Nat Chandler
Emile De Becque
Nat is thrilled to return to the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra! New York Times theatre critic D.J.R. Bruckner wrote, “Nat Chandler is a find…he displays rich comic gifts and he can use his fine operatic voice to express any emotion he wants to.” Well-known to theatre and concert audiences around the country, on Broadway, Nat was seen in the title role of Sir Percival Blakeney in the Tony nominated musical, The Scarlet Pimpernel. He was last seen on Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim tribute, Children and Art, and appeared in the City Center Encores! production of The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (Sony Records). In summer of 2014, the Robert Wilson opera Zinnias: The Life of Clementine Hunter premiered in Lyon, France in which Nat played the role of James Register. Off Broadway, Mr. Chandler played the role of Roy Darwin in the Obie Award winning Counsellor at Law (Outer Critics and Lucille Lortel Award nominations) and created the role of Tony Toscanini in Tales of Tinseltown. Nat’s most recent Emile de Becque in South Pacific was played at the Wick Theatre to critical acclaim.
Nat performed an extended sold-out run of “Dino: An Evening with Dean Martin” at the Walnut St Theatre. He played the role of Katzmann in Anton Coppola’s American opera Sacco and Vanzetti, Danilo in The Merry Widow and Shaunard in La Boheme for Tampa Opera. Nat toured nationally as Lancelot in Camelot starring Robert Goulet, and Mr. Chandler starred as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera directed by Harold Prince. He toured with Sarah Brightman in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and other National Tours include Sondheim’s Into the Woods, and Nat’s first professional job in musical theatre, Lun Tha in The King and I starring Yul Brynner. Mr. Chandler has played leading roles in a broad spectrum of American musicals and operetta across the country, including Kiss Me Kate, La Cage aux Folles, Beauty and the Beast, A Little Night Music, Spamalot, Carousel with Shirley Jones, Secret Garden, Man of La Mancha, South Pacific with Howard Keel, Oklahoma!, Cinderella, Cabaret, The Most Happy Fella, Show Boat, Candide, Trouble in Tahiti, Desert Song, The Merry Widow, and Kismet in such famous theatres as Boston’s Huntington, Colonial, and Wang Center, St. Louis MUNY, The Fox (Atlanta, Detroit and St. Louis), New Orleans’ Saenger Theatre, Sacramento CLO, Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, Dallas’ Meyerson Symphony Hall, Miami’s The Jackie Gleason, The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, Philadelphia’s Forrest, Maine State Music Theatre, Fulton Theatre and The Goodspeed Opera House.
Nat received a Kevin Kline nomination for his portrayal of Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and two Barrymore Award nominations for Best Actor in a Musical for his performances as the Phantom in the Kopit/Yestin Phantom! and Lancelot in Camelot at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre.
As a concert performer, South Carolina native Nat Chandler has appeared as soloist with such renowned American symphonies as The National at Wolftrap, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Colorado Springs, Naples, Reno, Tucson, Louisiana, Kansas City, Utah, Arizona, Oregon Symphony and Mr. Chandler originated the role of Dean Martin in the Symphonic Rat Pack In Concert. Please visit www.natchandler.com for performance schedule and information on Mr. Chandler’s recordings.