We love Broadway musicals! Riverside Theatre promises an evening filled with music from “some of the most exciting Broadway shows in history” this coming Wednesday. You mustn’t miss it.
None other than the Broadway Tenors take the stage to perform a program that runs the musical gamut from “Broadway’s Golden Age to the newest hits currently being performed on stages around the world,” thrilling, iconic songs from “Phantom of the Opera,” “Les Misérables,” “West Side Story,” “Wicked,” “My Fair Lady,” “South Pacific,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Kiss Me Kate” and many more.
Leading men – all multi-award-winning – Brent Barrett, David Burnham and John Cudia have performed in original productions and revivals of all these beloved musicals. According to the Riverside promo: Barrett has performed on Broadway, the West End, concert halls, recording studios and television, recently reprising the role of Billy Flynn in “Chicago.”
He received an Olivier Award nom for his starring role in the London premiere of the “Kiss Me, Kate” revival, and debuted as the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom – the Vegas Spectacular,” reprising the role in a production in Germany (performed in German). Burnham just ended a two-year run starring in the glitzy, uber-glamorous production “Showstoppers” at the Wynn Resort in Vegas.
He played Fiyero on Broadway in the mega-hit musical “Wicked,” and scored Helen Hayes and Garland Awards for Best Actor as Fabrizio in “The Light in the Piazza” national tour. He first received critical acclaim when he was chosen to replace Donny Osmond as Joseph in the national tour of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Cudia is a standout as the only actor to have performed on Broadway as both the Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera” and Jean Valjean in “Les Mis.” He’s only the 12th performer to play the Phantom in its record-breaking, 25-year Broadway run.
Also a classical crossover artist, Cudia sang lead roles in “La Traviata” and “Rigoletto,” and has performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Irish Repertory, Indianapolis Opera and Vancouver Opera. Show time: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $45. 772-231-6990.
Linking the physics of music to motion and emotion, the Treasure Coast Youth Symphony concert “Dance Vibrations: Hoedown to Ballet to Mexican Danzon” may surprise you with its sophistication and challenging college-level orchestral repertoire.
It will most certainly engage you, as the most talented young musicians selected by annual audition from Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and northern Palm Beach counties explore powerful dance themes by composers from around the world, this Monday, Nov. 12, at the First Presbyterian Church.
The premise: “A desire to physically express oneself through movement is a universal human reaction to the vibrations of musical instruments.” According to the Symphony promo: the composers – Stravinsky, Khachaturian, Copland, Strauss, Gliere, Marquez – “sound their stories for ballet and dance, often including motifs from the folk music of their own countries,” including the United States, Mexico, Armenia, Austria and Russia.
The 2018-2019 season marks the orchestra’s 31st year bringing music to the Treasure Coast. Time: 7 p.m. Admission: free. A $10 donation will, of course, be appreciated. 772-562-9088.
On the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, this Sunday, Nov. 11, the Vero Beach Choral Society will perform its fall concert, “Songs of Home,” at the Community Church of Vero Beach. Special guest artists will be Tapestry Brass.
Society creative director and choir master Jason Hobratschk began working on the concert program last spring, choosing the concert title and each piece with great care and respect. “By making the concert program ‘Songs of Home,’ I was thinking about those soldiers in war to whom the thoughts of home must have been foremost in the mind,” he explains, adding that the concert adds other musical concepts of home as well.
The blend: Americana; selections from the Sacred Harp; the spiritual “My Lord, what a mornin,’” the Gospel-style “Unclouded Day”; patriotic favorites such as “God Bless America” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic”; songs of remembrance, including “In Flanders Fields” and Dvorak’s “Goin’ Home”; songs of dedication, “I Vow to Thee, My Country,” a famous English hymn to the Jupiter theme from Holst’s “The Planets”; and Mechem’s “Blow Ye the Trumpet.” Time: 4 p.m.
Tickets: general admission, $20; students, $5, www.verobeachchoralsociety.org; at the Cultural Council of Indian River County; or at the door. 772-494-5011
Hear him for yourself at the King Center this Friday Nov. 9. (And bring your castanets.) The torrid chords of flamenco music are not what you’d immediately associate with a German guitarist.
Until you get an earful of multi-faceted, Grammy-winning, platinum-selling guitarist, songwriter and producer Ottmar Liebert, who is actually best known, says Wikipedia, for his Spanish-influenced music. He has 38 gold and platinum certifications in the United States, and certifications in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
His 1990 debut album “Nouveau Flamenco” became the biggest-selling guitar album of all time. Liebert’s fascinating background certainly set the stage for his musical leanings. According to Wikipedia, Liebert was born in West Germany to a Chinese-German father and a Hungarian mother, and spent most of his childhood traveling throughout Europe and Asia with his family.
He began playing classical guitar at 11, and studying flamenco guitar at 14, so the story goes, “after he found a Flamenco LP in the bargain bin at a local supermarket.” Time: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: start at $79.50. 321-242-2219.