BWW Blog: Kellie Williams - Broadway Con 2017 Day 3

Last month, my sister and I attended the third and final day of BroadwayCon 2017. We had such a great time all day, but here are the highlights of our day:

1. From the Actors and Activism panel-Amber Iman, founding member of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, told the story of the first love song sung by two black characters on a Broadway stage in the original 1921 production of Shuffle Along. The Entire company of the show was prepared to risk their lives in order to showcase black love. It was a very powerful story that, much like the rest of Shuffle Along, often gets omitted from theatre history.
2. I arrived at the MainStage a few minutes early to get a good seat for the Hamilton panel. As people wandered in, the cast album played from the speakers. There was a particularly poignant moment during the song "The Battle of Yorktown" where nearly every person in the room joined in on the famous line, "Immigrants, we get the job done." It gave me chills, just thinking about the uniting power of art in our country right now.
3. The first look at the shows coming to Broadway in the spring season was very exciting. After seeing all the little snippet performances, I'm looking forward to Miss Saigon, Amelie, and Significant Other. We were even treated to a clip of the upcoming movie Hello Again, based on the Michael John LaChiusa musical of the same name, which I'm also excited to see.
4. I really enjoyed all of Seth Rudetsky's live taping of an episode of Seth Speaks, but my favorite part was Keala Settle singing "Bring On the Men." Her range is incredible and her voice is so soulful. I can't wait to listen to it again when the episode comes out.

BroadwayCon is my favorite time of the year because it's the biggest and best gathering for passionate theatre fans. I can't wait to see what 2018's BroadwayCon brings!