SCERA Hosts 6th Annual NIGHT OF BROADWAY This Week

SCERA will showcase the best of musical theatre by offering Tony Award-winning selections at their sixth annual A Night of Broadway event this week, Jan. 28-31.

A Night of Broadway will begin at 7 p.m. at the SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 S. State St., Orem. Reserved-seat tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for children 3-11 and seniors 65 and older. They are available at www.scera.org, by calling 801-225-ARTS, at the main office at SCERA Center, open 10am-6pm weekdays and Saturdays from 12Noon-6pm or at the door 30 minutes prior to each performance.

Shawn Mortensen, SCERA's Production & Programs Manager, has helped assemble and choreograph some of the area's finest performers to present Utah's tribute to The Big Apple songbook. The program is filled with Tony Award-winning shows and showtunes from Broadway blockbusters, classic musicals and contemporary favorites.

"The show has become one of our most anticipated concerts," Mortensen says. "It's a limited engagement of four evenings that typically brings in full houses. What I love about this event is the opportunity to mix well-known numbers with numbers from shows that are rarely produced in this area, but produce funny, touching and powerful music that deserves to be heard and appreciated. "

The dazzling evening will begin with the entire cast performing "Broadway Melody" from "Singin' in the Rain" before offering individual spotlights. The program will include "Home" from "The Wiz," "Magic Feet" from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," "Unusual Way" from "Nine" and "When You're Home" from "In the Heights."

The evening will continue with "Being Alive" from "Company," "There's a Fine, Fine Line" from "Avenue Q," "Finishing the Hat" from "Sunday in the Park With George," "As We Stumble Along" from "The Drowsy Chaperone," and "Whispering" from "Spring Awakening."

Other numbers will be "The History of Wrong Guys" from "Kinky Boots," "Whatever Happened to My Part" from "Spamalot," "When Words Fail" from "Shrek the Musical," and "This is the Moment" from "Jekyll and Hyde."

Several trios and groups will be featured, with numbers to include "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from "Company," "When I Grow Up" from "Matilda," and a song and dance number to "Brotherhood of Man" from "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

A special section honoring "Phantom of the Opera" will showcase "Think Of Me," "Music of the Night," "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" and "All I Ask Of You." The evening will conclude with the entire company giving its high-energy rendition of "Lullaby of Broadway" from "42nd Street."

"Sixty-five people brought Tony winners to the audition," Mortensen says. "It was exciting to see so many talented and passionate performers, and it was challenging to whittle it down to 19. Every year we present a specific theme or composer tribute to help us in terms of scripting and continuity, and the result has kept the event new and fresh each year. It was especially nice this year to honor Antoinette Perry, the late actress, director, producer and dynamic wartime leader of the American Theatre Wing during World War II, who the Tony Award is named after."

SCERA President & CEO Adam J. Robertson loves that A Night of Broadway is two things: "Pure entertainment is first and foremost, but it's nice to bring in some lesser-known songs to help us all broaden our theatrical horizons. I can pretty much guarantee you will come away with a new favorite showtune that you didn't know before you came!"