Since he was 19 years old, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber stirred our hearts with some of the most indelible music ever heard on a Broadway stage.

From “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (originally written for children’s theatre) to his current “School of Rock” on Broadway, the composer of “Evita”, “Sunset Boulevard”, “Cats” and one of the longest running shows in Broadway history, “Phantom of the Opera”, has provided millions of theatre goers with inspiring entertainment.

The Sandhills Repertory Theatre (SRT), a new professional theatre company in the Sandhills developed by Michael Pizzi, Artistic Director, will present “Andrew Lloyd Webber on Broadway” with some amazingly gifted talent who have been in many of Sir Andrew’s productions.

“One of my favorite roles was that of Che in “Evita”, a community production in Rockville, MD. I have also seen every show he has ever composed, many of them several times”, says Pizzi.

Pizzi will perform several songs for this concert. Gay Willis, a North Carolina native whose family still lives in Beaufort, toured the world with the original Phantom and Christine, Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, in the Andrew Lloyd Webber tour, and was selected by the composer to be Christine in the Toronto “Phantom of the Opera”. She also played Magnolia in “Showboat” in the Broadway revival.

Matt Leisy, who just completed a year in the NYC revival of “Sweeney Todd” that took place in an actual pie shop in London, is going on an extensive tour as Raul, Christine’s love interest, in “Phantom”.

Stefanie Brown, direct from a national tour of “Wicked” as the Good Witch Glinda, will thrill audiences with her glorious soprano voice. She will also be back in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “A Grand Night for Singing” in January.

Rounding out the show are Christine Heneghan from Raleigh, who will perform “Memory”. Christine was the SRT’s Mrs. Mullins in “Carousel in Concert” last year.

“We also have a fantastic set of amazingly talented high school students who have performed with us,” said Pizzi. “Mason Roth was our “Amahl” in last Christmas’ production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors”, Ryann Perkins from Sanford has sung in several of our concerts, and Calli McIntyre has performed with us and has had several leading roles in local productions. The mission of the SRT is to bring professional Broadway caliber talent to entertain, educate and inspire, and, when the opportunity exists, having our local teens be mentored and work along with our professional performers to hopefully inspire them to have professional careers in the arts. We also donate a percentage of net profits of all of our shows to the newly developed Sandhills Performing Arts in the Schools (SPAS) fund to support and promote theatre arts in Moore County schools”

“Andrew Lloyd Webber on Broadway” is performing October 26-27 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct 28 at 2 p.m. at the Hannah Theatre of the O’Neal school in Southern Pines.

All tickets can be purchased at www.sandhillsrep.org, or senior/military only tickets can be purchased at the Given Library, The Country Bookshop or The Pilot office in Southern Pines. At door prices increase by $10 per ticket if seats are available. Also now available online are tickets for “Bradley Gibson: The Homecoming Concert” a show sure to sell out.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email