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Black Tie International:
Grand Opening of the $60 Million Expansion of
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans |
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Tom Hanks along with several
other A-list celebrities and
personalities
will be attending the Grand Opening of the $60 million expansion of
The National World War II Museum
in New Orleans November 6-8
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Grand Opening of
The $60 Million Expansion
of
The National WWII Museum
in New Orleans
November 6 -8 2009
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On Friday, November 6 the
celebrities will be involved in the Grand Opening
ceremonies, as well as a "Free the Troops" luncheon
The memories are gathered and the research
is complete. Celebrity voice-overs are all
recorded. The computer-synchronized props
are soon to be stowed in an 18-foot-deep pit
waiting for their close-up. The National
World War II Museum’s gleaming new complex,
comprised of The Victory Theater, Stage Door
Canteen and The American Sector restaurant,
is readying for its debut. When the doors
fling open on November 6, 2009, the Museum’s
$60 million newest addition to its $300
million expansion will become the most
significant attraction to the city’s
cultural scene since Hurricane Katrina.
Groundbreaking for the 70,000-square-foot
building occurred on April 7, 2008. Designed
by
architects Voorsanger Mathes,
LLC,
the three
attraction’s centerpiece is the 250-seat
Victory Theater. A state-of-the-art venue,
the theater boasts a 120 feet wide screen
with technology designed to thrust audiences
into the titanic struggles of the War That
Changed the World via a 4-D cinematic
experience entitled Beyond All Boundaries.
“This isn’t another World War II film,”
says
National World War II Museum President and
CEO Dr. Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller
“This is a cinematic experience unavailable
anywhere else in the world. The narrative
uses the combatants’, journalists’ and Home
Front workers’ own words to tell the story
of the war, and it’s an unprecedented
journey that took America
Beyond All Boundaries.”
Executive Producer Tom Hanks
has worked with
Phil Hettema, former Senior Vice President,
Attraction Development for Universal Studios
and now President of the Hettema Group,
to create a unique and overwhelming
immersive journey into World War II that
will appeal to everyone – from the Greatest
Generation to those who have grown up with
Facebook and Xbox.
The four-year project
incorporates Hollywood special effects,
digital animation, and original war footage,
all created specifically for the Theater
that is being built to house it.
Creative consultant, screenwriter and
Professor of History at Lafayette College,
Donald L. Miller, author of several
best-selling books about the war,
collaborated on the screenplay of Beyond
All Boundaries. As a historian it was
vitally important to Miller that the facts
be accurate. “We wanted it to have
fidelity,” he said. “The story is too good
to make up. You’re seeing events that really
happened. Beyond All Boundaries gives
audiences a tremendously exciting, immersive
and significant picture of the immensity of
World War Two. It was a true global
conflict, and America is the only country
that fought it globally.”
The result, voiced by some of
Hollywood’s top stars, is jaw dropping.
Beyond All Boundaries is true to its
name – a 4-D experience that plunges
audiences into a sensory world where they
will feel the steam rising from
Guadalcanal’s jungles, brush snowflakes from
their cheeks tailing troops in the Battle of
the Bulge, and flinch at deadly
anti-aircraft fire as they fly with bomber
crews thousands of feet above Nazi Germany.
Following the end of on the
40-minute performance, theater-goers can
catch their breath at the Stage Door
Canteen, a recreation of the wartime venues
found in New York, Los Angeles and other
cities that entertained the troops during
the war. The National World War II Museum’s
new Stage Door Canteen recaptures that
excitement and is an ode to the
morale-building experience. Patrons will be
able to hear the old songs, laugh at the
jokes and grab a bite, a soft drink or a
cocktail while discovering the sights and
sounds of the era. On select nights, patrons
can enjoy dinner and a spectacular new
signature live show or local music
performances.
Lastly, and literally, on the
menu, is The American Sector, a Chef John
Besh Restaurant. Chef Besh is the celebrated
New Orleanian known to the nation for his
James Beard award-winning restaurants and
through appearances on TV shows like the
Next Iron Chef and programs such as the
Today show. His is also a former
Marine who fought during Operation Desert
Storm.
For The American Sector, the
original name of the historic New Orleans
district known today as the Warehouse
District, Besh plans a menu inspired by the
simpler fare of the 1940s, but with a flair
found only in New Orleans. The restaurant
interior will have a bar
and an outdoor patio overlooking newly
landscaped Magazine Street. It is certain to
become a great new addition to the city’s
culinary landscape, making a trip to the
Museum a must for visitors to New Orleans.
The complex’s grand opening
celebrations are planned to be worthy of a
Hollywood premiere and run from November
6-8. A cast of celebrities led by Tom Hanks
and Tom Brokaw, veterans and active
military, political dignitaries from around
the globe, as well as other assorted VIPs,
will officially open the complex with a
military fly-over and parachute drop on
Friday the 6th. Family events and a New
Orleans-style block party will take place
all day Saturday the 7th, and special
retrospective honoring Museum-founder and
Historian Stephen E. Ambrose will be held on
Sunday the 8th.
According to the Veterans
Administration in Washington, D.C., U.S.
veterans of World War II are dying at the
rate of 900 a day, with only 2.2 million
remaining today. With each one goes another
memory of a time when America sacrificed and
shared together as one nation. It’s
priceless knowledge.
“The National World War II
Museum must collect, record and pass on
their stories for the next generation,” says
Governor Pete Wilson, Chairman of the
Museum’s National Board of Trustees. “Our
veterans are saying good-bye, and we are
losing their eye-witness accounts, so we are
hastening our efforts to build-out the
museum before they leave us completely. It’s
a way to honor those who have done so much
to preserve our way of life, and it’s our
mission.”
To that end the Museum is proceeding apace
with building the new six-acre,
300,000
square-foot campus, of which
the Victory Theater complex is only the
first phase. When completed by 2015, the
Museum will boast four additional exhibition
buildings as well as space for traveling
collections and a parade ground, in addition
to its existing facilities.
The National World War II Museum
tells the story of the American Experience
in the war that changed the world – why it
was fought, how it was won, and what it
means today. Dedicated in 2000 as The
National D-Day Museum and now designated by
Congress as America’s National World War II
Museum, it celebrates the American Spirit,
the teamwork, optimism, courage and
sacrifice of the men and women who fought on
the battlefront and the Home Front. For more
information, call 877-813-3329 or
504-527-6012 or
visit
www.nationalww2museum.org.
Follow us on Twitter at
WWIImuseum or visit our
Facebook fan page.
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To list an upcoming event please contact
joyce@blacktiemagazine.com |
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