As promised, here’s my BroadwayCon post. In an attempt to keep it a semi-reasonable length, I will try to focus on my reactions to things rather than just what happened. (And there’s a bunch of stuff on YouTube anyway…)
Since sharing the stage in a handful of local productions (including two working together as dance captains) and seeing nine touring musicals together over the past four years, I’d wanted to take a trip to New York with this beautiful girl for a while. This was the perfect excuse to make it happen. And boy did it exceed all my expectations! (A full schedule of our adventures is included at the end of the post.)
PANELS
I thought it was super cool that there were panels scheduled for most of our Broadway shows: Fun Home on Saturday, Hamilton and The King and I on Friday, Something Rotten! on Sunday, and Spring Awakening on Friday. The only missing shows were the ones we saw on Sunday (Aladdin and Finding Neverland)!
The Fun Home panel didn’t really feel like a big deal to me, probably because I met the entire cast after I saw the show on Tuesday. But it was still fascinating to hear Lisa Kron talk about how “Ring of Keys” was written and absolutely hilarious to see Joel Perez run onstage dressed as Small Alison, hop in Michael Cerveris’ (“Daddy’s”) lap, and sing a few lines of it!
So many amazing stories from everyone at the Hamilton panel! I was glad Chris Jackson was there since he was out for the performance I saw on Wednesday afternoon. I felt really bad for whoever was doing the captions that appeared on the huge screens in the ballroom though… Trying to type fast enough to keep up with what everyone is saying provides ample opportunities for typos, but this one was especially unfortunate: “rapping” with just one “p”. And it happened multiple times before they fixed it. But the panel’s highlight was definitely seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda freestyle to Phillipa Soo’s beatboxing, especially his zinger at the end that made me laugh so hard I could barely breathe:
But yo we gotta hip hop cuz that’s you and me
And when you type it on the teleprompter don’t drop a “p”
I was really interested in the panel with director Bart Sher, choreographer Chris Gattelli, and scenic/lighting/sound designers after seeing The King and I on Wednesday night. Among other things, it was fascinating to hear them talk about how they’re adjusting the thrust staging on Broadway to proscenium staging for the tour. Chris also mentioned that Kelli doesn’t consider herself a dancer even though she moves really well, and any day I get to find out more about Kelli is a good one.
They were running behind schedule on Sunday, so the Something Rotten! panel had just started by the time it was supposed to be over. Unfortunately, that meant we only got to see like ten minutes of it before we had to leave for the matinee of Aladdin. But those ten minutes were highly entertaining and included Christian Borle joking about how easy it is to play Shakespeare as a narcissist because he’s like that in real life.
The Spring Awakening panel was our very first stop after check-in on Friday. The hall outside the room was super crowded before the panel, and all of a sudden I looked at the person next to me and it was Krysta Rodriguez! She and the other panelists (I also recognized Andy Mientus and Spencer Liff) passed us on their way into the room, holding hands so they wouldn’t lose each other in the crowd, and they were gone before most people even realized they were there. Being mere inches away from one of my favorites (I’ve sung “Pulled” and “Safer” in voice lessons) was a fabulous way to kick off the weekend! The panel itself was well worth it too, even though we had to stand by the wall because we couldn’t find seats, and got us super excited about seeing Spring Awakening the following night! Of course, that was before the blizzard hit… While I was hugely disappointed we wouldn’t get to see this production after all, I was also immensely relieved we didn’t have to go outside again!
There were panels for other shows too. The Rent reunion panel included stories from original cast and creative members about how they became involved with the show that changed their lives (back before “stagedooring” was a verb!), but the best part was when Daphne Rubin-Vega spontaneously face timed Jesse L. Martin onstage! His reaction to a room full of thousands of cheering Broadway fans was just priceless. The most entertaining part of the Fiddler on the Roof panel was either hearing how Melanie Moore tells the guys in “L’Chaim” to perform the slow motion improv part of the song or finding out Samantha and Alexandra’s dressing room has its own Instagram account. There was also a DISASTER! panel as a preview of coming attractions. It was interesting hearing them talk about the show, but my favorite moments were seeing Faith Prince and Seth Rudetsky sing “Suddenly Seymour” and Kerry Butler sing “Magic” (especially since I’d just seen a bunch of friends in a community production of Xanadu the week before)!
