Franc D'Ambrosio, a multi-talented singer and actor best known for his impressive portrayal of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of The Opera,” will perform Feb. 28 at East Central University.
He will guide the audience through the different sections of his show, “Franc D'Ambrosio’s Broadway – Songs from the Great White Way,” a celebration of the music that has established Broadway as an American art form.
The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Ataloa Theatre in ECU’s Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center and include such ballads as “It’s Almost Like Being in Love,” “Steam Heat,” “This Is The Moment,” “Bring Him Home,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “What Kind of Fool Am I.”
D’Ambrosio also will teach a master class for high school students. Two of the students will be selected to perform with him onstage that night.
Tickets are $18 and may be purchased online at tickets.ecok.edu or reserved by calling the theatre’s box office at 580-559-5751 or emailing boxoffice@ecok.edu. In addition, 150 student tickets will be available for $5.75. All tickets, including those for season ticket holders, should be picked up at the will call window the night of the concert. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
Affectionately known as Phantom's “The Iron Man of The Mask,” D'Ambrosio was awarded the title of the “World’s Longest Running Phantom” with 2,000 performances, a title he held for more than a decade.
D'Ambrosio's career – with an Academy Award-nominated film, an Emmy-nominated television show, a four-time Tony-nominated Broadway show, two Grammy considerations and a National Theatre Award nomination – took off when talent scouts on a two-year international search discovered him in the chorus of his first Broadway show.
Francis Ford Coppola immediately cast him as Anthony Corleone, the opera- singing son of Al Pacino and Diane Keaton in “Godfather III.” He also sang the Academy Award-winning theme song, "Speak Softly Love" (Brucia la Terra), in the film and on the original soundtrack.
His performance of the song so impressed the legendary tenor Luciano Pavarotti that he invited D’Ambrosio to study with him for a summer at his home in Italy.
D'Ambrosio next caught the eye of Barry Manilow who personally selected him in 2000 to create and star as the male lead “Tony” in the pre-Broadway tour of “Copacabana.” The show enjoyed a successful year-long tour, and D'Ambrosio received a National Theatre Award nomination for best male performer in a musical.
He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and South America with three critically acclaimed one-man shows: the Broadway show he will bring to ECU, “Franc D'Ambrosio's HOLLYWOOD - Songs of The Silver Screen” and “I'll Be Seein' YOUZ... A Bronx Boy’s Musical Perspective of World War II.” Last December he introduced a new Christmas show, “Christmas in New York.”
He also is a frequent pop series guest artist with major American orchestras and symphonies. With the success of his tours, D'Ambrosio has joined the ranks of the famed Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman as only a handful of Phantom alumni crossing over to successful solo careers.
D'Ambrosio was invited by Olympic champion Brian Boitano to perform in two television specials, “Brian Boitano's Skating Spectacular” and “The 2005 Tribute to Movies on Ice.”
In addition to touring with his one-man shows, D'Ambrosio co-starred in 2008 with Dorothy Hamill in the critically acclaimed “Broadway On Ice” and ended the year starring with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra in a spectacular New Year’s Eve performance.
His medley "Shenandoah/They Call the Wind Mariah" (as featured on his Hollywood CD) was the music Boitano chose for his television special on Christmas Day 2010 with such American skating icons as Evan Lysacek, Nancy Kerrigan, Sasha Cohen, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi.