Saturday, July 25, 2009

Update: Broadway Theatre Project Performances July 30-August 1 in Theatre 1 at USF

185 apprentices from 28 states, as well as Canada and American Samoa, will be performing in the Broadway Theatre Project Festival from July 30-August 1. Numbers in the four festival performances have been directed and choreographed by members of the BTP faculty including Artistic Director Debra McWaters, So You Think You Can Dance’s Ryan Kasprzak, Radio City Rockette Kelly King, and Broadway Fight Director Ron Piretti (West Side Story, In the Heights), among others. Performances also include world premieres of workshops by Broadway Music Director David Loud and Broadway Composer Frank Wildhorn.

Frank Wildhorn’s number is from the upcoming show Bonnie & Clyde, which heads to La Jolla Playhouse in California and will then make its way to Broadway. Wildhorn also wrote the musical Wonderland, which had its world premiere workshop during the 2007 session of Broadway Theatre Project. Numbers were choreographed and directed by BTP Artistic Director Debra McWaters and presented in the final Broadway Theatre Project performance. Producer Judith Lisi from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center acquired the show after seeing the BTP workshop production of Wonderland. David Loud’s numbers are from an upcoming concert of Kander and Ebb music called First You Dream that is heading to the Signature Theatre in Washington, D.C. this September.

Festival tickets are available at the University of South Florida Box Office from 12-4pm daily by calling 813-974-2323 or by visiting ticketmaster.com (searching for “BTP”) and can be purchased for individual performances.

The first ticketed show is at 4pm on Friday and is titled Music to My Ears. This is a specialty voice performance featuring some BTP faculty as well as select BTP apprentices. Tickets for this show are $10.

Friday and Saturday nights, all of the apprentices will appear in the show called It’s Showtime, Folks. Tickets are $35 for each night and the evenings both begin at 7:30pm.

The first ticketed show on Saturday is at 4pm and is titled Everything But the Kitchen Sink. This is a specialty voice performance featuring some BTP faculty as well as select BTP apprentices. Tickets for this show are $10.