(SOMERS POINT, NJ) -- Somers Point's Gateway Playhouse will welcome Tony Award-winner Baayork Lee on Saturday, July 20, 2024 to teach a master class to the all-teenage cast of "A Chorus Line".
Lee, interviewed this past June by Mo Rocca on “CBS Sunday Morning” to discuss her long and illustrious career, has been a professional singer, dancer and actress since the age of 5, when she auditioned for and won a role in the original Broadway version of “The King and I” with Yul Brynner. She has also performed in “Flower Drum Song,” “Promises, Promises,” the original “The Nutcracker” by George Balanchine, among others. Additionally, she was personally invited by famed director and choreographer Michael Bennett to participate in the workshops from which A Chorus Line was developed, and Lee eventually went on to tour with the international production as Connie Wong, a character actually based on her.
In 2017, Lee received the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, which honors members of the theater industry for their significant contributions to charitable causes.
“We always do something special for the kids each summer. For instance, we’ve had the good fortune to have Broadway’s Colt Adam Weiss from ‘Chicago’ and Ephie Aardema of ‘Funny Girl’ teach master classes to the students,” Gateway Board President Katie Calvi says. “But we’ve never had someone with the depth and breadth of theater experience like Baayork Lee from whom the kids can gain such knowledge.”
Lee will work with the student-actors for a full day to teach some of her famed dance steps, tell personal stories, and allow the children to create, dream and be inspired.
The master class is reserved exclusively for the teen cast of “A Chorus Line,” which is part of Gateway Playhouse’s “Gateway to the Arts” educational program designed to empower kids through theater. “A Chorus Line” will run 1:00pm & 6:00pm on August 9th and 10th. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at GatewayByTheBay.org. Gateway Playhouse is located at 738 Bay Avenue in Somers Point, New Jersey.
Since its reopening in 2017, Gateway Playhouse, a 501-(c)3 nonprofit, has provided quality and affordable year- round entertainment to residents and visitors alike, as well as offered educational opportunities to grammar and high school students, in the hopes of creating future generations of actors, directors and audiences. Aside from an annual mainstage season, the Gateway also produces a variety of comedy and cabaret shows throughout the year. As the saying goes, “see you at the Gateway!”
