Kristien and Hutton Headline California Holiday Concert, Dec. 16

By: Nov. 10, 2005
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

A Gala Evening for the Holidays, headlined by Broadway stars Dale Kristien and Bill Hutton, will be presented at 8:00 pm Friday, December 16, 2005 at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium by and in benefit of the San Gabriel Valley Music Theatre (SGVMT), a newly formed not-for-profit producing organization whose mission is to bring back a dedicated series of Broadway musical theatre productions at the San Gabriel Valley Civic Auditorium after a four year absence.

A Gala Evening for the Holidays will showcase the voices of Kristien and Hutton in a program of such classic holiday classics as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "White Christmas," "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Baby It's Cold Outside," "Oh Holy Night," "The Christmas Song," "Santa Baby," "Walking in a Winter Wonderland," "What Are You Doing Christmas Eve?" and many more. Lloyd Cooper serves as musical director, with David Galligan as the show's director.

Kristien is best known for her record-breaking four-and-one-half years in the role of Christine Daae in The Phantom of the Opera. Performing on Broadway and in Los Angeles, she is– the actress who has played the most performances as Christine (over 1,700), and the only actress (anywhere in the world) allowed to play the role for all eight performances per week. Prior to The Phantom of the Opera, Kristien starred on Broadway with Donald O'Connor in the Houston Grand Opera production of Show Boat. She also appeared on Broadway with Richard Burton and later with Richard Harris in Camelot, as well as in regional and local theater productions of such classics as Carousel, The Pirates of Penzance, Show Boat, The King & I, The Desert Song, Kismet, The Sound of Music, Camelot, and others.

Hutton received a Tony Award nomination for creating the role of "Joseph" in the original Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He also originated the role of Auccussin ("Auccussin and Nicolette") in Festival, which played in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. and off-Broadway in New York. He starred in the original musical based on the Warner Bros. Film, The Wrong Box, and was honored with a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award nomination for the West Coast Premiere of William Finn's In Trousers. Other credits include Blame It On the Movies!, and regional productions of Meet Me in St. Louis, Brigadoon, Call Me Madam and most recently, Life X 3.

"The first steps in an effort to bring musical theatre back to the city of San Gabriel were taken January 23, 2005 when the newly formed San Gabriel Valley Music Theatre presented "Open A New Window" - a benefit performance featuring a cast of Broadway and regional musical theatre veterans. As the foundation for a follow-up series of fundraisers throughout 2005, Open A New Window led to the SGVMT's The Monday Night Cabaret Broadway at The Playhouse ("The Playhouse" being the original name of the legendary San Gabriel Civic Auditorium), and once again garnered overwhelming support, not only by professional musical theatre performers, but an ever growing base of patrons of the arts," according to press notes.

Following A Gala Evening for the Holidays, the San Gabriel Valley Music Theatre plans to continue with their Monday Night Cabaret Broadway at The Playhouse series and will then present their inaugural Broadway season at the Civic Auditorium scheduled to begin in May, 2006 with The Sound of Music, followed by Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in January of 2007.

  Tickets for A Gala Evening for the Holidays are available at $20, 30, $40 and $60 and can be purchased in advance by calling (626) 308-2865 Ext. 350 or (626) 282-1440.



Videos