BWW Blog: Miranda Jackel - Attending BroadwayCon

I'll never forget the day I found out the first-ever BroadwayCon was happening. I saw the headline in big, bold letters, and could barely believe my eyes. I WENT INSANE (tbh, that's an understatement). I began jumping up and down, screaming at the top of my lungs!!! For years and years, I'd been constantly rambling on about how desperately I wanted a Broadway convention to happen. Finally, it was going to be a reality, and I was overwhelmed by joy and surprise! The first year of BroadwayCon was absolutely unforgettable-and not just because we got stuck at the Hilton in the midst of that crazy blizzard!!

The experience itself was a TOTAL BLAST!!! It was everything I'd ever fantasized about...but 1000x better (I never thought that was humanly possible, but the team behind BroadwayCon is made of special magical unicorns, soooo...they managed to make it happen! ;)) After that weekend last year, I began anxiously awaiting BroadwayCon's encore, and it felt like a lifetime, but BroadwayCon 2017 finally came...and IT WAS AMAZING IN LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE WAY AND I AM NOT BEING HYPERBOLIC LIKE AT ALL IT WAS SERIOUSLY THAT INCREDIBLE OMG!!! It was a jam-packed weekend and I attended a TON of panels, performances, and more!

Everything was insanely awesome and if I gave you the entire low-down on everything I went to, this would be longer than Les Mis. BUT here are just some of the many amazing things that happened this weekend!!! I kicked off my crazy (in the best kind of way, of course!) weekend on Friday morning. (Credz to my school for choosing to make Regents week coincide with BroadwayCon so I had no school. I know you chose this for my personal gain because the world revolves around me and only me!!! Jk jk no it revolves around Queen Audra. Duh.) I checked out the Legacy Roles panel, featuring Kelli O'Hara, Judy Kuhn, Danny Burstein, and Celia Keenan-Bolger (#squadgoals)-it was an absolute dream!

Such a talent-filled room!! <3 Now...the scoop on the INSANELY amazing BroadwayCon Opening Ceremony, written by the brilliant composer/lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver!!! I was already a huge fan of RSO's work (If you're not familiar with his work, FAMILIARIZE YOSELF!!! He's super awesome and talented.), and now I'm even more in awe of his genius than I was before...and I thought that was impossible! The opening surrounded young, theater-obsessed Carl, played by Sam Tanabe, who packed his bags for the Big City to pursue his Broadway dreams...until the wicked, dictatorial, Twitter-obsessed Mayoress, played by the one and only QUEEN LESLI, banned Broadway, making Carl's worst nightmare a reality. (I know. I, too, feel him on such a deep level...) However, he raised his voice (specifically, his singing voice) and stood up for his beliefs with the soaring "We Will Sing". The mini-musical was filled with hilarious musical theater puns and guest appearances by fan faves (including Carolee Carmello, Fredi Walker-Browne, Alice Ripley, and James Monroe Iglehart!)

It was a brilliant blend of crazy laughter and fun and an empowering social message-exactly what Broadway does best!! Right after, the mainstage was taken over by the unbelievably incredible cast of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (which, BTW, is an innovative, imaginative masterpiece. What did I tell you?! :)) That night, we had a total blast at the BroadwayCon cabaret! The HILARIOUS Laurence O'Keefe sang a genius song about the 21st century cell phone obsession. SO. FRIGGIN'. GOOD. OMG. The cabaret finished with a bang...AKA Carolee Carmello. She SLAYED US ALL with "Don't Rain on My Parade". I will never be able to get my head around how her level of perfection is humanly possible...but, somehow, it is.

I can barely contain my excitement for her in Sweeney Todd (literally do not ask me about my feelings about this production unless you have like an entire lifetime to spare because I could honestly rant forever about how much I can't wait OMG AGH!!!) I started Saturday morning off right at the BroadwayCon Feud!!! IT. WAS. AWESOME. Jenn Colella reprised her role from last year as host and totally killed it! (She may or may not have smooched her Broadway buds in the process...) Because we're totally nuts, all of us giant geeks in the audience did quite a bit of jumping up and down, stomping our feet, and screaming during the game (especially me...#sorrynotsorry).

