A Professor’s Recipe to Electric Musical Theatre Stage Presence
Stage Presence. Star Quality. The X-factor. Whatever you call it, it is the difference between an adequate actor and a good actor and often times, between a good actor and a star. Many people say it is an indefinable quality that someone is either born with or not. As a college professor who is charged with teaching students how to be solid actors and musical theatre performers that does not cut it. It is my responsibility to teach my students everything in my power to make them stronger and “you’ve either got it or you don’t” is a mantra that does a disservice to my students and my profession.
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No One Wants A Pit Musician’s Autograph
I am intensely passionate about attending live theatre, mainly because of its immense power. It makes reality melt away, drawing me within a into a world different than my own for a few hours, playing my emotional keys through sentimental ballads and show stopping soliloquies, and provoking thought and subsequent change. Due to the fact that I myself aspire to become a professional performer (especially a musical theatre performer), I swell with the admiration I feel towards the extraordinary people I see gracing the stage. I adore the fact that when I attend a Broadway musical, I am able to exit the theatre directly after the curtain call and approach the stage door in the hopes of meeting one of these exceptional performers.
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It's Time for Native American Stories to Make it to Broadway
As a POC(Performer of Color), I celebrate anytime Broadway demonstrates inclusion whether it's with casting or show selection. However there is one group that is massively getting left out from this new wave of diversity awareness, Native Americans.
The timing has never been better to bring Native American stories and performers to Broadway.
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Whatever Lola Wants: J. Harrison Ghee on Playing "Kinky Boots" Star
From the moment Lola steps on stage in Kinky Boots, she sparkles – and not just because of the rhinestone-studded wardrobe. While the sequins help, much of that glow comes from long-time performer J. Harrison Ghee, who has played Lola both on tour and on Broadway.
While Ghee has “never counted” how many times he’s gone on as Lola, he has been playing the role for three years after starting as a swing in the national tour.
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When Is Broadway Going to Start Honoring Replacement Casts the Right Way?
I have the perfect Broadway trivia question for your next party. Throw out the following question to your guests,
"Name a Tony Award that was created but never awarded?"
You might get a multitude of answers but a correct one would be, Best Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Recreated Role.
Yes, back in 2005, the Tony Awards Administration created the new category. However, less than a year later, it was removed and never awarded.
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Should There Be All-White Productions of "Hairspray"?
Imagine that Hairspray is being produced in a local theatre near you. And after the auditions were completed, you notice that the show has an all-white cast. How would you react? Would you be angered? Insulted? Confused?
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Theatre Saved My Life. It Can Save Others Too
Depression: To me, it is one of the most destructive and misunderstood diseases on the planet. It is to the spirit what cancer is to the body. Slowly but surely, it eats away at who you are until there is nothing left of you but a miserable, empty shell of a person. The number of victims who lost their lives while fighting it off is countless. It is the worst possible thing that could be inflicted on a person’s psyche, and personally, I wouldn’t wish it on my own worst enemy.
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Countdown: My Top Ten Andrew Lloyd Webber Songs
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has been a Broadway fixture for the past 50 years. He wrote his first show with Tim Rice, The Likes of Us, in 1965. Today the theatre icon turns 70 years old.
So what better time to look back on this polarizing icon of musical theatre by ranking, what I feel, are his best 10 pieces of work.
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From the Barricades to Yorktown: A Chat with Hamilton's Kyle Scatliffe
Kyle Scatliffe is currently starring in the second National Tour of Hamilton, playing the roles of Marquis de Lafayette/ Thomas Jefferson which recently began performances in Seattle at The Paramount Theatre. Mr. Scatliffe is known for playing Enjolras in the 2014 Broadway revival of Les Miserables, and Harpo in the 2015 Broadway Revival of The Color Purple. He also has performed on the West End in The Scottsboro Boys playing the role of Haywood Patterson which earned him an Olivier Award Nomination for “Best Actor in a Musical”.
I had a chance to chat with Kyle about his journey as an actor. But first, I had to ask him what went through his mind when he got the call that he was cast in Hamilton.
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