Photo Flash: Will Roland Inspires and Mentors the Students of Broadway Artists Alliance

This past Sunday, Will Roland led a song interpretation Master Class for a few lucky students of Broadway Artists Alliance of NYC. The Broadway actor is currently starring as Jared Kleinman in the Tony Award® winning Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen and spent his Sunday morning mentoring Broadway's next generation of young performers.

Check out photos from the class below!

Roland began the class with a Q&A session led by BAA's Artistic Director, Jennifer Johns. As a Dear Evan Hansen cast member who has been with the groundbreaking show since its developmental stages in NY and Washington, D.C., he was able to offer insight into what it's like to create a role. He recalled that the production team expressed a desire for his character to be the truth-teller of the story as well as the voice of the audience, and although the snarky teenaged Jared often provides comic relief in the show, he also holds up the mirror to his cousin-friend Evan and forces him to examine his motives and actions. Roland went on to teach a master class focused on song interpretation and give insightful one on one feedback and advice to each aspiring young performer as they presented their musical theatre audition songs for individualized coaching. It was exciting to witness the progress these talented young performers were able to make within one short day, with Will Roland's guidance!

As Roland finished up the master class to head to his Sunday matinee, the students wrapped up their afternoon by discussing their professional goals and favorite moments of working with the Broadway star. Almost every student's favorite experience of the day was hearing Roland's feedback for their fellow classmates because they got to learn from each other's work as well as their own personal time with the star. They reported they were thrilled by how friendly, personable, and down to earth Roland was throughout the class. However, one student still felt a bit starstruck. "My favorite moment today was when Will told me to use him as my scene partner and sing right to him! I thought, gee I am pretty lucky! I am looking into the eyes of one of the most popular Broadway actors right now!"

Broadway Artists Alliance, founded with the goal of providing professional-level training to talented young artists, enlists the expertise of Broadway performers, Tony Award winners, and top industry professionals in it's year round programming. Students enjoy a wide range of classes including vocal training, song interpretation, scene study, cold reading, on camera audition technique, and various types of Broadway dance. BAA offers four Summer Intensive Sessions and a Winter Workshop for students ages 10-21, in addition to a BAA Junior Summer Session for students ages 7-10, and a College Audition Workshop for high school Juniors and Seniors who will be auditioning for Musical Theatre and Acting degree programs. BAA also offers year round Private Coachings for children, teens, and young adults, as well as weekend One Day Master Classes throughout the year.

Broadway Artists Alliance's roster of master class instructors and guest speakers has included Laura Benanti, Susan Blackwell, Sierra Boggess, Christian Borle, Alex Brightman, Jason Robert Brown, Andrea Burns, Norbert Leo Butz, Carolee Carmello, Matt Cavenaugh, Michael Cerveris, Adam Chanler-Berat, Jenn Colella, Gavin Creel, Gabriel Ebert, Eden Espinosa, Michelle Federer, Katie Finneran, Sutton Foster, John Gallagher Jr., Alexander Gemignani, Jonathan Groff, Lena Hall, Bill Irwin, Christopher Jackson, Nikki M. James, Gregory Jbara, Rachel Bay Jones, Adam Kantor, Judy Kaye, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Beth Leavel, Norm Lewis, Andrea Martin, Lindsay Mendez, Lea Michele, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jessie Mueller, Bebe Neuwirth, Karen Olivo, Laura Osnes, Billy Porter, Alice Ripley, Lea Salonga, Stephen Schwartz, Duncan Sheik, Will Swenson, Marc Shaiman, Aaron Tveit, Lilias White, Scott Wittman, John Lloyd Young, and many more.

For more information or to register for One Day Master Classes, visit www.broadwayartistsalliance.org.

Photo credits: Laura McBride and Joelle Abejar