Songs and music from hit Broadway shows will be featured at Temple Or Elohim’s annual Spring concert Sunday May 17 at 7 p.m.
Departing from previous concerts, which centered around operas and operettas, the popular concert is being billed this year as “No Mozart Tonight … Just Broadway! That’s Right!” Cantor David Katz, lead singer and principal organizer of the event, said this year attendees will be able “to sponsor one of their favorite Broadway show tunes for a friend or family member or other honoree.”
“We’re asking individuals to sponsor a song for $250,” he said. “Each sponsored song will come with an announcement of sponsorship in the program as well as two complimentary tickets to the concert.”
Cantor Katz said, “This is the first time we’re inviting our congregation and friends to actually determine the concert program. We’ll also work their name into the script for the show. It should be a lot of fun, and appreciated by everyone.”
Songs available for sponsorship are from Brigadoon, Les Miserables, Kismet, Evening Primrose, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Kiss Me Kate, South Pacific, Cats, Wicked, The Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof.
Last year’s concert, in which Katz and mezzo-soprano Hayden DeWitt sang from well-known operas and operettas produced a record attendance at the annual fund-raiser for the temple. This year, Katz, who has sung with opera companies in Israel and Europe, as well as throughout the U.S., will be joined by Hayden DeWitt and pianist Cathy Venable.
Katz performs throughout the country singing Yiddish, opera, Broadway, and cantorial favorites. He has also performed on behalf of B’nai B’rith, The American Conference of Cantors and various children’s charities.
DeWitt has performed at the Metropolitan Opera and frequently sings with Katz to public and critical acclaim. Their duets, in costume, last year were “very well-received,” recalls the cantor. “We were gratified that the audience was so responsive to our interpretations. We look forward to an even stronger favorable reception this year since we’re going to be singing many songs so familiar to theater-goers and lovers of popular culture.”
The third member of the trio is Venable, who has served as rehearsal pianist and pit pianist for the Broadway productions of Les Miserables, Cinderella, Evita Anything Goes, The Light in the Piazza, Sondheim on Sondheim, and Beauty and the Beast, among other productions. She has also been a pianist for The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic and the Yale University Graduate Opera Program.
Katz said his hope is to develop the temple concert series as providing Manhattan-quality entertainment to the Nassau North Shore community for a modest price.
Admission to the concert is $25 ($30 at the door) and includes a dessert reception following the concert. Further information and tickets are available from the temple at 18 Tobie Lane in Jericho. Call 516-433-9888 ext. 14 or visit www.templeorelohim.com for more information.
