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BRANDON
currently appears every Sunday in "Broadway Kids Sing Broadway"
at the John Houseman Theatre in Manhattan. He also appeared with
Tony Randall and Ben Vereen in "A Christmas Carol" at the
Theatre at Madison Square Garden, before joining the cast of "Ragtime"
in Toronto. Brandon has been studying dance, voice, and acting
at PTW for more than five years.
"I was a little hesitant to go, I don't
know why. I was a little nervous, but when I finally got to school
everyone was really nice. They were nice right away. It was just
so much fun the first day.
This
past year I just came back from Toronto because I did "Ragtime".
Out of all my friends from New Jersey, I missed the most the friends
from PTW, because they were the nicest to me. They're so great
to me. That's all I really wanted to do when I got back from Toronto
was come back to PTW. I'm definitely going back next semester.
It's really a great energy when you walk into PTW.
That's
what PTW did for me-- doing those shows, all the cabarets and
"Nights of Scenes and Songs"-- that brought out my confidence
to perform in front of an audience, and brought out my talent."

KEN (Brandon's father)
"We
saw an ad in the our local paper, and the ad was interesting enough
to pursue it. We called Howard, we came over and had an interview
with Howard, and that's how it all started. Right away I knew
it was an extremely professional organization. I was very impressed
with Howard. I could see he was very serious about it, and I'm
like that as a person in general. So we connected right away,
Howard and I, and we've been very close ever since then. It's
been an excellent experience.
How
Brandon evolved into this "Ragtime", and "Christmas
Carol" and "Broadway Kids" was basically-- the school
cleared the path for him through the acting, through the dancing,
through the singing, and I think instilled confidence in his own
self to realize that he wanted to take this to the next level.
The audition process would not happen without PTW. The preparation,
the attitude, the confidence that you convey to other people,
not just the talent. PTW brought out his talent, smoothed the
rough edges, and matured his talent throughout the years.
It's
a school for dance and singing, but really deep down inside it
also shapes a child for their future in life and it goes beyond.
As far as I'm concerned as a parent, it goes a lot deeper than
most people realize. When you're going to a class for dancing
and singing, you're amongst your peers and there's a responsibility
to come to school and attend the classes on time, and bring your
shoes, and bring your tape recorder, and that's part of life where
you're turning into a responsible human being with certain responsibilities.
And you have a confidence factor that is built in within the format
of the school which you maybe don't as a child understand, but
as a parent you see it. After six years there is no question that
Brandon would not be where he is in life, not just in "Ragtime"
or "Christmas Carol" but as a young man in life, without
PTW."
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