Mandy Gonzalez, whose incredible Broadway career includes leading roles in Aida, Wicked, Hamilton, and originating the role of Nina in In The Heights, will perform Mandy Gonzalez: Broadway Today with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday, September 21, at 7:30 PM at Kleinhan’s Music Hall.
Gonzalez is currently rehearsing for the latest Broadway revival of Sunset Blvd, where she appears as Norma Desmond at select performances. Her program at the BPO holds deep personal significance for her. As a child, she listened to Broadway recordings with her grandmother, who also enrolled her in lessons and found opportunities for her to perform. “I have been performing all over the country with different symphonies,” said Gonzalez. “These are really the songs that I feel, at this time, represent me the best, and I have the most fun with, starting with the song, “Everything’s Coming up Roses.” When I was eight years old, I would sing that song, and I sang it exactly like Ethel Merman. You know, I had a dream!… to singing a song like “Que Sera, Sera.” It’s a song I sang with my grandmother when we would listen to Doris Day. But I put my own spin on it. To sing those songs and to take you on the journey of my life is very exciting.
Gonzalez is especially excited to collaborate with the BPO, and for audiences to hear some of the songs she will sing performed as they were written. “There’s nothing like it, the orchestras that used to be on those cast albums were so big and so full…” adding,
To hear some of these songs done in the way that they were originally intended to be done with a full orchestra, there’s just nothing like it. They’re the next piece…It’s another character. It’s another piece that helps you move within the music. And as an audience member, you have that full experience. There’s nothing, nothing like live music.
One of Gonzalez’s first professional jobs was performing as a backup singer for Bette Midler. She noticed the way Midler commanded an audience effortlessly and easily. Gonzalez has fond memories of a particular moment in Bette Midler’s concert, where she would perform The Rose alone onstage.
“[Through an] opening in the curtain, I used to watch her as I was singing my backup parts backstage. I was just like ‘Oh, that’s where I want to be.!” She hopes that some of the audience members and students from The Academy of Theatre Arts joining her onstage have a similar experience. “I know what that would have felt like to me as a student, to sing with somebody that I listened to on a cast album. To feel like ‘Oh that person’s real.’ Like me watching Bette Midler from the curtain. Giving somebody else that chance, it can be life changing. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to do exactly what I do, but it means that, ‘Wow, a life in the arts is possible.’… To open that up to a young person means everything to me.”
Gonzalez’s program includes favorites from Beauty and the Beast, Encanto, The Greatest Showman, and promises unforgettable melodies and impassioned storytelling from the heart of musical theater.“There’s definitely going to be some “Defying Gravity.”
You were going to hear all the big hits. I always call it the trifecta of Elphaba, Angelica and Nina. And if you’ve been listening to those cast albums, I hope that this show moves you and you can share it,” said Gonzalez, adding “What I love about concerts is that the people that come are so multi-generational. It’s a grandmother that shared it with their mother, that shared it with their kid, and they all come together, which is so beautiful. They can have that moment as a family. I can’t wait to see people’s faces when some of those songs are sung, and how they hold hands and they look at each other like ‘Remember when we first heard this? It’s so special.”
Prior to her performance, The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra proudly continues their partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York to present Festival Encanto Hispano on Saturday, September 21 from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM at Kleinhans Music Hall. This free event celebrates the rich tapestry of Hispanic culture in the WNY community, displaying the talents of Hispanic artists, musicians, dancers, and chefs based in Buffalo.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) presents Mandy Gonzalez: Broadway Today on Saturday, September 21, at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available here.