Photo Flash: GIVE MY REGARDS…THE BEST OF BROADWAY! A COMPETITION LIKE NO OTHER Has A Winner And Is A Winner at Feinstein's/54 Below

Ladies and Gentlemen, we HAVE a winner!

It started in May of 2020, when the New York City lockdown was only two months in, and other states across the country were either in or out or, in some cases, some nebulous place in between. The singers of the world had been posting videos of themselves singing from quarantine, to share something beautiful with the world, to raise their own spirits through the activity, or to accomplish both. Spot-On Entertainment founder Scott Coulter decided that, if people were going to continue raising their voices in this way, he might be able to give them something to sing about. He ran an idea by his Spot-On family of advisors and the announcement was made that Spot-On Entertainment would hold a singing contest, with a prize of appearing in the Spot-On concert "Blockbuster Broadway" with the Pacific Symphony in June of 2022. The contest, GIVE MY REGARDS, received so many submissions from around the world that Mr. Coulter watched over fifty hours of hopefuls singing their hearts out from their living rooms, bedrooms, back yards, and green screens. His task: narrow the multitudes of entries down to sixty.

A panel of judges made up of cabaret superstar Carole J. Bufford, Broadway powerhouse Blaine Alden Krauss, rock and roll goddess Lorinda Lisitza, and musical theater writer Jessica Hendy voted on the top twenty, all of whom worked via Zoom with mentors from Spot-On Academy, top industry professionals Natalie Douglas, Klea Blackhurst, Kirsten Wyatt, Melvin Tunstall III, Chris Blem and Coulter himself. After completing this work, the contestants re-filmed their entries for another panel of judges, who narrowed the playing field to ten before turning the video submissions over to celebrity judges Kate Flannery, Christina Bianco, Justin Squigs Robertson, and Pittsburgh Pirate Steven Brault. And then there were six.

Last night, in a genuinely magical cabaret concert, the six finalists made their New York City cabaret debut at Feinstein's/54 Below, playing to a nightclub that was so filled-to-capacity that this writer happily surrendered his seat so that someone else might have one. (Besides, I can take better pictures standing up, even at the back of the club.) In a running order determined by random name-draw out of a hat, there were shockingly spectacular performances from D'Marreon Alexander (Detroit, MI), Chelle Denton (San Mateo, CA), Tyler Evick (Nashville, TN), Natasha Hoeberigs (London, U.K.), Caleb Mitchell (Murfreesboro, TN), and Veronica Stern (Pelham, NY). The audience screamed, cheered, gasped, and teared up to performances of five show tunes and one pop song, and each time a finalist finished, you could almost hear people thinking, "Well, THEY'RE going to win." With Coulter hosting (always a plus for any show) and John Boswell Musical Directing (a win, every time) these six performers showed a New York City crowd why they deserve to singing for their supper.

And they do deserve it.

In the opinion of this writer (and cabaret aficionado) each one of these artists should go home and put together their own club act, or maybe an EP, or make a YouTube channel, or look into Tik Tok... or perhaps look into whether or not a move to Manhattan is in order. Whatever their trajectory, Misters Alexander, Evick and Mitchell and Misses Denton, Hoeberigs, and Stern have an open invitation to reach out to me at Broadway World when they are ready to do their shows: I will be happy to help them get the word out for, after only one viewing of their skills, I can definitely say they each have something special.

In a contest, though, someone must always win. Last night, a panel of judges made up of Christina Bianco, Klea Blackhurst, Lisa Howard, and Justin "Squigs" Robertson cast votes based on the evening's performances and the winner of the first-ever GIVE MY REGARDS singing contest was teacher and nanny Chelle Denton, who took home the prize with one of the best performances of "She Used To Be Mine" that this writer has ever seen (and, thanks to YouTube, I think I've seen them all).

Six Stunning Singers.

Six bright futures.

One magical night.

Find other great shows to see at the Feinstein's/54 Below website HERE.

Learn all about Spot-On Entertainment HERE.

Follow Chelle Denton on Instagram HERE.

Visit the D'Marreon Alexander website HERE.

Tyler Evick has a website HERE.

HERE is Natasha Hoeberigs's website.

Caleb Mitchell does not appear to have online representation.

Veronica Stern's website is HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

To post a comment, you must register and login.