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Attend the 2013 Tony Awards with Camp Broadway!

2013 Tony AwardsCamp Broadway is happy to offer theater loving kids the opportunity to attend the most glamorous night on Broadway, the Tony Awards on June 9! Camp Broadway’s Tony Awards Experience is available for kids, ages 12 – 18, at a price of $475. Camp Broadway’s package includes a private pre-theater dinner Mid-town restaurant, an exclusive opportunity to meet and talk with Broadway Professionals, a photo-op and attendance at the 2013 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.

This event will be chaperoned by Camp Broadway staff. Adults over the age of 18-years-old, and children under the age of 12-years-old are not permitted to participate in any aspect of this event. Formal attire required.

*Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis! If a participant who is not 12 – 18 is registered for this event, such registration will be forfeited together with the program fee. This policy will be exercised by Camp Broadway, in its sole discretion, upon discovery of any participant not 12 – 18 years of age, up to and including the date of the program.

Everybody Say “Yeah!” 2013 Tony Nominations are IN!

The Tony Award nominations were announced early Tuesday morning, and what an exciting morning it was!

One of Broadway’s newest shows, Kinky Boots lead the boards with a total of thirteen nominations! Matilda The Musical followed with twelve nominations including Best Musical, Pippin followed with ten including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Costume Design, and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella rounded out the list most-nominated shows with nine nominations.

The nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical are Santino Fontana for his role as Prince Topher in Cinderella, Bertie Carvel as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda: The Musical,  Rob McClure as Charlie Chaplin from Chaplin: The Musical, and Billy Porter and Stark Sands from Kinky Boots, who play Lola and Charlie Price, respectively.

As for the leading musical ladies, Stephanie J. Block was nominated for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Carolee Carmello for Scandalous, Valisia LeKae for Mowtown the Musical, Pippin’s Patina Miller, and Laura Osnes of Cinderella were all nominated.

The nominees for Best Revival of a Musical are Annie, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Pippin, and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella. For Best Revival of a Play, the nominees are Golden Boy, Orphans, The Trip to Bountiful, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Best Musical nominees are Bring It On: The Musical, Pasek and Paul’s A Christmas Story, The Musical, Kinky Boots, and Matilda The Musical.

The complete list of the nominees and categories can be found on the Tony Award’s website, and be sure to cast your ballots and get ready for the live award show at Radio City Music Hall on June ninth! To see how the nominees have reacted to their Tony nom news this morning, be sure to check out BroadwayWorld’s constantly-updated reaction page!

See this Season’s Best Broadway Shows with Camp Broadway in NYC

For those of you familiar with Camp Broadway in NYC, you know that one of the highlights of the week is attending a performance of a hit Broadway show during the week. For “classic campers,” or the 10 to 17-year-olds that attend our signature Camp Broadway program, it’s a Wednesday matinee, bookmarked by an inside look at a Broadway theater, a lunch on the town at a Times Square eatery and a Q&A with the show’s cast and crew. For participants in The Next Step, the group reconvenes after regular camp hours for a Wednesday evening performance. And all program participants and their families have the opportunity to opt into our Family Night on the Tuesday evening of their camp week. With every show, we try to expose our campers and their families to the new, innovative content, which often means that your child has access to some of the most exclusive, hard-to-get tickets of the season!

So what Broadway shows will our NYC campers be seeing this summer? Read on to find out and, if you’re already registered, be sure to check your camp session’s callboard to purchases your Family Night tickets!

Camp Broadway July 15-19: Matilda the Musical

Camp Broadway August 5-9: Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

The Next Step: Pippin

Family Night (both sessions): Motown: the Musical

A Few Tips to Remember When Auditioning Out of Town

When it comes to auditions, there are a lot of ways actors can find opportunities. Many performers look to local playhouses for community theater productions, regional theater or summer stock theater. Or, they can try their luck in New York City! While auditioning locally is important and will give you valuable experience, going through a big city audition is also a unique and fruitful experience that every actor should experience. You’ll meet new people, receive new feedback and understand new processes Whether you get the part or not, it’s always a rush to audition outside your comfort zone, knowing you’re part of a community of people who are just like you!
When traveling for an audition there are things you need to be prepared for verses you auditioning in your own backyard.

