Katherine And Kyle: "Wedding"
"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: "THE WEDDING SINGER"
Wednesday, May 31
Matt Saldivar, who plays Sammy in this musical tribute to the 80s, stopped by The Early Show for Kyle and Katherine's auditions.
Contender 5: Kyle Harris
Character: Robbie Hart
Kyle will be a junior at the University of Arizona next year. A native of Irvine, Calif., he got his first taste of the musical stage when he was a sophomore in high school, winning the small role of Eugene in "Grease." Kyle says he fell in love with the feeling of being on stage and inspiring the audience to respond. In fact, he says his favorite thing about musical theater is the sound of applause.
During high school, Kyle performed in other school musicals and community theater. He also started and performed in a barbershop quartet. In the group's first year, competing against about 30 other contenders, his quartet won fifth place at a high school barbershop quartet competition in Fresno.
This summer, Kyle plans to perform in a summer stock production of "My Partner" in Colorado. His ultimate goal? Broadway.
Contender 6: Katherine Palardy
Character: Julia
Katherine is a sophomore at Northwestern University, pursuing a degree in theatre in the Music Theatre Certificate Program. She says she always knew she wanted to act because she loves to perform, despite her serious stage fright. It wasn't until eighth grade that she first auditioned for a solo in her school's musical. In high school, she went on to play Dinah in "High Society." It was that role that really made a difference for her. She says she walked on stage opening night and started singing "I Love Paris" and all her nerves went away.
Since then, Katherine has also embraced comedy, having involved herself with various campus comedy groups involving long-form improvisation, musical comedy and sketch comedy.