BWW Blog: Abigail Shapiro - Adventures in Connecticut - Hosting and Judging

Adventures in Connecticut: Hosting and Judging

Today is the day of our show! Both Milly and I are beyond excited to be returning to 54 BELOW, and both of us can't wait to perform all of the new pieces to the show.

Milly and I have been back and forth to Connecticut, quite frequently, and all of these trips have been great experiences that we will never forget. Today I am going to tell you about some adventures we've had there this summer...

Well most recently, I checked something off my bucket list - to judge a talent show. I loved it so much! The talent show was called CT's Got Talent and was part of the 12.14 Foundation's Summer Season (http://www.1214foundation.org). In my first blog for Broadway World, I reviewed the 12.14 Foundation's production of "The 101 Dalmatians Musical" which includes 101 kids from the Newtown, CT area as the Dalmatians. The 12.14 Foundation's mission to use the performing arts to promote healing and strength.

Our fellow judges included Krysta Rodriguez, best known for her role as the original Wednesday Addams in the Broadway musical The Addams Family, and Arnold Mungioli, a top Casting Director on Broadway, who we had such a great time working with. I've always been the one in the talent show or the one auditioning, so this was new for me. When you're a performer in this type of show, you never really know what you're being judged upon, and winners are not necessarily chosen by favorite acts. It all depends on what factors the judges look out for. For example, we had to judge contestants on creativity, originality, practice, visual appearance, actual talent, etc. I had such a great time observing all of the wonderful acts that were performed. My personal favorite was a girl around Milly's age who sang "Oh Darling," by the Beatles. I thought she was amazing. Another act that I thought was interesting was a drummer; he set up his act in a creative way. He added a bunch of glow in the dark tape, etc., to his drums and attire, which looked fantastic while he played.

On one of our other trips to Connecticut, Milly and I also had the chance to MC the Connecticut High School Musical Theater Awards. I had such a great time. Hosting an awards ceremony like this is similar to a cabaret, because of the spontaneity, and the little preparation you're able to do. We were given the script a few days before the show and we would just simply memorize the section before it was performed, so we had to test our improvisational skills quite a bit. We also got the chance to perform as well. I loved getting to see all performances from shows, and most of all getting to see people receive their awards. It is so nice to see all of the joy it brings them. The hardest part about MC'ing the show was the names! There were some peculiar ones that I hadn't heard of before! . But I particularly loved to see all the performances from the nominees.

I had a fabulous time judging the talent show and hosting the CHSMTA. Both were such great experiences, and I hope that Milly and I will have the chance to do it again. Well hope you can come see us at 54 BELOW tonight! Thank you Broadway World!

-Abigail Shapiro