Well, here we are friends, smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. And some of us pack more Christmas into a day than other do all season. That's why we recently invited cast members from a certain "Spectacular" to join us for an evening of "non holiday" themed music and stories. Enjoy cast members young and old and our Rising Stars Avery Smith and Tanya Sapp here. 

We all know that Broadway can be a fickle lady from time to time, tossing shows to and fro. Last season's Shuffle Along was critically lauded and ten times nominated for Tonys and then it was gone. Poof. I'm sure many of us have read articles about the whys and wherefores, but the fact is the show was great and filled with amazing talent. We wrangled some Shuffle alums together for an unforgettable night of music, laughs and TAP DANCING!!!! Check out performances (and our signature Schloppy Plot Shynopsis) by Zurin Villanueva, Leo Ash Evens, CK Edwards and Joseph Wiggan here. Also enjoy performances by our gorgeous Rising Stars Kathryn Francisco, Staci Jo Johnston and a very special peck at Ben Rimalower's Patti Issues.

There are things that you look forward to... Christmas, birthdays, dental cleanings. For us at Broadway Sessions, we always look forward to our once monthly ALL OPEN MIC parties. And boy did we have a doozy a couple weeks back. Showman Anthony Fett took the reigns as host and some of NYC's best voices sang deep into the night. Be a part of the magic right here...

The cast of CATS was simply 'purr-fect' (see what I did there?) at their recent visit to Broadway Sessions. Cast members took to  their songs like cats to cream (oh, dear God), as well as giving us insight in the complicated and ever so flushed out dramaturgy of the CATs society (who likes who, who fights who etc.). Besides fantastic performances cast members helped our audience find their inner Cat with makeup tutorials and choreography lessons..the 'kitten caboodle'. Ok, I'm done! Enjoy performances by Jessica Hendy, Christopher Gurr, Francesca Granell, Christine Cornish Smith, Richard Todd Adams, Madison Mitchell, Giuseppe Bausilio, Harris Milgrim, Kolton Krouse, Nathan Patrick Morgan, Sharrod Williams and Sara Jean Ford. + Rising Star Hana Freeman.

WICKED! I've got your attention now haven't I? Well, Wicked is a big word in my part of the world and maybe in yours too. 13 years ago I was honored to be a part of the original Broadway cast of the Oz-inspired blockbuster (you may have even heard my work on track #2 asking 'Glinda, is it true you were her friend?… but I digress).  At Broadway Sessions we like to celebrate Wicked Day (along with another spooky holiday) with ELPHABALL! Our salute to all things Wicked, featuring all women who have played the famously misunderstood green girl, Elphaba. Our 2nd annual ElphaBall was in a word, magic. 

Things got real rocky at Broadway Sessions recently as cast members from multiple companies of Rock of Ages reunited to slay their favorite rock n' roll tunes! ROA alums Tony LePage, Tess Alves, Cody Scott Lancaster, Katie Goffman, Danny McHugh and Jessica McHugh shredded faces along with 'Rising Star' KiKi Davis. Check out the beautiful carnage here!

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then parody is a regular old kiss on the lips to any masterpiece. And that's what Spamilton is to Hamilton, a big fat kiss on the lips. And it takes an awfully talented bunch to pull off a loving lampoon of Broadway's biggest hit. We recently welcomed that awfully talented bunch to Broadway Sessions. The Spamilton cast brought the funny, the fierce and the in your face. And don't you worry none, they paid great homage to Hamilton with beautiful renditions of Dear Theodosia, Satisfied and Burn. Check out Nora Schell, Juwan Crawley, Dan Rosales, Christ Anthony Giles, Michael Wordly, Claudia Yanez, Nicholas Edwards and our "Rising Stars" Payton Reilly and Billie Aken Tyers blasting the roof right off the Beechman basement roof.

Cast members from the ill-fated return of Motown on Broadway reunited at Broadway Sessions recently and proved that the closing was way too soon. Cast members Allison Semmes, Elijah Ahmed Lewis, Galen Williams, Jarvis Manning Jr., Leon Outlaw Jr., Talya Groves, Trisha Jeffrey, Nicholas Ryan, Olivia Puckett and Motown cast member turned Hamltlon caster Nik Walker were nothing short of multi platinum! Rising star Claire Manship was equally dazzling. Check out performances here!

