{"id":11217,"date":"2012-03-01T09:55:15","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T13:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=11217"},"modified":"2012-03-01T09:55:16","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T13:55:16","slug":"theatre-major-a-semi-finalist-in-national-singing-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2012\/03\/01\/theatre-major-a-semi-finalist-in-national-singing-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre major a semi-finalist in national singing competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Headshot<\/a>

Samantha Helmstetter will perform this weekend in Wright State's production of "Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill."<\/p><\/div>\n

Wright State senior musical theatre major Samantha Helmstetter is a semi-finalist in a national singing competition that has sent winners on to play leading roles on Broadway.<\/p>\n

The prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition honors the work of legendary musical theatre and opera composer Kurt Weill and bears the name of his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than a vocal competition, the Lenya Competition is a theatre singing contest that emphasizes wide-ranging repertoire and the acting of songs and arias within a dramatic context,\u201d according to the website of The Kurt Weill Foundation, which operates the contest. \u201cPrevious winners have gone on to play leading roles on Broadway, in regional theaters and international tours and in major opera houses in the United States and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helmstetter entered by submitting a DVD of herself singing four different songs representing a range of musical styles. As a semi-finalist, she will travel to New York City to perform her selections live before a panel of judges. Those who move on to the final round will perform in Rochester, N.Y., in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose pieces that I\u2019m able to personalize in a dramatically specific way,\u201d said Helmstetter, whose song selections include \u201cWonderful Guy\u201d from South Pacific<\/em> and \u201cComplainte de la Seine,\u201d a French art song by Weill.<\/p>\n

This is the second year that Helmstetter has entered the competition, having made it to the semi-final round in 2011.<\/p>\n

Helmstetter is no stranger to Kurt Weill\u2019s work. She will perform this weekend in Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill<\/em>, a musical revue of Weill\u2019s music. The show will be presented in the Herbst Theatre on Wright State\u2019s Dayton campus.<\/p>\n

Audiences are sure to recognize many of the songs in Berlin to Broadway,<\/em> particularly \u201cMack the Knife\u201d from Weill\u2019s musical The Threepenny Opera<\/em>. The hit song has been recorded by Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Bubl\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Later this spring, Helmstetter will star as Christine in Wright State\u2019s production of Phantom of the Opera<\/em>. She credits much of her success to the faculty in the theatre department.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really special is that no matter which class I\u2019m taking, every teacher in the department incorporates and pieces together elements from all our other classes,\u201d said Helmstetter. \u201cWe never just sing. We never just dance. Everything is integrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catch Samantha Helmstetter in <\/em>Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill March 2\u20134 in the Herbst Theatre in Wright State University\u2019s Creative Arts Center. <\/em>Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults. They go on sale 90 minutes prior to each performance at the Theatre Box Office. Seating in the Herbst is limited, so patrons are encouraged to arrive early.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samantha Helmstetter will perform this weekend in Wright State’s production of “Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill.” Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":11218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,729,725,747,715,719],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-around-campus","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-special-categories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11217"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11234,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11217\/revisions\/11234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}