By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
While most of Broadway remains closed, 18 songs, five actors and a pit band will prove on Saturday that the spirit of the storied street is alive and well in Sitka.
“Being on the stage with all of the singing and the music with all the mics ...” said performer Jessica Coker. “I have so many friends who would die to be on stage right now.”
Coker, a professional singer, is one of five cast members in the musical revue show “A Night on Broadway,” presented by the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.
The performance of showtunes is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Sitka Performing Arts Center.
Coker is joined by other professional performers Branden Noel Thomas, Sam Faustine and Rhiannon Guevin. Guevin’s vocal student Mina Brooks-Schmidt, who is 16, will perform a solo and with the group.
Jessica Coker sings “If You Knew My Story” from the Broadway musical “Bright Star,” with co-stars, from left, Branden Noel Thomas, Rhiannon Guevin, Mina Brooks-Schmidt and Sam Faustine Thursday night during rehearsal at the Performing Arts Center. The five are part of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp’s “A Night on Broadway,” set for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Performing Arts Center. (Photo by Christina Van Den Hoogen)
It’s a reunion of sorts for the group of adults since they last performed together in SFAC’s “Songs for a New World” in 2018. New York-based Pianist Robert Fleitz is once again music director and Guevin, of Sitka, the producer.
Thomas, Faustine and Coker traveled from the San Francisco area to be part of the show, following rules on quarantining and testing, and other precautions.
In addition to their solos and duets, they will perform the role of the chorus in the solos, to give the program more of a Broadway-show feel.
Coker’s numbers include solos “Heart of Stone,” from “Six” and “If You Knew My Story” from “Bright Star”; and duets from “Side Show,” where she and Thomas play conjoined twins; and “Little Shop of Horrors” with Faustine.
Of the “Bright Star” number, Coker said she didn’t know the show well, but was pleased with how well the song fit her voice. She also performs in other music styles, such as R&B, pop and folk.
Thomas and Coker have collaborated on a number of Zoom and virtual shows during the pandemic and were excited to accept Guevin’s invitation to once again come to Sitka. Thomas said she has learned a number of technical skills during the pandemic to continue performing virtually, and has adapted to the virtual format, but there’s nothing like being on stage.
“It was amazing,” Thomas said of the first on-stage rehearsal. “It was so good to be with the band. It felt like a real show.”
Her solo numbers in the show include “Home” from “The Wiz,” and “Flying Home” from “Songs for a New World.”
Thomas said “Home” fits well with the show, since she feels like she’s coming back “home” to the stage with this performance.
“I truly am home in the sense of theater, performing, sharing my love – with the audience – of the theater,” she said. “It feels like home when I sing it. When I feel lost on a project I came back to my ‘Home,’ my rock.”
Faustine will be making his seventh appearance on the Sitka stage. Besides “Songs for a New World,” he starred in “Last Five Years” with Guevin, and in the Queen, Pink Floyd and Van Halen tribute shows.
His numbers include a duet with Thomas, “Agony” from “Into the Woods”; a solo from “She Loves Me”; and other duets.
Faustine is a cantor at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, and a salaried performer with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, which has continued to pay performers during the pandemic, despite no concerts.
“I’m so grateful,” Faustine said. “We’re hoping to hit the ground running for the ’21-’22 season (in the fall.” His last stage role was Tony in “West Side Story” at the Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre, and he performs regularly in professional companies.
Guevin said her goal in coming up with the set list, in collaboration with the others, was to have “a good balance of everything” with both upbeat as well as emotional numbers. She hopes that each of the songs shows off what is amazing about each of the actors’ performance and vocal qualities.
“(Fleitz) said we were like ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ of voices,” Guevin said. “We have amazing belters, people who can do amazing riffs, and some that are more contemporary style. We are all strong harmonizers.”
Guevin’s solos are “No One Else” from “Great Comet of 1812,” “Burn” from “Hamilton” and a duet with Faustine “Bad Idea” from “Waitress.” Also from that show she’ll sing “Soft Place to Land” with Thomas and Coker.
“I tried to pick things for myself that were appropriate for me as a performer but pushed me a little bit stylistically,” she said.
Her student, Brooks-Schmidt, will sing harmony with the others as well as solo number “My New Philosophy” from “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” But she said the real treat for her has been watching rehearsals “which are just incredible.”
Brooks-Schmidt, a junior at Sitka High, has been studying with Guevin for five years.
In the pit are Fleitz (keyboard), Trevor Wiest (guitar and banjo), Colin Roshak (clarinet), Drew Larson (trumpet), Drew Sherman (bass), Ed Littlefield (drums and percussion), and Roger Schmidt (trombone). Elle Campbell is the light and set designer, and technical director for the show.
Tickets are $20, and the show is limited capacity seating, in line with COVID-19 precautions. But those who want to watch the show from home can do so through a livestream option, or purchasing a recording.
Information and tickets are available at fineartscamp.org
