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Broadway's Best and Brightest Performers Join The POPS Beginning January 28th for Broadway Showstoppers!
12/31/03

Peter Nero and the Philly POPS� Features Broadway�s
Biggest Stars in Broadway Showstoppers In Concert!

Oh what a night! Peter Nero and the Philly POPS� continues its signature show, Broadway Showstoppers, with the most exciting young stars of the Great White Way! Sutton Foster, Broadway�s Tony-award winning ing�nue will perform along with William Michals, Dee Hoty, Matt Bogart and fellow Tony-winner Donna McKechnie.

This year an added attraction to Broadway Showstoppers is The POPS� own professional chorus, The Voices of the POPS, acting as a full cast ensemble that will rival any New York production!

Performances begin on Wednesday, January 28 at 8pm and continue on Friday January 30 at 8 pm; Saturday, January 31 at 2 pm and Sunday, February 1 at 3 pm. Peter Nero and the Philly POPS� perform at Verizon Hall in The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, in Philadelphia.

Sutton Foster received the 2002 Tony Award for Best New Female Star, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Astaire Award for her performance as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Her Broadway credits also include Les Miserables (Eponine), Annie (Star to Be), The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease! (Sandy).

William Michals made his Broadway debut as �The Beast� in Disney�s Beauty and the Beast. He has starred in Les Miserables (Javert), Phantom (The Phantom), The Music Man (Harold Hill), Man of La Mancha (Don Quixote), Chicago (Billy Flynn), The Sound of Music (Captain von Trapp), and Camelot (Lancelot). Mr. Michals� voice was broadcast around the world when Mayor Rudy Giuliani invited him to sing �Let There Be Peace On Earth� at the official ceremonies on December 11, 2001 at Ground Zero in New York City.

Dee Hoty is currently starring as Donna Sheridan in the Broadway production of Mamma Mia! Ms. Hoty was nominated for Tony Awards for her performance in Footloose, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and the Will Rogers Follies. She received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for her role in City of Angels. Ms. Hoty has also performed Off Broadway and in regional theatre, as well as in recurring roles in the TV shows Ryan�s Hope, Guiding Light and As the World Turns.

Matt Bogart will finish his role as Lancelot in the Arena Stage production of Camelot on January 4th and make the Philly POPS his next stop! He has appeared on Broadway as Radames in the Elton John/Tim Rice production of Aida, as Chris in Miss Saigon, in Frank Wildhorn�s The Civil War and as the White Guy in Smokey Joe�s Caf�. Mr. Bogart is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati�s College Conservatory of Music.

Donna McKechnie received a Tony Award for her role as Cassie in A Chorus Line. She was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for the title role in Sweet Charity, and received the Astaire Award for the best female dancer in 1996 for State Fair. Other Broadway shows include How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (which she also choreographed), On the Town; Promises, Promises and Company.

Peter Nero�s impressive career as a conductor, arranger, composer, pianist and recording artist includes two Grammy Awards. He has received 10 Grammy Award nominations for the 67 albums that he recorded over the past 40 years. Maestro Nero accompanies Rod Stewart on the standard Don�t Get Around Much Anymore, on his latest album As Time Goes By�The Great American Songbook: Volume II.

In 2003 Peter Nero and the Philly POPS� signed a 3-CD recording contract with DRG Records, Inc. The first CD, Holiday POPS, was released October 7th, and is being distributed internationally. One of the tracks - I�ll Be Home For Christmas - was the highlight of the 2003 Macy�s Thanksgiving Parade: Peter Nero rode on the United States Postal Service float, in a moving tribute to our troops overseas.

Peter Nero and the Philly POPS� is presented by Encore Series, Inc., a non-profit organization enriching the cultural life of Philadelphia through the performing arts. They are one of the resident companies of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. For information about subscriptions to the 2003-2004 season, call 215.546.6400 or visit the website at www.phillypops.com. Single tickets are on sale at The Kimmel Center box office, located at Broad and Spruce Streets or charge-by-phone through Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1999.

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