The Joy You Feel

Alright Dexter, I've got some catching up to do with you.

Since the last time I blogged I've been on stage in production of The Last Five Years and what a huge challenge that was! Only two actors in the show, and we only got to interact once during the entire hour and a half marathon of singing. It was definately one of the more challenging roles I've played at The Encore and from the feedback and reviews, the audience really enjoyed the show.

After The Last Five Years ended, The Encore got super busy with an incredibly popular production of The Music Man. Out of the 22-performance run, 12 performances were sold out and a total of 2,443 people came out to the theater to see the show.

Now we have a few new things keeping me incredibly busy around the theater: a two-night concert event we're calling "Til I Hear You Sing," as well as rehearsal for our next full musical, The Light in the Piazza, which I'm directing!

I'm singing eight songs during the concert, which takes place Saturday and Sunday at The Encore, so it's a bit of a marathon for me on top of my directing job. But, I have the help of a bunch of very talented friends from The Encore including Anne Bauman, Madison Deadman, Sebastian Gerstner, Carrie Jay, Sonja Marquis, Stephanie Souza and Jesse Yost.  We'll be singing everything from West Side Story to Les Miserable, to a few songs you've probably never heard before!

We've been rehearsing for the past two weeks and I'm confident it's going to be a great night of music. All of the proceeds from the concert go to new equipment needed at the theater, including body microphones for the actors, which is very exciting!

On top of "Til I Hear You Sing," rehearsals for The Light in the Piazza began last week. The cast we've assembled for this show is insanely talented! We have Barbara Scanlon who appeared on Broadway in Camelot with Robert Goulet and on the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera. Barbara plays Margaret, an American woman on vacation in Italy with her daughter Clara played by Stephanie Souza who just appeared as Marian Paroo in The Music Man at The Encore.

The plot centers around the two women as well as a charming young Italian named Fabrizio, and his family. Fabrizio is played by University of Michigan voice student Brian L. Giebler, who is currently appearing in West Side Story in Aspen for the summer. Fabrizio's father is played by local Equity actor, Scott Crownover, who was recently nominated best actor in a musical for his role as Aldolpho in Performance Network's The Drowsy Chaperone.

Add to these four actors an outstanding supporting cast and we've got the makings of a great production!

The show is incredibly touching and the music is absolutely gorgeous. Margaret and Clara are on vacation in Florence, Italy where Clara meets Fabrizio. They are instantly drawn to one another and begin a sweet and innocent romance. The story could end there, but that's only the beginning. Margaret immediately begins trying to put an end to the infatuation explaining to the audience that "Clara is not quite as she seems."

She goes on to say, "I have managed in many tactful ways over the years to explain her situation to young men without wounding them. But none of that should be necessary here, one would certainly hope." But it wouldn't be much of a story if that were the case, now would it?

The show is a very touching story about all kinds of love — love between family, young love, love that has stood the test of time, and love that is challenged on a daily basis. There are so many wonderful layers to the story and the characters and it's overwhelmingly exciting to have a hand in bringing these characters to life each night.

This brings me to the title of this blog post, The Joy You Feel, which is a song in The Light in the Piazza sung by the character of Franca. Right now, the joy I feel is in all of the blessings in my life that are afforded to me by performing, directing and being surrounded every day by the wonderful, creative and talented friends I have at The Encore.

It's been a whirlwind summer, and it's not over yet - but it's been so worth the hard work, sweat and tears for sure.

I sincerely hope to see you at The Encore very soon.