Sunday, August 7, 2016

As You Wish



NEW YORK MUSIC FESTIVAL
presented
AS YOU WISH 


Created by CRYSTAL KELLOGG, ANDREW WHEELER, & TOM WOJTUNIK

Starring CRYSTAL KELLOGG

Featuring KATE ROCKWELL & JUSTIN SARGENT

Musicians
Piano: Andrew Wheeler
Guitar:  Micah Burgess
Bass:  Marc Schmied
Drums: Spencer Inch

Stage Manager: NATALIE WAGNER

The Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Café
407 West 42nd Street, New York City

Visit http://www.nymf.org for more information about the festival.
As You Wish performed August 2 and August 6, 2016

It all started last year when Crystal Kellogg (Creator/Performer) entered New York Music Festival's (NYMF) Next Broadway Sensation and claimed the ultimate prize of having her own solo concert produced by NYMF with collaborators Andrew Wheeler (Creator/Musical Director) and Tom Wojtunik (Creator/Director). Together, they created AS YOU WISH which depicts the ten year long journey of Crystal's foray as an actor/singer in New York City.

Her story was told through her choice of songs with beauty and a sense of humor. How some of her auditions, although creative didn't cut it like her dual perspective of Maria in West Side Story switching back and forth from a girl with a Puerto Rican accent to an opera singer which was actually priceless as a performance.

Onwards towards relationships and singing a song from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1970  rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar  I Don't Know How to Love Him which brought tears to many audience members. Success, trials and tribulations were part of the mix but winning NYMF's Next Broadway Sensation landed her a new agent and her Broadway debut with the School of Rock (another Webber musical) and presently, with Finding Neverland.

Her Broadway dreams came true and as part of her solo concert, she invited her friends, Kate Rockwell and Justin Sargent to perform skits with her that added fun and joy to the overall concert. Crystal Kellogg is certainly a performer to watch.  

Crystal acknowledged that her parents encouraged her to follow her dreams and she did. She ended the concert by saying, "If I'm happy and feeling good, then I must be doing something good." It appeared as though feeling good was the theme of the concert. There were smiles all around. The concert finished with the song Never Can Say Goodbye--appropriate because she wants to return to the stage again and again!

I'd highly recommend to see Crystal Kellogg in upcoming appearances On Broadway and in concert.

- Laura Thompson -
(Certified Executive/Life Coach & Arts & Culture Freelance Journalist)

http://www.laurathompsoncoaching.com       @LORALIA