When Bucks County Playhouse presented Christy Altomare for a sold-out engagement in 2021, they had no idea of the musical marriage they were about to set in motion.
In the audience was Chris Crook, an old friend who would rekindle the relationship he and the Yardley native had started as students at Charles Boehm Middle School. In the 20 years since they had last seen each other while at Pennsbury High School, much had changed, but much had remained the same.
Eight months after Altomare's theater engagement, the two became engaged at the playhouse's stage door, the exact spot of their romantic reunion the previous year.
Here comes the pride: Married since September in a ceremony at the Inn at Lambertville Station, the Bucks booster now gives voice to that magical moment and others in a wonderfully sentimental journey from Broadway to a broad array of global spots.
It all happens Saturday night at 8 p.m. (info@bcptheater.org) in a special series offering a one-woman show by this performer of myriad musical talents.
At the heart of it all is...heart. "Bucks County is definitely at the heart of my life," privately and publicly, notes the actress accustomed to accolades and winning awards over the years. At 36, she has a bio brimming with accomplishments, including her Broadway debut in "Mamma Mia!," a national tour of "Spring Awakening" and the title role of "Anastasia," which had a two-year run on Broadway beginning in 2017.
That musical romanticized the fabled life of the Russian Romanov whose whereabouts after the 1917 Revolution remained a mystery for more than a century. No mystery, however, the effect it had on Altomare. She was catapulted into the limelight and klieg lights for a role that showcased her breathtaking vocals and theatrical intellect, honed at the University of Cincinnati's Conservatory of Music, from which she graduated in 2008.
But that's just the contemporary stage of her life; she took to performing much earlier, appearing in theaters in Bucks County beginning as a 5-year-old, then winning twice as a teen at the Student Theater Festivals produced by the Playhouse.
Perhaps she first found out that big things were coming her way when she and Crook crooned together in their middle school's production of "Big: The Musical." "There is a certain coziness about being raised and living in Bucks," says the performer about a county that "is so beautiful to grow up in. Being so close to New Hope — a place for creativity — offers a wonderful environment."
What could be better, she remembers, "than seeing a show at the Playhouse, then going out for some fudge after it?"
From New Hope to new hopes of having the career she first dreamed of more than 30 years ago, Altomare gives voice to those ambitions and the support of her family as well as longtime vocal coach, Terry Graceland.
And foremost and forever in her good graces is her cozy compadre, Chris. The software engineer engineered one of his wife's biggest surprises when Altomare moved into his home in Newtown, where she noticed a sharp contrast to the surroundings she had grown up with: There were no musical instruments around. Crook straightened that out quickly: "Chris had a piano shipped in and now there are other instruments as well in the house."
Her husband doesn't just sing her praises; he joins in. "We do song duets all the time," she says of the man who "is the most supportive partner."
Which she'll talk/sing about as part of the special show this Saturday night. Away from Bucks, Altomare's music travels well: She has toured worldwide, abetted by a blast of albums she has written, all on a musical path filled with panache since she started penning songs at age 12.
Not much, if anything, rocks or roils her: This composer doesn't lose composure when life's lyrics don't pan out, as was the case during the pandemic, when two Broadway-bound musicals with major pedigree and starring roles for her were put on hold. Those shows — "The Wanderer," in which she performed and starred as the wife of rock icon Dion at its tryout at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey; and "Noir," staged at the Alley Theater in Houston — are now back on their choreographed feet as Altomare awaits word on their futures.
Meanwhile, Altomare takes the wheel of a career that could include trips up the turnpike with a booster seat in the back. "I would like to go back to Broadway and to have a child," said Yardley's own Broadway Baby, who is set to rattle the rafters with her protean talents and timeless tenacity.
Michael Elkin is a playwright, theater critic and novelist from Abington. He writes occasional theater-related columns.
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