Independent Arts News Reporting Tony Award-winning Actor and Television Star Santino Fontana added to 2024 Princeton Festival Offerings
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Pictured Above: Santino Fontana. Photo Credit: Nathan Johnson.
Mr. Fontana's intimate performance on June 22nd includes Broadway songs and favorite melodies accompanied by pianist, interspersed with personal anecdotes revealing the star’s natural charm and good humor
Newsroom Post: PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Princeton, NJ – The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) recently added Tony Award-winning actor and television star Santino Fontana to its artistic line-up for this year’s Princeton Festival. Known for his star turns in Broadway productions of Tootsie and Cinderella, and on television in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Sisters, as well as the voice of Prince Hans in Disney’s animated film Frozen, Mr. Fontana is sure to delight fans of all ages in his Saturday, June 22 cabaret-style appearance at the Festival. The intimate performance includes Broadway songs and favorite melodies accompanied by pianist, interspersed with personal anecdotes revealing the star’s natural charm and good humor.
Santino Fontana received the Tony Award, two Drama Desks, an Outer Critics Circle, a Lortel, an Obie, and the Clarence Derwent Award for his work in both plays and musicals. Most recently seen on Broadway in his virtuosic Tony-winning turn as “Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels” in Tootsie. The NY Times wrote, “Santino Fontana [is] one of the most promising actors to emerge in the New York theater.” New York Magazine heralded him as an “indispensable stage star.” He is widely known for lending his voice to the villainous ‘Prince Hans’ in Disney’s Academy Award winning animated feature, Frozen. On TV, Santino was seen on the Emmy winning “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” He starred on CW’s comedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” as fan favorite, ‘Greg’ and NBC’s drama “Shades of Blue,” opposite Jennifer Lopez, simultaneously. A critically acclaimed narrator of dozens of audiobooks, he was the original voice of ‘Joe’ in Caroline Kepnes’s cult hit You and all its sequels. He received the Audie award for Stephen King’s The Institute and was chosen to read Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
The Princeton Festival takes place June 7-22, 2024 with a state-of-the-art tented pavilion erected on the grounds of beautiful Morven Museum & Garden. Events range from an opening night concert featuring star soprano Angel Blue to a comic opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a tribute honoring Tina Turner, plus dance, a Juneteenth celebration with Black choral music, a Family Day with Latin American music, and genre-defying ensembles. Baroque and chamber concerts take place at nearby Trinity Church.
Read the official festival line-up announcement HERE
2024 Princeton Festival tickets are available now, and range in price from $10 – $135. While most performances take place in the pavilion at Morven Museum & Garden, some are located inside at Trinity Church. For dates, times, program information, and tickets, visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.
About The Princeton Festival
Founded in 2004, the Princeton Festival quickly established a reputation for artistic excellence and innovative programming in the performing arts. Every year in June, thousands of people from the mid-Atlantic region and beyond come to the Festival to enjoy the quality and variety of its programs. Offerings include opera, musical theater, dance, and a constantly evolving selection of other genres, including jazz, world music, orchestral pops, choral concerts, country music, chamber recitals, and an annual piano competition. The Festival has long-standing partnerships with public libraries and local churches, and promotes life-long learning in the arts through free educational lectures presented to a wide and diverse community.
ABOUT THE PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations, a position established through performances of beloved masterworks, innovative music by living composers, and an extensive network of educational programs offered to area students free of charge. Led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO presents orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest artistic quality, supported by lectures and related events that supplement the concert experience. Its flagship summer program the Princeton Festival brings an array of performing arts and artists to Princeton during multiple weeks in June. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and impactful education programs in partnership with local schools and arts organizations that culminate in students attending a live orchestral performance. The PSO receives considerable support from the Princeton community and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, regularly garnering NJSCA’s highest honor. Recognition of engaging residencies and concerts has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSO’s commitment to new music has been acknowledged with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.