It was that magical time of the month of again when super talented "stars to be" gathered for our All Open Mic party on October 6th. Check out some highlights below!

Fall is officially in the air school is in full session. We recently went back to school at Broadway Sessions, inviting some Broadway favorites to perform the roles they sang in their high school musicals. And maybe a song or 2 they didn't get to, because (fill in the blank) got the part over them. The revenge was sweet, the stories hysterical and the voices unreal. Enjoy Wicked's Jenna Leigh Green, Phantom's Jeremy Stolle, Book of Mormon's Matthew Marks, Les Miserables Beth Kirkpatrick, Beautiful's Mike Longo and more.

WE'RE BACK! After a long summer hiatus Broadway Sessions returned to The Laurie Beechman Theatre Thursday night to kick off our 9th season of Broadway fun. And what better way to celebrate than by featuring our audience in an ALL OPEN MIC party? The packed house proved to be ripe for the harvest with one performer after the next knocking the ball clean out of the park. Check out these super talented up and comers and remembers these names. Today's open mic star may just be next year's Broadway star. And with talent like this, I'd put money on it.

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time daydreaming about someday making it on big Broadway. There was lots of community theatre and talent shows and dancing for grandma and daydream after daydream. For a lot of us it was just that- a dream. But for these kids, it's just another day at the office. Big talent comes in little packages on The Great White Way. Here's a look back at some of the incredible Broadway kids from Matilda, Finding Neverland, On Your Feet, Once, Les Miserables, Kinky Boots, Elf, South Pacific and of course the face shredders from School of Rock!

This week our Broadway [OB]Session is our good friend, and arguably one of Broadway's best actors, Patrick Page! Broadway's favorite villain (Hunchback's Frollo, Lion King's Scar, Spider-Man's The Green Goblin... HADESTOWN!) is equally at home on the musical stage (he was THE GRINCH after all) as he is sinking his teeth into Shakespeare on the world's finest stages. Patrick is the sort of actor that can find truth and meaning in any text... SO we at Sessions have put his skills to task with a series of dramatic readings. Enjoy Mr. Page putting his stamp on Lady Gaga and Nikki Minaj (a personal favorite) as well as performances from some of his iconic roles and more. Keep your eye out for his beautiful wife Paige Davis! Here's to a master of his craft at WERK!

WICKED!!!! You tingled didn't you? It's hard not to. No modern musical has had quite the impact that this mega musical has had all over the world. And I won't lie to ya, Wicked hold's a very special place in my heart (listen to track #2 of your cast album, you may hear a familiar voice asking 'Glinda, is it true you were her friend?') But humble bragging aside, Wicked is nothing short of a phenomenon. So this week we've compiled some of our favorite Broadway Sessions performances from Stephen Schwartz's box office blockbuster! 'The Wizard and I,' 'Popular,' 'As Long As Your Mine,' 'No Good Deed,' 'Defying Gravity' and even a cliff notes version of ensembling in Wicked w/ myself and original caster Marcus Choi, it's just too good…or is it Wicked?

Broadway became just a little more Broadway this last week as CATS made it's return to the Great White Way. Whether or not you think Cats is a ground breaker or a punch line, one thing is certain, the man behind the music is a living legend. Andrew Lloyd Webber has been an ubiquitous part of any theatre fans experience for decades. From those first chilling organ chords in Phantom (which still gets me every time- then again I wore my Phantom T-shirt to have my 8th grade school photos taken); to the synth pop of Starlight Express; to the irresistible bubble gum goodness of Joseph; it's hard not to walk out of a Lloyd Webber show not humming the tunes. He's had hits (um, Cats is BACK), he's had misses (The Woman in White) he's blazed trails (JC Superstar is arguably the first and finest rock musical) and has written a masterpiece of a score or two along the way (Evita, and anyone remember Aspects of Love? Divine). We're celebrating the kitties' return with a Broadway Sessions stroll down memory lane with the Lord. Let the memories live again…

I remember the first time I heard Songs For a New World. Mind. Blown. Melodic like Andrew Lloyd Webber, cerebral like Sondheim. Perfect. Of course now, Jason Robert Brown is a living legend and one of the most prolific theatre composers in history.

To be honest, I've been feeling a little HOMEsick this week. Missing our Thursday nights together at our beautiful HOME, The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Well, who says you can't go HOME... let's bring it on HOME with some of our favorite friends singing one of our favorite musical theatre classics- HOME from The Wiz. (Are you getting a 'home' theme here?)

