It's been a hot minute since I've podcasted, and I have truly missed it like crazy. It has been one heck of a year, and I have truly been SUPER BUSY. However, when it comes to releasing episodes, I really want to continue to share my passions with the world, so I have decided to start a new series through this podcast called "Episodes from the Vault."
Every episode is going to feature an interview I have done over the past year, and despite the extremely overdue release, I still want to share it with whoever will listen. Without further ado, this is Episodes From the Vault.
Larkin Reilly made her broadway debut in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Bad Cinderella. Despite the short run on Broadway, she got to perform in an original company of a musical. Since this interview, Reilly has been on the road touring with Beetlejuice: The Musical in the ensemble and covering Lydia Deetz.
Bethany McDonald is an actress from England. She starred on the Norwegian Bliss in their production of Six as an alternate where she covered Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleaves, and Catherine Parr. This truly was a magical experience for her as she got to travel the world and play in one of the most successful shows of this current generation. Now, McDonald is touring North America in Pretty Woman: The Musical. In this production, she is in the ensemble and understudying the iconic, Vivian Ward.
Back in 2021, I was able to meet and interview my friend, Aubrey Shea. They are a singer and actor based out in LA who has been in the industry for years. If you have been following with my career, you may have heard my initial interview with them during season 2 of my podcast. Now, Shea is raising funds for their second short film, Acceptance which is something they wrote and will direct. This is a story all about living in Central Florida and being part of the LGBTQ+ community. In this episode, not only will listeners get to her all about Shea's plans for this project, but I hope listeners will learn more about this community and have positive takeaways during this educational and meaningful conversation.
Donate to Aubrey's project here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/acceptance-film/acceptance-short-film (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/acceptance-film/acceptance-short-film)
Taryn Smithson is a musical theatre actress. She starred as Rumpleteaser on the national tour of the hit musical, Cats. Growing up in dance class, she got to learn a combo from the musical, and ever since then she knew that she wanted to take part in the show in some way. Fast forward, and she got the opportunity of a life time to take a musical that is so beloved by people everywhere all around the country. This truly was a dream come true for Smithson and something she will never forget.
Tara Kostmayer is a musical theatre actress. She made her national tour debut in Disney's Aladdin. This magical tale has always been near and dear to her heart as she was able to truly find her love for performing trough this show. While on this tour, she had a track in the ensemble. Now, Kostmayer is back on the road, but this time she bringing Oz to cities all over the country while playing Nessarose on the national tour of the hit broadway musical, Wicked.
Channing Weir is a musical theatre actress who is no stranger to performing and traveling by sea. Over the course of her career, she has gotten to perform in several shows for different cruise lines, and even had the chance to sit in the lap of royalty during one of her performances. One of her most recent contracts, was traveling on the Norwegian Breakaway and performing in the musical, Six. In this show, she was an alternate for Anne Boelyn, Anna of Cleves and Katherine Howard. It was also just announced that Weir will be joining the new company of the national tour of the hit Broadway musical, Pretty Woman. Not to mention, a once upon a time, she went on a date with an American Idol alumni.
Maya Reese is a content creator. She is best known for her work for the platform, Overtime. Over the course of her career, Reese has become a five time award winner for her work in this field. In addition, she is also a published author and Emmy Award winner. Her voice has also been heard on the radio for projects. This Chicago girl loves chatting about all things sports and sharing her many passions with world.
Justine Rima is a an actress who prior to COVID got to take one of the most magical shows on the road. Just shy of theatre closing, Rima was on the national tour of the Broadway musical, Finding Neverland where she played Wendy. The story of the show is all about the origin of Peter Pan and how it got to capture the hearts of people everywhere. Prior to being on the road Finding Neverland was a film starring, Johnny Depp and originally starred Kelsey Grammer, Matthew Morrison and Teal Wicks (Season 1) on Broadway. Although it was for a short period of time, it was a dream for Rima to take this show to cities around the country.
Alexis Warr is a professional dancer who has starred on the two most popular dance reality competition shows of this generation. She was introduced to the world when she won season 17 of So You Think You Can Dance. After becoming America's favorite dancer, she continued to follow in the footsteps of many other contestants by joining the cast of Dancing with the Stars. For season 31, she was in the troupe, where she danced in the background of several performances throughout the season, and she got to fill in for Season 30 champion, Daniella Karagach for two weeks and danced with Joseph Baena. In addition to appearing on TV, she has also toured the country with DWTS.
