Executive & Artistic Director
Thor Steingraber
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Defying Gravity:
An Evening With Stephen Schwartz & Friends
Featuring
Stephen Schwartz
Shaleah Adkisson
Scott Coulter
Debbie Gravitte
Michael McCorry Rose
John Boswell
Sat May 3 | 8pm
Run Time: about 1 hour and 50 minutes including a 20-minute intermission
This performance is generously sponsored by Owen W. and Christine H. Smith Endowment.
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Shaleah Adkisson | Scott Coulter | Debbie Gravitte | Michael McCorry Rose | John Boswell
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Program
Musical numbers will be announced from the stage.
Performers
Stephen Schwartz
Shaleah Adkisson
Scott Coulter
Debbie Gravitte
Michael McCorry Rose
Musicians
Evan Roider | Conductor
Stephen Schwartz | Piano
John Boswell | Piano
Sara Parkins | Concert Master/Violin
Tamara Hatwan | Violin
Alma Fernandez | Viola
Evgeny Tonkha | Cello
Dan Fornero | Trumpet
Alan Kaplan | Trombone
Jeff Driskill | Woodwind
Sal Lozano | Woodwind
Paul Viapiano | Guitar
Bernie Dresel | Drums
Tim Christensen | Bass/Contractor
Diana Krall
Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered two GRAMMY® Awards and 10 Juno® Awards. They have also earned nine gold, three platinum, and seven multiplatinum certifications. Her 1999 release of When I Look in Your Eyes spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the No. 1 position on Billboard’s jazz chart, won a GRAMMY Award, and went platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Her most recent release, This Dream Of You, has garnered critical acclaim from fans and press alike. Krall’s unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted, she possesses “a voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication.”
Wed May 14 | 8pm
Program Note
The Soraya has hosted a long list of Broadway royalty: Tyne Daly, Leslie Odom Jr., Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Kelli O’Hara, Javier Muñoz, Aaron Tveit, Billy Porter, Megan Hilty, Alan Menken, and many others have graced our stage. Tonight, we add a legend to that list, one of the most pivotal composers and lyricists of our lifetimes, Stephen Schwartz.
Personally, Godspell and Pippin were the most popular musicals of my youth. Having Mr. Schwartz at The Soraya is a full circle moment, as a highlight of my high school years was performing the role of Jesus in Godspell. Yup, there is photographic evidence of my 1980’s perm!
Bad hairdos aside, what an honor to take a five-decade journey with Mr. Schwartz through some of his best-known songs.
Gratefully,
Thor Steingraber
Executive and Artistic Director,
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts
Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for the current Broadway hit Wicked, and has also contributed music and lyrics to Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker’s Wife, Working, Children of Eden, and for younger audiences, My Son Pinocchio, and Captain Louie. He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for Bernstein’s Mass and wrote lyrics for Rags, music by Charles Strouse. Schwartz has also worked in film, collaborating with Alan Menken on the songs for Disney’s Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted and writing the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature The Prince of Egypt. Schwartz’s new musical, The Queen of Versailles, is scheduled to open on Broadway during the 2025-26 season. He has been inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Awards include three Academy Awards, four GRAMMY® Awards, and a special Tony Award® for his support of young artists.
Shaleah Adkisson
Shaleah Adkisson is a singer and actress who has been delighting audiences across the country for the last 18 years. She has been seen on Broadway and on tour in Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical and as Joanne in the off-Broadway revival of Rent. Other theatrical credits include Clybourne Park, Avenue Q, The Hot Mikado, Beehive: The 60’s Musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Grease, Nunsense, and Children of Eden. Since 2013, Adkisson has performed around the country with dynamic all-female tribute shows Back to the Garden (tributing Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Laura Nyro) and August 1969: A Tribute to the Women of Woodstock. Adkisson works at New York City Center theater in the education and community engagement department managing their in-school theater and dance programs. She dedicates this performance to her superhero husband, Jose, and her sweet baby boy, Lucas.
