BROOKINGS – Four individuals with a combined 6,000 performances as one of stage’s most-famed characters are bringing a unique evening of entertainment to the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center next Tuesday.
The Four Phantoms features the most-memorable songs sung by the finest voices of Broadway. This concert starts at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available in advance at www.woodbineproductions.com or by calling the South Dakota State University School of Performing Arts at 688-5187.
The Four Phantoms brings together four former leading men from the Tony Award-winning “The Phantom of the Opera” for an unforgettable night. Each has played leading roles in numerous other Broadway musicals, and the show will feature each of them in their strongest and best-loved roles.
Phantom No. 1 Brent Barrett has entertained millions around the world from the stages of Broadway, the West End, concert halls, recording studios and television. He recently reprised his role as Billy Flynn in the Tony Award winning hit “Chicago – The Musical.”
He received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for that. Prior to his Broadway return, he relocated to Las Vegas, where he was asked to open the new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular.” Barrett starred in the title role for two years to sold-out houses at The Venetian Hotel.
Phantom No. 2 John Cudia holds the distinction of being the first and only actor to have performed both as the Phantom and Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables” on Broadway. His most-recent Broadway run counted him as only the 12th performer to play the Phantom in its historic, record-breaking 30-plus years. Cudia played Jean Valjean at the Marriott Theater in Chicago, where his performance earned him the Joseph Jefferson Award for “best actor in a musical.”
Phantom No. 3 Franc D’Ambrosio is best known for his portrayal of the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award winning musical, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Affectionately known as the “Iron Man of the Mask,” D’Ambrosio held the title of “The World’s Longest-Running Phantom” for more than a decade, after bringing more than 5 million theater-goers to their feet in a 6-1/2-year run.
Phantom No. 4 Ciarán Sheehan, a native of Dublin, Ireland, has performed the role of the Phantom to critical acclaim both on Broadway and in Toronto. Other Broadway roles include Raoul in “The Phantom of the Opera,” and Babet and Marius in “Les Miserables.” Broadway concerts include Sir Dinadan in Camelot with Jeremy Irons, and Woody in Finian’s Rainbow opposite Melissa Errico.
Sheehan sang the memorial mass for John Jr. and Carolyn Kennedy, and the funeral mass for Beau Biden, at the request of former Vice President Joe Biden. Both were televised worldwide. Sheehan has performed in three PBS specials: “The Irish ... And How They Got That Way,” “From Galway to Broadway,” and “Ciarán an Evening With Friends.”
Joining the leading men in some of Broadway’s most familiar love songs and duets is Katie Travis. Originally from Michigan, Travis is a versatile soprano who is equally at home singing operetta through contemporary musical theater. She recently finished her run of more than 700 shows playing Christine Daae in the North American tour of “The Phantom of the Opera.” She has performed principal roles at The Muny, The Fireside Theater, and Liederkranz Opera Theater.
The performance is provided by Woodbine Productions, a partnership between the SDSU Foundation and the SDSU School of Performing Arts. Since 2007, Woodbine Productions has brought the highest level of performers to Brookings with all expenses have been paid by an anonymous benefactor. Tickets purchased for the performances become scholarships for students in the SDSU School of Performing Arts.
