The Wonderful Wizard of Song Celebrates Composer Harold Arlen

The Wonderful Wizard of Song comes to Soka Performing Arts Center on Sunday, July 1, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. General admission tickets are $15 for adults; and $10 for youth aged 18 and below. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online or by calling 949-480-4ART (4278).

The Wonderful Wizard of Song is a rousing musical revue of the works and life of The Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlen. Arlen’s son, Sam Arlen, hosts the show along with co-creator, acclaimed singer/pianist George Bugatti, as they guide the audience through Arlen’s nostalgic and evocative melodies with the help of vocalist Grande Dame Karon Blackwell. The show travels from the Cotton Club with Arlen’s breakout hits “Get Happy,” “I’ve Got the World on a String,” and “Stormy Weather,” to the silver screen melodies “Let’s Fall In Love,” “That Old Black Magic,” and “The Man that Got Away,” to the Broadway stage compositions “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Paper Moon,” to the Land of Oz with “Over the Rainbow,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” and “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.”

Sam Arlen is a music publisher and saxophonist. Although he has a particular interest in his father’s catalog and songs from the American Songbook, he performs all styles of music and has played at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Julliard alumnus George Bugatti began singing after an accident which ended his classical piano career. He performed for a record-breaking seven years at the famous Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills and was dubbed “Hollywood’s Hippest Crooner” by Los Angeles Magazine. Karon Kate Blackwell is a talented vocalist with the ability to glide effortlessly between genres. Blackwell has appeared on The Tonight Show, The Regis Philbin Show, and Hour Magazine.