Tag: Hello Dolly

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The Artist’s Challenge – Day Two

Day Two of the Artists Challenge – (For 5 days, 1 post each day, 1pic or several pics or video of your artistic journey so far. Each day nominate 2 people to join).

I have to include my first Broadway show – HELLO, DOLLY! with the incredible Carol Channing. I joke with folks that practically every show I ever went after I never got. And then the incredible blessing that happened were things I never dreamed of. DOLLY was one of those.

The show had been cast for months, but a week before rehearsals were to start one male dancer got a Broadway show (DOLLY was set to tour for a year before coming into NYC). I went to the audition – something like 120 guys were there. One spot available. They taught one combination and cut to 30. I was kept. We did another combination, they cut to 15. I was kept again. It was here that I heard they needed someone 6 foot something because they’d started costumes and the guy was that tall. Clearly – I am not. I went in to sing thinking “I’m so not getting this” so I threw caution to the wind and just sang. I went home and considered how I was going to have to wait tables again for the first time in four years. The call came within an hour.

Thank you Lee Roy Reams for the amazing gift that is DOLLY. It was a wonderful family. In 22 months no one left the show. We all loved what we were doing.

I ended up handling choreography duties for the post-Bway tour and have done something like 9 productions since. Oh – and I should mention that DOLLY (like a good matchmaker) introduced me to my husband, Michael Caprio. We’ve been together over 20 years. Can you ask more of a Broadway debut?

I’m second from the left in the Waiters Gallop pic below – please note the pulled up feet 🙂

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NYC: Opening of HELLO, DOLLY! with National Asian Artists Project

For the past two weeks, I’ve been in NYC splitting my time between The Randy Report and rehearsals for a “staged concert” production of HELLO, DOLLY! for the National Asian Artists Project spearheaded by my long time friend Baayork Lee.

NAAP is a community of artists, educators, administrators, community leaders, and professionals. It is a not-for-profit organization that recognizes the need to build bridges between the work of artists of Asian descent, and the many communities that the work can serve, from underserved primary school students to seasoned arts patrons.

The National Asian Artists Project cast of HELLO, DOLLY! takes a bow

The show opened this past Monday (I’ve been recovering and catching up from the last minute rush of opening) and I have to post some of the pictures of the beautiful and talented cast from the show and the reception afterward.

One of the things I love about theater is we all seem to find each other again eventually. Hang out in the business long enough, we’ll see one another again.

Take a look at the pic below – from left to right:

• Zoie Lam (founder of NAAP, who I performed in A CHORUS LINE with in the 80s)
• Baayork Lee (founder of NAAP, who cast me in 2 national touring companies of A CHORUS LINE in 1989 and 1991)
• Christine Toy Johnson (our “Dolly Levi” who performed with me in CATS from 1986-1988) 
• Lee Roy Reams (our director, who cast me in my first Broadway show and made me the “designated choreographer” for HELLO, DOLLY! all these years). 

So many people from so many different productions of my theater career, all of us coming together again for this great event.

Zoie Lam, Baayork Lee, me, Christine Toy Johnson, Lee Roy Reams
and music director Kevin Ferrell

A wonderful experience all around, here’s a few more pictures from the evening…

“Dolly Levi” leads the company in ‘Hello, Dolly!”
Photo by Eric Bondoc Photography

Alex Chester (“Minnie Fay”) and the men of HELLO, DOLLY!
(JP Moraga, Daniel J. Edwards, Rommel Pierre O’Choa, Aaron Komo)
Photo by Eric Bondoc Photography

Christine Toy Johnson (“Dolly Levi”) and me

Jaygee Macapugay (“Irene Malloy”) and Karl Josef Ko (“Cornelius Hackl”)

Karl Josef Ko (“Cornelius Hackl”) and me

Me with 9 time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune, who was very gracious
in complimenting my choreography! Wow! An out of body experience…

My husband Michael Caprio, Christine Toy Johnson and I

Director Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson and
9 time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune

For more information about The National Asian Artists Project and their mission, head to their official website by clicking here.

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Heading to NYC to stage “Hello, Dolly!” concert for National Asian Artists Project

As I’m frantically packing to head to NYC, I needed some “up” music to get me in the right frame of mind for the next several days of rehearsal for the National Asian Artists Project concert of “Hello, Dolly!”

Btw – I’m in the video above somewhere. See if you can find me 🙂

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National Asian Artists Project presents HELLO, DOLLY!

I’m very excited to be asked by Baayork Lee to be part of an upcoming staging of HELLO, DOLLY! in New York City with my partner in DOLLY crime, Lee Roy Reams. As we always say at the beginning of each production “It’s an adventure, Barnaby!”

Plus, I’ll be working with my former CATS cast mate, Christine Toy Johnson, AND my fab Production Stage Manager from two national tours of A CHORUS LINE.

Here’s a little more info on the production:

National Asian Artists Project presents a Rediscover Series production of the Broadway classic, HELLO, DOLLY!, by Jerry Herman (music/lyrics) and Michael Stewart (book). This fully-staged fully-costumed presentation is directed by Lee Roy Reams, director of Carol Channing’s last Broadway revival in 1995, when it was last seen in New York (which was my Broadway debut).

This limited two-nights-only event will take place at the brand new Frank Gehry-designed Pershing Square Signature Center on 42nd Street in the heart of New York City’s theatre district.

The evening is a benefit fundraiser for National Asian Artists Project (NAAP), whose mission is to bridge the work of professional theatre artists of Asian descent with the many communities they can serve, from minority communities and primary schools to seasoned arts patrons, as well as providing opportunities for professional theatre artists to grow. Founded by theatre artists Baayork Lee, Steven Eng, and Nina Zoie Lam, NAAP strives to be a leader in this often unheard community. For more info on NAAP, go to: www.NAAProject.org

Click here for ticket info.

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Dolly Levi on my Christmas mantle

A couple of years ago, I reunited with my “Hello, Dolly!” buds from the 1995 revival and we did a number at Gypsy of the Year with Carol Channing.  Great, warm, wonderful time.

At that event they sold special “Hello, Dolly!” Christmas tree ornaments – so, of course, I had to have one.

Carol sits on my mantle overseeing all the holiday activity, much like ‘Dolly’ making her magic at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant.

Makes me smile.

Merry, merry everyone.

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“Carol Channing: Larger Than Life”

The men of "Hello, Dolly!" with Carol at Gypsy of the year

The legendary Broadway star Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!
The legendary Broadway star Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!
In late May 1994, I was an unemployed actor – again – in NYC. Upon checking the mail on a Wednesday morning, my last unemployment check had arrived and I had no acting job in sight. For years I had worked steadily and supported myself as an actor. It looked like that career was about to take a break. Continue reading ““Carol Channing: Larger Than Life””