This is a CCM edition of Buzzz, in honor of the 2007 graduating classes in musical theater and drama at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Fifteen musical theater grads are packing up and moving on to New York after preview performances of the annual "Not Famous Yet" Showcase that wrapped Saturday night. An audience of theater industry reps will see the performance on Thursday at Manhattan’s West Side Theatre.
Here’s news to watch for: ASHLEY BROWN (Class of 2004), currently starring as “Mary Poppins” on Broadway, was invited to meet with friends of musical theater who are trailing the kids to New York for a weekend of partying, including a Rainbow Room showcase reprise on Friday.
The idea was for Brown to meet with a group after a performance but that was nixed by Disney, reportedly because the timing coincides with A GREAT BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, but they weren’t saying what. Just that Brown has to be there.
CONGRATS to CCM grad LESLIE KRITZER who gets a Special Achievement MAC Award for her extended and extended again engagement of “Leslie Kritzer Is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches” which was THE buzz cabaret act last autumn into winter. Hopefully Kritzer will get a night off from “Legally Blonde” when the MACs (The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs) are presented May 1.
Cincinnati native LISA ASHER is nominated in the Female Vocalist category. Going to be in NYC? Call for ticket info at 212-307-7171 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS? -- The good news is that KIRSTEN WYATT lost no time finding work on Broadway after movie-into-musical "High Fidelity" tanked (she has a nice featured role) after just a few weeks and right before Christmas. Hopefully it won't be bad news, but Wyatt will be Frenchie in the TV reality show-into-musical revival "Grease." Will it be "the one that we want?" At least there's a healthy box office advance off interest from viewers.
On to drama: The 2007 class is headed for Los Angeles at the end of April, and everybody's hoping they can match the career of 1995 grad Diana Maria Riva (Uhlenbrock). Riva has been a regular on several series and has had a recurring role on NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Now she has a costarring role in Lifetime Television's "Side Order of Life" debuting in July.
Riva plays the brash, outspoken best friend whose cancer diagnosis changes the life of the central character. "Side Order" has good pedigree, according to drama department chief Richard Hess: a producer of "American Beauty," the writer of HBO's Emmy-winning "Warm Springs" and a director of "Ally McBeal." Filming begins in May.
TIMON TESTIMONIAL comes from Damien Baldet, who sings the praises not just of "The Lion King" (where he's wrapping up a run as Timon) but of CCM Drama every chance he gets. After his dad laid down the law and said there would be a university degree, "I went home to University of Cincinnati and auditioned for CCM on a whim. Admissions were closed, but Michael Burnham was kind enough to accept me. I instantly fell in love with the theater." And became a straight A student.
"The first day I went to the Conservatory, I knew I had found a home. Everyone there was so blisteringly talented and the professors were so articulate I just wanted to know what they knew."
Baldet applauds Diane Kvapil, Terrell Finney and Lucinda Holshue (now moved on) along with Burnham. "I still use what they all taught me every day both personally and professionally,” says Baldet. “I haven't had an experience that transformative since."
-- Jackie Demaline