First, plan your mode of transportation. Are you close enough to go by train? Or do you need to fly? Can you drive there? Whatever it is, plan accordingly how you are going to travel to the audition. Also, budget to make sure you have enough money for transportation, hotel if needed, and of course meals and emergency money. I once received a tip that I’ll never forget: when travelling, always carry enough cash for a cab ride back to your hotel. Cab drivers in NYC accept credit card payments, but this isn’t true in most cities– and you never know when an NYC cabbie’s meter might be malfunctioning!

Pack whatever you know you’re going to need and then some! Unless you’re doing a same-day audition (ie: traveling from NJ to NY for an audition or within close distance), do not travel in your audition clothes. You want to look as presentable as possible, so travel in something comfortable, and put your audition clothes in your suitcase. Be aware of your packing and fold things properly so as to avoid too much wrinkling, in case you won’t have access to an iron (though most hotel rooms should have one available). Don’t forget your headshots, resumes, and anything else you’ll need.

Bring the address of the location with you. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but getting into a cab or some other kind of travel (like a cable car or something) without an exact address will do you no good.

Above all, have fun and break a leg!

Learning About Experimental Theater with Shogo Ohta’s The Water Station

Note from the editor: Jordan continues his series on stories about being a college theater major at Ball State University with this article. For some of his other work, click here or here!

Compared with the typical high school picks like Hamlet or Oklahoma!, college allows you to begin working on more thought-provoking and experimental shows. I’ve learned to accept the avant garde material and have loved learning about so many different shows and writers. However, I have never worked on a show quite like Shogo Ohta’s play, The Water Station.

It’s a play from Japan in the style of noh theater and what makes this show so unique, especially compared to other shows I have worked on, is that there is no dialogue! All of the storytelling is done through music and movement that is found in the script written in the form of a poem. Without the dialogue, actors have to find a way to portray characters through facial expressions and body language instead. The show also has a notably slow tempo, which does not just mean moving in slow motion. The actors have to concentrate on each individual movement, focusing on one action at a time. You almost have to train yourself to think one thought at a time in harmony with the reduced speed of your body.

Casting for this show was different than others at our school; we had several workshops where our director, Drew Vidal, worked with students on the fundamentals of the show. After workshops we pulled a list of people for callbacks where they did some of these movement exercises again before a final cast was put together. It helps on this show to have a director who is not only an actor, but also a movement coach.

Because this process is very difficult to ease into, our director had training sessions each Saturday where we did various movement exercises and physical conditioning. I, along with the other assistant director Hannah, also participated in one of the training sessions and I can tell you first-hand that this is not something you can master in one day. Even the leg muscles and concentration it takes just to sit down in slow tempo is hard. I applaud the actors who have worked so much these last two months on this show.

In The Water Station, a group of twenty people are traveling away from some sort of disaster. On their way, they run into a fountain where they each stop to rest and we see their own individual stories. What is very neat about this play is that much about the lives and pasts of these characters is not in the text, allowing the actors to have room to place their character into the world by creating their story. We had many interesting stories that were eventually incorporated into the show. For example, there is a scene with a married couple who has lost their child, yet still carries their possessions in a baby carriage that travels along with them. There is a woman whose only possession is a parasol that she carries with her, struggling to hold on to her past of high society and beauty as she travels on a treacherous road. The actors even brought in their own personal objects that are now all used in some way in the show. The actress who plays the old woman brought a pocket watch, which is now the watch of her husband that she listens to.

One of the most interesting characters is the man who lives on top of a giant pile of objects and trash that we have created in our set. One day was spent with the actors in the many prop storage units throughout our theater department where we found many interesting objects to bring into our show. I have never really been on a show where the actors actually took part in the design of their own set, which was a fun experience for them. It turned into a great episode of Storage Wars and, later on,  Hoarders when the junk pile was finally constructed!

I have learned so many things from this show. Most importantly, everyone has their own story and no matter who you are, we can all come together, connecting with not only our own emotions, but by the human experience. I encourage everyone to check out The Water Station and other shows in the noh theatre world.

Photo credit: The Hindu

Interview with Wesley Taylor!

After starring in the original Broadway casts of Rock of Ages and The Addams Family, Wesley Taylor has gone on to regular appearances in Smash as the sassy ensemble member Bobby. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also created and produced two web series, both of which include cameos from almost all of Broadway’s biggest names. I recently caught up with him to ask about his wild ride from theater-loving kid from Orlando to Broadway star.

Your full name?
Wesley (John) Taylor.

