Denman & Ragusa Head BPO's THE MUSIC MAN Concert 5/24

Broadway veterans Jeffry Denman and Michele Ragusa have been cast opposite each other in a one night only concert version of The Music Man. Denman will play Harold Hill to Ragusa's Marian Paroo.

The story follows the fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band he vows to organize - this despite the fact that he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef. The original production ran for 1,375 performances on Broadway and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and is unquestionably one of the most beloved shows of all time.

Denman most recently has been seen on Broadway in White Christmas and off-Broadway in the critically acclaimed Yank!, and appeared in The Producers, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, and the final cast of Cats on Broadway. Ragusa was Megan Mullally's replacement in Young Frankenstein as Elizabeth, as well as appeared in the Broadway productions of Cyrano (1993), Titanic, Ragtime, A Class Act and Urinetown.

The Grammy Award Winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1935. Since 1940, the Orchestra's permanent home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Site with an international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the United States.

As Buffalo's cultural ambassador, the BPO has toured widely across the United States and Canada including the recently completed Florida Friends Tour with JoAnn Falletta in March 2010, the first multi-city tour since the 1988 European tour and the first outside of the WNY area since Maestro Falletta led the ensemble at Carnegie Hall in 2004. Other concerts include the Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, San Francisco's Davies Hall, Montreal's Place des Arts, and twenty-two appearances at Carnegie Hall.

Currently, the Orchestra presents more than one hundred and twenty Classics, Pops and Youth Concerts each year and the award winning BPO Education programs reach over 35,000 students per year (K-12) from all eight counties of Western New York.

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is located at 499 Franklin Street in Buffalo, NY 14202. For tickets and more information, call (716) 885-5000 or visit www.bpo.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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