“AN EVENING WITH SANTINO FONTANA”: The Princeton Festival has presented “An Evening with Santino Fontana.” Broadway and film star Santino Fontana (above) performed a program of highlights from musical theater and animated films. Fontana was accompanied by pianist Cody Owen Stine. (Photo by Princeton Symphony Orchestra staff)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

An Evening with Santino Fontana” has concluded the Princeton Festival’s season. The June 22 concert took place in the festival’s performance tent on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden.

A debonair baritone, Fontana entertained the audience with standards from Broadway musicals and one animated film. Pianist Cody Owen Stine accompanied the singer on all but one selection. In between songs, Fontana shared amusing anecdotes about his experiences performing onstage and in studios.

Fontana’s performance in the musical adaptation of Tootsie earned him the 2019 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Other Broadway credits include originating the role of Prince Topher in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

His screen credits include Frozen; Fosse/Verdon; and many others. His concert appearances include events at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and he has collaborated with ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

Stine is a songwriter, music director, and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. Currently he is the music director for the Broadway musical Hadestown. He can be heard on several cast albums including The Robber Bridegroom and The Liz Swados Project. As a composer/lyricist he is a 2019 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist; a 2019 commissioned writer at Williamstown Theatre Festival; and a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Writing Advanced Workshop.

Much of Fontana’s repertoire represented shows from the Broadway musical’s mid-20th century “Golden Age.” The opening number was “Stick Around” from the musical Golden Boy (1964). The intricately rhymed lyrics, in which the singer exudes confident swagger, are by Lee Adams. The restless, syncopated music is by Charles Strouse. Adams’ lines “Stick around, things are gonna happen … who can tell what the kid will do?” make the number an apt introduction.

The remaining songs in the program were determined by audience members randomly picking pieces of paper out of a jar. The first song selected was the wistful “If I Loved You” from Carousel (1945). Richard Rodgers’ melody (set to lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II) is a suitable fit for Fontana’s smooth, impassioned baritone.

Fontana remarked on the serendipity of several numbers randomly selected by the audience; on more than one occasion, a song made an apt successor to the one that had just been performed. An example occurred when “If I Loved You” was followed by “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.

In the musical, the latter number is performed by the Prince (Fontana’s character). Because another song from the show refers to the Prince as being tall, it was decided to have the 5’10” Fontana wear lifts in his shoes. While singing “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” for the concert, Fontana used the microphone stand as a crutch to illustrate the discomfort caused by the lifts.

Fontana added choreography to the following selection as well. His rendition of the jubilant title song (music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick) from She Loves Me (1963) was punctuated by exuberant jumps and kicks.

“I Met a Girl,” a rhythmic number that composer Jule Styne and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote for Bells are Ringing (1956), was followed by an expressive rendition of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s introspective title song for Anyone Can Whistle (1964).

The subsequent selection was Stine’s jazz arrangement of “Who Knows?,” which composer-lyricist Harold Rome wrote for I Can Get it For You Wholesale (1962). The song featured a virtuosic interlude by Stine, and took Fontana into a vocal range higher than the majority of the pieces performed.

The comparatively busy piano segments of “Who Knows?” were contrasted by the wistful “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me),” which Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley wrote for The Roar of the Greasepaint — The Smell of the Crowd (1965), For this song, Fontana started without any piano accompaniment, letting Stine join him midway through the song. This befits the line “no one beside me.”

Fontana concluded the first half with “Too Many Tomorrows,” which composer Cy Coleman and lyricist Dorothy Fields wrote for Sweet Charity (1966). The singer again demonstrated a keen awareness of the visual element of performing, punctuating the passionate lyrics with expressive hand gestures.

The reflective “How to Handle A Woman,” which lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe wrote for Camelot (1960), opened the second half. The number featured another short piano interlude by Stine.

In Sondheim’s driving, even slightly frantic “Buddy’s Blues” from Follies (1971), the singer describes romantic tensions with two women, Margie and Sally. While the music kept Fontana in his baritone range, he executed some amusing voice changes for the women’s dialogue, giving Margie a falsetto and Sally a lower foghorn.

This was followed by another fast-paced Sondheim number — “Everybody Says Don’t” from Anyone Can Whistle (1964). Fontana appeared in a 2022 Carnegie Hall revival of the show, in which he played the role of Hapgood, who sings the defiant song.

Next was the jubilant waltz “Ten Minutes Ago” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The arrangement of this number let Fontana take minor liberties with a few of the lines — repeating some and holding others a bit longer. Characterized by a debonair smile, the performance evoked the prince’s excitement at having just met Cinderella.

By way of an introduction to the subsequent song, Fontana revealed that at one point he thought he might be a jazz musician. For the title song from The Violet Hour (written by composer Will Reynolds and lyricist Eric Price), Fontana adeptly accompanied himself on piano. His voice is featured on the musical’s 2022 studio cast recording.

In 2016 Fontana performed the role of eccentric philanthropist Eliot Rosewater for Encores! Off-Center’s revival of God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1979). The show marks the first collaboration between the late lyricist/librettist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. Fontana sang one of Rosewater’s numbers from the show, the poignant “Dear Ophelia.” Fontana’s phrasing gave the song a nice shape, starting introspectively and building in intensity.

Fontana related that when his agent notified him about the opportunity to audition for a voice role in the animated film Frozen (2013), little information had been given. All that was known was that the character (who Fontana later learned was the duplicitous Prince Hans) needed to be amusing, and evince heroism and charm — but may also be the villain.

For the audition, Fontana delivered a swaggering rendition of “I Feel Pretty,” which composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Sondheim wrote for the character of Maria to sing in West Side Story (1956). Fontana replicated his audition for the audience, changing the song’s last line to “I am a pretty wonderful boy!”

This was followed by a number that Fontana sang in Frozen: the rhythmic “Love is an Open Door” (written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez). Taking advantage of the fact that the song is a duet, Fontana invited audience members familiar with the song to join him onstage; two audience members did so, performing admirably. Hans concludes the song by proposing marriage to the character of Elsa; by way of acknowledging both guest singers, Fontana ended the piece with, “Will you both marry me?”

Fontana’s closing number combined a brisk rendition of “Almost Like Being in Love” (written by Lerner and Loewe for the 1947 musical Brigadoon) with “This Can’t Be Love,” written by Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for The Boys from Syracuse (1938). For an encore, Fontana delivered an impassioned rendition of a song that was performed at his wedding to fellow Broadway performer Jessica Hershberg: “They Were You,” a lullaby-like waltz written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt for The Fantasticks (1960).

The concert was characterized by affability and spontaneity, along with a confident and consistent rapport with the audience. Fontana’s considerable vocal talent and versatility were on display, along with his acting talent and sense of humor. Exquisite renditions of songs such as “There is Music in You,” yet another song from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, made it obvious that there is an abundance of music in both Fontana and Stine.

For information about future presentations by the Princeton Festival, visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.