PRESS RELEASE

APRIL 2022

Florida School of the Arts presents “Modern Broadway Through the Decades”

The Florida School of the Arts Musical Theatre Vocal Company will present a concert on Sunday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. Directed by FloArts voice professor Russell Franks, the concert is free and open to the public and will take place on the FloArts main stage located on the Palatka campus of St. Johns River State College.

Vocal Company is a required course for all FloArts musical theatre majors and focuses on the development of the skills necessary to function as a member of a musical theatre ensemble at the professional level, including sight-reading, choral harmonization and choreography. At every stage, the students are pushed to assimilate new material as quickly and accurately as possible and then execute that material at the highest level of which they are capable.

Musical Theatre Vocal Company students include Christi Arnold, Eric Barnum, Natalie Drake, Josué Jorge-Silva, Teoman Karaagac, Reid Norris, Maggie Ann Rashaw and Sydney Sheffield. The ensemble will open the concert with “May It Be” by Enya and Roman Ryan, continuing with selections from “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Hairspray,” “The Greatest Showman,” and “Godspell.” Songs will take the audience on a “Modern Broadway Through the Decades” journey, traveling between 1970 and 2020.

According to Franks, “The students in this program receive an incredibly immersive education far beyond simply learning to perform in shows. We are educating the whole musician and performer here, not just the star, the leading lady, the diva or the divo. The most important element in any staged production, film, concert or musical event is collaboration, and singing in an ensemble like Musical Theatre Vocal Company is an excellent way to teach the students the importance and difficulty of intense collaboration,” Franks explained. “Not only do they have to listen for their own part in the music, but they also have to listen to each other and develop understanding of how their part fits into the whole to create unity within the piece.”

Florida School of the Arts, serving the entire state of Florida, is part of the academic and administrative structure of SJR State and awards associate degrees in acting, dance performance, musical theater, stage management, theater technology, graphic design/new media and studio art. For more information, call (386) 312-4300 or visit FloArts.


PHOTO CAPTION:
The Florida School of the Arts Musical Theatre Vocal Company will present a free concert on Sunday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. The concert is open to the public and will take place on the FloArts main stage located on the Palatka campus of St. Johns River State College. From left: Reid Norris, Natalie Drake, Eric Barnum, Maggie Rashaw, Christi Arnold, Teo Karaagac and Josue Jorge-Silva.

 

 

MEDIA CONTACT:
Susan Kessler
Director of Public Relations and Publications
(386) 312-4021