You grew up attended a theater magnet school in Florida. What was that like?
Not quite like Fame, but we took ourselves very seriously. Maybe a little too seriously. But the great thing about going to an arts high school is you are saturated with the arts. Also, the material that is being thrown at you is complex. Even if at that age you may not be ready/have the amount of life experience necessary to do all of the Chekhov, Ibsen, Moliere, Shakespeare…you are being exposed to all of that at such an early age! Which I totally advocate.

Did you have specific motivation for moving to New York and becoming an actor?
I always knew I wanted to be an actor. There was never a doubt. I also always knew I wanted to live in New York City and even as a kid I tried to strategize how that was going to happen.

What’d you do once you were in NYC? Did you work lots of odd jobs?
I was very lucky to start working pretty much immediately when I graduated from UNCSA. My current agent actually met me down in NC at school (one of the advantages to attending a conservatory like the one I went to is the industry is constantly coming down to scout the senior class). However, JUST because I started working right away, doesn’t mean I never “paid my dues.” My jobs in high school consisted of CVS, Cold Stone Creamery, Nascar Café, and many more illustrious positions. Every summer while I was home from college, I was a living statue or strolling mime for Disney World and an acrobatic stilt walker for Universal Studios…yeah.

Any favorite memories from Rock of Ages?
Looking back, Rock of Ages was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. The crazy thing about that show is that it just kept exceeding our expectations. I looked at the script and wasn’t sure how successful the show would be with audiences, so I almost went on a national tour of another show! My reps convinced me to stay in NYC since I had just got here. The show kept surprising me. We got great attention, we transferred to Broadway, got raves, nominations, it was the gift that kept giving! And to be able to make my Broadway debut with that role was so special. I felt like the stage was my playground. Franz made me feel like a child again and the experience was everything for me.

Next you originated a role in The Addams Family alongside Krysta Rodriguez, who you now work with in Smash! What was that like?
Not gonna lie…The Addams Family was a tough road. In the same way that Rock of Ages surprised everyone because of LOW expectations…Addams surprised everyone because of ridiculously HIGH expectations. We had a tryout for three months in the dead of winter in the most brutal Chicago weather. I was also going through a lot of personal challenges during that experience. Krysta and I became so incredibly close not only because we played opposite each other for two years (if you count workshops, Chicago, Broadway), but because we offered each other the perfect friendship for that point in our lives.

Are you two still good friends?
People frequently ask what it’s like to be reunited with Krysta on Smash but the truth is, I hardly see her. I had a few scenes with her at the top of the season, but she’s one of the regulars now so she works much more than I do. And she’s in the other show, Hit List, and I’m in Bombshell, so we don’t actually work together very much! But when we’re on set together, it’s fun. I will always love Krysta. She offers me something in our friendship that no one else does, and I can’t really explain that.

Out of all the productions you’ve done, Broadway and Off/Workshops, what has been your favorite, and why?
I don’t want to be lame, but some of the plays I did in college were more gratifying than anything I’ve done thus far in my professional career. The material handed to me was just amazing. But for the sake of what you WANT to hear…my favorite experience was Tales of the City at the American Conservatory Theatre. Four months of escape from New York, in San Francisco of all places, hanging with the Scissor Sisters, playing a very satisfying role amidst a beloved story. It doesn’t get better than that.

Okay, let’s talk Smash! What’s it like being on TV?
One thing you can’t deny about television is the exposure. Last year we averaged 7 million viewers a week. That means that more people are watching me on tv in one episode than in my ENTIRE life on stage. Exposure is a powerful thing. You walk into an audition room and everyone knows who you are, which definitely helps! And while a lot of what television offers can’t be beat by other mediums, at the end of the day I’m from the theater. Being on stage will always be the most satisfying, because nothing is better than the instant gratification of an audience. They inform your performance. The energy is palpable, good or bad. And I love it.

 And then, of course, you have Billy Green and It Could Be Worse, which you produce with Mitchell Jarvis! You’re like a quadruple threat there! What inspired you to be a producer? Is this something you’ve wanted to do or is it just a fun project?
Larry David, Tina Fey, Lena Dunham, Fred Armisen…these are the people I aspire to be like. I’ve always planned on writing and starring in my own work. I am passionate about story-telling and having control over the material I perform. I enjoy creating my own work more than anything else…I wish I could make a living doing just that. That’s the dream.

