Reviews from Brandon and Ken
2 Time Tony Nominee
BRANDON
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.”
“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.”
—Brandon
Ken (Brandon’s Dad)
“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.”