Fans of Broadway musicals are in for a treat on Sunday, June 8, when two talented local musicians perform selections from “My Fair Lady,” “Camelot” and other theater classics in the community concert “Broadway Adventure” at the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield in Flourtown.

The show featuring vocalist Shane Tapley and accompanist Zachary Krieger is a cabaret concert highlighting songs from the 1940s golden age of Broadway in productions such as “Oklahoma” up to more recent work like “Finding Neverland” and “A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.” The songs represent Tapley's own Broadway adventure and how he ended up in Philadelphia by way of Atlanta, Nashville New York City and Princeton. 

“I’m a Philadelphia-based vocalist, pianist and actor, and I have been performing across the U.S. and abroad for the last 20 years,” said Tapley who has worked as a session singer and background vocalist. “When I was asked to perform for the Community Concert Series at First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, it was based around the fact that I had been performing a cabaret series with an accompanist on piano in April throughout Delaware, New Jersey and the Philadelphia area.”

Tapley also teaches and serves on the musical theater faculties of Temple University, Rowan University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Many of Tapley's university students have gone on to perform on Broadway, in national tours and regional theater houses.

Tapley was tapped for the Flourtown show by Dr. David Pyle, a member of the First Presbyterian Church's community concert committee that selects musicians to put on two or three concerts a year. Pyle is a dentist and a musician who plays percussion in the Abington Symphony Orchestra as well as in the church choir and handbell choir

“We actually had a different piano/singer duo coming to do a classical performance,” Pyle told the Local, “but for personal reasons they had to back out. I know Shane personally and asked if he had something he could get together quickly. Since he has been performing a Broadway song-themed show around the Philadelphia region that we felt could be performed almost immediately, he said yes.

“The first time I heard him sing was when he performed the tenor solos in Handel's 'Messiah' at the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown's annual 'Messiah' concert. He currently sings at Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Center City. He is a wonderful tenor, both with classical literature and musical theater.”

Zachary Krieger, who will be accompanying Tapley on the piano, earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Central Michigan University and a master’s degree in vocal pedagogy and performance from Westminster Choir College. He performed with the Central Michigan University opera company and gave frequent art song recitals. 

Krieger is currently a bass section leader at Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton and also works at the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J. He has also worked as coach accompanist for productions of “Les Misérables,” “Legally Blonde” and most recently, “The Prom.” 

The Flourtown concert will be followed by a reception. Admission is free, although donations are accepted to support the artists and the concert. 

The First Presbyterian Church of Springfield was built at Mill Road and Bethlehem Pike in 1857, according to church historian Beverly Conti’s account on the congregation’s website.  Between 1955 and 1980, membership grew to 696 active members. In 1997, construction of the Fellowship Hall and additional classrooms was dedicated “to meet the expanding needs of the church family and its programs: community programs like the Northwest Interfaith Hospitality Network, Meals on Wheels, Barrel of Bounty, Prison Ministry, Scout programs, Senior Citizen Breakfast and Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” according to the church history.

The concert is at 3 p.m. The First Presbyterian Church of Springfield is at 1710 Bethlehem Pike in Flourtown. For more information, call 215-233-3223 or email info@flourtownpres.org. Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.org.