By Peggy Carroll
No need to traipse across the bridge or through the tunnel to visit Broadway.
It’s coming to Morristown on New Year’s Eve, for the 25th annual First Night Morris County celebration.
Three performers who have sung in some of the musical theater’s biggest smashes will be at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown for a reprise performance – singing the songs they have sung on the New York stage and in theaters throughout the nation.
It’s a not-to-be missed treat for fans of shows from Evita to Wicked, and composers from Stephen Sondheim to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kurt Weill. And it’s a perfect introduction to musicals for kids or friends who are newcomers to the genre.
Dr. Lynn Siebert, who is marking her 10th year as First Night’s artistic programmer for Morris Arts, said that A Night of Broadway Stars will be just that: A night of stars.
All three performers have been in Broadway casts, serving as understudies for leading roles and starring in national touring companies and in regional theater productions.
The work of the trio encompasses musicals of the ’40s, like Oklahoma!, and 21st century music such as Next to Normal.
Take the resume of Maria Eberline.
A native of California, she studied at UCLA, where she was directed by Carol Burnett in an original production of Once Upon a Mattress. She is a founding performing arts teacher at North Star Academy’s West Side Park Middle School in Newark.
She’s also a member of the Midtown Direct Repertory Company in South Orange, where she lives with her husband, Richard Todd Adams, also a musical actor who will be singing with her her on New Year’s Eve.
Eberline’s credits:
- Understudy for Elphaba and Nessarose in Wicked on Broadway and on its first national tour.
- National tour of Grease (Serena Katz) and the show’s European tour (Sandy)
- Evita European tour (Mistress and understudy for Evita – Europran cast recording)
- She’s also played Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Anita in West Side Story and Lola in Damn Yankees.
About Adams:
Richard Todd Adams has spent much of the last decade performing across the country in some of the most sought-after roles in musical theater.
He is among add a handful of American actors to have portrayed the Phantom, Jean Valjean, and Javert.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, he began his career as Raoul with both the Los Angeles and national touring companies of The Phantom of the Opera. Upon returning to New York, he appeared Off-Broadway in Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill, Michael John LaChiusa’s Little Fish at Second Stage, and David Friedman’s Listen to My Heart at Studio 54.
He made his Broadway debut in 2005 in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman in White, and shortly thereafter, appeared on Broadway again in Boublil and Schoenberg’s The Pirate Queen.
His performance of Javert in the Chicago production of Les Miserables won the 2008 Joseph Jefferson Award.
For the last last three years, he has toured the country, appearing as both Jean Valjean and Javert in the 25th anniversary national tour of Les Miserables. Regionally, he has starred in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Jekyll & Hyde, 1776, Show Boat, Ragtime, Man of La Mancha and 2 Pianos, 4 Hands.
Kathy Voytko, the third member of the group, made her first bow on Broadway in the original cast of the Oklahoma! revival with Andrea Martin and Patrick Wilson. She then went on to the Tony-award winning Nine with Antonio Banderas and Chita Rivera.
She also played Ariadne in Stephen Sondheim’s The Frogs, with Nathan Lane, at Lincoln Center and appeared in Broadway’s The Pirate Queen and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal.
Other credits:
- Christine in the touring company of Phantom of the Opera
- Eva in the 25th anniversary tour of Evita
- Showboat at Carnegie Hall
She’s also played Clara in Passion, Fantine in Les Miserables, Fiona in Brigadoon and Polly in Crazy for You For, a performance that won her the Joseph Jefferson award for bet actress in a musical.
Most recently, she was in Tuck Everlasting and in the 2014 Tony award-winning best musical, A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder.
She is married to John Cudia, also an actor in the musical theater.
Siebert said First Night always promises to present world-class talent, the top performers in their field.
“This trio,” she said, “fits that bill.”
First Night ticket holders will have two opportunities to check out the show. It will be performed at 7:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.
MorristownGreen.com is a proud sponsor of First Night Morris County. This year’s silver anniversary show features nearly 90 events –art, comedy, dance and music for all ages–which will fill 27 venues, all within an easy walk or a free shuttle ride in downtown Morristown. The alcohol-free fun starts at 4:45 pm and continues to midnight–with two fireworks shows thrown in. Admission information and a performance schedule are here; you also can download an app with the roster.
MORE COVERAGE OF FIRST NIGHT MORRIS 2017
