Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 28, 2010

MEDIA CONTACT
Carrie Marrett
Director of Marketing

Evansville, IN - Three Broadway stars grace the Victory Theatre stage along with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus for the Philharmonic's Pops season opener.  Craig Schulman, Tamra Hayden, and Philip Hernández join the Philharmonic as it presents Vectren's Opening Night Pops:  "Broadway Nights"^TM (Music of Lerner & Loewe) on Saturday, October 2 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 3 at 2:00 p.m.  The concerts, conducted by Maestro Alfred Savia, are a tribute to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe. On the program are hits from Lerner & Loewe's biggest shows:  My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Gigi, and Paint Your Wagon..     

Vectren's Opening Night Pops:  "Broadway Nights"^TM (Music of Lerner & Loewe) begins with a segment from Camelot including the song "If Ever I Would Leave You" which Robert Goulet made famous and "What Do The Simple Folk Do".  Next, audience members are treated to musical numbers such as "They Call the Wind Maria" from Paint Your Wagon and "The Night They Invented Champagne" from Gigi. Following intermission, the program continues with music from Brigadoon and My Fair Lady including "It's Almost Like Being In Love", "I Could Have Danced All Night", "On The Street Where You Live", and "Wouldn't It Be Loverly". 

Season and single tickets are on sale now.  Season tickets may be purchased by calling the Philharmonic Box Office at (812) 425 - 5050.  Single tickets to all Philharmonic events may be purchased by calling the Box Office or ordering online at http://www.evansvillephilharmonic.org/.  Based on availability, Student Rush tickets may be purchased for Vectren's Opening Night Pops one hour prior to the performance for $13.  Student ID is required.

About the guest artists:
Craig Schulman, invited to represent the U.S. at the 10th Anniversary of Les Misérables in London, is also the only actor in the United States to have portrayed three of the greatest musical theatre roles: the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd-Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera; Jean Valjean in Les Misérables; and the title roles in Jekyll & Hyde. He has portrayed Jean Valjean in four different companies in three countries for a total of over 1,900 performances. Widely recognized from the PBS broadcast of The 10th Anniversary: Les Misérables In Concert; he has also played Che in Evita, Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, and Archibald in The Secret Garden.  As a Pops artist, he is the creator and producer of the BROADWAY NIGHTS^TM concert series. Television credits include The Guiding Light, All My Children, One Life To Live, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, and NBC's Weekend Today. He can be heard as the voices of both "Luciano Pavarotti" and "Placido Domingo" on MTV's Claymation Celebrity Death Match.  Craig is married to prominent New York voice teacher Monica Robinson, and they are the proud parents of two sons and a daughter. He dedicates his performance to the memory of his daughter Jenna.

Tamra Hayden has performed on Broadway as Cosette in Les Misérables and Texas in Cabaret at Studio 54. Off-Broadway, she enjoyed a successful run in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Zipper Theater. Ms Hayden has toured extensively throughout the US in Les Misérables as Cosette (a role she has performed over 1,800 times!), Phantom of the Opera as Christine, and Fiddler On The Roof as Hodel opposite Theodore Bikel. Tamra also toured regionally with the original Broadway Company of It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues (Seattle, Missouri and Arizona Reps).  A versatile singer and actress, Tamra has performed a wide variety of roles including Sarah Winchester in the World Premiere of The Haunting of Winchester (San Jose Rep), Marta in Company (Denver Center Theater Company), Alice Roosevelt in Eleanor: An American Love Story (Ford Theater, Washington, DC), Julie Jordan in Carousel (Casa Manana, Ft. Worth, TX), and Veronica in Cold As Ice with Olympic Gold Medalist, Oksana Baiul (Gateway Playhouse).  From Broadway to the Blues, critics have called Tamra's performances "emotionally rich and psychologically detailed" with "a voice that could reheat coffee" and "outsizzle Peggy Lee."

Philip Hernández is the only man in Broadway history to have played both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert in Les Misérables.  He made his Broadway debut in the Original Cast of the Tony Award-winning Kander and Ebb musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, directed by Harold Prince.  In Kiss, he created the role of Esteban and later went on to play the impassioned revolutionary Valentin in London's West End and on Broadway.  Philip also created the role of the Reverend Gonzalez opposite Marc Anthony and Ruben Blades in the Original Cast of Paul Simon's The Capeman.  He starred as Don Quixote in the acclaimed Paper Mill Playhouse revival of Man of La Mancha and as Rico (yes, he wore a diamond) in the National Tour of Barry Manilow's Copacabana.  Most recently, Philip completed a 15-month run as Juan Peron in Harold Prince's 25^th Anniversary North American Tour of EVITA.  Philip played attorney Enrico Alvarez on ABC's All My Children and has also appeared in featured roles on the daytime dramas One Life To Live, Loving and Another World.  Mr. Hernández is a faculty member at New York's American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA).     

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