We went to a couple of non-show-specific panels too (although I don’t remember much because the room they were in had no air circulation and got way too hot and stuffy). I’m a member of My Broadway Body, so I wanted to go to the “Theatre-Adjacent” panel to see Mark Fisher. He seemed surprised when a few of us cheered when he mentioned it! I’m glad I got to talk to him briefly afterwards. Up next was the “Broadway’s Choreographers” panel. When Chris Gattelli and Kathleen Marshall were asked whose growth they were most proud of, it made me super happy to hear Chris say Kelli, specifically mentioning her work in South Pacific. And later he said his favorite dance is “Seize the Day” and I was like, “Hey, I learned that from you yesterday…”
WORKSHOPS
Besides having awesome panels, BroadwayCon also offered a variety of master classes and workshops that required video applications. I don’t know how, but I got picked for both the intermediate AND advanced dance workshops! So Friday evening, I headed off to the intermediate workshop with Newsies choreographer Chris Gattelli. I was NOT expecting cast members to be there! We learned part of the dance break of “Seize the Day” that had actually been their audition combo. The cast members were scattered throughout the participants, and somehow I managed to end up in the back corner where a bunch of them were hanging out. I even recognized a few from when my sister and I saw the show on Broadway. I DANCED WITH NEWSIES! Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
The advanced workshop with Hamilton associate choreographer and dance captain Stephanie Klemons was scheduled for Saturday morning, but it was cancelled because she couldn’t make it. Silly blizzard. But oh my goodness I’m glad I got to see the hilarity at the BroadwayCon Feud instead! Hosted by Jenn Colella with two teams: Susan Blackwell, Rob McClure, Lesli Margherita, and two fans vs. Jonathan Groff, Ryann Redmond, and three fans. The contestants were preparing for the first question when Susan interrupted Jenn’s explanation of the rules with, “Wait a second! When’s the making out?” Then later when it was Jonathan’s turn, Jenn kissed him too, commenting, “I’m gay but I’m not stupid!” I almost lost it when the lady competing against Jonathan (who Lesli purposely traded places with because of that) stepped up and kissed him too!
AUTOGRAPH/PHOTOBOOTH
Autograph and Photobooth Sessions were done by online lottery. I got tickets for a photo with Lesli Margherita and autographs with Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk (my most recent songwriter obsession) which I was super excited about. Unfortunately, Kait and Brian weren’t able to make it. Silly blizzard. Oh well. We still got to have our picture taken with Queen Lesli! It was highly entertaining just watching the poses she came up with and wonderfully obvious how much fun she was having. I have no idea what we ended up doing, but it was nice to meet her again (I’d met her at the stage door when I saw Matilda a couple years ago) and I think the picture turned out okay.
SPECIAL EVENTS
I’d heard they were writing a “mini-musical” for the opening but didn’t really know what to expect. Oh my goodness. Rewritten lyrics like “Good Morning, BroadwayCon” and “The Con Where It Happens”, the video with Anthony Rapp and Idina Menzel and James Snyder and LaChanze that was edited to look like a Google Hangout, balcony commentary from Avenue Q‘s Rod and Nicky, stars everywhere, confetti cannons all over the place (that they apparently didn’t tell the hotel about! haha), and that original song at the end! It all seemed so surreal. Like, “Wait a minute, I’m really here?” So when it got to the lines “Up till now, Shubert Alley was a dream from afar / But open your eyes, look around – here you are,” I got chills and there were tears in my eyes. Yes. Here I am.
The closing ceremony wasn’t anywhere near as elaborate as the opening, but it did involve Lesli “accidentally” setting off a confetti cannon. And it concluded with all of us singing “Seasons of Love” and “BroadwayCon’s the Place For You”, which was pretty much the perfect way to wrap everything up and tie it all together.
