Rex & Friends and ArtsUP! LA Presents BROADWAY BOUND

ArtsUP! LA will present Broadway Bound, a new jukebox musical featuring extraordinary musicians with different disabilities. Broadway Bound features songs and scenes from acclaimed musicals that you know and love! Rex & Friends will take you on a fantastic trip of a young man hearing Broadway music for the first time. Directed by Laurie Grant, the show opens May 3rd and runs through May 18th at the Blue Door Theater in Culver City, CA.

About the Show

Broadway Bound features songs and scenes from acclaimed musicals that you know and love. Rex & Friends will take you on a sensational journey through the eyes of a young teen, who is experiencing the phenomenon of Broadway for the first time. The cast is entirely comprised of actors from Rex & Friends. Broadway Bound is directed by Laurie Grant and produced by ArtsUP! LA. “I have had the privilege and joy of managing Rex & Friends, a mega-talented group of musicians with disabilities, for over a decade now and this is one of our proudest achievements yet!” says Grant. “We are pulling out all the stops for this show.”

Rex & Friends members all have perfect pitch; only .01 % of the general population have this remarkable skill. They are all gifted singers, musicians, and have performed for large and small audiences alike. Rex & Friends have performed on award shows, and are skilled in every genre of music:  Opera, Classical, Jazz, Pop and Blues. They have participated in commercials, music videos, voice overs, and films. Taking on this project of songs & scenes from Tony Award-Winning Shows represented an entirely new challenge for Rex & Friends including learning: choreography, dialogue, props, and memorizing a lot of material!

About the Team

Show Creator and Director Laurie Grant is the co-founder and former CEO of LPJ Entertainment LLC, and former Director of Music Marketing and Licensing for Performing Arts Studio West (PASW), as well music educator at PASW where she worked with adults with Autism and other disabilities. Laurie also has expertise in music production, songwriting, and publishing. Grant has a solid academic and professional background in music composition and arrangement. Hailing from Los Angeles Laurie was a student of Music and Music Business at UCLA, and a graduate of The Grove School of Music with a degree in Jazz and Theory. Grant has co- written, produced and licensed works for a multitude of independent artists and for music placement in film and television. These include songs for Dawson's Creek, Law & Order, and My Name is Earl.

Assistant Director Devin Weitz is an LA Native and 2020 graduate from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where he studied Film Scoring and Songwriting. He has extensive work as a musical director, from working at Puttin' on Productions in Manhattan Beach, to his current work as a Lead Director at Kids on Stage in Santa Monica, to other roles through the years. In addition, Devin is a theater composer himself, currently working on two different musicals, one for stage and one for the screen. In 2020, he was accepted into the Johnny Mercer Project for outstanding work in musical theater writing. Adept at multiple playing styles, Devin is a skilled pianist who is an excellent sight-reader and does accompaniment work as well as vocal coaching. Finally, Devin is a proud member of the Autistic community himself, and it has been an absolute dream getting to work with the incredibly talented and loving Rex and Friends family. 

The cast includes Rex Lewis-Clack, Patrick Storey, August McAdoo, Alan Davis, Olena Calderon, Yaro Calderon, Aiden Calderon, Cecilia Mallon, and Devin Weitz who also serves as the co-musical director and choreographer.

Broadway Bound runs May 3rd, 2024 - May 18th, 2024 at ArtsUP! LA's theater, The Blue Door, located at 9617 Venice Blvd. Culver City, 90232. Single tickets are priced at $20 and available online or at The Blue Door's box office. https://www.bluedoorculver.com/ 

ArtsUP! LA

ArtsUP! LA is a nonprofit theater and arts program serving people with disabilities, military veterans, and opportunity youth. They remove barriers to participation and provide unlimited possibilities for artistic expression, building diverse artists and audiences who are changing how the arts are presented and experienced. https://www.artsupla.org/about.html 

Rex & Friends

Named in honor of Rex Lewis-Clack, who was born blind and then diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Rex & Friends is a program that provides support and training in musical abilities, and performance opportunities for individuals in Southern California who are blind or autistic. Both of these disabilities tend to isolate, and the program is geared to help bridge this isolation. Rex & Friends brings these musicians together and provide ongoing professional support and guidance. Participants develop musical repertoire in an environment that is sure to grow friendships, self-esteem, and skill while rehearsing and ultimately performing in front of live audiences. https://www.artsupla.org/rex-and-friends.html 

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