40 Years of OTC Memories
The Experience
Years listed are OTC Performance years.
“Grilled cheese in the cafeteria after the show at the Raleigh, Rocky Horror field trip at age 9. Being "9" years old for 3 summers until the old ladies at Kutshers called me out for it while on stage. And grilled cheeses in the hotel cafeteria after the show with the whole cast.”
“First time at Kutschers. Seeing the stage lights. The spotlight when it first hit me. First professional performance. Changed me forever. I was the actor one session. I did the duet Wherever we Go with my sister Caren - that was awesome.”
“The very first year! Sobbing through OTC at midnight in the playhouse on my final summer, knowing it was the last.”
“Being the last OTC group to perform at the hotels and performing at the premier of CAMP the movie.”
“All of it!!! My first OTC in 2007. My final OTC as the actor in 2011!”
“I was still such a newb at Stagedoor I didn’t even know I had made it in. Singing in that room together with the biggest and proudest the loudest and just the most talented people. Being the small fish in a big pond - it gives you so much to learn from and so much to aspire to. Being surrounded by people who understand each other in one way or another.”
“My final night at Stagedoor, I was The Actor in OTC and Claude in HAIR—the height of my artistic confidence and excitement. My whole family had driven up to Stagedoor to see the shows, but there was a power outage. We may not have had power for spotlights, but we were lit up by the cell phone lights of my beautiful community- I will never forget the support and love and acceptance I felt at Stagedoor. It was the most magical time of my life.”
“The love that Jack and Michael and Elsie and Carl showered us with. The pride of being the first female Willkommen girl as Gordon had created it in the barn the previous summer. Nowadays was added in by Jack as it was my audition song. And at a one point I sang Brother can you spare a dime.”
“One of my favorite OTC Memories was my senior year, in which our performance was dedicated to Michael Larsen, whom I still miss dearly. Without him, I wouldn’t have come to Stagedoor, and probably wouldn’t be pursuing a career as an actor. I wouldn’t have met all of the amazing people that I did get to meet at Stagedoor, as well as the experiences that will last a lifetime. Being able to dedicate my final OTC to Michael is something I will never forget. My second and third years I was The Actor.”
“The OTC stage was my favorite place to be from age 11-17! There was no place I felt more alive, more myself, more part of something so special and magical. I hold those moments in my heart so dearly and when I hear those opening notes I'm immediately transported back to that time and place.”
“I was really struggling my senior year at Stagedoor, and OTC was my lifeline. It reminded me why I was there, doing what I loved, with the people who made me who I am today. It made me reconnect with myself. Larry still scared the absolute crap out of me, but nonetheless, it was the place I would go and nothing else mattered but creating this show.”
“Playing the hand squeeze game to the oom pa pa during carousel. Such a nice time to check in with each other. And other little moments that some of use would try to make happen every year. Like the three hand claps that look like a prayer before the actor sings a solo, Elena Wilson and I would always try and make the same pattern.”
“The day I got in. It was something I wanted for a long time, and I remember reading that list and starting to cry immediately. I had so many friends in OTC at the time and I was nearing the end of my time at stagedoor being able to share that memory with them made my whole experience at camp better. My life long friends are from otc and I still see them every year and we watch the YouTube of our senior year performance.”
“The magic of it all. Jack, Michael Larsen, Mark Saks, performing at hotels. Having ice cream sundaes after the shows. Watching my friends sing solos. Singing harmonies. What a Country. Singing Somebody, If I were a Rich Man with Sandy Gaberman, Some of us belong to the stars, If I had a million (amphibian jeep) with “CJ” Meoli.”
“Rachel Wise started Broadway baby "I'm just a..." and while she paused, someone from the audience yelled out "gigolo!" It was hilarious. Plus Jack yelling about any other shade of lipstick than Red. "F**k you Estee Lauder!"
“My final show, right when I got off stage my best friend in the world (to this day) Isaac Anderson ran up and hugged me and we just sat there crying because of how incredible our time there had been.”
“I absolutely loved performing All the Livelong Day or What a Country next to my best friends. Or the tradition where we all run around the playhouse during rehearsal and "induct" the new OTC Members!”
