Rebecca Spencer and Philip Fortenberry

Rebecca Spencer recently co-starred in PHANTOM - THE LAS VEGAS SPECTACULAR, where she created the role of Madame Giry in the new $35 million dollar production under the direction of Harold Prince. The role returned Rebecca to the haunts of the Paris Opera House fifteen years after her debut as Carlotta in Sir Andrew and Mr. Prince’s Hamburg, Germany production, a role she performed in German for six months.

She is an original Broadway cast member of Jekyll and Hyde in which she played the principal roles of Lady Beaconsfield and Guenivere. Her additional performances in the role of Emma Carew completed a circle that had begun eight years earlier when she created the role at the 1990 Alley Theatre world premiere. She was also in the final Toronto workshop of Ragtime, directed by Frank Galati, and can be heard on the first cast recording.

Rebecca was nominated for a Florida Theatre critics award (Best Actress) for her portrayal of Rosabella in the Jupiter Theatre’s production of The Most Happy Fella, as well as an Arizona Theatre critics award (Best Supporting Actress) for her portrayal of Buttercup in HMS Pinafore at the Arizona Theatre Company. She has starred in productions at the St. Louis and Trinity Repertory Companies, Cincinnati Playhouse, Theatre Under the Stars, Paper Mill Playhouse, and the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. In New York she has been featured at Lyrics and Lyricists and as well as the Ira Gershwin Centennial at Carnegie Hall, recorded for PBS, and marked her fifth ENCORES! concert at the City Center in March of 2004. She was featured at the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s 2004 and 2005 NYC Cabaret Conventions, and starred in Timeless Divas! Stars of the Silver Screen at the Triad Theatre. Rebecca's television credits include Third Watch and Law and Order: SVU.

Rebecca was awarded the 2004 Back Stage Bistro Award for Oustanding Achievement in a Recording for her debut solo CD, Wide Awake and Dreaming. Her second recording, Fair Warning, was released in March 2006 on the LML Music label, distributed by Allegro Music nationwide. 

She has toured twice nationally in Man of La Mancha as Antonia, starring first with John Cullum and later Hal Linden. She co-stared as Shirley in the Goodspeed Opera’s Lady Be Good, which also toured nationally. Rebecca has performed principal roles with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Minnesota, Omaha and Connecticut Opera companies, as well as the composers forum at the New York City Opera. She has been a guest soloist with the New Haven, Syracuse, New Haven and Detroit Symphonies, and the Florida Orchestra, and with the Indianapolis and Naples Symphonies conducted by Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops. She has also toured nationally as the guest soloist for composer Marvin Hamlisch. She can be heard on several cast recordings, including Jekyll and Hyde, Ragtime, Drat the Cat, Violet, Our Heart Sings, Linda Eder's Christmas album, the Newberry Award winning children's musical series The Mandarin Duck and The Bridge to Terebithia, and Irving Berlin’s Watch Your Step. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Ithaca College.

As a versatile artist whose styles encompass a wide range of musical genres, Philip Fortenberry is a performer with an equally expansive career.  A native of Columbia, Mississippi, Philip began playing the piano at the age of four and by seven was the accompanist for his church. Philip performed his first solo concert when he was twelve while continuing his work as a church pianist and organist throughout high school and college until he left the south and moved to New York City.  

Philip continued his piano studies as a private student of Myoko Lotto at The Juilliard School. He holds a Master of Music degree in classical piano performance from New Jersey City University and was an adjunct faculty member in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. Philip was a 2004 recipient of a Distinguished Service Award from William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  

Early in his career in New York, Philip became the musical director and on-stage pianist for the long-running off-Broadway satirical revue, Forbidden Broadway. He was also the musical supervisor for the West End version of the show in London.  Philip has also played for many Broadway productions and national tours including such shows as Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Saturday Night Fever, Ragtime, Seussical—The Musical, Sideshow, and The Lion King. 

Philip toured the U.S. and Canada in concert performances of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, starring Michael Crawford, and he has been a frequent guest with Lincoln Center’s “Meet the Artists” series. In the autumn of 2001, Philip was the pianist for Harry Connick, Jr. and Susan Stroman’s Broadway production of Thou Shalt Not. In October of 2002, along with actress Brenda Currin and director David Kaplan, Philip created and performed a fantasia based on Beethoven’s Emperor piano concerto for a new work entitled June Recital, based on the works of acclaimed author, Eudora Welty.  

He was the pianist for the Roundabout Theater’s Broadway revue of the music of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, The Look of Love. Philip was the associate music director for Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s pre-Broadway workshop production, Harmony. Philip made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1986 as the pianist/conductor for Eartha Kitt, and he returned to Carnegie hall in 2001 with The Three Irish Tenors for their Christmas concert. He has also performed as pianist for Charlotte Church at Avery Fisher Hall at New York City’s Lincoln Center. In 1990, Philip accompanied internationally renowned mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade at the Oregon Bach Festival. They were invited to perform at the White House for the summit conference between Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush. Later that year, by invitation of President Bush, ‘Flicka’ and Philip performed at the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations.

Philip performed at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the United Nations, and in 1996 he was privileged to accompany singer Laurie Beechman at the 70th birthday gala for Lady Margaret Thatcher in Washington, D.C. Currently a resident of Las Vegas, Philip was the associate conductor/music director for Hairspray at the Luxor Theater as well as the North American premiere of the rock music extravaganza, We Will Rock You at the Paris, Las Vegas.  

He has played and conducted Mamma Mia! at the Mandalay Bay Theater, and he is currently the associate conductor for Jersey Boys at the Palazzo. Philip is also a pianist for Faith Community Lutheran Church. As the featured artist at the Liberace Museum, Philip performs a one-man show, Liberace and Me, each Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at 1 p.m.

Philip has recorded several solo albums: Fifth Sunday, Farther Along, and Faith are collections of inspirational and sacred songs; a seasonal offering is entitled Christmas Matters. The Woods is a series of improvisational reflections inspired by his home in south Mississippi.  

A number of selected recordings from Fifth Sunday and Farther Along have been developed as worship tools through DVD format for LifeWay Christian Resources as part of a new series entitled Transitions. Portraits in Music pays tribute to aspects of significant individuals, and First Light is inspired by daybreak in the Valley of Fire in the desert north of Las Vegas.