CONCERT / PERFORMANCE
For the BroadwayCon Jukebox on Friday night, we got to vote on what people would sing through the BroadwayCon app! I wasn’t very good at voting for the winning song though. Kerry Butler kicked things off with “You’re the One That I Want”, which I’m pretty sure only won because they said Stark Sands would come out and sing it with her (I know that’s why I voted for it!). Ryann Redmond added moments of comedy to Adele’s “Hello”. The only thought in my head after Lena Hall’s performance of “Origin of Love” was, “That’s why she won the Tony.” But I was most excited to see Stark Sands… His performance of “I’ll Be” (one of my favorite songs when it was released in the late 1990s) was a fabulous way to wrap up day one of BroadwayCon.
Quite a few people were originally supposed to be at the BroadwayCon Cabaret on Saturday night, but naturally that changed with the weather. Silly blizzard. Krysta Rodriguez, however, was DETERMINED to be there! She was joined by songwriter Joe Iconis at the piano and Smash show runner Joshua Safran, and the cabaret basically became a one-woman-show with tidbits about Smash thrown in. I was thrilled to discover that “Reach for Me” was actually written for her! I was also impressed with her performance of “Vanilla Ice Cream” (She Loves Me), because I didn’t know she had that beautiful soprano range! She sang so many things from various lists of my favorites: “Broadway, Here I Come” (Smash), “Reach for Me” (Smash), “Safer” (First Date), “Pulled” (Addams Family), “Breathe” (In the Heights). It seemed fitting to end the night with “Blue Wind”, complete with signs. If we couldn’t see the whole production of Spring Awakening, at least we got to see her do that. And based on this experience, I love Krysta a little bit more now.
We arrived Sunday morning in the middle of the BroadwayCon Variety Hour. I was still half-asleep so everything blurred itself together in my head. Of course, that probably made Lesli’s performance of various songs from Gypsy (using the overture, because that’s the sheet music they had) even more hilarious. We’d seen people walking around in costumes all weekend so it was neat seeing a bunch of them onstage for the Cosplay Fashion Show, including the Side Show twins! I don’t think the girl dressed as King George was up there though. I’m pretty sure Lesli’s story about playing the Little Mermaid for one night was part of this too – the main thing I remember about it is, “We only have seashells, not D-shells!”
BLIZZARD
It had just barely started snowing when we walked back to our hotel around 11:00 Friday night. We knew there was a lot more coming, but we still weren’t prepared for the BLIZZARD we had to walk through to get to day two of BroadwayCon! Thank God we were only a couple of blocks away. It was insane. Trudging down sidewalks and across streets filled with snow, all while fighting to see through the tiny frozen white things being blown into our eyes (my glasses gave me limited protection but not enough to really help much), struggling to keep our balance. When we finally reached the safety of the con hotel, our coats and hats and scarves were covered in snow. But we made it!
Since that silly little blizzard was keeping people stranded, they added a bunch of additional Saturday programming at the last minute to make up for the fact that a lot of us were missing out on Broadway shows we’d been looking forward to. The first addition was letting attendees send in links to YouTube karaoke videos for a chance to sing them on the MainStage. Oh my goodness so many insanely talented teenagers! Someone dressed as a Heather sang “Dead Girl Walking” which is actually the first song from Heathers I’ve heard, even though I have the cast recording. Other songs included “Good Morning, Baltimore”, “A Way Back to Then”, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” (another Heather), and “When You’re Good to Mama” (I think the only non-teenager, who borrowed a fur stole from the twins dressed as Daisy and Violet from Side Show).
Next they talked about how they rewrote the lyrics and stuff for the opening ceremony. I particularly enjoyed hearing the original voicemail of “The Con Where It Happens” being rapped over the Hamilton cast recording. That was followed by Avenue Q&A. Rob McClure had us all in stitches with his one man version of Sweeney Todd, including jumping on and off a chair when switching between characters and making me afraid he’d fall over!
