Cast Member Blog - Brianna Freeman

Happy first day of the semester, Blogfriends! I hope your classes are going well and homework is light to non-existent.

As you should all know by now, today is Cast Member Blog Monday! In today's entry, Arts Collective newcomer Brianna Freeman discusses what makes On Broadway such an exciting opportunity for cast and audience members alike, as well as her favorite role in the show!

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Hey everyone, its Brianna! This is my first blog with the Arts Collective, and I'm ecstatic!

When I found out I was going to be a part of the Arts Collective I was very excited, but I was even more excited with the show selection. On Broadway is a musical revue starting from the 1920s, working its way up to the 2000s. As you travel through the wonderful world of Broadway, you experience all different styles of music and dance.

This show is an amazing experience because you get to see the cast members play various roles in one show. This versatile production has provided me the opportunity to play Effee White, from the show Dreamgirls. Effee White was the leading lady of her girl group "The Dreamettes", until the producers took a drastic turn which forced Effee out of the group. Effee's drive and determination to become a star in her own is very inspiring, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to play her in this show.

So come see On Broadway because this talented cast will take you on a journey through some of Broadway's greatest classics, and I promise you will not go home disappointed. On Broadway's performances are on October 14, 15, 16 at 8 p.m. and October 17 at 3 p.m. at the Studio Theater, so be there, and be ready to be entertained!

Cast Member Blog - Katie Tyler

I'm making this short and sweet today Blogfriends, because the following On Broadway Cast Member Blog speaks for itself. Today's blog comes to you from the scrumtrulescent Katie Tyler. Consider it an exploration of musical theatre through The Breakfast Club that is so fun and sweet that by the end you'll be frozen with your fist held in the air while sweet 80's tunes play in the background. Yes, it's that good.

Don't forget to become a fan on Facebook or check out our website. Also, if you're interested in audition to be in On Broadway, a second round of auditions is being held September 10th. Check out the website for more details. Ok, take it away, Katie...

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The Breakfast Club, which is one of my personal favorites, displays all of the different types of kids one will find in a typical high school setting. You have the jock, the brain, the loner, and so on. While I love this movie, and any 1980’s Molly Ringwald movie, they left out one very important high school student: the theater geek. This may be because we were all perfect students who never got detention . . . or maybe that is not true. Now being said geek since middle school, I feel offended and that it is my personal obligation to let you into the mind of the teenage theater geek and why the stage makes our world go ‘round.

I wish I could say that I grew up going to ballet class or performing as one of the Von Trapp children in The Sound of Music. Regretfully, I was not this little girl. I did not obsess with Broadway and performing until I saw Hairspray in the very last row of the Neil Simon theater. Hearing that overture gave me goose bumps and I was instantly hooked. From that moment on, I knew the stage was where I belonged and that I would do anything to be on it.

I immediately dug into research about all of the amazing (and not so amazing) musicals that have graced the Great White Way. With every show I watched, I would so desperately wish to be involved in it and I would always find a new “dream role.” Knowing it would be impossible to be in every show I loved, I would just pretend to be Anita in West Side Story or Natalie in Next to Normal. Then I found out about the On Broadway auditions and there was finally a way to squeeze all of these fabulous shows and characters into one mind-blowing production.

This process has been so amazing and fulfilling. The feeling I had when singing “Mama Who Bore Me” for the first time, without Lea Michele in the background, was beyond words. I am so thrilled that the review is incorporating musicals like Spring Awakening along with shows like Oklahoma. Two very different shows, but both shows that shaped generations of musical theatergoers. They are definitely shows that shaped me and I am sure that everyone else involved feels the same way.

Being involved in this show is the perfect way to end my musical theater education at Howard Community College and the with Arts Collective. Making the decision to go to HCC and work with the Arts Collective was such a great choice and I cannot imagine my life without it. I remember coming in as a shy freshman and being so intimidated by the people around me. I was so scared that I did not want to even audition for the fall musical; but I am so grateful that I did, because from that, I made some of my best friends. Now, two years later, I get to be a part of a show with some of those same people and I feel truly blessed.

