Welcome to NWA Jersey Boys!

Wednesday morning we held a Broadway Breakfast here at Walton Arts Center with not 1, not 2, not even 3, but all 4 of the Jersey Boys stars!

WAC's own Lydia Corbell took the stage with stars to facilitate a conversation about Jersey Boys and their roles. 

(L to R) Nicolas Dromard (Tommy DeVito), Jason Kappus (Bob Gaudio), Nick Cosgrove (Frankie Valli) and Brandon Andrus (Nick Massi).

The guys shared stories about all the work it took to get cast in Jersey Boys, their start in theater and the things to come! 

Nick Cosgrove, is living the dream! While in high school, he saw a production of Jersey Boys at the Bank of America Theater in Chicago, and realized that was what he wanted to do, and Frankie Valli was his dream roll! Now, at 25, not only is he playing Frankie Valli, but he was able to return to that theater in Chicago and perform for his family and friends.

But before there was even an opening for the roll, he had to audition through the intense "Frankie Camp" and be molded into the authentic Jersey personality. 30 actors go in, less than 10 potential Frankies walk out!

Both Jason Kappus and Brandon Andrus have been touring with this production of Jersey Boys since it started almost two years ago.

When Jason auditioned for the role of Bob Gaudio, he had to portray the character in front of the man himself! 

Brandon Andrus describes himself as the group's "resident tourist." As they tour from city to city, he likes to take time to see the sights, and what makes each area special. He's already got Hammontree's and Crystal Bridges on his radar for NWA!

Nicolas Dromard talked about working with a vocal coach so they could all master the true Four Seasons Jersey accent. They spent hours mastering the accent, going through their scripts so everything is phonetically accurate, and they even have CDs to listen to so they can keep their accents strong.

The cast all expressed their love for being part of such a great production, and the power of the audience to keep the show fresh and exciting for them week after week. Let's make sure to show them a big NWA welcome each night!

"Every night it's a ride from start to finish that we love being on," Nicolas Dromard said.

The show runs until Sunday, with two performances on both Saturday and Sunday, but tickets are going fast! Grab yours here, and for the best seating availability check out Sunday night!

"Being Billy"

Last time we shared a video with you about "Finding Billy," and the process the Billy Elliot The Musical team goes through to find their leading role. Today, it's all about the Billy's! Let's take a look at what it's like "Being Billy."

Are you as impressed with these boys as we are? I mean, really, they're amazing. And to top it all off, they're so young! We are so excited to have this show here in Northwest Arkansas in just a couple of weeks. Come see Billy Elliot The Musical at Walton Arts Center Tuesday, December 4 - Sunday, December 9 and see how these boys SHINE on the stage!

Kylend Hetherington (Billy) and Rich Hebert (Dad) in “Billy Elliot the Musical.” Photo by Kyle Froman

Billy Elliot The Musical Giveaway!

Billy Elliot The Musical is such a fantastic show, and we are really looking forward to having it here in Northwest Arkansas. The New York Post called Billy Elliot "The best show you will ever see!"

Since we're so excited about this show, and we wanted to do a little something to shake up our blog...we decided to have a giveaway for Billy Elliot!!

It's super-duper easy to enter, and we will choose two winners who will each receive two (2) tickets to opening night of Billy Elliot The Musical on Tuesday, December 4 at 7pm. Just follow the steps below to enter, and you can receive more entries by completing the "extras" outlined in the instructions. The contest will run through Tuesday, November 27, and we will notify the winners by Wednesday, November 28. Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Billy Elliot the Musical: Finding Billy

Fresh off our run of Shrek: The Musical, we’re getting excited for our next Broadway performance; Billy Elliot The Musical! Billy Elliot will be here for eight performances, beginning Tuesday, December 4, and running through Sunday, December 9.

A little background on the show for you: Billy Elliot is a small town boy in northern England, who finds his way from the boxing ring to ballet class. At 11 years old, Billy isn’t sure how to handle his surprising talent, but manages to shine with his community behind him.

Now, about those boys that play Billy in the show. Would you believe that many of them are just 'regular' kids? Not classically trained dancers, or professional theatre performers, but just boys that have auditioned when the opportunity arose in their town? We were fascinated by this information!

Here's a little peek into "Finding Billy."

 

Shrek the Musical opening night review!

WOW. That's all we can say after last night's performance of Shrek the Musical. It was opening night, the hall was full, and the laughs were plenty! Check out our audience review, and we know you won't want to miss your chance to see this show while it's in Northwest Arkansas!

All your favorite characters were there; Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, Gingy - were you?

If you didn't make it last night, fear not! Shrek the Musical will be here through Sunday, November 4 and there is still time to get your tickets.

In The Heights student review

One of the things we love most here at Walton Arts Center is bringing students in to experience the theatre. No matter the age, they are almost always in awe of the lights, music and magic that happen on stage.

We received an email with a link to a blog post from one of the University of Arkansas' Visiting Student Program participants that came to see In The Heights with a student group, and it warmed our hearts so we wanted to share it with you!

Here's a little bit from Sangeun Cho's experience at In The Heights:

“It was a wonderful evening that I will not forget. I hope other international students will be able to have wonderful experience as I did at this program while studying at the University of Arkansas!”

Click here to read her entire blog post, and see some pictures!  

2012-13 Broadway season...unveiled!

On Saturday, March 3, we held an exclusive Broadway subscriber event at Walton Arts Center. We had the incomparable Seth Rudetsky on-hand to help us unveil our 2012-13 Broadway series. Seth is a Broadway insider, Sirius XM Radio host and accomplished pianist. He has interviewed tons of Broadway stars, and has also played piano for shows like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Ragtime. We were so glad to have him in NWA to help us on such an exciting day!

Here's a small clip from his show; announcing our lineup for next year along with audience reactions to our season:

In case he threw you off with his New York accent, this is a recap of our Broadway series next season:

We will also have these shows hitting our stage next season:

To say we're excited is an understatement. We are over the MOON about our season for 2012-13, and we hope NWA is as well. Every year it just keeps getting bigger and better, and we often wonder "How can we trump this season?" But, we will. *wink*

Early access to these shows is currently only available to our Broadway subscribers, but fear not! If you aren't a subscriber, but would like to become one; call our box office at 479.443.5600 as they are taking pre-orders to become a subscriber. Pre-orders will be filled in the order they were received; so the sooner you call the better! We hope to see lots of smiling faces next season!