PLANO, TX: Maestro Héctor Guzmán and the Plano Symphony Orchestra (PSO) continue its 2024/2025 Season, New Beginnings, with the concert A Broadway Valentine on Saturday, February 15 at 8:00 PM at the Robinson Fine Arts Center. Featuring Broadway stars Alli Mauzey, LaKisha Jones and Jason Forbach, the concert includes classic Broadway pieces like “Begin the Beguine” (Porter), “I Could Have Danced All Night” (My Fair Lady), “The Impossible Dream” (Man of La Mancha/Leigh), “Defying Gravity” (Wicked), “All I Ask of You” (The Phantom of the Opera) and more. Tickets range in price from $33-$95 and can be purchased through the Plano Symphony Orchestra Box Office (972-473-7262/planosymphony.org).
“Valentine’s weekend will be busy with romantic dinners, flowers and such. ….always an opportunity to enjoy a special occasion with your best friend or significant other,” says Maestro Héctor Guzmán. “And speaking of special occasions, I do not think there is anything better to celebrate friendship and love than with the gift of fabulous music, performed by the also fabulous Plano Symphony Orchestra who will be joined by three spectacular Broadway singers. Still not convinced? How about a Valentine’s Broadway concert with selections from: The Music Man, My Fair lady, The Wizard of Oz, The Bodyguard, West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera….and many more. Join us, February 15 at the Robinson Fine Arts Center in Plano….You will LOVE it.”
About the Guest Artists:
Alli Mauzey was most recently seen starring on Broadway in the critically acclaimed world premiere musical Kimberly Akimbo. Before that, Alli starred as Ernestina in the Tony Award winning revival of Hello, Dolly!. Other Broadway credits include Glinda in Wicked, a role she also performed to critical acclaim on the First National Tour and the San Francisco company, Lenora in the musical Cry-Baby, for which she won a Theatre World Award and was nominated for a Drama League Award, and Brenda in Hairspray (both on Broadway and in the original company of the First National Tour). Alli has also had the pleasure of doing several concerts with symphony orchestras across the country including playing Ellie in Show Boat with the New York Philharmonic and the title role in Cinderella alongside the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Recent and upcoming engagements include The Philly Pops, Maryland Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Maui Pops Orchestra, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Houston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and Wurttenbembreg Philharmonic of Reutlingen (Germany) just to name a few.
Best known to millions of TV viewers as a top four finalist during the 2007 season of “American Idol,” LaKisha Jones is ready to reclaim center stage in music, theatre and television. She segued from “American Idol” to the Broadway stage for The Color Purple where she played “Sophia,” which she alternated with R&B icon Chaka Khan, who became her mentor. Jones participated in Khan’s 35th Anniversary Tour. LaKisha has worked with hit-making songwriters and producers including Tony Nicholas (Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross), Ro & Sauce (Brandy, Ne-Yo) and Greg Curtis (Keyshia Cole, Yolanda Adams). She is a frequent soloist with symphonies around the world, having performed as a guest soloist with the National Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Winnipeg Symphony, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, and the Plano Symphony among many others.
Jason Forbach has a career ranging across the opera, symphony and Broadway stage. Recently, Jason famously stepped into the lead role of The Baker last minute on opening night in the acclaimed 2022 Broadway revival of Into the Woods alongside Sara Barielles and is currently playing Rapunzel’s Prince in the National Tour of the same show. He also starred as Raoul, Vicomte de Changy in The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater and Enjolras in the 2014 Tony nominated Broadway revival of Les Miserables, where he reprised the role he played on the 25th Anniversary National Tour. Jason has performed regionally with companies such as Washington D.C. Shakespeare Theater Company, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, 5th Avenue Theater, The Kennedy Center, North Shore Music Theater, Sacramento Music Circus, and Theater Under the Stars. He has sung on the concert stage at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Omaha Symphony, New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Abilene Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and on the opera stage with Boston Lyric Opera, Fresno Opera, Opera Boston and Central City Opera and was a regional semi-finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
For more information about all the concerts in the 2024/2025 Season, visit planosymphony.org.
About the Plano Symphony Orchestra:
Founded in 1983, the Plano Symphony is a non-profit symphony organization dedicated to providing the citizens of North Texas with rich and varied programming of orchestral music and to educating the youth and adults of the community about the joy of classical and popular music through live performance.
The Plano Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is widely acknowledged as one of the leading professional symphony orchestras in the region. Under the artistic and musical direction of Maestro Héctor Guzmán and leadership of Executive Director Gregory Patterson, the PSO produces eight subscription concerts annually as well as myriads of music education and community outreach programs that serve nearly 150,000 people annually.
Of the 18,000 students who participate in its School Concert Program, over 40% attend various Title I schools in Dallas or Collin counties.
The Plano Symphony Orchestra is supported, in part, by the City of Plano, Tammy and Charles Miller, The Andrea-Mennen Family Foundation (TAFF), Atmos Energy, the Aware Foundation, Baylor Scott & White Plano, Dianne and Marion Brockette, the City of Richardson, The Dallas Morning News, Nancy Freeman, Frisco Association for Arts, Frost Bank, Gittings, H-E-B, Sandy Nachman, National Endowment for Arts, Nylo Hotel, Wanda and Cliff Parker, Plano ISD, the Plano Rotary Club, the Plano Symphony Orchestra Guild, the Plano Symphony Orchestra Virtuoso Society, the Rea Charitable Trust, Retirement Planners of America, Signs by Tomorrow Plano, SoloShoe Communications, Carol and Bill Tempest, Texas Commission on Arts, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, Veritex Community Bank, Methodist Hospital for Surgery, Bartlett & West, GP Consulting, LLC, and hundreds of individual donors, foundations, and corporations who make transformative gifts to the PSO.
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