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The Broadway Theatre Project (BTP), or the Broadway Theater Project, is an training program in musical theatre for high school and college-aged students held on the campus of the University of South Florida, in Tampa, Florida, U.S.. [1] It was founded by the Tony Award-winner Ann Reinking, [2] under the name The Musical Theatre Project of Tampa. [3] [4]
Students accepted into the program are referred to as "apprentices" and are divided into groups reflecting their dance experience, vocal/acting experience and age for more individualized training. Programs offered include acting, voice, and dance. [5]
Classes are taken every day of the project, typically from 8:30am to 5:00pm with an hour lunch break, and block rehearsals for numbers within the final showcase are from 6:00pm to 10:00pm. Students not in block rehearsal continue with group classes for that time period.[ citation needed ]
Throughout the project, guest artists often visit to have a question-and-answer session with apprentices and usually give a master class during the day to share their knowledge of the industry. Guest artists have included Terrence Mann, Ashley Brown (former apprentice), Charlotte d'Amboise, Ben Vereen, Gregory Hines, [3] Savion Glover, Julie Andrews, Patrick Wilson (former apprentice), Phylicia Rashad, Stanley Donen, Frank Wildhorn, Neil Patrick Harris, Jonathan Groff and Tommy Tune.[ citation needed ]
Students are housed in suite-style dormitories for the length of the project and are not permitted to leave. [6] The project concludes with a Broadway-themed revue at The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. The performances are notorious for being presented minimalistically, as students dress completely in black and perform on a bare stage with a cyclorama.[ citation needed ]
Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity, and Roxie Hart in Chicago.
Robert Louis Fosse was an American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1972), and Chicago (1975). He directed the films Sweet Charity (1969), Cabaret (1972), Lenny (1974), All That Jazz (1979), and Star 80 (1983).
Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".
Gregory Oliver Hines was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for Wolfen (1981), The Cotton Club (1984), White Nights (1985), Running Scared (1986), The Gregory Hines Show (1997–1998), playing Ben on Will & Grace (1999–2000), and for voicing Big Bill on the Nick Jr. Channel animated children's television program Little Bill (1999–2004).
Eckerd College is a private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega Bay. Because of its location, Eckerd is considered a "beach school" and has its own student volunteer maritime search and rescue team. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Eckerd is a member of the Annapolis and Oberlin groups of national liberal arts colleges.
Ann Reinking was an American dancer, actress, choreographer, and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as Coco (1969), Over Here! (1974), Goodtime Charley (1975), Chicago (1977), Dancin' (1978), and Sweet Charity (1986).
Cori Ann Yarckin, is an American actress and singer from Orlando, Florida.
The Straz Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1987 as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and was renamed in 2009.
Howard W. Blake High School is a public magnet high school, with an emphasis on the arts, in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is operated by the School District of Hillsborough County. Originally opened in 1956 as a school for African-Americans, it was integrated as a junior high school after the end of segregation. The current building opened in 1997, when Blake again became a high school.
Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory (CMCP) is a private Marianist school located in Hollywood, Florida, United States, on Chaminade Drive, in front of Nativity Catholic School in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami. Covering high school and college preparatory curricula, it runs from 9th grade to 12th grade. The school has been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools since 1921 and is a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
Downtown Tampa is the central business district of Tampa, Florida, United States, and the chief financial district of the Tampa Bay Area.
Gus Giordano, born August Thomas Giordano III, was an American jazz dancer, teacher, and choreographer. He performed on Broadway and in theater and television. Giordano taught jazz dance to thousands around the world. He founded the Gus Giordano Dance School in 1953, Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in 1963, created the First American Jazz Dance World Congress in 1990 and is the author of Anthology of American Jazz Dance (1975). He taught at institutions around the world including American Ballet Theatre, The American University of Paris, Duke University, Joffrey Ballet, and New York University. Giordano was one of the founders of theatrical or Broadway jazz dance styles, not to be confused with African American vernacular jazz styles that he drew upon.
Maurice Robert Hines Jr. was an American actor, director, singer, and choreographer. He was the older brother of dancer Gregory Hines.
Susan Miller Dorsey High School is a high school located in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, California. It is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Village, Jefferson Park, West Adams and a portion of Leimert Park.
The 51st Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 1, 1997. "Launching the Tonys" was telecast on PBS television. The event was hosted by Rosie O'Donnell. The awards ceremony moved away from Broadway for the first time in 30 years. As Radio City Music Hall is much larger than any Broadway theater, this allowed members of the general public to attend the ceremony.
The Governor's School for the Arts is a regional secondary arts school sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education and the public school divisions of Chesapeake, Franklin, Isle of Wight County, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Southampton County, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach. It is one of 19 Virginian academic-year Governor's Schools and provides intensive educational opportunities for identified gifted students in instrumental music, vocal music, dance, musical theatre, theatre & film, and visual arts. The school is housed in the historic Monroe Building in downtown Norfolk.
The San Francisco Opera Center (SFOC) is the San Francisco Opera's professional training center for opera singers. Based in San Francisco, it encompasses two different professional tracks for training: a summer training program known as the Merola Opera Program and a two year long term resident artist program known as the Adler Fellowship. For twenty years the SFOC also operated a touring opera company, the Western Opera Theatre, but for financial reasons this touring company was disbanded in 2003. In addition to providing training for opera singers, the Merola Opera Program also provides training for vocal coaches and stage directors. Four singers each year from the summer Merola Opera Program are offered Adler Fellowships with the San Francisco Opera. Soprano Sheri Greenawald served as director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 2002 through 2020.
Wonderland, formerly called Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure or Wonderland: A New Alice, is a musical play with a book by Jack Murphy and Gregory Boyd, lyrics by Murphy, and music by Frank Wildhorn. The story, a contemporary version of the novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) by Lewis Carroll, is set in New York City and focuses on writer Alice Cornwinkle and her 10-year-old daughter Chloe.
Chester Gregory, also known as C.H.E.S.S., is an American actor, singer and songwriter from Gary, Indiana. His breakthrough came with his portrayal of Jackie Wilson in The Jackie Wilson Story, which led to his Broadway debut as Seaweed in Hairspray. Gregory's other credits include principal roles in Tarzan, Cry-Baby, Dreamgirls and Sister Act. Gregory produced and starred in a look into the life of Jackie Wilson in The Eve of Jackie. Gregory has received numerous awards including the Joseph Jefferson and NAACP Theatre Award.
J Dakota Powell is a multidisciplinary artist, writer/producer, and the founder of XR Lab and TimeWave, a transatlantic organisation that gathers creative media artists and technologists to explore the use of technology in storytelling and to invent new forms of media and entertainment. She was the Producing Artistic Director of Brave New World on Broadway, which gathered the American theatre to respond to the September 11 terrorist attacks.