Uptown Players Presents BROADWAY OUR WAY 2022

Uptown Players presents its 19th annual fundraiser Broadway Our Way '22. This year's production is written and directed by B.J. Cleveland, choreographed by Andrew Coopman with music direction by Kevin Gunter and Kelley Poche Rodriguez and musical arrangements by Adam C. Wright. Broadway Our Way will run June 9 - 12, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. This year's event includes the return of two special guests, Emerson Collins and Black McIver

This Uptown Players audience favorite returns for another entertaining weekend of Broadway music with plenty of twists, laughs and surprises. The evening features many of your favorite actors from past Uptown Players seasons performing selections from Broadway shows, both past and present, all done with an Uptown Players twist! This year's cast of 22 will sing and dance to 30 songs from recent Broadway hits to classic revivals including Oklahoma, Tick Tick Boom!, Funny Girl, West Side Story, Wicked, Mean Girls, The Prom, and Next to Normal.

Special Guest - Emerson Collins and Blake McIver

Emerson Collins produced and starred in the film of A Very Sordid Wedding and returned to Uptown for the world premiere stage production last fall. He is best known for playing Steve (Will I?) in RENT on FOX and four seasons of BRAVO's The People's Couch. Emerson appeared in Southern Baptist Sissies with Uptown and went on to produce and star in the national tour and film, winning Best Actor at the Red Dirt International Film Festival. He won the Best Actor Desert Theatre League Award for the first regional premiere of Buyer & Cellar, reprising the role with the Laguna Playhouse. Emerson co-produced and recurred in LOGO's Sordid Lives: The Series and starred in the world premieres of The Boomerang Effect and The $5 Shakespeare Company. He directed the play and film of Del Shores' Six Characters in Search of a Play and directed all three of Del's standup specials for DVD. In addition, he produced the film Blues for Willadean, the world premiere of Del's play Yellow, and LA premiere of This Side of Crazy. Emerson has appeared as a guest artist and speaker at 50+ film festivals around the world.

Blake McIver began his career at six, winning the title of Star Search's Junior Vocalist Champion. TV and film roles include Full House, The Little Rascals, The Nanny, Home Improvement, Clueless, and The Drew Carey Show. Blake created the role of Edgar in the US Premiere of Ragtime (Ovation Nom). Blake has been seen on the Uptown stage in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Felicia) and The View Upstairs (Wes). Other favorite stage roles include Hairspray (Link), Aida (Radames), Chess (Freddie), and The Light in the Piazza (Fabrizio). Blake was a regular on four seasons of BRAVO's hit social series The People's Couch. As a singer / songwriter, Blake recently wrote and performed the end credit song in Del Shores' film A Very Sordid Wedding. Blake's original music, including his solo album The Time Manipulato

This year's line-up of songs will be a good mix of classic musical theater and current Broadway hits. B.J. wouldn't give a hint at any surprises, claiming that's part of the fun, but he did say, "We DO have some immediate hits in the show as well as songs you'll want to sing along with.

This year's cast features Michael Alonzo, Chimberly Byrom, BJ Cleveland, Coy Covington, Peter DiCesare, Jennifer Kuenzer, Denise Lee, Linda Leonard, Gena Loe, David Lugo, Randy Pearlman, Thomas Renner, Sara Shelby-Martin, Amy Stevenson, Kylie Stewart, Sammy Swim, Trey Tolleson, Emily Truelove, Lee Walter, and Jodi Wright, with special guests Emerson Collins and Blake McIver

Broadway Our Way runs June 9^th - June 12, with shows at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Performances take place at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre: 3636 Turtle Creek Dallas,TX 75219. Tickets are $35-$60 and can be purchased online at www.uptownplayers.org or by phone at (214) 219-2718.

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