<p>I attended the UM Senior Showcase preview in Ann Arbor last night - which was great, so much talent doing such diverse material! - and Brent Wagner, chair of the MT Department, read a list of Broadway shows in which UM students have appeared in just the last year, since last year’s showcase. He reads this list every year, and it seems to get more and more impressive. I find it especially significant because this is not an alumni list of people who have worked on Broadway IN THE PAST - this is NOW - which reflects on the marketability of both recent and “older” alums, something I think is an important gauge of a program’s success. So here’s the list of just the Broadway shows and also the names of the performers when I knew them off the top of my head - some I did not - the rest could be looked up. </p>
<p>SWEENEY TODD (Alex Gemignani - Drama Desk nominee for The Beadle; Lauren Molina - Johanna)
SPELLING BEE (Celia Keenan-Bolger - Tony nominee for Olive)
LA CAGE
THE PRODUCERS (Hunter Foster - Leo)
LITTLE WOMEN (Danny Gurwin - Laurie)
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (Jeremy Davis - ensemble)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Garrett Miller - Pepper Shaker, which is one of 3 dance features)
MAMMA MIA
SPAMALOT (Jimmy Ludwig - swing)
AVENUE Q (Barrett Foa - Princeton/Rod)
CHICAGO
LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA
HAIRSPRAY (Kevin Hale - ensemble)
WICKED
JERSEY BOYS (Dan Reichard - Drama Desk nominee for Bob Gaudio)
(the upcoming) A CHORUS LINE
LESTAT (Megan Reinking - Beautiful Woman; Chris Peluso - ensemble and Nicholas/Lewis cover)</p>
<p>In addition, WICKED in Chicago (Logan Lipton - Boq), SPELLING BEE in both Chicago (Jen Sese- Marcy PArk) and San Francisco (Jenni Barber - Olive; Stan Bahorek - Leaf), and AVE Q, HAIRSPRAY, MAMMA MIA, and WE WILL ROCK YOU in Vegas.</p>
<p>Mr. Wagner also read a huge list of national tours and pretigious regional theatres which employed alums just in the last year, films and TV shows, and shows written and/or produced by UM MT alums (including AVE Q and ALTAR BOYZ).</p>