Review: LA'S NEXT GREAT STAGE STAR 2017 PRESENTED BY PRINCESS CRUISES Rocks the Colony in Its Second Week

Loosely patterned after "an audition process", this 11th annual fully produced event is geared to discovering new talent between the ages of 18 and 32 for the musical theatre stage. This year once again the contest is generously sponsored/presented by Princess Cruises.

As has become the standard, approximately 20 contestants compete for the title, a $2500 cash prize, a headlining engagement at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal during the New Year, professional representation in the business of musical theatre, and other valuable prizes. To date, over a dozen former contestants have already made their Broadway and/or Off-Broadway debuts; while nearly another 100 have either starred in Broadway U.S. National Tours; Regional U.S. Musical Theatre productions; Las Vegas Hotel sit-downs of Broadway Musicals; on board in lavish production shows presented by some of the world's most prestigious cruise lines; or have starred on stages at numerous Southern California Theme Parks such as Disneyland's California Adventure and Lego Land. Internationally, Tokyo Disney is also host to Stage Star talent.

The event is judged by nearly two dozen Los Angeles-based Broadway Musical Theatre Producers, Directors, Casting Directors, and Equity theatre agents who not only score each contestant's performance, but offer live critical feedback each week with no eliminations until the final week of competition. Audience members may also vote for their favorite contestant(s) during Weeks 1 through 5 (January 8 - February 12). The Stage Star Finale (Sunday, February 19) reveals the title winner and top 4 runners up with that day's competition voted on by all of the competition's returning judges.

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On Sunday January 15, for the first time on the mainstage of the acclaimed Colony Theatre in Burbank, LA's Next Great Stage Star 2017 Presented by Princess Cruises deliciously dished out its second week with 18 very talented contestants. The opening number "Give My Regards to Broadway" with snippets from many Broadway shows including Evita, Sweeney Todd and West Side Story featured all 18 contestants. It was beautifully choreographed and staged by Joe Giamalva and Susie McGiver Ewing. Brilliant musical director/ pianist Richard Berent serves as musical director, Peter Welkin as associate producer and of course, the man of the evening executive producer Michael Sterling, who founded the contest 11 years ago. This year, actor/singer Justin Michael Wilcox serves as congenial master of ceremonies for each of the 6 presentations. And of course, actress, singer, humanitarian extraordinaire Barbara Van Orden once again serves as co-executive producer.

There were no lags in this presentation. Wilcox kept the ball rolling, as he introduced each contestant, asked each one a couple of informal questions to warm them up like "What prompted you to choose this song?" and then each sang a song that they chose from the week's category, Broadway tunes from female composers. Most made some pretty keen and challenging choices, risky complex songs that I have never heard before from newer or lesser known musicals like Barbara Anselmi's It Should Have Been You, Cyndi Lauper's Kinky Boots or Jill Santoriello's A Tale of Two Cities. The 18 contestants in alphabetical order are: Allison Aoun, Daniel T.Bellusci, Rachel Berman, Tatum Blinn, Hannah Bushyeager, Jordan Centeno, Maxwell Corpuz, Taj Jegaraj, Sallie Griffin, JorDan Jackson, Sam Labrecque, Emily Martin, David Miller, Nohely Quiroz, Mitchell Turner, Natalia Vivino, Justin W. Yu, and Mary Zastrow.

Professional judges, who include LA agents and theatrical managers, musical theatre directors, directors/producers/writers/choreographers, give each contestant pertinent comments about their appearance, choice of song - whether it suits their voice, vocal choices which includes acting ability and overall good professional suggestions to help them in auditions. The judges for January 15 were: directors Glenn Casale, Lewis Wilkenfeld and Jeremy Rich. All judges are friendly and cooperative as opposed to overly critical and mean as we have seen with certain judges on TV competitions. The best comment, I believe, came from Glenn Casale, a premier international stage director, who told contestants to " Think of the song as a monologue with a beginning, a middle and an end. Look at the arc of acting within it."Jeremy Rich from Princess Cruises Entertainment Department stressed physicality, making connections and choosing a song that shows you off.

Rather than vote as most audience members do, giving each contestant a rating of 1-3, I take notes and pick out some who I feel are most likely to be in the winner's circle on February 19, the last day of the contest. It's going to be close, but here are some to keep your eyes on, all of whom have great voices and the rich ability to tell a story through song. They are Maxwell Corpuz, Sallie Griffin, Taj Jegaraj, David Miller, Nohely Quiroz, a very funny Mitchell Turner, Mary Zastrow and Hannah Bushyeager. These are just choices. Everyone was wonderful. I can't wait to return on February 19 to see the continued improvements and growth of all of these great participants.

Just a brief but important shout-out to Barbara Van Orden, co-executive producer of LA's Next Great Stage Star 2016 Presented by Princess Cruises. Barbara is a sensational performer and humanitarian and really knows talent when she sees it. As a counselor there is no one finer; her help, advice and overall support for these young candidates are magnanimous. She's the best!

See you on February 19th!