Broadway musical theater star Andrea McArdle will share her expertise with students young and old who yearn to perform on the Great White Way.
Northeast native McArdle will be among a roster of Broadway veterans and producer-director Richard Jay Alexander who will work with aspiring performers from Aug. 1 through the week as they prepare for a single performance of True Colors at the Merriam Theater on Saturday, Aug. 6, at 7:30 pm.
The Broadway Dreams Foundation and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts are presenting the Summer Performing Arts Intensive. This is the third year that the program, which started in Atlanta seven years ago, will be in Philadelphia.
According to Kimmel Center spokeswoman Dafni Comerota, most students are high school or college theater students.
The ages of the participants, all of whom auditioned to be accepted, range from 8 to 65.
Tickets for True Colors are available at the Kimmel Center box office, at 260 Broad St., by phone at 215–893–1999 or online at www.kimmelcenter.org
Andrea McArdle made her Broadway debut in the original 1977 production of Annie, for which she received a Tony-award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Other notable Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Starlight Express, Beauty and the Beast and State Fair.
McArdle, along with BDF Philadelphia students, will perform selections from Annie, including Tomorrow, Maybe, Hard Knock Life and Little Girls.
McArdle will lead a faculty roster of Broadway favorites including Tony-award winner Jarrod Emick (Damn Yankees, Leap of Faith), Eden Espinosa (Wicked), Titus Burgess (Jersey Boys), Tyler Hanes (A Chorus Line), James Kinney (Sweet Charity), Quentin Earl Darrington (Ragtime), BDF artistic director Paul Canaan (Legally Blonde) and BDF co-founder and celebrity vocal coach Dave Barrus.
The entire Broadway faculty will perform in True Colors alongside Philadelphia’s performing youth. ••