At noon, THINGS GOT CRAZY. Translation: LIN HAPPENED!!! This guy named Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote this obscure little indie show called Hamilton (maybe you've heard of it? Probs not) FaceTimed us!!! He answered questions from us crazy fans, in addition to making me feel way more validated in the fact that I ALWAYS make really weird faces disturbingly close to the screen during video chats. (HE DOES IT TOO! Stars: They're Just Like Us.) Speaking of songwriters, later that day, I attended a super informative panel with some of my favorite contemporary musical theater songwriters and I absolutely loved hearing about their journeys, writing processes, and all that jazz!! :) Then, at 6pm...A STORM CAME. A BEAUTIFUL STORM. A STORM CALLED: QUEEN Lesli Margherita!!! (PS, BroadwayCon programmers, if for whatever reason you're reading this, at next year's BrodwayCon, the existence of a booth that sells Queen Lesli Margherita Pizzas would bring me an immense amount of joy. Because puns are EVERYTHING. Just sayin'...)

Oh. My. Gah. The Lesli Margherita Variety Hour was everything I dreamed it'd be and more!!! I think Lesli's next project should be a one-woman show because I WOULD LITERALLY GO EVERY NIGHT. NO JOKE. From Star Wars Das Musical and beyond, it was Lesli in all her hilarious glory and I adored every second of it!! Queen Lesli is a tough act to follow (UM YES OF COURSE THAT WAS A CURTAINS REFERENCE. OBVI.), but the BroadwayCon Blizzard Party Line did a pretty fantastic job of it! We got to call/FaceTime tons of Broadway's brightest stars, including Billy Porter, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Bell Bundy Jesse Tyler Ferguson (HE SAID ON THE PHONE THAT HE WAS DOING A WORKSHOP OF A NEW LACHIUSA MUSICAL AT THE PUBLIC THIS WEEK AND I HIGH KEY DIED LIKE I COULD NOT BREATHE I NEED TO BE IN "THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS" OMG I CAN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT LEVEL OF AMAZING IT'S JUST TOO MUCH FOR ME TO EMOTIONALLY HANDLE), and Laura Bell Bundy, who told us a hysterical story about a not-so-happy accident she once almost had during a performance of Legally Blonde.)

That night, things got crazy at the BroadwayCon Slumber Party-from a game of Truth or Dare with the stahs, to "There's a Fine, Fine Line": Beatbox Edition, and beyond! Now, for the bittersweet part: Day 3. I LOVED watching two of my favorite Broadway people (and also #bffgoals), the hilarious Will Roland and MY SPIRIT ANIMAL Jennifer Ashley Tepper in The Untold Stories of Broadway Panel! Can I please just be JAT and know literally everything about musical theater in the entire world? And just be an overall ridiculously amazing human in the world??? Please??? #goals Then, I sat in the mainstage, on the verge of tears, at the Dear Evan Hansen panel because I AM SUCH AN ENORMOUS #FANSEN!!! They're such a beautiful, talented, and bonded cast. I love them so much!!! <3

I also LOVED the New Musical Theatre panel! New Musical Theatre is totally my jam and it made me so happy to see an entire panel of brilliant writers with no Broadway credits!!! Then, Joe Iconis took the marketplace stage by storm with a truly INCREDIBLE performance (let's just say it featured some serious belting realness). He's an absolute mastermind and the performance was KILLER!!! I must also give a special mention to the marketplace, which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED!!! There were so many amazing booths and I'm OBSESSED with all the awesome stuff I got! (Everyone who knows me knows I'm the Queen of Broadway Merch, so it was pretty much my dream come true... ;))

I have to give a special shoutout to the Stagedoor Manor booth!!! I'm a proud Stagedoor camper (check out my BWW blog about Stagedoor!), so going to their booth made me super happy! <3 The day finished off on a truly beautiful, deeply empowering note, thanks to BroadwayCon co-creator Melissa Anelli's gorgeous speech, plus the most inspirational singalong to Ryan Scott Oliver's song from the opening, "We Will Sing". She discussed how difficult it is to leave a safe, joy-filled space like BroadwayCon and return to the harsh, terrifying reality of the World. She encouraged everybody to remember the weekend they spent living on the beautiful Broadway bubble when times get tough. I am so very much in agreement with everything she said. It was such a wonderful weekend and it reminded me once again of how very lucky we are to have theater in our lives in these dark times. Thinking about the future is undeniably scary at this moment in time, but I feel so truly grateful to have theater in my life, now more than ever. Thank you, BroadwayCon for giving me that important reminder, once again.