I am extremely excited to share this show with the public. Everyone involved is so amazing at what they do, and what is even better is that everyone not only wants to be here, but they also love to be here, which is hard to find. I watch the rehearsals in awe, both at the fierceness in the room and the masterminds that brought this music to us so that we could perform it. I walk into rehearsal and I know, without question, that this is where I belong. So now, whenever I watch The Breakfast Club, I always add “the theater geek” at the end of the movie, and hopefully you will too!

Cast Member Blog - Sarah Brodine

Happy Monday, Blogfriends! I know, a Monday isn't normally something to celebrate. This is no ordinary Monday, though; today is Cast Member Blog Monday! Today, On Broadway cast member Sarah Brodine gives us a fascinating look at the history of Broadway that includes togas, bump and grind stripping, and yo-yos. Now that is my kind of blog.

For more info on upcoming shows, auditions, tech opportunities, workshops, and much more, visit the Arts Collective website and Facebook page.

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“Oh sure, I saw it on Broadway…”

Intoxicating. Delicious. Amazing. Surreal. Extraordinary. Perfection. A wide breadth of descriptors that covers an expanse of timeless stage performance that equals BROADWAY!

Though there are streets, cities, and even boats bearing the name “Broadway,” it is primarily thought of worldwide as the word that symbolizes all that is quintessential theater.

Quite literally, Broadway is the longest street in New York, beginning in downtown Manhattan and ending in the Bronx. When referring to the theater culture, it is inclusive of 40 professional theaters located between West 41st and 53rd Streets and 6th and 8th Avenues in New York. The area is also referred to as “The Great White Way,” due to the lights along the street. They lit up the night in “white” light…hence the name – duh.

[Fun Fact: Broadway was one of the first streets in the US to be lit by electric lights. In 1880, Brush arc lamps lit nearly a mile-long stretch of the street; about 20 years later a headline in the New York Evening Telegram called the stretch the Great White Way.]

Theater has been around since togas were the height of fashion and comes from the Greek “theatre” which means “place for seeing.” It was not until 1750, though, that a permanent theater was established in the Broadway area AND the first professionally performed musical in New York (“The Beggar’s Opera”) debuted. Prior to that time, America’s actors were all London imports who performed an unknown repertoire of plays.

[It just makes you wonder how people got their entertainment…which I guess explains why this is around the same time that yo-yos were patented…]

In the 1800s, Broadway was New York’s main street and therefore the most likely place for entrepreneurs to build their entertainment establishments**.

**Please note: my internet research has led me to believe the phrase “entertainment establishment” is up for interpretation…

Along with straight plays and musicals, vaudeville and burlesque (which started out as musical comedy productions –not bump and grind stripping) were all in full swing by the end of the 19th Century.

Throughout the 1900’s, Broadway shows were strongly influenced by the events of the time, from comedic spoofs to heartfelt dramas. (I mean, think of what they had to work with: prohibition, a stock market crash, world wars, etc.)

Today, Broadway is one of New York City’s most important tourist attractions (right up there with those nifty “I Heart NY" shirts, and the Statue of Liberty).

So that's Broadway history in a nutshell. Sometimes serious, sometimes sexy, sometimes funny, but always a razzle dazzle good time. So make sure you come out October 14th to see me and the rest of the cast give you a show like you've never seen before... On Broadway!

Cast Member Blog - Jill Grabau

Well hello there, Blogfriends. I hope you all are enjoying these last days of summer before classes and such start up in less than 2 weeks! Personally, I know that we here at Arts Collective are super excited for the beginning of the year. In fact, we just announced the line-up for our 16th season and our first Subscriber Series! For more info on upcoming shows, auditions, tech opportunities, workshops, and much more, visit the Arts Collective website and Facebook page.

Now that that's out of the way, we have the first Cast Member Blog of the season!

