Equity actor/singer Sean Doherty from New York will be nothing if not busy as he spends his third summer in Springfield. Cast in the lead role in Missouri State University Tent Theatre's opening production of its 53rd season, the musical Leap of Faith, Doherty decided to spend the one off-night during the run--this Sunday, June 14--doing an hour-long solo cabaret evening for Springfield Contemporary Theatre's "Sunday Songbook Series." on Sunday June 14 at 7:00pm at SCT Center Stage at Wilhoit Plaza (corner of Pershing and Robberson).
Doherty received his Equity card last summer for Tent Theatre's production of Forever Plaid. After graduating from Millikin University in Decator, IL last spring, Sean was in the first national tour of The Lightning Thief and his been living in New York for the past year.
For his "Sunday Songbook" show he'll be joined by SCT's Resident Music Director and "partner-in-crime" Alex Huff. "I met Alex, actually, via the Internet--he had found my YouTube channel, which featured some songs I sang at my house in, like, high school. Since this was my third summer back (in Springfield), I wanted to do something different, and that's how this 'Sunday Songbook' show came about. It kind of started as a joke--'Oh, let's just do a cabaret of me.' Alex as like, 'Do you want to do one?' And I've never done something like that. And it's a little daunting--especially in combination with Leap of Faith, because that show is a beast!"
For "Sunday Songbook" Sean Doherty will present "a mix of musical theatre, classic standards, jazz standards, pop--we're pretty much hitting everything." But he'll also provide an inside look into just how absurd the life of a struggling actor can be.
"I've found my life is very much like a sitcom, and I've had some very strange circumstances in New York. I just wanted to explore the strange life I've learned to live since I moved to New York. We're doing a whole section based on how (Alex Huff) and I met through YouTube."
Accompanying Sean will be Alex Huff on keyboard, along with Casey Smith, drums; Ned Wilkinson, bass and guitar; and Samantha Sak, cello.
Tickets are $15, and there's a student rush ticket for $8 available 30 minutes before curtain. Call 831-8001 or visit www.springfieldcontemporarytheatre.org.
Alex Huff will also work with other Tent Theatre performers in SCT's "Sunday Songbook" series this summer. "Next month (Sunday July 12) I'm actually bringing cast members from Tent Theatre's Hairspray. We're going to do a night of 'over-done' musical theatre songs!"