Has producing web series given you any newfound appreciation for the creative team/business side of a production?
Oh my god, yes. I wear too many hats. I think writing and acting is enough to focus on, but no…I gotta think about casting and producing and production management and location scouting and publicizing and Mitch has to also write, act, and handle ALL technical/visual/camera elements of the show. He is director of photography and camera operator and sound and lights and directing the scene…it’s just silly sometimes. I’m always daydreaming about the day we’ll have an actual crew.

Okay, so, not gonna lie, when I heard that Mean Girls would become a musical, I thought of you instantly. Would you do a show like Mean Girls next, or would you want to do something more serious to add to your repertoire?
I do work that excites me. I don’t sit there and say I need to be serious now that I’ve played a funny role for a while. If the role is good or the material turns me on and I’m available to do it, I’m game. I would love to do a show like Mean Girls. Sounds fun.

Favorite show currently running?
Well The Mystery of Edwin Drood JUST closed…so I’ll go with Once.

Song stuck in your head right now?
A song I’m singing at 54Below tonight called “Map of the Stars” by Brad Alexander. It’s a great song.

Dream role (male or female!)?
Iago in Othello.

Most embarrassing moment on stage/set?
Oh my. So many. I’ve forgotten so many lines and fallen so many times on stage. I’ve walked into cameras on set. A few weeks ago, while shooting a number on Smash, I slipped and ATE IT in front of a room full of children, the cast, and the entire production crew. It was caught on camera. They won’t use it. The twisted thing is I wish they would, because it was hilarious. But they had to stop the take and make sure I was ok, it was beyond embarrassing.

We have a lot of up-and-coming actors here at Camp Broadway, what is your advice to those who want to be a Broadway actor?
Over saturate yourself with theater, watch all the acclaimed television shows, see every nominated film. Read plays, take class, study voice. Grow thick skin because you’re about to be rejected, belittled, scrutinized, and cast aside more than you’ve ever been in your life. The most important thing for survival is a strong sense of confidence in yourself and the work.

New York, New York!

In college, most students want to spend Spring Break in a place where they can sleep til noon, lay out on the beach all day, and then return home with a tan darker than the lobster they got served at the crab shack! Well for me, I decided that heading up north to a much colder temperature was my idea of spring! No I’m not talking about Canada, you guys. I’m talking about New York City, duh!

At Ball State University, we have three different showcases every school year: one in Chicago, one in New York City, and one in Los Angeles. A group of talented senior acting and musical theater majors are chosen to perform at each of these showcases in order to promote themselves and possibly score some references and an audition or two. My job on this showcase with many other students was to help out behind the scenes. I did everything from stuffing headshots in folders for agents to setting up the reception area.

Though it seems like grunt work, the experience is rewarding. Most of the time, you get to meet agents and professionals from the cities you visit. There are also talk-backs, one with alumni from Ball State and another with a special guest. This year, we had a talk-back with Tony-winner and Emmy nominee Christine Baranski of The Good Wife and Mamma Mia! In both these talk-backs we got to learn about living in New York, how to get jobs, and how to navigate the entertainment industry. These sessions are taken very seriously and I took all the information they gave me to heart.

You can’t call yourself a true theater major without seeing a Broadway show…or four while you’re in NYC! I saw The Mystery of Edwin Drood my first night at Studio 54 Theater. The cast was phenomenal, with Jim Norton, Stephanie J. Block, and the legendary Chita Rivera! This musical is based on the Charles Dickens’ novel that was never finished so at the end the audience decides who is the murderer, the detective, and the lovers. With a very catchy score and audience participation, this is one show I’m glad I didn’t miss!

Matilda the Musical is based on the book of the same name by Roald Dahl. A little girl named Matilda, with uncaring parents and a very strict headmaster, uses her brain and special powers to overcome the controlling adults in her life to make the world better. I’m telling you right now that you will be seeing this musical a lot on the Tony’s this June. With a fantastic set, music, lights, and actors; I will not be surprised if this show scoops up all the awards like its sister production in London.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the classic Tennessee Williams play about the young couple Maggie and Brick, who go to visit Brick’s parents, Big Daddy and Big Mama, at their plantation. Family secrets come out as greed and jealously strike the competing family members. I loved this production; the design elements gave the entire show a more eerie tone like Tennessee Williams probably originally intended. Scarlett Johansson played Maggie and Benjamin Walker played Brick. Scarlett was a perfect Maggie and even added her own take to the role, and was paired seamlessly with Benjamin Walker. Debra Monk played Big Mama and also brought great tenderness to the stern role. This show did justice to one of my favorite plays!

