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Your donation will support:• more than 80 musicians every year• producing our mainstage concerts• our monthly community concert series• providing free or reduced tickets to veterans, seniors, students

and others• fulfi lling the APO’s mission “to inspire new audiences

to discover the wealth of material in the Great American Songbook in dynamic ways”

For more information about donating to the APO,please visit theamericanpops.org/donate

The APO’s Don’t Rain On My Parade (Photo by Daniel Schwartz)

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Media Sponsor:

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater Kogod Cradle - January 6, 2018, 2 & 5 pm

The American Pops Orchestra Presents

Around the World in 80 DaysStarring

Benjamin LuryeNurney MasonHilary MorrowTiara Whaley

Luke S. Frazier, Music Director

Directed byKelly Crandall d'Amboise

Script Written byClaybourne Elder

Community Partners:

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Selections to include:

Why Do the Wrong People Travel?

It’s Not Where You Start, It’s Where You Finish

I’ve Been Working on The Railroad

I’d Like to Get You on a Slow Boat to China

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Are You Having Any Fun?

When You’re Smiling

You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You

Give Me the Simple Life

Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat

Anything You Can Do

Come Fly with Me

Around the World

SONG LIST

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I’m so delighted that you’re able to join us for Around the World in 80 Days! In thinking about programming for the American Pops Orchestra’s third season, I wanted to craft programs that would help our community come together around music and artists that have been a part of all of our lives, making a difference in our hearts and minds.

Claybourne Elder has done a masterful job in reimagining this classic Jules Verne tale for new audiences! Clay turned this piece into a heartwarming tale of new friendships and new

experiences, all brought together with so many laughs and so many classic songs.

So tap your feet, sing along, laugh, dance in your seat – join our APO family and join our fun!

Luke S. Frazier Founder and Conductor

@TheAmericanPops theamericanpops@theamericanpops

WELCOME

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THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRALuke S. Frazier, Music DirectorJim Kelly, Personnel Manager

Violin 1Sonya Chung

Violin 2Laura Frazelle

ViolaJim Kelly

CelloSean Neidlinger

BassGreg Watkins

HarpKate Rogers

FluteBrittany Foster

ClarinetDavid Drosinos

PercussionJeremy Yaddaw

PianoLuke Frazier

The American Pops Orchestra graciously acknowledges the generous support from our

2017-2018SIGNATURE

SEASON SPONSOR

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

BENJAMIN LURYE (Passpartout) is proud to make his debut with the American Pops. This past season, his performance as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Olney Theatre’s My Fair Lady was called “the product-

ion’s musical high point... sung in soaring tones” by The Washington Post. In the DC area, he has appeared at Signature Theatre in A Little Night Music and the world premiere of Sheryl Crow and Barry Levinson’s Diner; at Ford’s Theatre in Hello, Dolly!; at Olney Theatre in Sweeney Todd, Mary Poppins, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Forever Plaid; with the contemporary opera company UrbanArias in the world premiere of Hilliard and Boresi’s Blue Viola and their trademark “Craigslist Cabaret”; and at 1st Stage in Floyd Collins and Parfumerie. Additionally, he has been seen at Toby’s Dinner Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Adventure Theatre MTC, where he is also a teaching artist for young musical theatre performers. Benjamin holds a BM from the University of Maryland, College Park and can be followed online at www.BenLurye.com.

NURNEY MASON (Sir Phileas Fogg) is an actor born and raised in the DC area. He trained at the Baltimore School for the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and received a B.S. in Communication

Studies from Towson University in 2013. Since then, he has been performing throughout the area. Olney Theatre Center: Evita, Mary Poppins (Neleus), Carmen: An Afro Cuban Jazz Musical, Guys & Dolls (Rusty Charlie), The Producers, Disney’s The Little Mermaid (Flotsam); THEARC Theater: Truth: The Musical (Popple); Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Spamalot (Helen Hayes nomination,

HILARY MORROW (Fix the Detective) returns to the American Pops after appearing in Cinderella: A Magical, Musical Tale last year following her premiere performance with the

group as a featured soloist in She Did it Her Way in the inaugural season. She is an acclaimed musical theatre performer and soloist who most recently appeared in the 2017 Source Festival as Empress Drusilla in a quirky 10-minute play. Hilary has performed at the famed jazz club, Birdland in New York City. She has performed alongside such luminaries as Brian Stokes Mitchell, Norm Lewis, Renee Fleming, Tommy Tune, Laura Osnes, Lea Salonga, Jeremy Jordan, Lindsay Mendez and Ashley Brown. Last winter, she toured a musical theatre master class series for underserved school children in Maine with Maestro Luke Frazier. Other credits include: Storyteller in Children of Eden at the Kennedy Center, Brünnhilde in Hugo Ball: a Dada puppet AdveNTurE!!/?1!!//, Snowella Mistletoe in A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular, Charlotte Stackhouse in Let Trump Be Trump and Isabella Andreini in a one-woman show entitled, Oh, What Can’t A Woman Do?. She received her BA in musical theatre from American University and is a member of the National Broadway Chorus.

www.HilaryMorrow.com

Outstanding Ensemble), The Wiz, The Color Purple (Helen Hayes nomination, Outstanding Resident Musical); Monu- mental Theatre Company: Sex Swap: A Gender Bender Cabaret (1st & 3rd renditions), Day by Day: A Musical Revue of Composer Stephen Schwartz.

