Labor Day Weekend! Summer got away from me, without many blog posts, but what an incredible summer it was! Here is a brief overview:

Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Competition- Amazing experience (see previous blogs;) reuniting with various contestants/mentors, including 3 times singing at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland, and one upcoming time this Monday with Nick Ziobro, the winner and Great American Songbook Youth Ambassador; and to top it all off, I've been invited to sing with Sylvia McNair on her Christmas concerts at the Palladium in December!

Carnegie Hall Musical Exchange Musical Theatre Project- Great online community experience, including feedback from Leslie Stifleman and Roger Rees, as well as being selected for a masterclass with Leslie, Roger and Tara Rubin. Upcoming project includes a recording session next week here in NYC. I will be recording “Different” from Honk! with Leslie Stifleman, Jeff Saver, Jay Berliner and Ed Salkin. Roger Rees will also join us, and there will be a video made for the Carnegie Hall Musical Exchange website.

iTheatrics- I was asked to participate in a workshop, creating a 1 hour version of “Bye Bye Birdie” for Tams Whitmark. I was cast as Albert Peterson, and got to perform the role for Charles Strouse (composer of “Bye, Bye Birdie” and “Annie”) It was a fabulous experience getting to work with the amazing iTheatrics team again!

Broadway Artists Alliance (BAA)- I was a work-study student/participant in all of the summer programs this year. Each session is worthy of its own lengthy blog post, and there is really no way to describe how incredible it was to work with all of the amazing people involved in this program. At this point, I’m just going to make a list of the professionals with whom I worked, and try to be more on top of specifics in the future.

BAA 2012 for me included: Chris Bailey, Michael Balderrama, Bridget Berger, Christian Borle, Norbert Leo Butz, Tiffany Little Canfield, Lou Castro, Adam Chanler-Berat, Karyn Casl, Bob Cline, Kristi Coombs, Kyle Dean Massey, Vince di Mura, Eden Espinosa, Lisa Gajda, Alex Gemignani, Diane Hamilton, Christopher J. Hanke, Megan Hilty, Andi Hopkins, Christopher Jackson, Jennifer Johns, Tyrick Wiltez Jones, Adam Kantor, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Tom Kitt, Joe Langworth, Beth Leavel, Michael Orland, Alice Ripley, Alexander Rovang, Seth Rudetsky, Holly-Anne Ruggiero, Jeff Shade, Celeste Simone, Lisa Stevens, Kevin Wallace, and Leslie Zaslower

Needless to say, I had an incredible summer, and learned so much! Now I’m looking forward to my first fall living in New York City and all it has to offer. Stay tuned… 

New York City was amazing last week. Aside from having coachings, I ended up seeing two shows: Peter and the Starcatcher and Godspell...again... 

Peter and the Starcatcher was incredible! I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, and seeing the story put on the stage was so exciting and entertaining. Also, the set was brilliant! I loved how every piece of the stage had multiple purposes. This included members of the cast becoming part of the set from time to time. Though the entire cast was phenomenal, one of my favorite performers was Christian Borle, who played Black Stache. What an insanely delightful character! Let me just say, the 9 Tony Award nominations this show has received are well deserved and I hope they win a bunch! I definitely want to see this production again! 

Godspell was amazing as always. What keeps me coming back to this production is not only the incredibly talented cast and amazing arrangements, but the moving, beautiful story that evokes every emotion and creates a wonderful evening of theater.

And...pay-your-age tickets? Who could resist.

We ended up seeing Godspell this time with Corbin Bleu ("High School Musical") playing Jesus. He was awesome! My family stayed afterward for a talkback featuring the star. What a down to earth, smart, and cool guy! I loved what he had to say about the show, playing the role, and his journey; but my take away was what he said about the casting process. He talked about the fact that there are so many aspects you can't control in casting, but the only thing you can effect is how much you learn and grow as an artist. My favorite quote of the evening - "You're never as good as you're going to be." I find this so inspiring!

This idea summarizes my goals for living in the city next semester! I don't know what will happen when, but I am determined to work hard and study, while enjoying the process and whatever comes to pass. Let's see what happens!