'Love Is an Open Door' at BYU with Santino Fontana and Jessica Fontana

It’s a family affair as married Broadway couple Santino and Jessica Fontana arrive at Brigham Young University’s brand-new Music Building Concert Hall to perform together in two shows on Saturday, September 23. 

Both Jessica and Santino Fontana have made a name for themselves on and off Broadway with a substantial list of performing achievements each. Jessica Fontana’s credits include Broadway’s BABY IT’S YOU and the title role in CINDERELLA, PIPE DREAM in New York City Center’s Encores! series, and off-Broadway in ONCE UPON A MATRESS.

Santino Fontana won a Tony Award for his leading performance in Broadway’s TOOTSIE, for which he also won a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award. Additionally, he originated the roles of Prince Topher in CINDERELLA and Tony in BILLY ELLIOT on Broadway. He was a series regular on the CW’s CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND and is well known for voicing Prince Hans in Disney’s hit film FROZEN.

Santino performed in Utah with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square twice in 2014, once for the Pioneer Day Concert and again for the Christmas concert, sharing the stage with the Muppets from SESAME STREET (including a national broadcast and DVD and CD releases).

Not only do the married couple get to travel and work together, but a duet concert is the perfect fit, as two of Santino’s most beloved numbers, “Love is an Open Door” from FROZEN and “Ten Minutes Ago” from CINDERELLA (which Jessica also sang on Broadway), are romantic duets ready-made for the couple to perform together. 

Tickets ranging from $12 to $60 are still available for the performances, which will be held at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. To purchase, call the box office at 801-422-2981 or visit the link below.  

“The radiant Jessica Fontana is so compelling and Santino Fontana is one of Broadway’s favorite leading men — what an incredible team!” said Lyndsay Keith, producer/presenter of BYU’s BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series. “I’m so thrilled to present this husband-and-wife together. The Fontanas are proof that it’s possible to be a successful performing artist and have a family, which I think many of our students aspire to.”

BYU’s BRAVO! series has previously hosted artists such as Audra McDonald, Lea Salonga, Sutton Foster, Patti LuPone, Jeremy Jordan, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kelli O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Benanti, Leslie Odom, Jr., and Mandy Patinkin, as well as composers Alan Menken, Frank Wildhorn, and Jason Robert Brown.

Coming soon is For Heroes Proved: Veterans Day Celebration featuring Broadway star Derek Klena and the BYU Wind Symphony on Friday, November 10.

Photo Credit: Santino and Jessica Fontana