On Broadway, a musical revue spanning the better half of a century of the most memorable musical theatre pieces from Broadway, is our first production of the season, playing the weekend of October 14th. Jill Grabau, On Broadway cast member and all-around Arts Collective all-star, has the honors of starting off AC's 16th season with her blog entry. Read on for a musical theatre nerdgasm, including what numbers Jill is choreographing and a super-sweet Cliff Notes-style rundown of Bob Fosse.

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Calling all musical theater geeks! Whether you love to be in musicals or just love to watch people sing and dance their butts off on stage, then this is the show for you!

When I found out that I was going to be a part of On Broadway, I got a serious case of the jitters. Not only is this a combination of some of the greatest shows on earth, it's also every musical theater nerd’s dream! And being an uber musical theater nerd, I'd say I'm in heaven!

From Showboat to Legally Blonde, and all that's in between, this show is off the chain. Some of these shows I've only ever dreamed of being a part of and now it's really happening! Please, someone pinch me!

I have been given the honor of playing the lovely part of Charity from the Bob Fosse original, Sweet Charity. The show itself is a wonder, about a woman seeking a life far more interesting than the one she's got. Although I'm rather content with my own life, and don't relate exactly to Charity's story, I still find the role intriguing. Perhaps not one of the most memorable, but probably the most fun number from the show just so happens to be the one in which I'll be making my debut, entitled "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This". In this number, Charity and her two friends, working at a dance club, dream of a life beyond what they have, "something far better than the Fandango Ballroom..."

I was offered the chance to re-stage this number, based on its original version starring Shirely McClain and Cita Rivera. Choreography has recently become my new frontier, specifically musical theater choreography. I've always loved to act and dance and create, and finally I have found the courage to combine all three. So given that, Jenny Male (director and choreographer) offered me the position of Dance Captain and asked if I would choreograph two pieces from the show: "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" from Sweet Charity, and "Razzle Dazzle" from the sassy classic Chicago. The ironic thing is that both these numbers belong to Bob Fosse shows, who I just so happen to ADORE!

Bob Fosse—actor, dancer, director, choreographer, and more—has eased his way into claiming 1st place on my "Top 10 Favorite Dance Styles" list (yes, I have that list). His style is legendary and therefore...awesome!
Here are just a few fun facts about Fosse (other than his wicked sweetness and ever-so-classic "jazz hands!"):

• When he was a kid, he was pigeon-toed and had scoliosis, making it challenging to "turn-out" in classical dance styles. So instead, he created his own style –turned in toes, rounded shoulders and arched backs. Fosse liked to play with the abnormal; if it was weird, he liked it.

• Over time, he started to lose his hair and developed male-pattern baldness. Naturally, he wore a hat 99% percent of the time to cover his thinning grays (a bowler hat being amongst his favorites). So naturally, his hat forged a new part in his dance style and choreography.

• Fosse also adored wearing all black as much as possible, in performances, rehearsals, you name it. But the actual reason behind this stands to rumor. Some people believe that he wore all black because he spent most of his time in the theater and accordingly wanted to blend in backstage. Others think that, because he smoked like a chimney, he didn't want to discolor any of his clothing. But as for me, I believe that he chose black because it contrasted with his light-colored skin and therefore made each and every movement of his hands, fingers, neck, and head extremely noticeable—even to an audience 100 yards away.

Being a FosseHead myself, I felt it only right to stick to Fosse's effervescent style in the two numbers I'm choreographing. I thought of it as a way to pay homage to this great choreographer. The dancing is nothing flashy, but it definitely speaks for itself and holds its own amongst the many Broadway styles out there.

I told you, I'm a nerd...a big one.

So in conclusion, if you love musicals, if you love Fosse, and if you love...people running around in purple gorilla suits (no, just kidding, there won't be any purple gorillas) then On Broadway is the show for you! Buy your tickets now!

See you...On Broadway!
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Ok blogfriends, we'll see you back here Fridays and Mondays for more Cast Member Blogs, and check back often for Arts Collective news and developments! Stop by this Monday for a brief, fascinating Broadway history lesson with cast member Sarah Brodine.