L'articolo descrive il concerto del 31 dicembre alla Severance Hall con l'orchestra Cleveland Pops. Hanno essguito i brani dei film di James Bond. La signora James e il signor Hugh Panaro hanno cantato alcune canzoni con l'orchestra. Il signor Panaro ha una carriera di grande successo. È attore, concertista e artista tra le altre cose. Soprattutto, faceva parte di molti musical di Broadway a New York. Era Marius in “Les Miserables". Successivamente, è stato Raulo in "The Phantom of the Opera". Panaro è stato presente in 2.000 rappresentazioni di questo spettacolo. Panaro ha continuato la sua carriera in altri spettacoli a New York ed a Los Angeles. Panara ha molti video online per far ascoltare la sua intonazione musicale.
After a three-year hiatus, Cleveland’s incredible Severance Hall hosted a New Year’s Eve concert and dance again. December 31, 2022’s “New Year’s Eve Celebration with the Music of James Bond”, performed by the Cleveland Pops Orchestra conducted by Carl Topilow, featured two celebrated vocalists, Morgan James and Hugh Panaro. Being a James Bond aficionado, I was in my glory. Popular songs were interspersed with Bond-themed music and sung beautifully by the multi-talented Ms. James and Mr. Panaro. Their costume changes mirrored the songs they performed individually or as a duet. This spectacular performance was followed by dancing to the Cleveland Pops Jazz Ensemble and Replay the Band, culminating with the midnight balloon drop. This article focuses on Hugh Panaro, a multi-talented performer.
Mr. Panaro was born on February 19, 1964 and grew up in a happy, musical, multi-generational Italian-Irish family in Philadelphia. Self-described as a “fat, nerdy kid” who was teased and unlike “the cool kids who played drums”, he played the organ in St. Helena’s parochial school parish church from the age of 12. His parents brought him to New York City to see his first Broadway show, “Annie”, starring fellow Philadelphian, Andrea McCardle, also 12 years old. It was then that he caught the theater bug and began performing in school plays and local theater productions. At age 15, he saw Angela Lansbury in “Sweeney Todd” on Broadway and once again was awestruck and inspired to someday perform on Broadway.
Mr. Panaro’s repertoire and accolades are vast; actor, concert and recording artist, and dog-lover who once aspired to be a veterinarian. This is a much-abbreviated list of his accomplishments. In his Broadway debut in 1990, he played Marius in “Les Miserables”. That was the year his aspirations were fulfilled. Hugh is most known for his over 2,000 performances in the longest-running show in the history of Broadway, “The Phantom of the Opera”. After his performance as Marius, Harold Prince, director of The Phantom, cast him as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, the young lover of Christine. Several years later in 1999, he was cast in the title role as the tenth Phantom. He had four runs in the show, breaking to perform in other plays and musicals. He performed the title roles in “Martin Guerre” and Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Lestat” based on Anne Rice’s novels about vampires. He won the 2008 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical as Jean Valjean in the Philadelphia production of “Les Miserables”.
At one point he moved to Los Angeles and did concert versions of shows and appeared in one television episode of “Law and Order” and in the movie “Broadway Damage”, but quickly realized that his heart was in New York City on and off Broadway. Thus, he returned and joined a jazz opera and became a member of a singing group, The Broadway Tenors. As a tenor with a baritone extension, he began performing with symphony orchestras.
His first solo CD with Sony/BMG was in 2007 after the “Broadway Musicals of 1938” concert. It was then that he was invited to join Barbra Streisand on her first European concert tour.
His performance at Cleveland’s Severance Hall was not his first in Ohio having already performed “An Evening with Hugh Panaro” at the University of Findlay in their Donnell Broadway Concert Series.
His solo concert debut recently took place on October 5 and 6, 2022 at 54 Below, a Broadway Supper Club noted for performances by Broadway’s best with world-class dining in an intimate atmosphere. The concerts here are live-streamed. Hugh has a significant online presence on social media through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.
After hearing his performance on New Year’s Eve, I have become a “Panarophile” as his fans are known. I’m hoping I have piqued your interest to follow Hugh Panaro or listen to the many YouTube songs from his repertoire. If you haven’t already been to Severance Hall, I encourage you to attend any program such as this. You will not be disappointed.
