The Friends of Greenwich Library are pleased to host a special night of cabaret-style performances with How I Got to Broadway: An Evening of Songs and Stories from the Stage as part of their Friends Performing Arts series. The event will be held in the Library’s Berkley Theater on Monday, February 6 at 7:00 p.m.
This special performance will consist of solos, duets, and personal stories performed by some of today’s most talented and inspiring artists in musical theater, including Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the Olivier Award-winning team behind Come From Away; Tony-nominated Brad Oscar; and Mia Pinero, who made her Broadway debut in the recent West Side Story revival. How I Got to Broadway is produced and directed by NYC vocal coach Aimée Steele. Musician Robert Frost will accompany on piano.
Woven into the evening will be songs from Come From Away, pieces from both modern and classic musicals, and a special performance of “Stage Fright,” the first song David Hein wrote as he was leaving NYU and hoping to hit the big time on Broadway.
Irene Sankoff and David Hein are the Olivier Award-winning, Tony-nominated writing team behind the hit Broadway musical Come From Away, which is currently playing to over 100 countries on Apple TV+. Irene and David, who are married, are currently developing shows for Disney, Netflix, A Very Good Production, and others. Come From Away won three 2017 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, four Helen Hayes Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards, and three Drama Desk Awards, including Best Musical. The two were nominated for Tony Awards for Best Book and Score and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album; they won the 2017 Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards for Best Book and won the Olivier Award for Best Musical and Best Score in 2018. Irene and David are also continuing to develop the Come From Away movie.
Aimée Steele was the Vocal Coach for the Broadway revival West Side Story and the Production Vocal Coach of Broadway’s Girl from the North Country. She most recently worked with cast members of The Visitor at The Public Theater. In addition to her private voice studio, Aimée is on faculty at The National Music Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater as well as The Performing Arts Project (TPAP) for Theatrical Training. She is a board member of the award-winning Transport Group Theater Company. Past positions include Voice Professor at Pace University; Adjunct Voice Professor at NYU/Tisch, The New Studio on Broadway; and associate voice teacher with Liz Caplan Vocal Studios. Aimée’s students are featured on Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours, and regionally as well as in the recording industry, film, and television. She has students in the classical world and on opera stages worldwide.
Brad Oscar received his second Tony nomination for his role as Nostradamus in 2015’s Something Rotten!; his first was for his role as Franz Liebkind in Mel Brooks’ The Producers, the show he later went on to play the lead role of Max Bialystock over 1,400 times on Broadway, on tour, in Las Vegas, and on London’s West End. His other Broadway credits include Mrs. Doubtfire, Big Fish, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Addams Family, Spamalot, Jekyll & Hyde, and Aspects of Love. National Tour credits include The Phantom of the Opera, Young Frankenstein, and Jekyll & Hyde. Off-Broadway roles include Little Shop of Horrors, Broadway Bounty Hunter, Nassim, Sweeney Todd, Forbidden Broadway, Encores!, Annie Get Your Gun, Bells Are Ringing, and Do Re Mi.
Mia Pinero recently originated the role of Jo in Ken Ludwig’s gender-swapped comedy Lend Me a Soprano at the Alley Theatre. She made her Broadway debut as Maria while understudying in Ivo Van Hove’s revival of West Side Story. Mia has performed at some of the most prestigious theaters across the country, including the Guthrie Theater, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Geva Theatre Center, and Paper Mill Playhouse, where she starred in Songs For a New World. She has been in a number of workshops and developmental readings in NYC, working with artists such as director Thomas Kail, music director Alex Lacamoire, and composer Jimmy Roberts. Her concert credits include venues such as Lincoln Center, the Times Center, the Landmark Theater, and Feinstein’s/54 Below. This past spring, she released her solo debut album, Growing Up, which is available on all streaming platforms.
Robert Frost is a New York City-based music director, pianist, and educator. Select musical director credits include Half the Sky (5th Ave Theatre/Theatre Latte Da); Minor Character (New Saloon/Under the Radar); (An Audio Guide for) Unsung Snails and Heroes (MTC); Miss Blanche Tells It All (NYMF); We Live in Cairo and Cardboard Piano (O’Neill Theater Center); Dory Fantasmagory (NYCCT); Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady (Arkansas Shakespeare Theater). As a pianist and music director, Robert has also worked with Ogunquit Playhouse, Arkansas Rep, Berkshire Theater Group, New Georges, NYU, Celebrity Cruises, Molloy College, New Dramatists, and Lincoln Center. As an educator, Robert has worked with Brown University, Hunter College, LIU Post, and Connecticut College. Robert serves on the faculty of New Studio on Broadway at NYU and The O’Neill Theater Center’s National Musical Theater Institute.
This program is presented by the Friends of Greenwich Library and made possible by charitable contributions from our community. It is free of charge and open to all. Doors will open at 6:30 pm., and guests are invited to stay after the show for a brief Q&A with the actors.
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