BRAVO BROADWAY! With The Wheeling Symphony Comes To The Capitol This Month

This March, Broadway is coming to Wheeling! The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra (WSO) will present Bravo Broadway!, their second Pops performance of the season, on Friday, March 21, at 7:30 pm.

Featuring three Broadway actors, the program contains a variety of numbers from well-known musicals, such as Wicked, The Music Man, Chicago, and My Fair Lady. The WSO Capitol Series is sponsored by WesBanco, and the Pops series is sponsored by WVU Medicine. Additional support is provided by Kim and Holly McCluskey, Harold and Roanne Burech, West Liberty University, Riverbridge Wealth Management, and Doug Carl and Sumner Riddick.

“As a lifelong Broadway fan myself, I am truly over the moon about this next performance,” says WSO Music Director John Devlin. “I grew up in New York City attending Broadway shows with my family, so performing a musical-based show is like bringing a little bit of my childhood home to my home here in Wheeling. From the iconic tunes to the immense talent of each guest vocalist, I know our audience will absolutely love Bravo Broadway!”

The three guest artists are Hugh Panaro, best known for performing as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway; Christiane Noll, who was nominated for a Tony award for her performance in Ragtime; and Morgan James, an original member of the 2011 Broadway revival of Godspell. Panaro and James are no strangers to the WSO, with Panaro having previously performed for the WSO's July 4 tour while James headlined Symphonic Soul in 2023.

The setlist for Bravo Broadway! features many favorite Broadway composers like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, Lerner & Lowe, and more. Broadway fans will recognize numbers from shows like My Fair Lady, Les Misérables, Frozen, and The Phantom of the Opera.

Prior to the performance, concert attendees are invited to come to the Capitol Ballroom to enjoy a musical theatre showcase by students from West Liberty University. After, ticketholders can present their tickets at the Bridge Tavern for an exclusive after party.

“March is Music in Our Schools Month, and we have so many outstanding musical theatre programs in the Ohio Valley,” says WSO Executive Director Sonja Thoms. “This performance gives us the perfect opportunity to honor those programs and the educators who keep them running. It's my hope to fill the Capitol with every theatre kid in the Valley!”

“For the past several years, the WSO has been lucky enough to feature a host of Broadway superstars, from Sutton Foster to Renée Elise Goldsberry,” continues Devlin. “I'm thrilled to add a few more names to our growing roster of superb musical theatre talent. I guarantee that by the end of the night, you will jump to your feet with an enthusiastic, ‘Bravo!'”