Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The kids of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ are still friends 70 years later

Al Roker interviews the kids of "It's a Wonderful Life."
It’s been 70 years since the release of Frank Capra’s classic Christmas film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in which a man named George Bailey sees what his town would have been like without him. At a museum dedicated to the film, TODAY’s Al Roker sat down with the three actors who played Bailey’s children, who are still friends today. Watch the December 19, 2016 Today Show interview.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Santino Fontana Stars in New Indie Flick

Santino Fontana
The Tony nominee and Frozen voice actor adds Impossible Monsters to his resume.

According to Playbill, actor Santino Fontana, whose most recent screen role found him in Rachel Bloom’s hit Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, just wrapped filming the psychological thriller, Impossible Monsters.

Fontana plays Dr. Rich Freeman, a psychology professor conducting an extreme sleep study. When one of the research participants is found dead, Freeman becomes a suspect.

This marks Fontana’s first leading film gig. The actor earned a Tony nomination in 2013 for his performance as Topher (a.k.a. The Prince) in Cinderella opposite Laura Osnes. He has also originated roles in Billy Elliot The Musical, the 2011 revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, and Act One.

Fontana also voiced Prince Hans in the smash Disney movie Frozen. He recently departed The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. According to IMDB, he has another movie, Galileo, which recently wrapped filming and is set for a 2017 release.

Fontana was a 2000 Donna Reed Festival acting scholarship finalist.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Donna Reed Scholarship alumna opens in West Coast production of "Merrily We Roll Along"

Saycon Sengbloh

College Park, GA native has starring role in Stephen Sodheim musical

Broadway veteran Saycon Sengbloh, a 1996 Donna Reed Foundation national scholarship winner, is now in Los Angeles, starring in the Michael Arden-directed production of Stephen Sodheim’s masterwork Merrily We Roll Along. It runs November 23 - December 18 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif.

This rarely staged Stephen Sondheim musical travels backwards in time to navigate the bumpy history among three friends - Franklin, Charlie and Mary - who begin their careers in show business together. The powerful and moving story, based on the Kaufman and Hart play, features some of Sondheim’s most beautiful songs including "Good Thing Going," "Our Time" and "Not a Day Goes By"

Sengbloh is an award-winning actress whose performance as Wife Number One in Eclipsed earned her an Obie Award and Drama Desk Award, and Tony nomination on Broadway. Sengbloh plays Nora in the upcoming feature film Double Play by Ernest Dickerson. Sengbloh also has starred in the Broadway productions of Holler If Ya Hear Me, Motown the Musical, Fela!, Wicked, Aida, The Color Purple, Hair and the RENT tour.