“Love, Broadway: Bringing Broadway to the Bluegrass”

By Palmer McNeal

Staff Intern

Jessamine County Arts Plus will be hosting its second annual “Love, Broadway” Benefit Concert at the end of August, to “bring Broadway to the Bluegrass” for one night.

The concert features students and adult performers from the community. The main focus of the concert is three performers from Broadway. The event has two primary goals; the first is to expose the youth and young adults of Jessamine County to professionally working performers. The local performers will have the opportunity to work and learn alongside industry professionals. The second goal is to raise money for performing arts programming in Jessamine County. Funds raised from ticket sales will go to the in school arts programs, and to the Arts Plus program, which provides students with extracurricular arts opportunities.

This past year, Arts Plus hosted the inaugural “Love, Broadway” on September 23rd at the Moondance Amphitheater. Same as the upcoming performance, the concert had three broadway stars; Adam Jacobs, Erika Henningsen, and Krystina Alabado. Alongside these performers, there was a featured ensemble. This ensemble included 8 adult performers, many of which were alumni of Jessamine County Schools. In addition, there was a youth choir with local students ranging from 4th-12th grade. The performance included solos, duets and group numbers from various Broadway shows. The concert had a huge crowd , and was well received by the community.

This year, Arts Plus is hoping to host an even more successful concert. Three different Broadway performers will take the stage this year. The first is Darian Sanders, a Kentucky native who is currently playing “Simba” in the international tour of Disney’s The Lion King. The Next star set to perform is Christy Altomore. Altomore originated the titular role in Anastasia on Broadway in the 2016 original cast. She has also performed in other famous shows, such as Mamma Mia and Spring Awakening. The third and final performer is Joe Serafini, a television star. Serafini is most famous for his role as “Seb” in Disney’s television show,  High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

The concert will again have a youth ensemble and a featured ensemble. The featured ensemble has almost doubled in size this year, going from 8 performers to 14. The ensemble features several graduates of Jessamine County Schools, and performers from the Lexington and Nicholasville areas. There will also be a youth ensemble again to sing with the other performers.

The concert will be on August 24, 2024 at Moondance Amphitheater in Lexington. The show will start at 7:30 p.m. There are five different tickets that can be purchased. Children between the ages of 3 and 12 can get in for $15. Student general admission is $30, and adult is $40. There is also an option for a meet and greet with the performers, which is $45 for students and $55 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at a link that can be found on the Jessamine County Arts Facebook page.

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