Utah Symphony will present Deer Valley Broadway concert

Doug LaBrecque is no stranger to Utah concert halls. Although the singer has appeared as Raoul and the Phantom in "Phantom of the Opera," starred in the Broadway revival of "Show Boat," and toured nationally with "Les Miserables," he is best-known here for taking part in the popular "Bravo Broadway" concerts with the Utah Symphony.

True to form, he'll be returning next week for another "Bravo Broadway" concert.

"I'm such a fan of Salt Lake City, and I'm a real fan of the Utah Symphony," LaBrecque said by phone from Michigan. "It's a very versatile orchestra, and I've always enjoyed being on stage with them. They give 100 percent to their pops concerts.

"They're a wonderful classical orchestra, but it's not always easy to find an orchestra that will play pops with the same integrity that they play a classical concert. That comes through to the audience, and as you know, people in Utah love pop and show music and Broadway and Hollywood music."

This concert, LaBrecque said, will be mixing in some classical music with the show tunes. Rather than just doing an evening of contemporary and older Broadway, which is what "Bravo Broadway" has done in the past, a few pieces from early opera and operetta have been added. "It will be a wonderful opportunity for the audience to hear what was the foundation of Broadway.

"Broadway was usually influenced by European music and the American operetta, and it's been sort of growing ever since. So the works of Sigmund Romberg and Rudolph Friml inspired Jerome Kern and Richard Rogers and George Gershwin, who in turn inspired Lerner and Loewe, and even Sondheim, and even songwriters today like Stephen Schwartz."

On this program, "O Suave fanciulla," from Puccini's opera "La Boheme," stands back-to-back with "I Could Have Danced All Night," from "My Fair Lady," together with other well-known favorites from opera, operetta and Broadway musicals.

With that concept in mind, LaBrecque will be joined by Kip Wilborn. "He's a terrific opera singer, and he'll be covering more of the operatic genre," LaBrecque said, adding that Wilborn has also done some Broadway crossover.

"And Christiane Noll is a lyric coloratura, who happens to be a Broadway belter, as well," LaBrecque said. "She's a very rare and unique voice type. Her father was a conductor and her mother was a singer, so she was really raised on early-American operetta and Gilbert and Sullivan. She has a huge repertoire of that material, and she's going to be including a couple pieces of that."