The Emmy Award-winning PBS series, featuring the acclaimed Boston Pops orchestra, will also offer an evening celebrating Keith Lockhart's tenth season as conductor. The retrospective episode will include past performances by such Broadway favorites as Nathan Lane, Martin Short, Jason Alexander, Sarah Jessica Parker, Audra McDonald and Elaine Paige as well as k.d. lang, Dawn Upshaw, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Diana Krall and Penn and Teller.
The May 24 taping — led by former conductor John Williams — will pay tribute to film composers Henry Mancini and Bernard Herrmann. Brian Stokes Mitchell — of Ragtime and Kiss Me, Kate fame — will perform such Mancini classics as "Moon River" and "The Days of Wine and Roses.
The May 29 performance will feature the talents of pop star and former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald. McDonald will perform selections from his "Motown" album; the evening will also include Cape Breton fiddling sensation Natalie MacMaster.
Vanessa Williams, who has starred on Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman and the Into the Woods revival, will be part of the June 7 taping. Williams will pay tribute to landmark black Broadway musicals and their stars.
The final taping — June 10 — will boast Wicked star Kristin Chenoweth. That evening will honor movie musicals that went on to become Broadway hits and Broadway musicals that became movie hits. Tickets for the 2004 Boston Pops season are now on sale. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.bostonpops.org.
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The upcoming spring season of the Boston Pops will feature several evenings devoted to the music of Broadway.
The famed concert series, which will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of conductor Keith Lockhart, kicks off its season May 11 at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA. On May 12, the first of the orchestra's Broadway salutes premieres, a tribute to the late George Gershwin. Simply titled By George!, the concert will celebrate Gershwin's Broadway works as well as "An American in Paris" and "Rhapsody in Blue."
The Great American Songbook—Bright Lights! Broadway premieres May 16. Bruce Hangen will be the evening's guest conductor, and attendees can expect to hear tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim as well as songs from My Fair Lady and West Side Story.
On May 26, the Boston Pops will debut The Great American Songbook—Singers & Songwriters. That concert will explore the fabric of American music, featuring songs by Irving Berlin, Carole King and Paul Simon.
Marvin Hamlisch will conduct the June 22 evening, Mahvelous Mahvin, which will feature the works of the Tony-winning composer. Expect to hear tunes from A Chorus Line and The Goodbye Girl as well as the award-winning theme from "The Way We Were."
