Broadway "Phantoms" to perform for Pops Series
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Tickets are available through the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office, which is temporarily located in the modular complex in the Dods Hall lot across from the Williams Center, by phone at 716-673-3501 (1-866-441-4928) or online at fredonia.edu/tickets. “Three Phantoms in Concert” is one of the 17 productions comprising the 2011-12 Mix & Match season ticket plan. Season tickets are available and subscribers can save up to 25 percent off regular prices. For details, inquire at the Ticket Office. The event sponsor is Bahgat and Laurito-Bahgat, CPA’s. The concert is part of the 2011-12 Lake Shore Savings Season.
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The 2011-12 DFT Communications Pops Series at SUNY Fredonia will open on a high note as Rockefeller Arts Center presents “Three Phantoms in Concert” on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall.
The concert will feature classic Broadway show tunes performed by three professional male vocalists, each of whom has performed the role of the Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera.”
“I’m particularly looking forward to this show,” Rockefeller Arts Center Director Jefferson Westwood said. “I called around the country checking references of other college and university arts centers where ‘Three Phantoms’ had played, and everyone I spoke to just raved about the show. Many people said it was the best thing they had hosted in years.”
“Three Phantoms in Concert,” which has been selling out performances across the country, highlights the vocal talents of Broadway stars Craig Schulman, Cris Groenendaal and Ted Keegan. The concert features solos, duets and trios, all from the Broadway male repertoire. In addition to popular songs from “Les Misérables,” “Miss Saigon” and “The Phantom Of The Opera,” the program also includes numbers from “Guys and Dolls,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “Most Happy Fella,” “The Secret Garden,” “Damn Yankees,” “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” “Sweeney Todd” and many more.
The driving force behind “Three Phantoms” is Mr. Schulman, who began his vocal studies at SUNY Fredonia, a fact Mr. Westwood discovered after booking the show.
“Mr. Schulman and I started emailing back and forth about some logistical details,” Mr. Westwood explained. “He ended a couple of his emails by saying ‘I am looking forward to coming back to Fredonia’ and ‘I’m looking forward to performing on the stage of King Concert Hall again.’”
With his curiosity piqued, Mr. Westwood looked through the past event files for Rockefeller Arts Center, but could find no record of Mr. Schulman having performed in the pops series. He then checked to see if Mr. Schulman was a graduate of SUNY Fredonia.
“I called Patty Feraldi, our director of alumni affairs, and Patty said he did not show up on the alumni data base,” Mr. Westwood said. “So when we finally spoke on the phone, I said, ‘Mr. Schulman, you have me stumped. When did you perform here before?’ Well, as it turns out, he started his undergraduate career here in the early 1970s, when Rockefeller Arts Center was still a new building and the School of Music was just starting to offer a major in voice. He had lots of leading roles, but ended up transferring to Oswego to finish his degree ─ which is why he was not in the alumni data base.”
