Blockbuster Broadway
Broadway ‘pops’ to feature a
best-of-Broadway cast, benefit
The Phoenix Symphony
If you love Broadway, the Orpheum Theatre is the place to be Feb. 6 and 7. A cast of Broadway luminaries is coming to the Valley to join the Phoenix Symphony in a blockbuster concert of best-known and loved tunes. The performances will benefit the Symphony.
The concert will be conducted by John Clanton and feature Broadway vocalists Scott Coulter, the concert organizer; Jessica Hendy; Kelly Rabke; and Fay Ann Lee. In addition, Oscar and Grammy-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, the legendary songwriter responsible for the music and lyrics for Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show and more, will be featured in the section of the show saluting Wicked, performing a solo number, “The Wizard and I.” He will also perform on piano with the Symphony, accompanying the cast on three other songs from Wicked.
(left) Stephen Schwartz
The idea for the concert sprang from the mind of Fay Ann Lee when she was in the Valley to perform with the Phoenix Boys Choir as a guest soloist. Lee’s New York, international and regional theater credits include Miss Saigon on Broadway, Into The Woods, The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, The Joy Luck Club, Forbidden City Blues, Letter to a Student Revolutionary, Ching Chong Chinaman and her favorite theatrical role as the ingénue Sybil in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. Lee is a star, and she has a connection to the Valley: Her mother- and father-in-law are Phoenix Symphony supporters Jane and Mal Jozoff.
Lee has worked with producer/director Scott Coulter, who has been putting together concerts throughout the country for many years. “I thought this might be a good fit,” she said. “I thought it would be interesting to bring Scott to the desert, and a pops concert might be something the Valley would really enjoy.”
The Symphony also wanted Schwartz to be part of the concert, and as it turns out, Lee knew him as well. “Things have a way of opening up,” she says.
Lee loves to play tennis, and plays every opportunity she gets when she’s in the Valley. Schwartz shares the same love. She met him at the U.S. Open.
For his part, Schwartz enjoys working with a big orchestra. “I’m not the greatest in the world as a performer,” he says, “so you won’t find me performing more than a couple of songs.” Fay Ann Lee
His forte, of course, is the music and the lyrics. And, needless to say, he’s met with huge success in that arena. “Music is an art, and lyrics are a craft. The lyrics are more difficult, but solving the puzzle of a lyric can be enormously satisfying,” Schwartz says.
Director/producer/performer Scott Coulter, vocalist Jessica Hendy, vocalist Kelli Babke Agresta, and musical director John Boswell
The rest of the cast is as stellar. In addition to being a director and producer, Coulter is one of New York’s most honored vocalists. Since 1997, he has performed around the country with award-winning songwriting duo Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich in their many revues, and he tours the world with Stephen Schwartz in the revue Stephen Schwartz & Friends.
Jessica Hendy’s credits include Cats as Grizabella, Aida as Amneris and Amour. She has toured nationally and in Canada in Cats and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as the narrator.
Kelli Babke Agresta got her “big break” playing the role of Dorothy in Paper Mill Playhouse’s acclaimed production of The Wizard of Oz. Shortly after, she landed the lead role of the narrator in the Broadway revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – given the role by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. Following that, she played her dream role: Eponine in Les Miserables on Broadway.
Musical director John Boswell has served in that role for Judy Collins, Andy Williams and Bob Newhart as well as the concert tours of Cinema Toast, That’s Life: A Toast to Sinatra, Three Men and a Baby Grand, and Broadway Today.
The playlist for Blockbuster Broadway includes everybody’s favorites – hopefully concertgoers will be able to resist the temptation to sing along.
VIP RECEPTION
Phoenix Symphony will host a VIP Reception with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Stephen Schwartz on Feb. 7. Before the concert, Broadway enthusiasts can enjoy a cocktail and dinner reception, and after, they will join Stephen Schwartz and other performers on stage for a dessert reception. All proceeds will benefit The Phoenix Symphony.
For VIP tickets, CLICK HERE.
BLOCKBUSTER BROADWAY
February 6 and February 7, 7:30 p.m.
The Orpheum Theatre