Chiara Trentalange is an actress who has starred in several different shows both on and off Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in original cast of Girl from the North Country, a musical featuring the music of Bob Dylan. Luckily she was able to take the stage a few times prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. After the closing of this musical, Trentalange has starred in several different regional productions. More specifically, earlier this year, she was part of the cast of Disney's Hercules where she was in the ensemble and understudied the role of Megra.
Jenna Lea Rosen is no stranger to the world of performing. When she was born, she was a "tour baby" and travelled the country with her parents as they performed on the first national tour of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Little did she know, Rosen would eventually play Belle in a production of the show in the early stages of her career. In addition to Beauty and the Beast, Rosen got to work on Disney Junior's Sofia the First where she sang background vocals on several songs, and eventually got to sing as a princess. Recently, she got to switch gears and star in a production of Grease, as the one and only Sandy.
Kelsey Anne Brown is a musical theatre actress who has starred in several different regional productions. One of her first roles was in a production of Bring it On where she was indeed one of the members of the ensemble who got to fly through the air during all the cheerleading stunts. Other shows she has gotten the chance to do include, Mamma Mia, a Christmas Carol, and Once. In summer 2022, she got to play one of the biggest roles in her career thus far, Margot in Legally Blonde at The Muny in St. Louis.
Chelsea Cree Groen is a musical theatre actress who has been able to tour the country twice with some of the most popular musicals of this generation. After graduating from the University of Michigan, Groen made her national tour debut in the ensemble of Hello Dolly. In this production, she got to share the stage with broadway legend, Carolee Carmello. One of her most recent projects was hitting the road again, but this time with Wicked. Groen was once again in the ensemble, but also understudied the role of Glinda.
Becca Andrews is a musical theatre actress. She has gotten to star in productions of shows like Legally Blonde and Mamma Mia. In summer 2022, Andrews got to perform on the iconic Muny stage in St. Louis which is one of the most iconic musical theatre performance venues in the country. There she was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In addition, Andrews got a taste of touring when she hit the road with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
Stephanie Weizman is a social media influencer/content creator. She actually began her career working in law as a lawyer for several years. Weizman always knew that law was something she really wanted to go into professionally. Once Weizman got pregnant with her daughter, she began to take creating social media content more seriously and now she works as a content creator full time with over 134k folllowers on Instagram alone.
Brooke Ishibashi has been with the newest revival of Into the Woods since the early days at City Center in NYC. She was cast as Florinda (one of Cinderella's stepsisters) in the production and got to share the stage with superstars such as Sara Bareilles, and Neil Patrick Harris. Since the City Center Production was so successful, the show got transferred to Broadway which allowed Ishibashi to make her Broadway debut. She shared the stage with both the original cast and the replacement cast. Broadway wasn't the end of Ishibashi's journey with this magical tale. She took part in the ten city national tour bringing the woods to audiences all over the country. In addition to acting, Ishibashi is one of the founders of an organization called, Be and Arts Hero to stand up for whats right in the world of being in arts professionally.
Melaina Rairamo is a musical theatre actress who has been cast in some of the most memorable shows around the country. For example, she has experience in classic musical theatre in shows such as The Music Man and Singing in the Rain as well as more contemporary shows such as Mamma Mia and Saturday Night Fever. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was set to star in as Helga in a production of the hit musical Cabaret. Rairamo can also be featured in an upcoming run of Margaritaville.
Emily Afton is a musical theatre performer. She made her Broadway debut in the revival of the musical, Hair. Prior to coming to NYC, she also got the chance to tour with the same show. Her next big project was starring in Amalie on Broadway alongside Hamilton's Original Eliza, Phillipa Soo. Now, Afton is transporting audience members to the under world eight times a week where she is a worker in the Tony Award winning musical, Hadestown.
Alexis Loiselle is a musical theatre actress. She just recently got the chance to join to tour the country on the national tour of the hit Broadway musical, Legally Blonde. This was her first time hitting the road, and it was a magical experience for her to see places she never thought she would have the chance to travel to. In the show, Losielle was in the ensemble and understudied the roles of both Brooke Wyndham and Vivienne Kingston.
Jena VanElslander is an actress who has gotten to perform in several memorable musical theatre productions. One of her first professional gigs was getting to star in a production of Rock of Ages on the Las Vegas strip. VanElslander made her Broadway debut as a swing in the King Kong: The Musical. In fact, she got the chance to be a puppeteer multiple times throughout the shows run, and work magic with the gorilla. VanElsander was part of the original company of the national tour of the musical, Jagged Little Pill where she was in the ensemble as well as portraying the role of MJ's Avatar. Lastly and most recently, VanElslander was in the closing company of Life of Pi on Broadway.