Broadway's biggest hit said goodbye to some of it's biggest hitters this week. Hamilton bid adieu to Tony-winning star and writer Lin Manuel Miranda, Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr, Tony nominee Phillipa Soo and 'The Bullet' herself, Ariana DeBose. That's a big change for the blockbuster and has, doubtless, left several Hamilton devotees heartbroken. We figured it'd be fitting to take a look back at some Sessions performances from the Tony-winning score that has wiggled its way into our heads and playlists and won't let go (nor do we want it to). Featuring The Color Purple's Akron Watson, Elf's Paul Ianiello, Avenue Q's Imari Hardon, country-fried acoustic trio Siren, new comer Ellis Dawson and Hamilton's own Angelia standby- Alysha Deslorieux.

Ah, summertime in New York. Strolls through Central Park, Yankees games, sweaty subway platforms, and most excitingly... NYMF!!!! That's right, the newly renamed New York Musical Festival is at hand and you should be excited. New musicals are being born and workshopped throughout the summer and the future of musical theatre is being forged. This last week at Broadway Sessions, our audience got the chance to be the first folks to hear music from nine of NYMF's most exciting offerings from this years festival. Lisa and Leonardo, Normativity, Camp Rolling Hills, Dust Can't Kill Me, LUDO's Broken Bride, Midnight at the Never Get, Icon, One Child Born and Freedom Riders all offered up musical glimpses into their productions. Get your own sneak peek here and make sure you go to NYMF.org and see as many of these shows as you can this summer! After all, what is summer for?

Broadway Sessions turned up the heat this last week with our final All Open Mic Party of the summer. Performers came ready to rock with every thing from burlesque performances to introspective tear jerkers. Enjoy some of the performances below and make sure you're in the room when we get our open mic on in September.

8 was great this last Thursday at Broadway Sessions! Not only did we celebrate 8 years of weekly shows but we celebrated host Ben Cameron's (that's me) 38TH birthday. Some of Sessions' most memorable guests returned to share music, stories and surprise our host (once again, that's me). Performances ranged from sentimental to insane, just the way we like it! Check it out here.

The Tony Awards aired last night on CBS (yeah yeah yeah, we know you know). The show was lovely and came at just the right moment, given all the horrific things happening in our world. We, at Broadway Sessions, got to celebrating last Thursday night as we welcomed Tony Award winner Daisy Eagan. We also celebrated the show that were "snubbed" with fabulous performances from Disaster's Olivia Phillip and Bway vet and Tuck Everlasting cast member Heather Parcells. Lion King and Ragtime vet DeMone Seraphin was also on hand to the delight of the fun loving crowd. "Rising Stars" Erin Christine Walsh, Julia Rose Hines and Daniel Joseph Baker knocked it out of the park. Enjoy the insanity here.

Cast members from the Tony-nominated revival of The Color Purple made their way to The Laurie Beechman Theatre on Thursday evening for Broadway Sessions. It became clear pretty darn quick that we were no longer in a theater- we were at CHURCH! These cats can sing like nobody's business. And that's just what they did. They SANG!!! Cast members Rema Webb, Antoine L. Smith, J. Daughtry, Adrianna Hicks, Bre Jackson, Phoenix Best, Akron Watson and Carla R. Stewart were greeted with standing ovation after standing ovation. The cast also shared insights into their audition experiences, told us their favorite 'audience reactions', played a round of 'The Color Purple Pyramid' and joined their voices together for an unforgettable group performance of the show's 11 o'clock number, 'I'm Here.'

Someone once said: 'It's May, it's May, the Lusty Month of May!' Another wise woman has also said 'And you, and you, and you... you're gonna love MAAAAAAAY!' Who really said what? Hard to say, but it seems clear that May has a profound affect on folks in musical theatre.

The score to Bright Star is a delicious blend of Americana, blue grass and gospel, and it's great. This last Thursday I started my day by whetting my appetite for things to come (I was seeing Bright Star on Broadway that evening before welcoming the cast to Sessions). I spent my morning listening to the cast album. I was immediately taken with it's signature sound and sweeping melodies. Steve and Edie know what they are doing. Bluegrass on Broadway… it works. How? Who cares! It works.