Scott Coulter
Scott Coulter is one of New York’s most honored vocalists. He has received five Manhattan Association of Cabarets Awards, five Bistro Awards, and two Nightlife Awards for outstanding vocalist. Coulter performed at most of New York City’s top rooms including Birdland, 54 Below, The Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, and Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency where he spent a record-setting eight months performing the revue 11 O’Clock Numbers At 11 O’Clock which he also co-created, directed, and musically arranged. His self-titled debut CD won the 2003 MAC Award for outstanding recording and was chosen as the best recording of the year by TheaterMania and Cabaret Scenes magazine. Coulter was director and star of A Christmas Carol: The Concert in its world premiere with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He’s an Emmy® nominee for American Song, star of the Emmy Award-nominated A Christmas Carol (PBS) and appears on the GRAMMY®-nominated Sondheim Unplugged: The NYC Sessions. Coulter regularly performs in concert both as a solo artist and with a variety of legendary performers including Sheena Easton and Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz. “One of the greatest things that can happen to a composer is to have his music interpreted by Scott Coulter,” Schwartz said. Coulter is creator, arranger, and director of several touring shows for symphonies and performing arts centers as owner and founder of Spot-On Entertainment including Music of The Knights, The Wonderful Music of Oz, Blockbuster Broadway! and, for The ASCAP Foundation, Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert. Along with Michael Kerker and ASCAP, he’s a regular producer and director of Standard Time With Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall. Coulter wrote the book for the musical Got to Be There, which celebrates the life and music of songwriter Elliot Willensky. Coulter, along with Dave Gaebler, is a co-producer of the Jessica Hendy and Brianna Kothari Barnes musical Walking With Bubbles (Drama Desk Award nominee and Off-Broadway Alliance Award winner). The show’s cast album is produced by Coulter and Vibecke Dahle Dellapolla. Coulter and Gaebler are also on the producing teams of the Broadway musicals Water for Elephants and Suffs (Tony Awards for book and score). Coulter is also founder and owner of Spot-On Arts Academy and is a resident director of programming at 54 Below (Broadway’s supper club) in NYC. He is the Artistic Director of the Pocono Mountains Music Festival and founder of the Pocono Pops! Coulter’s a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, which honored him with the Young Alumni Award and Distinguished Service Award.
Spot-On Entertainment
Scott Coulter’s Spot-On Entertainment is a concert production/booking company based in New York City. Coulter is a multiaward-winning performer, director, musical arranger, and producer whose creations for theaters, performing arts centers and symphonies include Music of the Knights, Bette Babs & Beyond, The Wonderful Music of Oz, You’ve Got a Friend, and Blockbuster Broadway! Special composer tribute shows include Defying Gravity: Stephen Schwartz & Friends and Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert (which is co-produced by Spot-On and the ASCAP Foundation). Spot-On concerts often feature an educational component that results in local artists appearing on stage with members of the Spot-On family. Spot-On's goal is to inspire and pass the torch to the next generation.
Debbie Gravitte
Debbie Gravitte received the Tony Award for her critically acclaimed performance in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, along with a Drama Desk Award nomination. She made her Broadway debut in the original cast of They’re Playing Our Song and went on to appear in Blues in the Night, Perfectly Frank (Drama Desk Award nomination), Zorba, Ain’t Broadway Grand, Chicago, and Les Misérables. Gravitte appeared in London in Jerry Herman’s Mack & Mabel at the Drury Lane Theatre. She’s also been seen in the West Coast premiere of The Goodbye Girl, Love Life (in Philadelphia), Fiddler on the Roof with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, along with the Encores! productions of The Boys From Syracuse, Tenderloin, and Carnival at New Yorks City Center. Gravitte has performed her nightclub act worldwide, from New York’s Rainbow & Stars, Birdland, 54 Below, to London’s Pizza on the Park. In Atlantic City, she’s had the honor to open for George Burns and Jay Leno. She currently tours with her partner David Lawrence in A Toast to Steve & Eydie. Gravitte has sung with over 200 orchestras worldwide, including the National Symphony with Marvin Hamlisch, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta, San Diego, and St. Louis Symphonies. Overseas, she’s appeared with the London, Aalborg and Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Gothenburg and Jerusalem symphonies, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, as well as the Munich Philharmonic. She is featured on many recordings including her four solo CDs: Defying Gravity, Part of Your World: The Alan Menken Album, The MGM Album, and Big Band Broadway. Film and TV credits include Isn’t’ She Great, The Little Mermaid, and “Trial and Error” (CBS), as well as numerous PBS specials. She is the president and founder of Group5productions presenting entertainment across the country. Her greatest achievement: her three beautiful children.
