It’s hard to believe it has been years since I left you. A little part of me still remembers the last curtain call for the last show I ever did with you. 

What’s even harder for me to believe is how far I’ve come, and how much I’ve done since then. I’ve graduated from college, where I got a degree in the same subject that you first got me into. I’ve slowly transitioned from acting to playwriting. Now, I’m living in New York City, in the hopes of following some of the very same dreams that you first made me think were possible.

We’re doing a series that celebrates some of the very best voices for their vocal ranges, with a primary focus on (but not limited to!) theatre. Many will be well-known, while others you may not have heard of (until now). Hopefully, these lists will showcase a wide variety within the vocal classifications, to show there is no single way to create beautiful art!

Here are 10 tenors that are glorious gifts to the world!

Simply put, actress Sandra Joseph is the longest-running leading lady from the longest-running Broadway show of all time. Returning to her signature role as Christine in The Phantom Of The Opera, 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of the musical’s debut on Broadway; it won the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical. The show's worldwide gross receipts are estimated to be over $5.6 billion, and it had been seen by over 130 million people as of just a few years ago.

We’re doing a series that celebrates some of the very best voices for their vocal ranges, with a primary focus on (but not limited to!) theatre. Many will be well-known, while others you may not have heard of (until now). Hopefully, these lists will showcase a wide variety within the vocal classifications, to show there is no single way to create beautiful art!

Starting off, here are 10 sopranos that are glorious gifts to the world!

Last October, I had the chance to review Diary of a Madman, an engaging one-person show based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol, and adapted and performed by the brilliant actor Ilia Volok. At the time, I considered it to be one of the best shows – and certainly the most memorable one-person show – I had seen in 2017. Now, in the wake of its initial run’s critical acclaim and box office success, the show is moving to the John Cullum Theatre at the American Theatre of Actors for an Off-Broadway limited engagement.

There has been a lot of speculation over whether actors and actresses should be publicly voicing support for the “#Metoo” movement, which started as a way of raising awareness to the pervasive sexual harassment (or worse) in our society.  Many believe that entertainers should do just that, entertain, and stay out of social or political commentary.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote EVITA (partially) because Tim Rice was obsessed with Evita’s face on a postage stamp as a kid. One of their source materials was The Woman with the Whip (though never credited as such? Typical.), which was written by someone who was born in Argentina, had neither met Evita or had any basis for her “sources.” Why is this depiction of Eva Péron the most notable and given the most priority?

On behalf of OnStage Blog, I had the pleasure of speaking with two of the stars of Jersey Boys. Nicolas Dromard portrays Tommy DeVito, the Four Seasons guitarist that made most of the band’s business decisions in its early days. Mark Edwards plays Nick Massi, the deep-voiced Four Seasons bassist, who has his own take on how things really went in the early days. Both Dromard and Massi look and the sound the part, and both had some fun yet inspiring responses to contribute.

In this field, rejection is common. Sometimes we blow an audition. Sometimes we drop the ball on an interview. Sometimes we get the job and make a mistake…and lose that job. Often in these cases, the blame is on us. We might not have prepared well enough, focused well enough, paid close enough attention, or done enough research. These times are hard, but them’s the breaks. If you don’t do the work, you don’t get (or keep) the job.

The entertainment industry is rough, man. We actors pound the pavement day after day to book one job, but you know what? It’s totally worth it. However, after some speculation, I began to wonder what Casting Directors could do to help us actors book that job more easily? What can they do to make our audition experience less stressful? They give us do’s and don’ts of what they need from us in the room. What if we did the same for them?