September 10, 2004
MSO POPS! BRINGS THE BEST OF BROADWAY TO HAGERSTOWN WITH “BROADWAY NIGHTS ™”

The Maryland Symphony Orchestra (MSO) brings the best of Broadway to Hagerstown on September 18 with the MSO Pops! concert, “Broadway Nights™.” Broadway stars Craig Schulman and Anne Runolfsson perform songs from Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Jekyll & Hyde, The Music Man, Showboat and much more. The historic Maryland Theatre, located at 21 South Potomac Street, Hagerstown, MD, is the setting for this 23rd season opener, which begins at 8:00 p.m.

The concert features audience favorites such as the Waltz from Carousel by Richard Rodgers, You Got Trouble by Meredith Wilson, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s It’s a Grand Night for Singing; romantic ballads like Jerome Kern’s Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man and Make Believe, and Wilson’s Till There Was You; and showstoppers On My Own by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Music of The Night. Joining the MSO to bring these Broadway classics to life are tenor Craig Schulman and soprano Anne Runolfsson. Mr. Schulman is the only actor in the United States to have portrayed three of the greatest musical theatre roles: the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, and the tile roles in Jekyll & Hyde. He has portrayed Jean Valjean in four different companies in three countries for a total of over 1,900 performances. Widely recognized from the PBS broadcast of The 10th Anniversary: Les Misérables in Concert; he has also played Che in Evita, Tevye in Fiddler On the Roof, and Archibald in The Secret Garden.

Schulman moves freely between the worlds of Broadway, opera and symphonic pops programs. He has appeared with many opera companies around the U.S., singing leading tenor roles in The Tales of Hoffman, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, La Boheme, La Traviata, The Crucible, and Manon.

As a Pops artist, he is the creator and producer of Broadway Nights™ concert series. Schulman has appeared in all six of the Broadway Nights ™ program with symphonies and at corporate events throughout the country, and individually with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Philadelphia Pops with Skitch Henderson. He also sang for the 40th Anniversary Gala for Opera Memphis, and is the creator of a solo symphony concert entitled, “Heroes, Monsters & Madman ™.” His debut CD, Craig Schulman on Broadway, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the Philharmonic Orchestra of London. His television credits include The Guiding Light, All My Children, and One Life to Live, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and NBC’s Weekend Today.

A veteran of musical theater, cabaret and the concert stage, soprano Anne Runolfsson has performed and recorded extensively throughout the United States and abroad. On Broadway she served as the standby for Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli in Victor/Victoria; a role which she subsequently reprised for the National Tour. Other Broadway credits include starring roles in James Joyce’s The Dead, Les Misérables, Cyrano-The Musical, and Aspects of Love. On tour in the United States, she starred in The Secret Garden and Les Misérables. Off Broadway she has been seen in Rags, Cather County and Jack’s Holiday.

Ms. Runolffson has toured with her one-woman cabaret show, including engagements at New York’s Rainbow and Stars, Chicago’s Pump Room, Hollywood’s Cinegrill and the Icelandic National Theater in Reykjavik. For her work in cabaret she was honored with the prestigious Manhattan Association of Cabaret Award for “Best Female Vocalist.” Her concert appearances have included engagements with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (at Radio City with tenor Jose Carreras), the Dutch Metropole Orchestra (at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), the Cincinnati Pops and the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, Detroit, Utah, Milwaukee and Indianapolis, among others. Ms Runolffson can be heard on her critically acclaimed debut recording, At Sea, and every day singing the theme song for The Rosie O’Donnell Show.

Tickets for the MSO Pops! range from $18 to $65 for adults and $9 to $33 for full time students and children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased at the
Maryland Symphony Orchestra office located at 13 South Potomac Street, Hagerstown, or by calling the MSO Box Office at 301-797-4000, or via the website at www.marylandsymphony.org.

Fidelity Bank and Antietam Health Services, Inc. are Associate Sponsors for the MSO Pops! concert. Additional Sponsors are DOT Foods, Hub Labels, and Charles & Jo Ann King. Contributors from the MSO Board of Directors are Art and Ruth Anne Callaham, Catherine Gira, Dr. John G. Newby, Mr. and Mrs. James G. Pierné, John and Joan Treadway, and Mr. & Mrs. James H. Woodward, Jr.

Led by Music Director and Conductor Elizabeth Schulze, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra is the area’s premiere professional orchestra, dedicated to providing musical performances and programs that educate and entertain while enhancing the cultural environment of Western Maryland and the surrounding region.