Most actors and actresses dream about making it to the “big leagues” and for many actors that means Broadway. The Curtis Players got their chance on Monday March 18. The Curtis Players seem to be ecstatic about the opportunity to perform on such a prestigious level.

            Gaby Nieves is a senior which means that Spelling Bee was one of her last Curtis High School productions. Nieves explained that the opportunity presented itself this year and that the whole cast is extremely lucky to have this opportunity. Nieves states, “in previous years, when the judges came, our production was never finished so we only selected a few numbers. Since we have two shows this year, this is the first time they have seen a full Curtis production and we were picked! It’s a great victory for us and the cast includes a lot of freshmen and this is Ms. Fries’ first time directing a show.”

Josh Ferguson retold the day he found out that Spelling Bee was going to Broadway.  “On our final night, a representative from the Shubert Foundation came to see our show as a part of an competition that NYC high school theater programs participate in. Soon after we received an intriguing message from our director, Ms. Fries,saying that she had an important message for us. After the day was over we made our way to the auditorium and then without missing a beat she announced that we had been chosen to perform on Broadway!” Not only is this a huge opportunity and achievement for the students, but first-time Curtis Players production director, Ms. Fries is extremely excited to be directing a Broadway performance. When asked how the opportunity came to be, Ms. Fries said, “I got a call from the director of theater education to say how our production had won the competition.” Since then Ms. Fries and her cast have been working extremely hard. With only a month to polish up their production, they had to go into “Spelling Bee mode.”

The players performed to a sold out crowd at the Music Box Theater.

“It was an incredible experience, I can’t describe how it feels to know that you’re performing on a stage that has been home to some of the greatest shows of all time,” says sophomore Greer Gerney. “We all felt insanely lucky to be there with other talented  NYC students.”