Betsy Wolfe to Star in The New York Pops Underground Cabaret at 54 Below

Tony Award nominee and Broadway favorite Betsy Wolfe will headline the annual New York Pops Underground cabaret performance on Monday, October 2, 2023 at 54 Below, performing selections from Waitress, The Last Five Years, and & Juliet, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award.

Betsy is currently appearing in & Juliet on Broadway, and has previously appeared in the title role of Broadway’s Waitress, in addition to Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and more. Betsy most recently appeared with The New York Pops at its 39th Birthday Gala celebrating the music of Kristen and Bobby Lopez.

The event begins with a champagne reception at 5:30pm and the program begins at 6:30pm, accompanied by a dinner with wine pairings. New York Pops Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke serves as host.

The evening also includes a performance by the PopsEd alumni ensemble, which features young musicians who have previously participated in the orchestra’s Kids on Stage program. Kids on Stage provides students who live across all five boroughs access to the professional performance process including a comprehensive rehearsal period, and performance with the orchestra on the Carnegie Hall stage. 

Proceeds from The New York Pops Underground cabaret fundraiser support the orchestra’s PopsEd programs, which provide music education, arts access, and performance opportunities for New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds.

The New York Pops’ 2023-24 season of performances in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall includes 21st Century Broadway on Friday, October 27, 2023 featuring Derek Klena, Hailey Kilgore, Javier Muñoz, and Ali Stroker; One Night Only: An Evening with Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara on Friday, November 17, 2023; The Best Christmas of All with Norm Lewis on Friday, December 22 and Saturday, December 23; Gershwin: A Century of Rhapsody in Blue on Friday, February 9, 2024 featuring Montego Glover and Lee Musiker; and Hitsville: Celebrating Motown on Friday, March 15, 2024 featuring Bryan Terrell Clark and Valisia LeKae.

The New York Pops will additionally join Multi-GRAMMY Award winner and Songwriters Hall of Fame Honoree Jason Mraz this Thursday, August 17, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. 

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Event Information

The New York Pops Underground
Betsy Wolfe

54 Below
254 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019

Monday, October 2, 2023
5:30pm Champagne Reception
6:30pm Performance and Dinner

Betsy Wolfe, Guest Artist
Hosted by The New York Pops Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke
David Blakelock, Andrea Reiser, Hillary Weldon, Event Chairs

Link: https://newyorkpops.org/cabaret2023

Ticket pricing starts at $365; tickets are available through The New York Pops’ office at 212-765-7677 or online at newyorkpops.org. 

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About the Artists

The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director and Conductor Steven Reineke, the orchestra performs an annual subscription series at Carnegie Hall, and is among the venue’s most presented ensembles. Now in its milestone 40th season, The New York Pops’ annual birthday gala is celebrated each spring, raising funds for the orchestra and its education programs. The New York Pops performs annually in Queens, NY at Forest Hills Stadium, a 14,000-seat historic concert venue.

The New York Pops celebrates the diversity of popular music’s evolving songbook. Every concert is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with influences ranging from Broadway melodies to film scores, jazz, rock, pop, and everything in between. Under Reineke’s dynamic leadership, The New York Pops continues to re-imagine orchestral pops music.

Through its PopsEd music education programs, The New York Pops fulfills its dedication to lifelong learning by collaborating with public schools, community organizations, and senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City. PopsEd allows thousands of New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds to participate in fully customizable music programs that blend traditional education with pure fun.

The New York Pops is committed to serving all members of the community. Through its Kids in the Balcony and Kids in the Stadium programs, thousands of children and their parents have had an opportunity to see The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and Forest Hills Stadium free of charge. 

The New York Pops was founded by Ruth and Skitch Henderson in 1983 with a mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich musical heritage through presentation of concerts and education programs of the highest quality. The New York Pops is a non-profit organization supported solely through the generosity of individual donations, institutional grants, corporate sponsorships, and concert income.

Follow The New York Pops on Facebook (facebook.com/thenewyorkpops), Instagram (@thenewyorkpops), and Twitter (@thenewyorkpops).

Steven Reineke has established himself as one of North America's leading conductors of popular music and is in his second decade as Music Director of The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he is Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston and Toronto Symphony Orchestras.

Reineke is a frequent guest conductor with The Philadelphia Orchestra and his extensive North American conducting appearances include Dallas, Detroit and the Ravinia Music Festival.

On stage, Mr. Reineke has created programs and collaborated with a range of leading artists from the worlds hip hop, R & B, Broadway, television and rock including: Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Peter Frampton and Ben Folds, amongst others. In 2017 he was featured on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" leading the National Symphony Orchestra - in a first for the show's 45-year history - performing live music excerpts in between news segments. In 2018 Reineke led the National Symphony Orchestra with hip hop legend Nas performing his seminal album "Illmatic" on PBS's Great Performances.

As the creator of more than one hundred orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke’s work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Batare performed frequently in North America, including performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare was used to commemorate the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. His numerous wind ensemble compositions are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands worldwide.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal), where he earned bachelor of music degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition. He currently resides in New York City with his husband Eric Gabbard.
 

Betsy Wolfe has established herself as one of the most versatile and keenly intelligent Broadway performers of her generation. She can currently be seen starring in Broadway’s & Juliet from Emmy-award winning writer from Schitt’s Creek David West Read with music by hitmaker Max Martin as Anne Hathaway, a role that earned her a Tony nomination this year. She was previously seen starring as Jenna Hunterson, the title role in the Tony nominated musical Waitress. Prior to that, Wolfe played Cordelia, one of the lovable “lesbians from next door,” in the Broadway revival of Falsettos. She is perhaps best known for her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe starred in the holiday film Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol With A Twist. She can be seen in the indie feature First One In (on all streaming platforms) with Georgia King and Kat Foster and had a guest starring role on the CBS series Instinct. Wolfe performed her one woman cabaret show All Bets Are Off to sold out crowds at Feinstein’s/54 Below in NYC, Las Vegas, San Francisco, New Orleans, and more.

Wolfe’s other Broadway credits include Ellen in Bullets Over Broadway, directed by Susan Stroman and Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and 110 in the Shadefollowed by Everyday Rapture. She also appeared as Beth in the Encores! production of Merrily We Roll Along. She starred in the La Jolla Playhouse world premiere production of Up Here, and created the role of Mary Ann Singleton in ACT's world premiere of Tales of the City.

Wolfe received her BFA in musical theatre from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Douglas Carter Beane’s adaptation of Die Fledermaus. She has been a guest artist for over 55 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras across the U.S. and internationally including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The New York Pops and the BBC Orchestra.

Cast recordings include & Juliet, Falsettos, Bullets over Broadway, The Last Five Years, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, Stage Door Canteen, 35MM, and Merrily We Roll Along. Wolfe can be seen in the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. 

In 2018, Wolfe founded BroadwayEvolved, a groundbreaking musical theatre training program for students which has been named (three summers in a row) as one of the best summer programs along with top universities. www.broadwayevolved.com www.betsywolfe.com

Photo credit: Richard Termine