Free ‘Broadway On The Green’ Concert At Danbury’s CityCenter Green

DANBURY — On Saturday, July 15, at 7 pm, David Katz’s Hat City Music Theater will return to the stage at CityCenter Green to with another free concert, “Broadway on the Green.” Concert-goers are invited to bring a blanket or lawn chair and a picnic dinner to enjoy an evening of favorite tunes from more than a dozen hit Broadway shows.

The program will include songs from Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, The Producers, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady and more, and will be presented by Hat City Music theater’s award-winning professional cast, assisted by Hat City Singers and Hat City Kids. In case of rain, the concert will be held in the Danbury High School auditorium, 43 Clapboard Ridge Rd, also at 7 pm.

“Broadway on the Green” will kick off the Theater…Now campaign to raise funds for a new Hat Box Theater in downtown Danbury. The theater, to be located in the former Pride Cleaners Building at 331 Main Street, will be Danbury’s own unique off-off-Broadway performance space. The design for Hat Box Theater, by local architect Leigh Overland, will be unveiled at the concert.

More than 25 professional and community singers will participate in the concert which will feature returning Hat City Music Theater audience favorites Culver Casson, soprano; Brian Cheney, tenor; and Paris Cheffer, baritone; and will also include the local debut of soprano Diana McVey from Providence, R.I.

Joining pianist Arnie Gross and director David Katz will be Hat City Singers, including Susan Kelly, Deidra Woodend, Jim Birch, Joel Romanelli and Mark Wolmer. The new Hat City Kids children’s chorus will also be featured, following their sold-out debut performances earlier this season.

“I’m excited to share our plans for Hat Box Theater with the public at ‘Broadway on the Green,’” said David Katz, chairman of the Theater…Now campaign. “The creation of Hat Box Theater is the most important performing arts initiative in Danbury in more than a generation. Ours is the only major city in the state of Connecticut without a theater of its own.”

Hat Box Theater will serve as the new home for Hat City Music Theater and the Candlewood Symphony, Danbury’s only nonprofit producers of professional music and theater. It will house an intimate auditorium for presenting plays, musicals, concerts, lectures, and small conferences and will provide audiences with an ample lobby area, complete with coffee bar, an indoor art gallery, and a mini gift boutique.

For more information about Hat Box Theater and the Theater…Now campaign, call Hat City Music Theater at 746-2694 or send an email to HatCityMusic@aol.com.