Tickets on sale now
For 2012 Spring Show
Melodic music is also filling the neighborhood around the Thomasville Music & Drama Troupe's Fred Allen building as we prepare for its 39th Spring show, traditionally held every Mother's Day Weekend since 1974. This year's production - set for Friday and Saturday, May 11 & 12 - will showcase the talents of nearly 120 middle and high school students from throughout the southwest Georgia region, performing a diverse mix of Broadway, Top 40, rock, country and - more prominent than in past shows - classical music our young entertainers have been working on since January. Tickets for the Spring Show are now on sale at the Thomasville Visitors Center in downtown Thomasville. Reserved seats are $20, general admission balcony seats are $15 and student balcony seats are $10. For more information, call (229) 228-7977.
And, more than ever before, Troupe members are having the opportunity to work with professional artist-teachers from the highest echelons of music from both the classical and Broadway communities. Thomasville native Raymond Hughes, the former longtime chorus master for New York's renowned Metropolitan Opera, is working with the Troupe to prepare a number of opera choruses for the show. Hughes' distinguished international career also includes conducting posts with opera companies in Germany and South Africa and, most recently, as chorus master and conductor of the Norwegian State Opera in Oslo. Troupe's student entertainers also had the opportunity to work with two of Broadway's most versatile and popular triple-threat performers - Scott Wise and Elizabeth Parkinson - who in mid-April taught choreography and performance techniques for a segment of show pieces associated with the late legendary Broadway choreographer/director Bob Fosse. Veterans of 14 Broadway musicals between them, Wise and Parkinson helped prepare song and dance numbers from Fosse productions "Sweet Charity," "Chicago" and "Damn Yankees," among others, for the Troupe's Spring show. Wise is a three-time Tony Award nominee, with a win for "Jerome Robbins' Broadway," while Parkinson was Tony nominated for her performance in "Movin Out." The husband-and-wife team starred in the Broadway hit "Fosse," the award-winning musical revue drawing from the 20 musicals Bob Fosse was involved with, and Wise and Parkinson have permission of the Fosse family to teach elements of his original choreography to performing arts students like those in Troupe.
Theatre Workshops With
Broadway's Tyrick Wiltez Jones
On January 29, Thomasville Music & Drama Troupe members had the opportunity to participate in a series of special Broadway workshops and master classes with current Broadway performer Tyrick Wiltez Jones, who is also one of New York's most sought after teaching artists! Jones, who appeared on Broadway in "Hairspray" for nearly four years and as Howard in the recent revival of "Finian's Rainbow," taught an intensive scene study acting workshop and a musical theatre dance master class, and led the entire Troupe in a workshop on song interpretation during the regular Sunday rehearsal. Special thanks, Tyrick, for a fun, enriching and high energy weekend for our student performers! SEE MORE WORKSHOP PHOTOS ON OUR "WHAT'S HAPPENING" PAGE!
The Thomasville Music and Drama Troupe is a group of 100 singing teen entertainers made up of students from area high schools. The group provides an outlet for creative expression and plays a meaningful, positive role in the lives of the area’s youth. A non-profit, tax-exempt performing arts training organization, the Troupe performs two revue-style shows annually, spotlighting its young performers singing and dancing to Billboard Top 40 hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s, right up to today's pop chart-toppers, as well as selections from popular Broadway musicals!
Founded in 1972, the Troupe has performed for audiences from 50 to 50,000. Some Troupe alumni take the training they've received and seek careers in entertainment fields. A few - like award-winning songwriter Stephanie Bentley (Faith Hill's Breath, Martina McBride's Concrete Angel), entertainment journalist Julie Moran and country music performer Steven Clawson (finalist on CMT's Next Country Superstar), among others - have enjoyed careers in the spotlight.
