Waterbury's Palace Theater and The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra To Celebrate Broadway Scores

On Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 7:00 pm join the Palace Theater and the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra for an exciting night of beautiful music and fond memories, celebrating 20 years of Broadway musicals at the Palace Theater!

Together with a roster of Broadway performers (including Andrea McArdle, Broadway's original "Annie!"), the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, conducted by five-time Emmy Award-winning producer & director Andrew Carl Wilk, will perform favorite selections from shows that have graced our stage since our reopening in 2004.

In addition to favorite musical numbers from shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Evita, and Dreamgirls, the show will feature the beloved classics “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (The Wizard of Oz), “Memory” (Cats), and “Tomorrow” (Annie).

This extraordinary event commemorates the Palace Theater's score in years (20) with excerpts from the musical scores enjoyed over the years in our historic venue. Broadway Scores will be an evening of entertainment, inspiration, and celebration. “We are celebrating the ongoing partnership of two organizations who share a commitment to improving quality of life in our community by providing arts access and education,” explains Palace CEO Frank Tavera.

Andrew Carl Wilk is the Conductor & Executive Producer of this evening's performance. Most recently, Wilk served as executive producer of Live From Lincoln Center, where, for almost a decade, he created a variety of award-winning musical and theatrical productions for PBS. The event will be directed by Annette Jolles, and Gerard Chiusano will provide additional arrangements and orchestrations.

Guests are invited to add on a special VIP Pre-show reception option when they purchase tickets to join in the 20-year celebration. A portion of proceeds from this event will benefit the Palace Theater and WSO Education programs. This event is sponsored by Webster Bank, Ives Bank, ION Bank, and Post University.

Originally a movie/vaudeville house built in 1922, the Palace evolved over its 70 years of operation, presenting everything from silent films to Big Band to contemporary rock concerts. Once considered the Northeast's premier performance venue, the Palace closed in 1987, after a fire destroyed part of the building. After 17 years and a $30 million, three-year renovation, restoration, and expansion, the theater was transformed into a 90,000 square foot state-of-the-art theatrical facility and reopened in November 2004 to great fanfare. Positioned as Greater Waterbury's premier performing arts center, this exquisite complex now showcases a performance schedule boasting professional touring Broadway performances, educational programs, top-quality family entertainment, and much more. 

About Andrew Carl Wilk:

Andrew Carl Wilk is a five-time Emmy Award-winning executive producer and director of network television. Mr. Wilk is also an accomplished stage director, writer, and symphony orchestra conductor. This concert marks his debut with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Wilk was named the Executive Producer of Live From Lincoln Center in 2012. He executive produced 45 acclaimed television programs, including the New York Philharmonic PBS Specials featuring soloists Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Joshua Bell, Renee Fleming, and many others. Other television specials include Sinatra: Voice for a Century (starring Seth MacFarlane, Christina Aguilera, and Sting), Audra McDonald in Concert, Rogers & Hammerstein's Carousel (starring Kelli O'Hara & Nathan Gunn), Falsettos, Act One, and The Nance (starring Nathan Lane). Most notably, he was the Executive Producer of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel with the New York Philharmonic, which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program.

Mr. Wilk produced and directed the New York Philharmonic's PBS production of Show Boat, and has also produced and/or directed solo performance television specials for Josh Groban, Kristin Chenoweth, Billy Porter, Sutton Foster, Leslie Odom, Jr., Stephanie J. Block, Andrew Rannells, Annaleigh Ashford with Jake Gyllenhaal, Megan Hilty, and Cynthia Erivo.

Additional positions Mr. Wilk has held include founding Executive Vice President of Programming and Production of the National Geographic Channel, Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music Entertainment, and producer and director of over 1,000 hours of primetime television winning over 150 Emmy Awards for NBC, CBS, PBS and other networks.

Through it all, conducting remains his first love! A frequent Musical Director & Conductor at the Paper Mill Playhouse, he has also conducted hundreds of regional musicals and concert performances. He served as Music Director & Conductor of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Guest Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

About Annette Jolles:

Annette Jolles has created a diverse body of work as a director and producer for theater and television and is the recipient of twenty-two Emmy Awards. Most recently, she directed the PBS Great Performances capture of David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face on Broadway starring Daniel Dae Kim. She directed numerous broadcasts for Live From Lincoln Center including symphonic concerts for the NY Philharmonic and Mostly Mozart, three Richard Tucker Galas, and solo programs featuring Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, Leslie Odom, Jr., Norm Lewis and Patina Miller. In a prior collaboration with Andrew Wilk, she produced PBS's Stars on Stage from Westport Country Playhouse, directing episodes starring Shoshana Bean and Brandon Victor Dixon.

For the stage, she has developed and directed new works including the Off-Broadway premieres of That Time of the Year and Little by Little (The York Theatre Company), Passion of the Hausfrau (Portland Stage Company), The Jerusalem Syndrome (NYMF), Suddenly Hope (Denver Civic Theater, Garfield Theater, & Rich Forum Theater), and Big Red Sun (Theatreworks Palo Alto's New Works Festival).

Among many other prestigious organizations, she has worked with KTW Productions (founding partner), The Little Orchestra Society, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, NYC's Symphony Space.

Continuing her long collaboration with playwright Bess Welden, she will be directing the world premiere of Madeleines (2022 National Jewish Plays Contest winner) at Portland Stage Company in March, 2025. She is on the faculty of Yale, where she teaches musical theater performance.

About Gerard Chiusano:

Gerard Chiusano is an award-winning composer from Denver, Colorado (formerly from New Jersey). His work spans genres from television & theatre to sacred music. Theatre work includes New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse (along with conductor Emmy-Award winner Andrew Carl Wilk), Massachusetts' North Shore Music Theater, the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut, as well as Princess Cruises, Ltd. He has served as pianist for the original off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks, and has worked with such celebrities as Robby Benson, Nancy Dussault, and Karen Morrow. He was the orchestrator for the musical Green Gables, and conducted its debut in Dayton, Ohio. He was also co-musical director for Heart's Desire, by Emmy Award-winning conductor and composer Genn Roven. Television work includes composing and producing the opening music for PBS' Stars on Stage, created and produced by Andrew Carl Wilk, and directed by Annette Jolles. He is the founder and music director of “Opus One Chorus and Orchestra.” 

His opera, Antony & Cleopatra, was awarded the John E. Profant Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2004 (Santa Barbara, CA). His second opera, Macbeth, is slated for a semi-staged performance in New York City in 2026 with full orchestra, chorus, and soloists. He is working on his third opera, Thirst, based on a novel of the same name by Mary Donnarumma.

He composed, orchestrated, and performed music for the visit of Pope St. John Paul II to New Jersey in 1995, and his work as a choral conductor has taken him all over the country.

He is a member of the music theory and composition faculty at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he is in the process of completing his Ph.D. in music composition.

About Waterbury Symphony Orchestra

Creating music since 1938, the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra's core belief is that music, music education and shared cultural experiences are essential for humanity. 

Led by Leif Bjaland, now in his 30th year with the Symphony, WSO draws over one hundred talented professional musicians from across New England.  

As orchestra in residence of the Fine Arts Center, CT State Community College, Naugatuck Valley the Waterbury Symphony wishes to acknowledge the partnership of CTSCC/NV and the enduring legacy of the generosity and vision of Ruth Ann Leever. 

About the Palace Theater

Located in Downtown Waterbury, Connecticut, the Palace Theater is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit performing arts center with a mission “to preserve and operate the historic Palace Theater as a performing arts center and community gathering place that provides a focal point of cultural activity and educational outreach for diverse audiences.”

 

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