Finally I saw Newsies, the Disney musical based off the 1992 cult classic movie. Jack Kelly, a paper boy, rallies the other newsies together to strike against news tycoon Joseph Pulitzer, in order to gain rights for the child workers of New York City in the late 1800s. This show was very charming and the cast was fantastic. Corey Cott has a stellar voice as Jack Kelly, as does opposite Kara Lindsay as Katherine. Andrew Keenan-Bolger was hilarious as Crutchie. The set was also very unique, utilizing visual media and scaffolding like you would see on the buildings of New York City. Another hit show from the Disney Company.

Speaking of Disney, I got to have another very cool experience on my last night in the city. One of our former faculty members at Ball State University, Katherine, has worked at The Lion King on Broadway for the past six years with the costume department. She gave fifteen students from our school the chance to take a backstage tour of the show, and I was lucky enough to come along! We got to see how all the costumes, like the giraffes and hyenas, were put on. We also got to see how some of the set pieces, like the graveyard scene, are actually lowered from the ceiling down and back for scene changes. We also got to see my favorite puppet in the show, Zazu. (There are actually four Zazu puppets backstage!) The most amazing part was to walk out on stage. The Lion King was the first movie I saw when I was a kid and I have seen this show three times. I literally grew up with it. To be on stage at the Minskoff Theater in New York City was a dream come true.

This trip was a much needed break from school and I hope to go back again next year, and hopefully for the rest of my life once I graduate from college. For those of you who want to eventually work on Broadway and move to New York City, take these opportunities now and go experience this city while you don’t have rent, a full-time job and bills to worry about! Trust me, you will fall in love with it as much as I have!

P.S While you’re there, make sure to stop by Camp Broadway in the Theatre District and say hi to Hillary Reeves and all the other amazing staff members at Camp Broadway that make this blog possible!

Plays vs Musicals: Who Comes Out On Top?

Name three musicals off of the top of your head. Easy right? Now name three plays. That’s a bit trickier to do than some people would like to admit. But why is it that plays hardly ever survive more than a few months on Broadway whereas musicals can run thirty years or more?

In the first place, musicals are just that… musical! People remember music and walk out of the theater singing the songs they just heard on stage. They buy cast recordings, memorize the songs, and some, if lucky enough, will play coveted parts in community and regional theaters nationwide.

Plays offer something else. They offer memorable characters, moments, and lessons. The issues are right there for the audience to see. And, for many theatergoers, seeing a play is often a more “intellectual” outing– whether it’s the somewhat goofy The Taming of the Shrew or the downright dark A Streetcar Named Desire. Plays, even when humorous, hold up a mirror to people and, in the bluntest way possible, make the audience look at themselves. There’s no candy-coated singing and dancing around issues.

There are also more original musicals (original meaning not a revival), on Broadway than there are plays. For example, we have Phantom of the Opera, Rock of Ages, and Chicago. A lot of plays, however, are revivals like The Heiress, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. We’re thinking this trend means that people experience a little bit more nostalgia when it comes to musicals versus plays. Think about it: you probably love your favorite musical because you remember seeing a production on Broadway as a kid, or you love the movie version that you’d watch with the whole family during holiday gatherings. The songs got stuck in your head, and you still know every word. Whereas your favorite play you might have read in school or you might have seen as a special engagement (think Alan Cumming’s Macbeth or the recent, strictly limited run of Death of a Salesman).

Similarly, musicals also offer bigger casts which are easier for high schools, community theaters  and even regional theaters to produce. You may have a soft spot for The Music Man because you got a chance to play one of the residents of River City, whereas a role in Our Town might be a bit more rare. Musicals often follow the story of eight or more characters, and there is usually a big ensemble to bust out big, show-stopping numbers.  A play usually has a small, tight cast, making these shows less popular for regional productions.

Though they’re often lumped together, we believe that plays and musicals are two distinctly different art forms. The more we thought about comparing the two, the more we realized how different plays and musicals truly are! Who comes out on top in the battle between plays vs musicals? Well, that’s like asking “movies or TV shows, who wins?” In the end, plays and musicals aren’t two sides of the same coin– they’re two very different currencies, each with its own value.

2013 New York Pops Gala Participant Costume Measurements Form