NAAP / Broadway Community Chorus

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NAAP’s Virtual Broadway Community Chorus (VBCC) is back and better than ever!

This winter, we’re planning a six week long segment on consecutive Tuesdays, beginning on February 9th from 7:30-9:00 PM (Eastern Time).

For this exciting winter segment, we’re happy to announce that Michael A. Ferrara will continue as our music director as we sing music from contemporary musicals.

Every week we will also have a guest speaker who works as a musical director on Broadway and beyond. Each session, the special guest will discuss their recent experiences working on a musical, as chorus members explore music from those shows - The Prom, Once On This Island, Kinky Boots, Mean Girls, Phantom of the Opera and more!

We hope to see you soon:

When: February 9, 16, 23, March 2 and 16

Time: 7:30 – 9:00pm

Where: On Zoom

Please sign up as soon as possible to let us know that you’re coming!

Michael A. Ferrara - VBCC Music Director

Originally from Palm City, Florida, Michael is a versatile and eclectic musician, equally at home in conducting symphonic repertoire and performing in musical theater and opera pit orchestras. Michael is currently based in New York City, and his recent credits include: Wicked (Broadway), Rock of Ages (New World Stages), Music Director and Conductor: Bernstein’s Peter Pan at Bard’s SummerScape Festival, Conductor: Grease Royal Caribbean, and Music Director/Arranger: Death of the Moon (Off-Broadway), and Associate Music Director (JERSEY BOYS, Ogunquit Playhouse).

Meet our guest speakers

Ted Arthur

Ted Arthur is a New York-based Music Director/pianist. Pre-Covid, he was a conductor and associate music director for Diana on Broadway which recently filmed in quarantine for distribution on Netflix.

He was the music director for Cyrano Off-Broadway starring Peter Dinklage and was the associate music director for The Prom on Broadway. Ted has also worked on Mean Girls, Once On This Island, Dear Evan Hansen and Wicked.

Steven Cuevas

Steven Cuevas was most recently the Music Director/Conductor of the first national tour of the Tony Award-winning revival of Once On This Island. Broadway: Once On This Island, Anastasia, Kinky Boots. Off-Broadway: I Spy a Spy, We Are The Tigers, Trip of Love, Closer Than Ever. Tours: Kinky Boots, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Spring Awakening, My Fair Lady (Singapore). Recordings: Once On This Island, Grinch…, Monstersongs. Chair of Local 802 AFM Diversity Committee. Proud member: AEA, Recording Academy, Filipino American community. BFA Musical Theatre: Emerson College. @StevenMCuevas

Alexander Tom

A participant in artEquity’s inaugural BIPOC leadership circle, Alexander is the Associate Program Head for BFA Musical Theater at Pace University. He holds his MM from Shenandoah Conservatory in conducting and an honors BMUS from Arizona State University in composition.

A current composer with the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop, Alexander is credited for vocal and dance arrangements for the off-Broadway premiere of Love & Yogurt (New York Theatre Barn & Out of the Box Theatrics) and orchestrations for Little Match Girl (St. Luke’s). He has pioneered new works with Pace University, Arizona State University, Shenandoah Conservatory, North Central College, and Phoenix Theatre. Additional appointments include Interlakes Summer Theatre, Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Arizona Broadway Theatre, Southeastern Summer Theatre Intensive, Werk with Broadway, and Chicago Musical Theatre Festival.

Tour: 10th Anniversary National Tour of “Grinch.” Regional: Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Oklahoma!, La Cage aux Folles, Ragtime. Academic: Shaina Tuab’s Twelfth Night Lysistrata Jones, Head Over Heels, Spring Awakening, Sweeney Todd, Twelfth Night, and Guys & Dolls, Musicals: Of Leto (2015), Til Death (2018), and Pan Jin Lian (BMI Development)

David Lai

Original founder of Park Avenue Artists. Management: Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Renee Fleming, YEBBA, 2CELLOS, Jordan Donica and Eldar. Multiple Grammy® winner, eight time Grammy® nominee, Emmy® winner: Hadestown (Grammy® Award), West Side Story (Grammy® Award), My Fair Lady, Come From Away, The King and I, Joshua Bell, Placido Domingo, Lang Lang, Eldar, Josh Groban, Renee Fleming, Itzhak Perlman, Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald. A&R Executive Grammy®-winning Songs of Joy & Peace (Yo- Yo Ma) and Grammy®-nominated Bach in Havana (Tiempo Libre). Consultant Producer PBS specials: Live at Lincoln Center: Seasons of Cuba (Emmy nom), Renee Fleming, Itzhak Perlman and Time For Three. Conductor: Dallas, Fort Worth, Pacific, Taipei, Jacksonville, and Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra. David moonlights as MD/Conductor for The Phantom of the Opera. Broadway contractor credits: My Fair Lady, King Kong, Come From Away, Cats, Fiddler on the Roof, King and I, Evita, Mary Poppins, Wonderland, South Pacific, Miss Saigon, The Woman in White, Riverdance, and Jesus Christ

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National Asian Artists Project Broadway Community Chorus presented its annual Fall/Winter concert showcasing the music of the legendary composer Marvin Hamlisch. The 20 member chorus, directed by Michael A. Ferrara, will be joined by guest artists Ariel Estrada and Manna Nichols in an exciting musical evening showcasing music and dance from Hamlisch’s iconic musicals including A Chorus Line, They're Playing Our Song, and much more.

The NAAP Chorus presented the music of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe! Sean Cameron was back to help lead the Chorus as Music Director!

Sean P. Cameron is a pianist, conductor, and music director who lives and performs in New York City. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, he attended the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) on full scholarship and earned dual degrees in Music Education and Performance. Sean was the associate music director and pianist for the 2018 U.S. and Japanese tour of A Chorus Line, directed and choreographed by Baayork Lee. And upon returning from Japan, he spent the holiday season spreading cheer across the country as music director and conductor for the NETworks touring production of Elf The Musical. He previously directed the NAAP Broadway Community Chorus in 2017 for their Jerry Herman program, and he is thoroughly delighted to be returning to the NAAP family for another season together.

With Special Guests Jaygee Macapugay (star of “Here Lies Love” and Broadway’s “School of Rock”) and Austin Ku (of “CSC’s Pacific Overtures” and “Soft Power”)

The music of Stephen Sondheim was presented in 2018!

Yan Li graduated from the NYU-Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Program. Hailing from Canada and Mainland China, he is making his way through all of NAAP's programs. He has participated in Discover (as a music director /writer/composer), was the music director for NAAP's Rediscover series: Honor, and this will be his first visit to NAAP's BCC! As a self-proclaimed Stephen Sondheim nut, we are thrilled to have him join us for our Stephen Sondheim concert!

Members of the NAAP Broadway Community Chorus, with music director Dan Pardo, performed a portion of the Andrew Lloyd Webber program at the Lillian Booth Actors Home of The Actors Fund, in Engelwood, NJ, on Thursday, May 31, singing for long-time Marvin Hamlisch pianist Fran Liebergall.

Their visit was covered on

Broadway World!