the birth of Jesus.

On Friday, December 8, at 8 p.m., the Performing Arts Center celebrates with The Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers, who have focused worldwide attention on the vast body of folk music termed “African-American.”   After 18 sold-out European tours, 23 tours of the US and Canada, as well as the Middle and Far East, Russia, Africa, and South America, the Jubilee Singers are among the most honored singing ensembles in the world for the past thirty-six years.

A Christmas Carol has become a holiday tradition at the Performing Arts Center, as the Metropolitan Educational Theatre offers a glorious production of the classic Dickens tale on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 17, at 2 p.m.

Climb aboard the “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” as Five by Design’s RADIO DAYS takes its Northridge audience on a ride over the radio airwaves Sunday, February 25, for two shows, at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.  Honoring American’s greatest generation, Five by Design recreates a poignant time capsule of American life during the war years.  As “Sentimental Journey” opens the production, the audience is transported to a seemingly simpler time when an evening’s entertainment emanated from the amber glow of vacuum tubes in a wooden cabinet.  Radio Days is an affectionate look at the programming, soap operas, game shows, adventure serials, commercials, and the songs that were etched in the nation’s psyche.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will blast the rafters of the PAC on Saturday, March 10, at 8 p.m.  Concentrating on the swinging days of the 40’s and 50’s, borrowing some Rat Pack lingo while wearing colorful zoot suits, this LA group has quickly built a following by playing to the Gen-Xers enamored with the kitschy charm of the cocktail nation.  Millions of albums later, they have performed at the Super Bowl, with Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan, and have had their music used in over 60 film and TV shows.