The Broadway Tenors will bring a bit of New York to Iola with a show on Saturday evening at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
They’ll also be bringing some Kansas connections.
Music director Kimberly Grigsby is the daughter of Iolans Stan and Donna Grigsby, and one of the tenors, Brent Barrett, grew up in the small town of Quinter.
“It’s great that we have these sort of local connections,” Bowlus director Daniel Kays said. “It’s going to be a wonderful family Christmas show.”
KIMBERLY has never lived in Kansas, but her parents moved to the area about 10 years ago.
Donna grew up in Moran and graduated from high school there. Stan is from Prescott.
Daughter Kimberly lived in California and Northern Virginia for most of her life, and then moved to New York where she worked on Broadway for a number of years.
Among her many Broadway achievements, she has worked on “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “The Light in the Piazza” and “Camelot.”
Kimberly Grigsby recently returned from London where she worked on “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“When she started, she was one of the few female music directors,” Donna said.
But when Broadway went dark during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kimberly was alone in New York. Her parents suggest she come stay with them for a few weeks.
During that visit, she was able to perform at the Wesley United Methodist Church.
Wesley’s Pastor Jocelyn Tupper introduced her to Kays.
“We sat and chatted,” Kays recalled. “She said she’d love to come back and do something for the community.”
When Kays was scheduling the 2022-23 season, he was intrigued by the show with The Broadway Tenors. He called the producers and asked if it would be possible for Kimberly to join them. She wasn’t able to confirm until June.
“At first we were going to do it as a surprise,” Kays said. “But she said, ‘I can’t keep this a secret from my parents. They’ll be on a cruise or take a trip somewhere.’”
It’s probably a good thing the Grigsbys were in the know. They’ve invited everyone they know, and family members are traveling from far and wide for the show.
“It’s kind of neat,” Donna said. “We’ve traveled all over to see her. Now she’s coming here.”
KAYS said each of the tenors brings something special to the performance, and he has his own connection to one of them.
When he was working in California, Kays worked as stage manager for a production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” David Burnham played the lead.
At the time, the producers of the Broadway version were looking for someone to replace Donny Osmond in the role. It was a two-year search that ended when critics from Los Angeles saw Burnham at the show where Kays was working. Burnham soon followed in Osmond’s Broadway footsteps.
“I haven’t seen David in years,” Kays said. “It will be fun to have that little moment.”
A BIT about the Tenors:
Barrett, the Kansas native, recently reprised his role as Billy Flynn in the Broadway version of “Chicago: The Musical.” His starring role in “Kiss Me, Kate” was nominated for an Oliver Award. He made his debut as the Phantom in the new Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom — the Vegas Spectacular.”
Burnham was last seen on Broadway playing Fiyero in “Wicked.” He is an original Broadway cast member of “The Light in the Piazza.”
John Cudia has the distinction of being the first and only actor to have performed both as the Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera” and Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables” on Broadway.
TICKETS are available online at bowluscenter.org or at the door.
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