But by far, the best additional programming was The BroadwayCon Blizzard Party Line! We had no idea what to expect. They just told us it started at 8:00 but to get there by 7:50 because there was going to be a huge surprise right at the beginning that we wouldn’t want to miss. They arranged a couple of couches on the stage and brought out Playbill’s Blake Ross, Michael Riedel, and BroadwayCon founders Anthony Rapp, Melissa Anelli, and Stephanie Dornhelm. And then… they just pulled out their phones and started calling people. The “huge surprise” at 8:00? Idina Menzel. Other callers included Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, Patti LuPone, Betty Buckley, Harvey Fierstein, Laura Benanti, and Joel Grey. Some people knew what was going on, but some calls were completely unplanned! I especially enjoyed the video chats with Darren Criss and Jeremy Jordan, both of whom were supposed to be at the con but couldn’t get there because of the blizzard. Of course, the whole thing was made even more amusing thanks to the onstage glasses of wine. Tipsy Anthony Rapp is so freaking adorable!
Thankfully, by the time we left Saturday night, it had stopped snowing. The walk back to our hotel was much easier, and we kept stopping to take pictures! Because what else would you expect Texas girls to do with that much snow?
MY SCHEDULE
Friday
1:00pm Deaf West, East (Katie Boeck, Alex Boniello, Daniel N. Durant, Sandra Mae Frank, T.J. Kearney, Spencer Liff, Austin P. McKenzie, Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez)
2:00pm Something Wonderful: A Look Behind The King and I (Christopher Gattelli, Donald Holder, Scott Lehrer, Bartlett Sher, Michael Yeargan, Catherine Zuber)
3:30pm The BroadwayCon 2016 Opening
5:00pm History is Happening In Manhattan: The Hamilton Panel (Daveed Diggs, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Christopher Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Phillipa Soo)
6:00pm Intermediate Dance Workshop: Newsies (Christopher Gattelli)
7:30pm 10,514,880 Minutes: How Do You Measure 20 Years of Rent? (Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Rodney Hicks, Cynthia O’Neal, James C. Nicola, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Bernie Telsey, Fredi Walker-Browne, Tim Weil, Marlies Yearby)
9:30pm The BroadwayCon Jukebox (Kerry Butler, Jenn Colella, Lena Hall, Anthony Rapp, Ryann Redmond, Stark Sands, Alysha Umphress)
Saturday
10:00am The BroadwayCon Feud
11:00am To Us and Our Good Fortune: The Fiddler on the Roof Panel (Michael C. Bernardi, Jessica Hecht, Adam Kantor, Samantha Massell, Jeffrey Schecter, Alexandra Silber)
11:40am Welcome to Our House on Maple Avenue: The Fun Home Panel (Michael Cerveris, Lisa Kron, Judy Kuhn, Joel Perez, Emily Skeggs)
2:00pm Theatre-Adjacent: Working in the Theatre While Working Outside the Theatre (Mark Fisher, Justin “Squigs” Robertson, Brisa Trinchero)
3:00pm Dance, Ten: Broadway’s Choreographers (Christopher Gattelli, Kathleen Marshall)
4:00pm Photobooth with Lesli Margherita
5:00pm Your Chance To Shine: Fan Karaoke on the MainStage
6:00pm Avenue Q&A
7:00pm Putting it Together: How we made the BroadwayCon Opening Ceremony
8:00pm The BroadwayCon Blizzard Party Line
9:00pm YouTube Viewing Party Singalong
11:00pm The First Annual BroadwayCon Cabaret
Sunday
10:00am BroadwayCon Variety Hour
11:00am OBSESSED! Live: DISASTER! Edition (Kerry Butler, Kevin Chamberlin, Max Crumm, Faith Prince, Seth Rudetsky, Rachel York)
12:00pm When Life Gives You Eggs, Make an Omelette: The Something Rotten! Panel (Christian Borle, John Cariani, Brian d’Arcy James)
5:00pm So Long, Farewell… to BroadwayCon 2016
A Shift In The Light 