Stage stars, Tressel in orchestra concert

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A pair of Broadway veterans and Youngstown State University President James Tressel will join conductor Randall Craig Fleischer and the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for its annual holiday concert Saturday at Powers Auditorium.

Elizabeth Southard and Gary Mauer, who are married to each other, are the Broadway performers. Both have starred in “Phantom of the Opera.”

Southard played the female lead role of Christine on Broadway, in a production in Vancouver, and on a national tour of the blockbuster musical. She also starred as Magnolia in the tour of the latest revival of “Showboat.”

Her husband, Mauer, has played the title role in “Phantom” on Broadway and on the national tour. He also has performed in the Broadway production and national tour of “Les Miserables,” and played opposite his wife in the national tour of “Showboat.”

Tressel will narrate “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” and perform as part of the Toy Symphony Players with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Other members of the Toy Symphony will be 1st Ward Councilwoman Annie Gillam, Mix 98.9’s Steve Granato, Paul McFadden of YSU and state Sen. Joe Schiavoni.

The concert, dubbed Christmas on Broadway, will feature selections from “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Auntie Mame,” “The Sound of Music,” “My Fair Lady” and “West Side Story,” as well as holiday favorites “Winter Wonderland,” “Silver Bells,” “Sleigh Ride” and “O Holy Night.”

Tickets for Saturday’s concert, which starts at 8 p.m., are available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, 260 W. Federal St.; by phone at 330-744-0264; and online at youngstownsymphony.com.

Overture Restaurant, located in the DeYor, will be open before and after the concert. Dining reservations should be made by calling 330-744-9900.

The Flad Pavilion in the DeYor center will be open after the concert, with music provided by the Jeff Bremer Group. Guests can dine or have drinks at the adjacent Overture Restaurant and meet the show’s stars.

The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra also will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 323 Wick Ave.

The free concert – the second in its Stained Glass series – will feature church organist Richard Konzen in the fourth movement from Handel’s Organ Concerto in G minor and Mozart’s Epistle Sonata.