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TIARA WHALEY (Aouda) is thrilled to be performing with The American Pops Orchestra. Tiara studied Musical Theatre and English Writing at West Chester University of Pennsyl- vania. Her favorite roles

include Ti Moune (Once on This Island), Emmie Thibodeaux (Caroline or Change, Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical, Helen), Lorraine (All Shook Up), and Lil’ Inez (Hairspray).

LUKE FRAZIER, a rapidly rising star in the Pops world, has proven himself as both an innately musical conductor and a sensitive pianist. His commitment to re-envisioning pops programming has quickly established him as a dynamic force across the music community. Frazier has demonstrated his versatility and range by conducting in venues both grand and intimate, from Lincoln Center to Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center to the Rainbow Room. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch put it best, calling Frazier “so talented, and sensitive to every nuance.”

As a testament to his mission to reimagine pops programming, Frazier founded the American Pops Orchestra in 2015, presenting all original programming. His commitment to the American Songbook is also evident through his involvement on the Board of the Great American Songbook Foundation. In demand as a clinician, adjudicator, and speaker, Luke recently addressed the National Symphony Orchestra’s “Summer Music Institute” students. He appeared as the Keynote Speaker for the National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Kennedy Center and also addressed the VSA, an international organization for the arts and disability. In addition to founding the National Broadway Chorus in Washington DC, he presented an original program honoring the 100th anniversary of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth with the DC Youth Orchestra in Spring 2017.

Mr. Frazier has worked with artists such as Darren Criss, Vanessa Williams, Liz Callaway, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Mo Rocca, Lea Salonga, Laura Osnes, Eric Owens, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno, Lindsay Mendez, Renée Fleming, Michael Feinstein, Christine Ebersole, Elaine Paige, Arturo Sandoval, and Norm Lewis, among many others.

www.LukeFrazierMusic.com

CLAYBOURNE ELDER (Writer) returns to the American Pops after co- starring in last season’s opening concert, I’ll Be Seeing You: A World War II Love Story. He is a Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel Award nominee

and a Theatre World Award winner. He starred on Broadway in Bonnie and Clyde (Buck, original cast) and Sunday in the Park with George (starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Soldier/George understudy). Off-Broadway he appeared in the original companies of Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show (Hollis), One Arm (Ollie, Drama Desk Nomination Best Actor), and in the revivals of Allegro (Joe, Lucille Lortel Nomination, Best Actor), Two by Two (Japheth, with Jason Alexander), and Do I Hear a Waltz? (Eddie). He has premiered works by Stephen Sondheim, Frank Wildhorn, William Finn, and Richard Maltby & David Shire, and has appeared on five cast albums. His regional credits include George in the Helen Hayes Award winning Signature Theatre revival of Sunday in the Park with George, Wolf/Prince in Moises Kaufman’s revival of Into the Woods, Angels in America (KC Rep, dir. David Cromer), Oklahoma (Curly, MTW), West Side Story(Tony, Tuacahn), Cinderella (Prince, KC Starlight). His film and television credits include Pete O’Malley on “The Carrie Diaries,” Flatbush Luck, and It Could Be Worse. He made his cabaret debut at 54 Below and his solo show “You and Me and Sondheim” has played to sold out houses around the country and in London. www.ClaybourneElder.com

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THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA founded by LUKE FRAZIER presents innovative orchestral programming, featuring groundbreaking concepts to develop and inspire a new audience for the 21st century. This professional orchestra boasts outstanding musicians from New York and Washington DC. The American Pops presented six original orchestral programs in its opening 2015- 2016 season, featuring leading Broadway singers, dancers, and actors. Highlights of the first season included “Stairway to Paradise: A Gershwin Spectacular” starring two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole — which was hailed by DC Metro Theater Arts for “inspired arrangements of beloved Gershwin songs that re-invigorate the material and highlight the skill of his musicians” – and “A Broadway Christmas” featuring Elaine Paige, the first Lady of the British Musical Stage. APO’s second season included a 75th birthday concert for Barbra Streisand, hosted by Fran Drescher; a celebration of the 80s, hosted by Olympic champion Greg Louganis; and a special World War II-era evening, commemorating Veterans Day.

