Erin Gorey

'So what are you seeing next?' is a question I'm frequently asked and every year around this time when I answer, 'Broadway's Rising Stars.  It's a concert at Town Hall with recent college and theatre school graduates singing showtunes,' I often get that look of pity that presumes that sitting through stuff like this is the price I pay for getting comps to see Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch in A Little Night Music.

There's something very endearing about watching a couple of old pros like Bernie Kopell and Lou Cutell exercise their finely tuned comedic chops as a pair of elderly widowers looking for a night of excitement; especially when that excitement comes in the form of Teresa Ganzel, who displays ample comic skills herself as the shapely blonde goodtime girl with a heart of gold.  Add another actor and this trio could deliver a very enjoyable production of The Sunshine Boys.  But alas, the vehicle they ride into the Little Shubert, Viagara Falls, is an anaemic sex comedy that wastes their talents and the audience's patience.

Students from AMDA, CAP21, Julliard, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Carnegie Melon, Marymount and The New School made their Broadway debut on the stage of The Town Hall last night, July 19, at the 4th Annual Summer Broadway Festival, created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel for The Town Hall. This Broadway's Rising Stars program featured music and dance, coupled with witty insider tidbits, all performed by Broadway's finest rising talent from these leading theatrical institutions. BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below.