100 Years of Broadway Light Up RPO Stage

Rochester, NY; April 24, 2006 – The Lion King may have stampeded out of Rochester, but Broadway-lovers shouldn’t despair. On Friday, May 12 and Saturday, May 13 at 8:00 p.m. in the Eastman Theatre, world-renowned musical theater stars Doug LaBrecque and Christiane Noll will take audiences on a tour through nearly 100 years of some favorite Broadway songs with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik. “Bright Lights of Broadway” features much-loved works by Gilbert & Sullivan (H.M.S. Pinafore), Victor Herbert (Naughty Marietta), Jerome Kern (Showboat), Harold Arlen (The Wizard of Oz), Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story), Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd) and Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar), among many other memorable tunes.

Doug LaBrecque, Tyzik’s favorite Broadway baritone, has thrilled audiences as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. In addition, he has starred on Broadway as Ravenal in the Hal Prince revival of Showboat, a role he also performed in Canada and Chicago. Mr. LaBrecque has been a soloist with some of the world’s finest symphony orchestras including the National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic.

The brilliant vocalist Christiane Noll is best known for her stunning performance as Emma in the original Broadway production of Jekyll & Hyde. She has starred on Broadway in It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues and Grease! Ms. Noll supplied the singing voice of Anna in the Warner Brothers animated feature The King and I, and has released three solo CDs: Christiane Noll – A Broadway Love Story, The Ira Gershwin Album (both on Fynsworth Alley), as well as Live at the Westbank Café on 2Die4 Records.

Tickets for these performances are $24-$54, available online 24/7 at www.rpo.org, by phone (454-2100) and in person from the RPO Box Office, as well as at all Wegmans Video Departments. RPO Box Office Hours are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (non-concert Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.). The Wegmans Video Department is open seven days a week, 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. A convenience fee may apply.

The WPOP Series is sponsored by Wegmans; this concert is made possible in part by Zimmer Sales & Services.

Celebrating its 83rd season in 2005-06, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s mission is to perform and present a broad range of quality music; attract, entertain and educate audiences with superior musical performances; maintain and build the Orchestra’s national reputation; and enhance the reputation of the Rochester community as a place in which to live, work, play, visit and learn.

RPO performances are made possible in part with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; the State of New York; the County of Monroe; the City of Rochester; and American Airlines, the official airline of the RPO.