The Ensemblist to Welcome Rachel Bay Jones, The Skivvies & More for Live Show at Birdland, 6/16
The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out, comes to the legendary Birdland Jazz Club in June to celebrate its first anniversary with a live show! Hosts Mo Brady and Nikka Graff Lanzarone have invited some of their favorite Broadway performers to the stage to celebrate their ensemblist experiences.
Not only will each guest be interviewed live, they'll strut their stuff with special performances as well! Guests include: Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli, Ariana Debose, Rachel Bay Jones, Alysha Umphress, Daniel Watts, and a special appearance by The Skivvies: Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina.
The one night only performance will take place at New York City's legendary Birdland: 315 West 44th Street at 9pm on Monday, June 16. Tickets are available for $25 (plus a $10 food and drink minimum) at birdlandjazz.com.
Gattelli is the Tony Award-winning choreographer of Broadway's Newsies. He made his Broadway debut as a performer - replacing in the casts of CATS and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying before going on to choreograph 10 Broadway shows, including South Pacific, Godspell and, most recently, Casa Valentina.
Debose made a splash with her two first featured roles on Broadway, as Nautica in Bring It On: The Musical and as Mary Wilson in Motown the Musical, where she also covered the role of Diana Ross. Jones made her Broadway debut in the Tribe of HAIR, before going on to work as a swing in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. However, she is best known for reimaging the role of Catherine in the hit revival of Pippin.
In four years, Umphress has graced the Broadway stage in four diverse shows: American Idiot, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and Bring It On: The Musical. Watts is the veteran of seven Broadway companies, most recently Memphis, Motown the Musical and After Midnight.
Together, Cearley and Molina are The Skivvies, award-winning singer/actor/musicians performing stripped down arrangements of eclectic covers and eccentric originals. Not only is the music stripped down - cello, ukulele, glockenspiel, melodica - but The Skivvies literally strip down to their underwear to perform. Both have performed on Broadway: Cearley in All Shook Up, and Molina in Rock of Ages and Sweeney Todd.
The Ensemblist is an inside look at the experience of being a Broadway performer- from the first rehearsal through performing eight shows a week and beyond. Whether you're an experienced theatre professional or a passionate fan, The Ensemblist will give you the opportunity to get to know new performers and the great work they do onstage, while also shedding light on some of the hidden innerworkings of the Broadway experience. Created and hosted by Mo Brady (The Addams Family, SMASH) and Nikka Graff Lanzarone (Chicago, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), The Ensemblist is the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out.
New episodes of The Ensemblist can be downloaded every two weeks through the iTunes store by searching for "The Ensemblist." Episodes can be also be streamed on Stitcher Radio, TuneIn, and downloaded directly from Podbean at theensemblist.podbean.com.
Videos
