Following a sold-out engagement last February at Guadalajara’s Conjunto Santander de Artes Escénica, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is returning to Mexico with a four city tour this coming fall, playing Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey and returning to Guadalajara. Presented by FR Producciones, Conjunto Santander de Artes Escénica and Representaciones Árinder, S.C., in conjunction with Industrial FX Productions and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment, the concert will tour:
- Puebla on Sunday, October 22, 2023 at Auditorio del Complejo Cultural Universitario de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (tickets)
- Mexico City on Sunday, November 5 at Auditorio Nacional (tickets)
- Monterrey on Sunday, November 12 at Auditorio Pabellón M (tickets)
- Guadalajara on Saturday, November 25 at Sala Plácido Domingo, Conjunto Santander de Artes Escénicas, performed again for this return engagement by Orquesta Solistas de América (tickets)
This Mexico tour comes during the 100th Anniversary celebration year of Warner Bros., which includes the enduring appeal and legacy of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes characters and animation.
Conducted by Emmy Award winner George Daugherty, and created by Daugherty and Emmy Award winner David Ka Lik Wong, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony has been touring the world with major symphony orchestras and at iconic venues since 1990, when the production first sold out Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre as Bugs Bunny on Broadway. Since then, the concert has played to sold-out houses and rave reviews around the globe, with hundreds of orchestras and venues ranging from The New York Philharmonic to The Boston Pops to The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Royal Philharmonic, from The Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House to Lincoln Center.
Previously in Mexico, the concert first played at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional in 1998, which was followed in 2011 by two historic open-air performances in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which attracted tens of thousands of audience members.
This latest version of Bugs Bunny at the Symphony pairs 16 iconic Looney Tunes shorts projected on the big screen, including What’s Opera, Doc? (Chuck Jones, 1957), The Rabbit of Seville (Jones, 1950), Baton Bunny(Jones and Abe Levitow, 1959),Long-Haired Hare (Jones, 1949) and the Merrie Melodies short A Corny Concerto (Bob Clampett, 1943), plus five contemporary shorts: 3D CG coyote & roadrunner toons from 2010, directed by Matthew O’Callaghan: Rabid Rider, Coyote Falls and Fur of Flying; and 2019 Looney Tunes Cartoons Dynamite Dance and Wet Cement.
“When we were all growing up and watching Looney Tunes on Saturday morning, we didn’t realize we were also getting a massive lesson in classical music,” says Daugherty. “Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is the perfect opportunity to bring today’s kids to the symphony orchestra and appreciate the beauty of classical music while getting a hilarious twist from Bugs Bunny and his cohorts. More importantly, it’s a chance for adults of all ages to rekindle their affection for these brilliant animated shorts, and relive a truly nostalgic and magical part of their childhoods.”
Daugherty has conducted more than 250 American and international orchestras, and also earned a Primetime Emmy Award, five other Emmy nominations and numerous other awards for his work in television and film. Daugherty and producing partner David Ka Lik Wong received Primetime Emmys as executive producers of ABC’s animation and live-action production of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, which Daugherty also directed, wrote and conducted, and for which he was also Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Music Direction. Daugherty and Wong were also executive producers and writers of the PBS/Sesame Workshop children’s series Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, and both received Emmy nominations for Rhythm & Jam, their series of ABC network music education specials.
In 1990, Daugherty and Wong created Bugs Bunny on Broadway, which made its debut at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre with a sold-out extended run, and along with its sequel Bugs Bunny at the Symphony has since played to critical acclaim and sold-out houses all over the world, to audiences of over 2 million people.
Wong is also a Prime Time Emmy Award winner, a three-time Emmy nominee, has created programming and concerts on Broadway and for the greatest symphony orchestras and concert halls in the world, and together with Daugherty has produced, written and created a slate of critically-acclaimed television programs and movies for Warner Bros., ABC/Disney, Sesame Workshop, PBS, and other major studios and networks. He has been the co-creator, producer, technical/stage director and lighting designer for the concert’s entire history.
Warner Bros. Discovery Presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony is a 130-minute concert, with one 20-minute intermission.
