Tony Award-Winner To Teach Master Class In Somers Point

SOMERS POINT, NJ — It’s not every day that you get to learn from a Tony Award-winning performer. It’s especially not every day that you get to learn from a performer that directly inspired part of the play you’re performing. But this is the case of Gateway Playhouse’s teen cast of “A Chorus Line,” who get the opportunity to take a master class taught by Baayork Lee on July 20.

Lee, interviewed this June by Mo Rocca on “CBS Sunday Morning” to discuss her long and illustrious career, has been a professional singer, dancer and actress since the age of 5, when she auditioned for and won a role in the original Broadway version of “The King and I” with Yul Brynner. She has also performed in “Flower Drum Song,” “Promises, Promises,” the original “The Nutcracker” by George Balanchine, among others.

Additionally, she was personally invited by famed director and choreographer Michael Bennett to participate in the workshops from which “A Chorus Line” was developed, and Lee eventually went on to tour with the international production as Connie Wong, a character actually based on her.

In 2017, Lee received the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, which honors members of the theater industry for their significant contributions to charitable causes.

“We always do something special for the kids each summer. For instance, we’ve had the good fortune to have Broadway’s Colt Adam Weiss from ‘Chicago’ and Ephie Aardema of ‘Funny Girl’ teach master classes to the students,” Gateway Board President Katie Calvi said in a news release. “But we’ve never had someone with the depth and breadth of theater experience like Baayork Lee from whom the kids can gain such knowledge.”

Lee will work with the student-actors for a full day to teach some of her famed dance steps, tell personal stories, and allow the children to create, dream and be inspired.

The master class is reserved exclusively for the teen cast of “A Chorus Line,” which is part of Gateway Playhouse’s “Gateway to the Arts” educational program designed to empower kids through theater. “A Chorus Line” will run 1 and 6 p.m. Aug. 9 and 10. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at GatewayByTheBay.org. Gateway Playhouse is located at 738 Bay Ave., Somers Point.