The Year In Review
Twelve Freshest Faces of 2008

In August Schulenburg’s memorable Other Bodies at this year’s Fringe Festival, Vince Nappo was astonishing as a womanizing man who wakes up in a female body. Aaron Tveit and Jennifer Damiano, two musical theatre performers seen together in Next To Normal, were outstanding again later in the season in other work: Tveit in Saved, and Damiano in Inner Voices. One of the many pleasures of The Most Damaging Wound was the dynamic performance by Chris Thorn, whose initially comic performance transitioned to include one of the most credible drunk confession scenes I’ve ever witnessed. Kate Wetherhead brought down the house with her number in Wood, at NYMF. At the center of both The Black Suits at SPF and the first of the three mini-musicals in ReWrite, Nick Blaemire proved himself a musical theatre star on the rise: watch out! Anna Camp brought heartbreaking vulnerability to her key scene in Equus. As both star and co-creator of Perez Hilton Saves The Universe, Randy Blair was the leading musical theatre light of this year’s Fringe Festival. Will someone please give Jeffery Self and Cole Escola, otherwise known on YouTube and on stage as VGL Gay Boys, their own cable tv sitcom? And finally, from Rock Of Ages, two newcomers I expect to hear plenty from in the future: Wesley Taylor and Kelli Barrett.