My overall impression
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Tony Gonzalez when he came on last-minute to take over music direction on POPE! An Epic Musical at Theatre Unleashed last year. When you first meet him, Tony comes off as soft-spoken and rather unassuming, but what I quickly witnessed firsthand while directing POPE! was that when you get him behind a piano, magic happens. What I found out even later was that when Tony opens his mouth to sing… MAGIC HAPPENS. I mean, DAMN! He’s got a VOICE! And he puts it fully on display in Annabella, an original collaboration between Tony and the equally talented Sam Johindes. An epic fantasy about love, lust and betrayal featuring gorgeous, soaring and unforgettable music delivered by powerhouse voices, Annabella is an absolute tour-de-force. Tony’s ringing baritone is matched, note-for-note, by the equally mind-blowing Kimberly Hessler (and the rest of the cast, for the record, is no bunch of slouches). Go, and experience an aural sensation.
