UW Symphony Orchestra Performs The Magic of Broadway Sept. 20

The University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra will start the “It’s Magic” season Thursday, Sept. 20, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

A preconcert reception will take place at 6:45 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center lobby. Light refreshments will be provided, and patrons can meet the UW Symphony Association board members. The concert follows at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for the concert cost $12 for the public, $8 for senior citizens and $6 for students. Tickets are available at the Performing Arts box office and the Wyoming Union information desk, by calling (307) 766-6666 or by going online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts. Season tickets are still available.

“The Magic of Broadway” concert, a half-pops, half-classical concert, zooms up and down New York’s Broadway, from the Theater District to Lincoln Center and back, says Michael Griffith, UW director of orchestral activities.

On the classical side -- from the Lincoln Center end of the journey -- Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” might be heard at the Philharmonic or the Metropolitan Opera. Some seldom-heard portions of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” -- not the Christmas portions -- also have found their way from the New York City Ballet.

The concert will include songs from three Leonard Bernstein shows. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, UW faculty members Maureen Boddicker and Katrina Zook will perform songs from “West Side Story,” “On the Town” and “Wonderful Town.”

Suites from “Hamilton,” Broadway’s newest hit, and “The Phantom of the Opera,” the longest-running Broadway show at 30 years, also are part of the program.

A new overture written for Gogol’s satirical play, “The Inspector General,” also will be performed. Its premiere was less than a year ago on Times Square. Saxophones from the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble will join the orchestra to end with an overture from “Funny Girl.”

Griffith will begin his 30th season leading the ensemble. This summer, he conducted in Shanghai and lectured at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson.

Continuing this semester in the concert hall are “Tweet Seats.” Audience members who like to stay connected to social media are welcome -- silently -- to share their experiences online. “Tweet Seats” are available only in the back two rows of the concert hall.