From Broadway to Classics, on stage and in concert, Lisa Vroman has established herself as one of America’s most versatile voices. She has been regarded as a “musical and theatrical marvel” by the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as “one of American Musical Theater’s most beautiful voices” by acclaimed Broadway producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh.
Lisa starred for over eight years on Broadway, in San Francisco and in Los Angeles as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. Ms. Vroman starred as Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella, making her New York City Opera debut with Paul Sorvino playing the title role. She starred as Lili Vanessi in Kiss Me Kate with Glimmerglass Opera and the MUNY Theater of St. Louis, Anna Leonowens in The King and I with Lyric Opera of Virginia, and played Marian Paroo in The Music Man with Shirley Jones (Mrs. Paroo) and Patrick Cassidy (Harold Hill) at The Bushnell Theatre in Hartford CT. Lisa sang the role of Birdie in Regina with Utah Opera, conducted by Keith Lockhart, made her New Jersey Opera debut as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (directed by Ira Siff), and premiered and recorded two Comic Operas by composers John Musto (Bastianello)and William Bolcom (Lucrezia) with the New York Festival of Song.
Her many performances have included a multi-city concert tour in China, concerts of Cole Porter’s 1928 La Revue des Ambassadeurs with L’Opera de Rennes in France, and playing the role of Maria Callas in Terence McNally’s award winning play, Master Class.
Lisa’s Broadway debut was in Aspects of Love. She was the first to play both Fantine and Cosette in Les Miserables. For PBS she was featured with Colm Wilkinson and Michael Ball in Cameron Mackintosh’s Hey, Mr. Producer! at a Royal Gala at the Lyceum Theatre in London. She sang the role of Johanna in the San Francisco Symphony’s Emmy Award winning PBS production of Sweeney Todd in Concert, with Patti Lupone and George Hearn. Both are available on DVD. Lisa starred as Laurey in Oklahoma, filmed live in concert for the BBC Proms Festival at Royal Albert Hall in London, played Mary Turner in Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing/Let ’em Eat Cake in concert with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, and played Lucy Brown in Threepenny Opera at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco with Bebe Neuwirth, Nancy Dussault, and Anika Noni Rose. Other roles have included Laurie in The Tender Land, Maria in The Sound of Music, Josephine in HMS Pinafore, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, and Anna 1 in The Seven Deadly Sins. She has sung Maria in West Side Story, Guenevere in Camelot, Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and Amalia Balash in She Loves Me, as well as many other well-known musical roles.
Lisa is a George London Competition Grant recipient and a 1999 Minerva Award recipient from the State University of New York at Potsdam. She received an Undergraduate degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, a Masters degree in Fine Arts, Opera Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and was recently awarded an honorary Doctor of Music from SUNY Potsdam. Ms. Vroman has become an active mentor and sought-after clinician with many colleges and universities across the country and around the world. She has acted as a judge in both the Lotte Lenya Competition for the Kurt Weill Foundation and UCLA’s Walter Jurmann Competition. She has recently joined the teaching faculty of the Institute for American Musical Theatre in New York.
With a repertoire that ranges from Stravinsky to Weill to Broadway, Lisa is a frequent guest soloist with theater and opera companies, and orchestras including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, the National, Malaysia, Seattle, Hong Kong, Cleveland, Nashville, Pacific, Utah, Dallas, the Boston Pops with Keith Lockhart, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and the Philly Pops with Peter Nero. She made her debut at The Hollywood Bowl in Disney’s 75th celebration, singing and dancing with legend Dick Van Dyke in a medley from Mary Poppins. Lisa has sung in concert with composer Stephen Schwartz, organist David Higgs, and the Empire Brass Quintet. Her solo CD, Broadway Classic, features Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and 47 of San Francisco’s finest orchestral players. Lisa had the honor of singing at the Profiles in Courage Award dinner in Boston at the JFK Library, as a guest of the Kennedy family. She has also sung on separate occasions for Queen Elizabeth, former presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, and the Library of Congress.
Lisa is part of an ongoing multimedia symphony project produced by Music Unwound and the Kurt Weill Foundation which features the work of Kurt Weill, Berthold Brecht and Marc Blitzstein. Her upcoming season includes celebrations of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein with the Philly Pops and Santa Barbara Symphony.
Lisa lives in Pasadena, CA with husband Patrick O’Neil and their beautiful dog Barber.