Opera stars deliver ‘Hallelujah Broadway’

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Rodrick Dixon (from left), Alfreda Burke and Anthony Kearns will perform in “Hallelujah Broadway” at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

Updated: November 10, 2011 9:53AM

Alfreda Burke, Rodrick Dixon and Anthony Kearns are formally trained opera singers.

As such their repertoire includes works by Georges Bizet and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Rutter and Ludwig van Beethoven, Igor Stravinsky and Gioachino Rossini — all heavy hitters.

But if you think these aria-belting pros roll their eyes at so-called “popular” music, think again. And go examine the evidence for yourself.

On Sept. 17 at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre, the trio will combine forces to put on a program called “Hallelujah Broadway.”

Early in 2010 a lavish staging of the orchestra-and-chorus-enhanced extravaganza, conceived of by “The Irish Tenors” producer Bill Hughes, was filmed and recorded in Prague.

That show aired on PBS stations including WTTW-TV (Channel 11) around the United States last summer and is occasionally rerun.

“Hallelujah Broadway” is chock-full of well-known numbers from such beloved musicals as “West Side Story,” “Godspell,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Les Miserables.”

The show combines, as Dixon puts it, “the big sound of Broadway and the big sound of opera” without the elaborate costumes or overhead subtitles.

“We’re three unique individuals with these backgrounds that lend themselves to diverse styles and genres of music — and a love for them as well,” said Burke, a soprano who is married to Dixon.

The couple from Oak Lawn have appeared in the jazz-gospel reimagining of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” called “Too Hot to Handel.”

“And so our messages, our stories, our lives will be coming through what we’re singing,” Dixon said.

But just because the “West Side Story” ballad “Somewhere,” for instance, is devoid of Mozartean flourishes, don’t think for a minute it’s easier to sing.

“You’re still bringing all of your arsenal technically, you have to support,” Burke said.

“Then (there’s) your heart and your soul. You’re totally investing in and fully embodying these songs.

“So it’s taking a lot of intensity, a lot of passion, a lot of joy. We run the gamut of emotions that we’re bringing to the table.”

Dixon, a tenor, seconded her sentiments and emphasized the importance of Broadway in American music history.

Those who attend the Auditorium show, he said, are in for a night of old-school entertainment sans smoke and mirrors.

“What you see is what you get. And either the artist communicates what the librettist and composer was trying to get across or we don’t, and that’s what Broadway is really all about — speaking from an American sensibility about life,” he said.

Dixon said he also realizes that by showcasing lighter fare he and his mates might lure concertgoers to future operatic offerings.

“Everyone realizes that the (classical music) industry has to grow, but the only way it can grow is to be inclusive,” Dixon said. This Broadway-based program is a means to that end.

However, Kearns, a member of the famed Irish Tenors, admitted that classical crossover artists — those who dare to croon jazz, show tunes or anything that’s outside their rarified realm — still have something of an image problem to overcome.

“Some people would turn their nose up at us,” Kearns said.

Not that it makes a difference.

“Look, I believe if you can sing you should sing. And if it makes you happy and, more importantly, if it makes other people happy and you express yourself, then we’re all doing good.”

Although Kearns said he doesn’t see himself busting out a rock album a la celebrated soprano Renee Fleming, “there might be a Freddie Mercury number we’ll have to dig out” down the road.

And while Burke and Dixon laughingly said they won’t be reinterpreting Van Halen hits anytime soon, they said they’re thrilled to be part of something that celebrates such eminently accessible music and universally relevant themes.

“When you take a song like ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ (from “Carousel”) or ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ (from “The Sound of Music”) and you see the world that we’re living in today — we’re having earthquakes and tsunamis are hitting, there’s devastation, there’s wars and there’s sickness — people are putting the pieces back together and they’re looking for hope,” Burke said.

“And these songs certainly present a strong message of hope and the expectation for a better day.”