| Broadway Teachers Workshop |
July 2008
Mrs. Vorreiter attended the Broadway Teachers Workshop in New York City during the summer. The workshop was very interesting and informative. Some of you might be interested in learning more about the people who currently work on Broadway. Mrs. V attended 8 workshops and saw 4 Broadway shows. Below is a recap of the experience.
Day One: Everyone met at the Hilton Theatre rehearsal studios. The first workshop was called THE REFLECTING POOL with Kate Grant and Terry Greiss. Basically it was a workshop exploring mirror exercises to use for warming up, ensemble building, staging and even to launch long form improvs.
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The next workshop was a dance class with Courtney Young. Courtney is the dance captain for YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. She taught us the chorus of Transylvania Mania, choreographed by Susan Stroman.
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The next workshop was fun. It was an auditioning workshop called HOW I GOT MY BROADWAY SHOW. There were several guest artists who spoke about auditioning and showed us an audition piece. The presenters were:
FARAH ALVIN - has appeared on Broadway in Grease, Saturday Night Fever, The Look of Love and Nine. She was also in I LOVE YOU BECAUSE off broadway.
BRAD OSCAR - he originated the role of Franz Liebkind in the Broadway production of The Producers and received the 2001 Tony nomination for his performance. He later went on to play the role of Max Bialystock over 1200 times on Broadway, on tour, in London, and in the Las Vegas production. Other broadway credits include Spamalot, Jekyll and Hyde, Aspects of Love and Forbidden Broadway.
RACHEL HOFFMAN for Telsey and Company - She has helped cast the following shows: Speed the Plow, Godspell, Equus, title of show, South Pacific, In the Heights, Legally Blonde, Wicked, Hairspray, Rent, A Catered Affair, November, Cry-Baby, The Color Purple, The Drowsy Chaperone, High School Musical, Sweeney Todd and many other shows and television shows and movies.
JIM STANEK - broadway credits include Little Women, The Rivals, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Indiscretions and Lestat. Off-broadway: I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.
JOEY SORGE - broadway credits include: The Drowsy Chaperone, Follies, Thoroughly Modern Millie. He has been seen off-broadway in many other shows. He will be playing the role of Fonzie in the upcoming HAPPY DAYS.
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| Farah Alvin |
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| Brad Oscar |
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| Rachel Hoffman |
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| Jim Stanek |
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| Joey Sorge |
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Conversation with Tony Award Winner JASON ROBERT BROWN...
Jason Robert Brown was one of our master class presenters. He came in and discussed his journey from high school to present. He played two songs on the piano (a very wonderful moment) and talked about the creative process and his education. Take some time and look at the short videos from the session.
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Young Frankenstein
Our first show was YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. It was great fun. After the show we had a talk back with some of the cast members. The show had great energy.
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Day Two:
The first workshop of the day was a conversation with TINA HOWE, award-winning playwright. Mrs. Howe's plays include: The Nest, Museum, The Art of Dining, Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances and many more. She talked about her writing process, and shared some activities for getting students to write. She was charming and warm and a delight!
The second workshop of the day was a backstage tour of the ST JAMES THEATRE, where GYPSY is currently playing. It was informative and fun.
The third workshop of the day was ANYONE CAN SING with broadway musical director Kimberly Grigsby. She talked about getting singers to act the songs. She taught the group a song from SPRING AWAKENING (Song of Purple Summer) and then brought in Emma Hunton, current cast member of Spring Awakening (and 16 years old) to sing the lead while we sang the chorus. After, Max Crumm, Danny Zuko on Broadway and the winner of the reality show "YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT" came in to sing a song from the show.
The final workshop of the day was with Angelina Avallone, broadway's foremost makeup designer. She has designed over 25 broadway shows including THE LITTLE MERMAID, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, A CATERED AFFAIR, GYPSY, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and many more.
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A CATERED AFFAIR
We saw A Catered Affair the second night. It was wonderful. It starred Harvey Feirstein, Tom Wopat and Faith Prince. The show was beautiful and was the most emotional show we saw during our stay. After the show we had a talk back with the cast members, including Harvey Feirstein....a big thrill. There was a discussion about how the show was probably marketing wrong. The show is closing (will be closed by the time most of you read this) and many feel it's because the show was not marketed accurately. People were expecting a musical comedy with Faith Prince, Tom Wopat and Harvey Feirstein and A CATERED AFFAIR is not a comedy. It was a beautiful show. The analogy at the end of the play about how we should spend our lives with our eyes open when we ride the roller coaster really hit home. It reminds you to not go through life afraid to enjoy it.
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Day Three:
The last day we had a share session in the morning. All of the teachers shared ideas and exchanged lesson plans. It was productive and informative.
We saw two shows on the last day....39 STEPS (it was fabulous!) and TITLE OF SHOW (opening weekend). Both shows were a lot of fun and a great end to a wonderful conference. Jason Robert Brown was in the audience at TITLE OF SHOW. It was so sweet. The actors' parents were also in the audience with their t-shirts and baseball caps on....proud parents of their kids at their opening weekend performance. Very sweet.
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| TITLE OF SHOW cast |
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