Anthony Nunziata – Courtesy of Hendricks Live! Used with permission.
Anthony Nunziata’s From Broadway to Italy brought Broadway standards, Italian favorites, popular ballads and original songs to Hendricks Live! on Friday. Featuring special guest Ashley Nicole Soprano and the Serenade Jazz Orchestra, the concert favored breadth over the focus of a traditional recital.
Founded in 1991 by Maury and Rick Oldham, the Indianapolis-based Serenade Jazz Orchestra is a 16-piece modern big band whose library ranges from classic and contemporary jazz to R&B and pop arrangements. The orchestra opened the evening with “It Had Better Be Tonight,” “Hallelujah, I Love Her So,” “Birdland” and other selections, then remained onstage to accompany Nunziata on “Feeling Good.”
The ensemble played with evident skill, but its opening set felt overlong. Vocalist Amy Cronin showed impressive vocal ability, though her reliance on sheet music placed on a stand limited her connection with the audience. Greater familiarity with the material might have produced a more assured stage performance.
Brooklyn-born and Nashville-based, Nunziata is a classical-crossover singer-songwriter whose repertoire spans Broadway, Italian songs, pop, the Great American Songbook and original music. He has performed more than 400 concerts, appeared with more than two dozen orchestras and co-headlined Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops.
His program moved from standards and Italian favorites to the originals “Will You Be My Everyday?” and “I Found a Home,” then closed with “Edelweiss,” “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “The Impossible Dream,” “’O Sole Mio” and “The Prayer.”
Nunziata was an assured, personable performer. His rich tenor moved comfortably from intimate romantic ballads to the stronger projection required by Broadway anthems and Italian favorites. He shaped phrases with care, communicated lyrics clearly and resisted turning familiar songs into mere showcases for high notes. His humor drew on his Italian American Brooklyn roots and affectionate references to family and heritage. Those recurring touches felt natural to his stage persona and strengthened his rapport with the audience. The strongest responses came for “I Found a Home,” “Edelweiss,” “The Prayer” and the Italian selections. Still, the program leaned heavily on large-scale songs and emphatic finishes; a few more upbeat numbers could have provided welcome contrast.
Ashley Nicole Soprano – Courtesy of Hendricks Live! Used with permission.
Butler University graduate Ashley Nicole Soprano is a classically trained opera singer whose work also extends to Broadway, pop and hip-hop.
As a featured soloist, Soprano provided a distinct vocal and stylistic contrast. She combined operatic control with contemporary showmanship. Her formal appearance brought elegance to the stage, while her clear tone, secure upper register and carefully shaped phrasing gave the selections dramatic weight without excessive display.
Pianist David Duncan was an effective partner, not merely an accompanist. He followed Nunziata’s phrasing closely, gave the ballads room to breathe and supplied rhythmic lift to the Broadway, pop and Italian material. His sensitivity to tempo and dynamics eased the transitions between spoken introductions and songs, making the performances feel flexible rather than rigidly rehearsed.
The production supported the performances without calling attention to itself. Lighting changes reflected the program’s shifting moods, and the sound generally maintained clarity and balance among Nunziata, Soprano and the orchestra. Hendricks Live proved a comfortable setting whose acoustics and technical resources served the concert well.
As entertainment, From Broadway to Italy offered vocal display, familiar music, personal storytelling and humor. Its appeal rested less on novelty than on recognizable songs delivered with assurance and directness. The opening set could have been shorter, but once Nunziata took the stage, he carried the varied program through his voice, humor and personality.The result was a wide-ranging and engaging evening.
