Vocalists Jan Horvath, Christiane Noll and Debbie Gravitte headline a tuneful Wolf Trap evening jam-packed with hits from Broadway’s most enduring musicals. Backed by the National Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Emil de Cou, they revisit the numbers that made “Mame,” “Evita” and “Gypsy” household names. The chemistry sizzles as each diva belts out her favorite solos, pairs off for duets or conjures up magic threefold in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Love Trio” and the exhilarating, tight harmony of “Sing for Your Supper” from Rodgers and Hart’s “The Boys From Syracuse.”
Horvath’s broad resume encompasses the roles of Christine and Carlotta in “The Phantom of the Opera,” Eva Peron in “Evita,” Nellie Forbush in “South Pacific,” Grizabella in “Cats” and featured soloist in the Bernstein “Mass” at the Vatican for the Jubilee Celebration in 2000.
| ONSTAGE |
| Three Broadway Divas |
| » Where: Wolf Trap Filene Center |
| » When, 8:15 p.m. Saturday |
| » Info: $35 to $52 in-house, $20 lawn; 877-965-8727; wolftrap.org |
She balances her full schedule of performing and teaching with composing. Each thought-provoking song in her latest album, “Never Too Late,” stands alone. The humor in “Lily’s Lilt” and the passion of “Immigrant’s Anthem” were inspired by her family.
“I’m honored that a high school choir in Chicago will sing ‘Immigrant’s Anthem’ at a special program on 9/11,” she said. “Another song, ‘Barren Field,’ will be used in an Oklahoma production of ‘Orphan Train,’ a play about children snatched from the streets of New York and sent west on a train to find new homes.”
Noll, born to a conductor father and opera singer mother, was destined for a career that encompasses opera, musical comedy, jazz, cabaret and directing.
A Washington favorite, the New Jersey native sang the role of Valencienne opposite Placido Domingo in Washington Opera’s production of “The Merry Widow.” For her performance as Mother in the Kennedy Center 2009 production of “Ragtime,” she won a Helen Hayes Award. Two years earlier, she received a Helen Hayes nomination for her Jane Smart in Signature Theater’s “The Witches of Eastwick.”
“Flying above the stage in a harness is great fun and tops the list of things you want to do in life,” she said.
Gravitte grew up in Los Angeles listening attentively to her mother’s recordings of Lena Horne, Doris Day and even Beethoven. She acquired the theater bug watching Gwen Verdon in “Damn Yankees” on television and was so in awe of her idol that she hesitated to ask for a photo when they met years later. Upon winning a Tony Award as the Best Featured Actress in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” she was somewhat in shock.
“Even though I didn’t think I’d win, I prepared a speech,” she said. “It was life-changing and gave me great exposure. Best of all, it’s a forever thing.”