Other high-profile performances include a special event at The Kennedy Center hosted by Tommy Tune; the Hispanic Heritage Awards, with Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Arturo Sandoval, which was nationally broadcast on PBS; theatreWashington’s Helen Hayes Awards; The Giving Pledge at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History; the Beacon Prize, given by Human Rights First to honor commitment to the American ideals of freedom and human dignity; and the DC Standing Ovation Awards, celebrating excellence in the DC Public Schools.

The APO made its New York debut in December 2015 at the all-star Edith Piaf Centennial Celebration at The Town Hall. According to The New York Times, “As much as any individual singer, what warmed the evening was the sumptuous lilt of the American Pops Orchestra, conducted by Luke Frazier.”

www.TheAmericanPops.org

KELLY CRANDALL D’AMBOISE (Director) is thrilled to be the Resident Director of The American Pops Orchestra this season. Recent work includes choreography for the APO, Newsies! at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Urinetown at Next Stop Theatre and Tick,Tick... Boom! at Convergence. Upcoming: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Imagination Stage and Jesus Christ Superstar at CRT. As an Associate Director and/or Choreographer, Kelly has worked on numerous productions including Cabaret, La Cage aux Folles, The Studio, and the upcoming Crazy for You at Signature Theatre, The Lincoln Center Hall of Fame 2017 and Babes in Toyland at Lincoln Center, the Broadway workshop of Cheer, and productions at South Coast Rep., North Shore Music Theatre, Westport County Playhouse, Trinity Rep, and Busch Gardens Entertain- ment. Broadway performance credits include the original company of The Boy from Oz with Hugh Jackman, Chicago, Susan Stroman's A Christmas Carol at MSG, and the national tour of The Producers. Film and TV credits include A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey and directed by Robert Zemeckis, What Women Want, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, The Tony Awards, and The Academy Awards with Robin Williams. Kelly is an Artistic Associate and Resident Casting Director at Signature Theatre.

RICKY DRUMMOND (Assistant Director): DIRECTING - Signature Theatre (Assistant Director- Crazy for You, La Cage Aux Folles), Kennedy Center (Assistant Director- Flowers Stink), Hub Theatre (Assistant Director- Redder Blood), Keegan Theatre (Director- Hamlette), Silver Spring Stage (Director- Stupid F***ing Bird); ACTING- Signature Theatre (Crazy for You), Kennedy Center (Flowers Stink, Elephant and Piggie's We Are In A Play), Keegan Theatre (Big Fish, Parade, American Idiot, Dogfight), Imagination Stage (Looking for Roberto Clemente). Proud JMU alumni. Love to Emily, family, and friends.

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LUKE FRAZIERMusic Director

XIYI WANGProgramming Associate

KELLY CRANDALL D'AMBOISEResident Director

STEPHEN WHISNANTFundraising Consultant

JESSICA PEREZAssociate Producer

DAVE CROOKProduction Supervisor

DAN FORTUNEMedia Relations

JOEY HAMILTON & ERIC MCMILLIANAdministrative Intern

THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA STAFF

- THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS -

Signature Season Sponsor Adrienne Arsht

$10,000+ Luke Frazier & Robert Pullen

$5,000-9,999 Virginia Friend

Anonymous

$2,500-4,999Dottie Mergner

$1,000-2,499Debra Frazier | Jim & Kathy French | Carol Melton

Natalie Wexler & Jim Feldman | Jim Kelly Peter Jarjisian & Judy Piercy | Charles Richardson

$500-999Marcia & Adrian Lund | Kelley & Christopher Lund The Buffy & William Cafritz Family Foundation Inc.

Marianne Kelly | Arvind Manocha | Maya Weil The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation

$250-499Melissa & Nicholas Apostolides | Victor Shargai

Paige & Bain Ennis | Joff Masukawa | Stephen Whisnant

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The American Pops Orchestra (APO) was founded in 2015 by Maestro Luke Frazier with the aim of breathing new life into orchestral pops programming and in-spiring new audiences to discover the wealth of material in the Great American Songbook in dynamic ways. APO is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. For more information, please visit theamericanpops.org.

Nouveau ProductioNs

GeorGetowN LutheraN chruch

cuLturecaPitaL

washiNGtoN PareNt

The staff of areNa staGe

Xavier Boudreaux | Danielle Brasure | Andy BrattainConnor Coleman | Charlie Crawford | Dave Crook

Laurie Duncan | Ford Fischer | Joey HamiltonPeter Jarjisian | Todd Johnson | Jim Kelly | Lily Komarow

Mr. & Mrs. Labella | TC Lind | Karen MayhewEric McMillian | Hilary Morrow | Shari Moxley

Liz Von Nessen | Betsy O'Keefe | Robert PullenNancy Reid | Natalie Rine | Daniel Schwartz

Lily Valle | Tess Wagner | Collin Warren

THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA extends a special THANK YOU to

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