Michael McCorry Rose
Michael McCorry Rose has performed on Broadway and on tour in Wicked, Anastasia, and in the Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. He will next appear on Broadway in The Queen of Versailles starring Kristin Chenoweth. Rose can currently be seen in Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Wicked for Universal Pictures starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. On screen, he has appeared in the Disney+ live-action film Disenchanted directed by Adam Shankman and in Dan Levin’s film Snapshots which was nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY Award. Rose has appeared in concert with symphony orchestras across the United States and he’s grateful to be making music with this wonderful group of musicians.
John Boswell
John Boswell has served as musical director for Judy Collins, Andy Williams, Bob Newhart, Scott Coulter, Maude Maggart, Faith Prince, Carmen Cusack, Babbie Green, Jason Graae, and a host of other fine talents. Boswell played the role of “Moose” in the national tour of Crazy for You and has appeared on “The Tonight Show,” “Today Show,” “CBS This Morning,” “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee,” and “General Hospital.” Recent concerts with symphonies have included Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert, Blockbuster Broadway! The Spy Who Loved Me, and Music of the Knights. He has been heard singing in the shows Three Men and a Baby...Grand, Cinema Toast, Broadway Today, Wiseguys, and the New York cult hit Cashino. Broadway and off-Broadway credits include Crazy for You, The Secret Garden, LIZA! Steppin' Out at Radio City Music Hall, Back to Bacharach and David, and The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives. Boswell has nine CDs of original piano music. While a student at UCLA, John received the Frank Sinatra Award for popular instrumentalist.
You Belong Here
This is your opportunity to belong to something special. Our Members enjoy exclusive experiences, such as the Member Appreciation Night for all Members, special events and artist meet-and-greets (Silver Members and above), private preperformance artist salons (Silver Members and above), our festive holiday party, the annual Director’s Dinner (Platinum Members), and more — as well as priority access to your preferred seats, your very own Members Only Seating Section, and exclusive savings when you select five or more performances. Most importantly, Member benefits are valid all season.
Beyond the benefits, Members drive our mission to present the highest caliber artists who captivate, inspire, and transport our audiences. Here, Members are part of a growing community of arts lovers connected by the joy of shared human experience. Here, Members belong.
About Us
The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts is an award-winning, 1,700-seat theater that opened in 2011 and was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers. In 2017, a transformative gift by Younes and Soraya Nazarian dubbed the venue The Soraya (formerly the Valley Performing Arts Center). A vibrant performance program has served to establish The Soraya as the intellectual and cultural heart of the San Fernando Valley and its 1.8 million residents, and further establish The Soraya as one of the top arts companies in Southern California.
The Soraya’s 2024-25 Season boldly advances the immersive sound of big orchestras; the free flow of jazz; an array of dance; and a cultural bounty drawn from the well of world traditions. The Soraya continues its vigorous commitment to innovating, excelling, and amplifying access by offering a wide variety of performances that reflect LA’s many distinctive communities and featuring new and original work from the Los Angeles region as well as artists from around the world.
Located on the vibrant campus of the California State University, Northridge, The Soraya and the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication share an integral link that enhances student opportunities in the arts and performing arts. This partnership fosters academic opportunity and artistic excellence, elevating the talents of CSUN’s students.
A $5 million contribution from record producer and former California Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb was pivotal in ensuring The Soraya was completed and opened in 2011. For his founding support and in acknowledgment of the integral relationship between the Mike Curb College and The Soraya, Curb is recognized as one of The Soraya’s Cornerstone Benefactors. The relationship between The Soraya and the Mike Curb College continues to grow, with robust offerings for students through master classes, student tickets, concerts of student ensembles, and students appearing alongside renowned artists, such as Wynton Marsalis, Aida Cuevas, and Martha Graham Dance Company.