(Special to the American Press)

From “Wicked” to “Chicago” to “The Phantom of the Opera,” the magic of Broadway will grace Lake Charles for this year’s Summer Pops performance, “Bravo for Broadway.”

Over the years, the Lake Charles Symphony has brought in genre-spanning talent to share the stage in the name of artful accessibility. The symphony’s annual season finale, Summer Pops, is an opportunity to introduce new audiences to the world of orchestral music, and at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 12, the Lake Charles Event Center Colosseum will host both the Lake Charles Symphony and the voices of three Broadway legends: Alli Mauzey, Dee Roscioli and Scarlett Strallen.

Executive Director Beth Dawdy said the theme was chosen by audiences through a survey; “Broadway” had an overwhelmingly positive reception.

She was able to bring Southwest Louisiana’s dream to life through the power of networking. After reaching out to her friend, who is a Broadway producer, she was connected with John Such Artists’ Management, which produces a show called “The Three Broadway Divas.”

This show highlights the three prominent Broadway figures alongside symphony orchestras, and Dawdy said the performance is rare opportunity to experience Broadway in Southwest Louisiana.

“We are bringing Broadway straight to Lake Charles, and I want it to be a great experience for everybody. This is going to be a standout performance.”

This year’s Summer Pops will be “electric” and engage the audiences in a rainbow of emotions, like “laughter, joy and pathos,” said Symphony Director William Rose. Live performances always connect audiences with the performers, but the raw emotion of Broadway’s medium will deepen the bond, he said.

“The nature of the music of Broadway is that it brings human feelings to the forefront and breaks the ‘fourth wall’ to allow the audience to be part of the performance.”

Strallen, who is best known for her roles as Mary Poppins and as Sibella Hallward in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” is intimately familiar with these connections.

While this will be Strallen’s first visit to Lake Charles, she is not new to symphony performances. She has sung with symphonies since the start of her career, but since becoming a mother, her orchestral work has taken off. She just completed a 10-show tour with an orchestra of 80 in England.

It is a magical experience every time, she said. Singing with a symphony is like singing at the “poshest karaoke” where the performers create special moments with the audience.

“The most boutique, glorious karaoke you could possibly wish for. It feels like flying when you feel that many people coming together to create such an epic sound with a song we know that the audience loves and will respond to,” she explained. “And you love it, too. There’s just nothing like that exchange.”

The experience is even more special because it is done alongside her friends, Mauzey and Roscioli, “two of the greatest leading ladies that Broadway has to offer,” she added.

Mauzey has starred as Glinda in “Wicked” and as Pattie in “Kimberly Akimbo,” while Roscioli has performed as Elphaba in “Wicked” and is currently portraying Madeline Ashton in “Death Becomes Her.”

“Three incredibly strong and different women coming together to celebrate each other and sing out the greatest hits of our careers in the moment in time — it’s really special. Really, really special.”

The chemistry between the three of them is palpable, which is necessary for the performance. The vocalists and the symphony only have a few days to rehearse together. For the vocalists, this is a change of pace; rehearsals for a Broadway performance take weeks at a time.

“There’s a level of trust that we have with each other. It’s just a wonderful thing to be with other women, honestly, and be celebrating each other,” Strallen said. “It’s an unusual and helpful thing in this moment in time.”

Bravo for Broadway

Twenty-five Broadway hits will be performed at Summer Pops this year. Rose loves them all.

The performance will take plenty of coordination, and he has enjoyed the preparation process thus far.

“As a conductor, it calls for a specialized set of skills to support vocalists in performance. At its best, the conductor and the singers have the ‘antenna’ up,” he said. “So that the orchestra and the singers function as one, and the conductor serves as a real-time intermediary to connect the musicians of the orchestra to the singers.”

There are some changes to this year’s Summer Pops, Dawdy said. Not only has the orchestra grown to over 50 musicians, but the symphony now has an expanded rhythm section, which allows for a performance of selections from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”

The symphony stage has also been elevated and reconfigured to highlight the orchestra and performers simultaneously, which will bring the show to life, Dawdy said.

The show will open with “Huapango,” a 1941 composition by José Pablo Moncayo that Dawdy describes as “bursting with energy and color.”

Following the opener, the vocalists will join the symphony on stage to perform selections from over a dozen Broadway productions, including “Gypsy,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Evita.” They will perform solos, duets and trios.

Strallen said the set list is “packed full of showstoppers.” She and her peers are not only excited for the opportunity to perform songs from their previous shows, but also to perform songs they have always wanted to sing.

As a cornerstone in her household (her 6-year-old daughter loves the songs, and one of her three sisters is currently playing Glinda in London), Strallen is especially excited for the “Wicked” medley that will be performed by  Mauzey and Roscioli.

For herself, she is ready to perform “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins, a role she has embodied nearly 1,000 times.

“It’s the song that I never, ever tire of singing because it has such a hidden, but deliciously needed, message of the power of human kindness.”

The narratives of Broadway productions serve as moral and social messengers. Since orchestral music and the storytelling of Broadway tracks are so intrinsically intertwined, those messages are only enhanced, Rose said.

“The beginnings of storytelling and Greek theater to modern opera, theater and movies, music has been an integral part of the audience experience,” he explained. “The colors of the instruments and the melodies/counter-melodies to the songs intensify the emotions. The overtures and the entr’actes tell us what to expect and set the mood.

“Can we imagine a funeral scene at the end of “West Side Story” or the show “Chicago” without the orchestra?”

A Night at the Symphony

The arts are not just for New York or London. The arts are for everyone, everywhere.

The desire for live music in individual lives has deepened over the past few years, and to provide arts access to a community is to provide audiences with a service that has increased in demand, Strallen said.

“Post-pandemic, we have a new level of appreciation to be in a room all at the same time with that many people collaborating to make a magical moment happen here,” she said. “The people we perform for a lot of the time around America haven’t had the chance to come to New York that often or at all. They are so appreciative … for the most part, wherever we go, it feels like the audience is there to have a wonderful time.”

This is especially important to remember in areas like Southwest Louisiana, where access to Broadway productions is limited. In turn, local support for the arts is vital to sustain orchestras like the Lake Charles Symphony, she added.

Summer Pops is possible through the support of sponsors like First Federal Bank of Louisiana. Erica McCreedy, marketing and community impact manager for the bank, said this is because they understand that the arts are necessary for a healthy community.

“In order for us to thrive as a local business, the community around us must thrive, as well, so that’s why we invest so much in local festivals, art events, and concerts like Summer Pops,” she said. “We go beyond being simply a sponsor; we are a partner with the Lake Charles Symphony. Their mission to expand access to the arts is important to how our employees and customers experience their own city.”

To ensure everyone has access to the orchestra, the Lake Charles Symphony has provided plenty of ticket options for audiences.

Discounted tickets are available for students and veterans, and the symphony is offering a discounted four-ticket family bundle.

Tickets can be purchased online on Ticketmaster, but Dawdy encourages guests to stop by the Event Center Box Office to purchase tickets in person and avoid additional fees.

The box office is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.