Weather 
Next week, Broadway stars Santino Fontana and Norm Lewis will take the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House for a one-night-only concert performance of Lamb of God. Ahead of the event, the duo visited NBC New York Live to preview the event.
The concert is a musical retelling of the Passion, and though the Biblical narrative is familiar, Fontana notes that the story has been reimagined in a new way. “It’s a story we all know, however… it’s a version of the story we haven’t heard because it’s really about the relationships between all the people surrounding Jesus…,” he explained.
Lewis plays Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. “What we’ve been doing, as far as our rehearsal process, is trying to figure out how Pilate is relating to, not only the crowd, but also to Jesus himself.”
As a presentation of music, Lewis refers to it as a “mass,” likening it to Vivaldi’s famous Gloria. “Rob Gardner has written this amazing mass that is so timely right now because it’s going to be the week of Passover and Easter.” Watch their full conversation with reporter Sara Gore now.
Lamb of God, the dramatic concert work by composer Rob Gardner, will take place as a one-night-only presentation at the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday, March 30 at 7:30 pm.
Marking the New York City premiere, the concert event will star Tony Award-winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful; Waitress), Tony Award-winner Santino Fontana (Tootsie; Cinderella), Tony Award nominee Joy Woods (Gypsy; The Notebook), Tony Award nominee Norm Lewis (The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess; Les Miserables), Anna Zavelson (Masquerade; The Notebook) and Alex Joseph Grayson (The Outsiders; Parade).
The concert will also star Tony Award nominee Brandon Victor Dixon (Hell’s Kitchen), Zachary Noah Piser (Dear Evan Hansen), Thom Sesma (Dead Outlaw) and Katherine Alexis Thomas (Lamb of God: The Concert Film).
The full creative team of Lamb of God includes Rob Gardner (Composer and Conductor), Rob Moffat (Director), Richard Bishop (Lighting Designer), Dustin Cross (Styling Consultant) and Sandra Park (Orchestra Contractor). Casting is by Michael Cassara, CSA; General Management is by Jim Gardner.
Lamb of God is a powerful musical retelling of the Passion as experienced by those who were there—Mary the Mother (Mueller), Peter (Dixon), John (Fontana), Judas (Piser), Mary Magdalene (Zavelson), Martha (Woods), and others—bringing an intimate, human lens to one of history’s most profound narratives. The work debuted as a Billboard chart–topping concept album recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and has since become one of the most widely performed modern sacred works, with hundreds of productions mounted annually in major cities across five continents, from San Francisco to Buenos Aires to Taipei.
This one-night-only event at the Met is presented in partnership with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during Easter Week and represents the largest and most ambitious staging of Lamb of God to date. With a 72-piece orchestra conducted by Gardner, the event will also include a 135-person choir, featuring the combined forces of the world-renowned BYU Singers and BYU Concert Choir (conductors Dr. Brent Wells and Dr. Andrew Crane). The concert brings together Broadway’s top talent, one of the nation’s premier choral programs, and a magnificent New York orchestra in one of the most iconic performance venues in the world.
