Brianna And Junior: 'Avenue Q'

"My Broadway Debut" is a new series presented by The Early Show that's designed to give two young performers the chance to make their first bows on a Broadway stage. Each day during the week of May 29, two auditions will be broadcast. At the end of the week, viewers will be invited to vote for top choices, male and female.

Featured show: "AVENUE Q"
Friday, June 2
Actors Barrett Foa and Mary Faber, along with their puppets, chatted with co-anchor Hannah Storm on The Early Show about "Avenue Q" just ahead of the performances by Junior and Kate.

Contender 9: Junior Mendez

Character: Princeton

Junior (whose real first name is German) is a music theater major at Florida State University who just completed his freshman year. Junior says he got into musical theater by accident. He knew he always had wanted to act but never realized he was a good singer.

In middle school, he signed up for an acting course, but was placed in a musical theater course instead. He was really disappointed and told his teacher he didn't want to be a part of the class. She convinced him to stay for one week and consider some of the good male roles she had to offer.

His first big role in high school was that of Jack in "Into the Woods." Now, Junior says his dream is the play the character Mark in "Rent." Junior is really looking forward to his performance on The Early Show, planning to dedicate it to friends and family, but most especially to Steven Lorenz, a friend of his who recently passed away.

Character: Kate Monster

Brianna is a theatre performance major at Wagner College, where she just has completed her freshman year. Music is at the root of Brianna's love of musical theater. Her grandfather was a jazz bassist and her mother and cousin were jazz singers. Around age 6, she started singing in her church choir, In middle school, she moved on to a church theater group and a summer theater program.

Brianna attended a big high school, known for putting on great productions. During her freshman and sophomore years, Brianna did chorus work in her school plays, which served to spark her passion. When she was a junior in high school, she landed the role of The Witch in "Into the Woods." In her senior year, she won the title role in "Evita!"