Review: LA's NEXT GREAT STAGE STAR 2017 Presented by Princess Cruises a Tremendous Success

On Sunday, February 19 LA's Next Great Stage Star 2017 Presented by Princess Cruises came to an uber exciting conclusion at the Colony Theatre. After a very entertaining 90-minute program in which the 18 contestants gave 150% to their uptempo songs from Broadway shows, thirteen contestants were eliminated and the top five finalists selected during the first intermission. It was then decided, like the last two years from the consensus of the judges, to add a sixth contestant. Then each of the six proceeded to perform a second number after which the distinguished panel of 18 judges made the final decision during the second intermission. Musical director par excellence Richard Berent accompanied at the piano throughout the three hour show.

(left to right: Mitchell Turner, Hannah Bushyeager, Daniel Bellusci, Sam Labrecque, Natalia Vivino, Maxwell Corpuz, and host Justin Michael Wilcox. )

After the finalists' round of singing, the winning order became: in sixth place, Sam Labrecque; fifth place, Hannah Bushyeager; fourth place, Maxwell Corpuz; third place, Natalia Vivino; second place, Mitchell Turner and LA's Next Great Stage Star 2017, winner Daniel T. Bellusci, creating a milestone as the first male in the 11 years of the competition to win first place.

In the second round the six finalists competed with: Sam Labrecque offering a lovely "Much More" from The Fantasticks; Hannah Bushyeager a rousing "Gimme, Gimme" from Thoroughly Modern Millie; Maxwell Corpuz singing the beautiful "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Natalia Vivino, an exhilarating "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret; Mitchell Turner, "Who'd I Be?" from Shrek; and Daniel T. Bellusci amazing with "Aldolpho" from The Drowsy Chaperone. All were on equal footing at the time and gave it their very best shot. In fact, as Barbara Van Orden pointed out in her thank you speech, there are no losers in this competition, "Each and every one of the 18 contestants is a winner!"

When all six winners were asked If you had to mention just one thing that you learned over the last six weeks that you consider of the utmost value to your future career in musical theatre, what would that be? ... each mentioned the sense of community and friendship that existed among all of the contestants. They also emphasized how they learned to choose the right material and put together a portfolio. I have included one exciting quote under each picture below. The best of luck to one and all!

Daniel Bellusci, first place "Be fearless!"

 

Mitchell Turner, second place "Be yourself!"

 

Natalia Vivino, third place "Stay true to who you are!"

Maxwell Corpuz, fourth place "Use restraint and refine your work!"

Hannah Bushyeager, fifth place "Know who you are!"

 

Sam Labrecque, sixth place "Be the best that you can be!"

Thanks to Michael Sterling and his great production team including Associate Producer Peter Welkin, to Justin Michael Wilcox who served as such a deliciously fun host for the full six weeks, to Susie McGiver Ewing and Joe Giamalva for their bright, upbeat choreography of the opening number "Singin' in the Rain", to musical director Richard Berent, to the great panel of professional judges - made up from LA's top theatre directors, agents and casting directors - for giving of their time, and a special nod to the wonderful Barbara Van Orden for her very generous grant that has made LA's Next Great Stage Star 2017 Presented by Princess Cruises - the only live competition of its kind in LA - such an incredible success.

Well, that's it for another year! LA's Next Great Stage Star 2017 Presented by Princess Cruises was a huge success. See you next year!

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Don't Miss a Los Angeles News Story
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...