DuPage symphony to present 'Broadway Bash'

If you love Broadway show tunes, you'll want to change your plans for Saturday night - unless, of course, you're washin' that man right out of your hair - to make a date with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe and even Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The DuPage Symphony Orchestra is throwing a "Broadway Bash," a free concert of familiar songs from famous musicals. Toes start tapping at 7:30 p.m. at Naperville's Community Concert Center. And though the concert will run 90 minutes to two hours, there's no telling how long the songs will be playing in your head.

The orchestra is billing the concert as "medleys from our favorites, from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Andrew Lloyd Webber," but the playlist reaches even further, said Janice Dunbar, the symphony's business manager. Musical director Barbara Schubert plans to lead the musicians through Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot," a medley from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific," highlights from "Carousel," Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" and George M. Cohan's "Give My Regards to Broadway."

Each summer, the symphony performs a series of free outdoor concerts in addition to its indoor concert season in the hopes of introducing new audiences to its music. The outdoor shows are at Naperville's Community Concert Center, which offers a band shell overlooking a grassy park. The free concert is often a family event, and some even bring their dogs, Dunbar said.

"There's plenty of room for lawn chairs and blankets," she said. "Some people do picnics."

The DSO is in its 55th season and was named the 2007 Community Orchestra of the Year. The city of Naperville helps support the free concert series.

If you go

What: "Broadway Bash," a concert of show tunes by the DuPage Symphony Orchestra

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Naperville's Community Concert Center, off Benton Avenue one block east of Washington Street

Cost: Free

Info: (630) 778-1003 or dupagesymphony.org