Alumni
Where Are They Now? Spring 2003
Former students of the Music Theatre Program are everywhere theatre is being performed, from Tony Purvis’s performances aboard the MV Crown Odyssey in Bora Bora to Jason Rowland’s coming back to Tallahassee from New York for a brief visit as "Shakespeare Man"!

Alumni who have been on national tours this year include Kristina Fernandez (Fosse), Joe Spieldenner (South Pacific), Jeffrey Dean (Starlight Express), Courtney Lindberg (Cinderella), Jessica Patty (Fosse, and now CATS), Tony Falcon (Saturday Night Fever), Heather Parcells (Some Like It Hot), and DB Bonds (Phantom of the Opera). Steven Hogle, Kevin Covert, and Amanda Watkins were all together on the tour of South Pacific starring Robert Goulet and of course Amanda as Nellie Forbush.

Anyone watching regional theatre has seen many of our alumni this past year. Chris Murrah was in Virginia in Damn Yankees and at Arkansas Rep in Annie. Tony Falcon (before his tour) and Heather Parcells (after her tour) have both been in the Westchester Dinner Theatre production of Chicago. Tyler Fish has performed in Crazy for You in both Pennsylvania and Florida, as well as in other productions, including Gypsy and La Cage aux Folles. Jennifer Swiderski came down to Florida to do Master Class at Florida Rep. Michael Hunsaker was in North Carolina for a West Side Story. Greg Mills is currently in Camelot at Papermill, and he will then be leaving for Massachusetts to do a world premiere of a new musical, The Game, based on Dangerous Liaisons. Montego Glover was seen at Northshore in Footloose and in Annie at Papermill, and can be heard in all sorts of voiceovers! She also ventured back down to Florida for a production of The Conservationist at the Asolo. Christine Long performed in The Fantasticks at St. Louis MUNY. Kevin Covert is currently in Kiss Me Kate with Houston’s Theatre under the Stars. Bill Tisdale was in Sweeney Todd at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Jay Douglas did A Christmas Carol in Massachusetts. Lynn McNutt came back down to Florida to do Spitfire Grill. Julio Agustin will be in Maine this summer as Che in Evita. Becky Watson is currently at the Goodspeed Opera House as Sally in Me and My Girl, and earlier in the year was in Utah as Wendy in Peter Pan. She was also involved in the premiere of a World War II musical. Irene Adjan did a run of James Joyce's The Dead, which won the Carbonell in Florida for Best Musical and Best Ensemble; also this past year she got to play Janet in Rocky Horror Show.

Out west Brian Chenoweth has had a recurring role on Friends this season, while doing a variety of guest spots, commercials, and performing in the Improv Olympics. Gerald McCullouch is most visible in his recurring role as Bobby Dawson ("the gun guy") on CSI, but he has also recently moved into directing, and his film The Moment After has earned excellent reviews for him as director, actor, and for his composing and recording of a song for the film score – "Please." It has also won several “Best Short” awards. Meanwhile in Germany, Tzipporah Gerson is just finishing a year-long run of Dance of the Vampires, after which she will be on a German ship, performing shows all over the Mediterranean. Emily Fletcher was in Moscow for several months of 42nd Street. She is now home and will be on Broadway in the cast of 42nd Street starting this month.

In New York, Jay Douglas completed the run of The Full Monty on Broadway, and Tom Sardinia was in the Broadway revival of Oklahoma. Also on Broadway Aaron Gandy is now conducting Urinetown. Jessica Hartman will be on Broadway this fall in the new musical Boy from Oz, for which she will be assistant choreographer, dance captain, and swing . Earlier this year she was the assistant director and assistant choreographer for Joey McKneely for Showtune, a new revue of the music of Jerry Herman, which ran Off-Broadway at the York Theatre.

Off-Broadway DB Bonds understudied for The Last Five Years, Julio Agustin was in a show called Blessing in Disguise, and Montego Glover performed in Roses are Brown. Little by Little, a show at The Duplex, starred two of our alumni, Michael Hunsaker and Jennifer Swiderski, who were understudied by two more of our alums, Greg Mills and Beth Dwyer. Meanwhile, Jimmy Bennett is regularly appearing in The Nuclear Family – an improvised musical – new each performance!

Jill Carlen is singing backup with a band and will be touring with them. Corinne Gooden is performing all over New York with her band Solfire or another band, New Jerusalem Sun. A number of our alumni are also composing. Aaron Gandy had a reading of his new musical, Whirligig. Michael Hunsaker has a reading scheduled for Measure for Measure and a workshop production of Fetching Water coming up this summer. Brian Wilson is also composing, most recently a song titled "Strong We Stand."

Darren Bagert is still producing and is currently about to open A Long Day's Journey into Night on Broadway. Liz McDonald is now Executive Producer for Clear Channel Entertainment and currently has two shows, Blues Clues Live and Dora the Explorer. (She says she's also developing some "properties for adults"!) Dora the Explorer was music directed by Aaron Gandy. Jay Jaski is working on the revival of Baby as Richard Maltby's assistant.

FSU/NY Music Theatre Studio Class
Several graduates of the Music Theatre program from Florida State University were talking to each other about how much they missed having Studio Class, as they did when they were still at Florida State. Without a studio class, nobody had a good place to try out material before it had to be used for an audition or a performance and to get feed-back about what worked and what didn’t. So they decided to go ahead and hold Studio Class in New York for the Florida State Music Theatre alumni. And what’s more – so that no one would be likely to forget, they decided to schedule it at the same time as the one in Tallahassee – Tuesday afternoons at 5:00! The class has proved to be a great success, with alumni from the past fifteen years participating. In March 2003, when Dr. Gayle Seaton was in New York performing at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, since she wasn’t running the class in Tallahassee, she was able to go to Studio Class in New York with many of her former students.