Music theatre seniors back from whirlwind New York showcase

If there is one thing BW music theatre seniors look forward to the most all year, it's Showcase Week. Every April, the graduating MT seniors take to New York City to strut their stuff during a showcase for top theatre casting directors and agents.

For the seniors, it's a rite of passage as they begin their transition from Berea to Broadway. For the Broadway community, it's a chance to catch the next rising star before they get swooped up by the Great White Way's latest hit.

One week in the Big Apple

2018's showcase week kicked off when the seniors made their New York debut at the historic Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's supper club. They were joined by notable music theatre graduates Caitlin Houlahan '14 (Waitress, NBC's Peter Pan LIVE), Keri René Fuller '15 (Waitress) and Corey Mach '10 (Kinky Boots, Godspell).

Seniors then wowed producers, talent reps and casting agents as they presented a forty-minute showcase off-Broadway at New World Stages on April 16 and 17, performing two shows a day.

BWMT '18 capped off the week by singing at Broadway Sessions at the Laurie Beechman Theatre alongside music theatre alumni Jai'Len Josey '20 (Spongebob), Zach Adkins '15 (Anastasia) and John Kramer '16 (The Book of Mormon).

More BWMTs Finishing Strong

Once showcase was complete, the music theatre program continued to finish the year strong with their annual Playhouse Square collaboration. "tick, tick… BOOM!" - written by the composer of "RENT," Jonathan Larson - performed at the Helen Rosefleld Lewis Bialosky Lab in downtown Cleveland.

The well-reviewed (and sold out) show featured three seniors: Alec Irion, Matthew Harris and Tré Frazier.

The Broadway beats continued as the freshman music theatre class presented their first public showcase on April 29.

And for those who didn't get a chance to catch the seniors in their New York showcase, they performed a final encore at Nighttown in Cleveland Heights on April 30 alongside the sophomore class performing Great American Songbook standards.

With 10 BW alumni currently on Broadway, the question is: who's next?