“Singing if we only have love for the first time the summer after Michael Larsen passed away and all of his students from home got to stand together and hold hands and feel connected to him.”
“That first year of OTC, when David Quinn and Jon Cryer sang Father & Son to Gordon Greenberg and Scott Becker. I still cry watching the video of it. Also, all of us, arm in arm, singing The World Goes Round that same year.♥”
“Alllll the hotels. Pizza after. Or the cafeterias at the hotels. All the rehearsals. All the camp shows. All of it. Over the years - I did pretty much every solo that a guy could do.”
“The first time everyone broke into dance for All the Live Long Day during rehearsal and destroying my script.”
“Recording “I’m Still Here” for the Sondheim New York Times celebration and being able to spend time outside doing what we love with friends (and watching Larry Nye punch a bee).”
“Developing the material over the course of the previous two winters before the first show. And, of course, seeing my own children perform the show years later. ❤ (my years 1977-1982).”
“I loved when we went to that event for the Liberty fire department and got to sing off-campus for them! Also, of course StageDark was insane but also a beautiful memory of just singing in the dark by flash flights. But my best memories are just huddled around the piano with Phil Shute as we sang through the whole show.”
“My favorite OTC Memory is every year seeing it evolve and change and each year and see I’ll having its own special moments. Getting to be part of a beautiful journey was so rewarding and always my favorite part of the year.”
“Singing to my mom, who was in the back row, during “You There in the Back Row”, also when we came back and sang “If We Only Have Love” after Jordan Schuman’s (RIP) garden was made.”
“Finding out I was in OTC! I had no expectation of being cast so I didn’t even check the list, I went up to my room and my friends came running upstairs and pulled me out of bed to go look at the list. My little sister was having her first summer—she covered my eyes and when I opened them there was my name. I burst into tears, definitely one of the top five moments of my life!!!!”
“Performing the Actor in OTC for the first time in 3rd session of 1997. I was in Blood Brothers at the time and they didn’t have someone who had done the role. It had been my dream to do it after watching it for so many years. I was “the actor” 3rd session 1998 also.”
“The first time signing “You There in the Back Row” at the parents’ performance, I managed to see the glint of my dad’s camera lens in the back of the house. Growing up, he would always, without fail, create incredible photographs of the shows I was in, and would sit in the back of the house to get the best angles. That night, I sang the whole song directly to him and got really emotional, and I carried that through anytime my parents saw the show in subsequent years.”
“The first day in OTC rehearsal, I fell off the ladder right onto my back. Immediately after I fell, Emerson Fischer reached her arm out to help me onto my feet. That moment showed me what is at the core of OTC: a supportive artistic community.”
“I’d say either ugly crying in the final Our Time line up, first time ever holding up my baby picture, being part of the first harmony of the show or when I got my first solo. Just the whole experience overall. OTC has always been one of my absolute favorite things to do and I am so insanely excited to apart of it for my senior summer of 2022!”
“The New York Times event in NYC. 2017. We got to meet Nicki Minaj after performing for her and she even put a video of us singing on her Instagram. Seriously, coolest thing ever. OTHER than that, performing OTC on the lawn outside Tara during the infamous StageDark40 was bittersweet and unforgettable. It truly felt like a historic moment in the OTC world.”
“Singing the final song and showing out baby pictures. If the lights hit your photo just right, you can see your reflection in it and it is amazing to see how far we have all come.”
“Being with Michael. He was the epitome of tough love. Brought out the best in me as a performer and helped me grow as a person.”
“When we all went into a studio and just talked about the meanings behind all the songs in the show. I was kinda nervous at first since it was only my first year but I left feeling like I had become a part of a family.”
“I have so many beautiful memories from OTC so far, but I think my favorite memory has to be hugging my mom after she watched it live for the first time. She absolutely loved Our Time Cabaret with her whole heart. This memory with my mom makes OTC even more special to me and I continue to dedicate the show to her.”
“Me singing the wrong lyrics to Dance With A Boy and hearing Elsie in the audience say “what?” Also all the memories of Jack explaining what each song was about and how they fit together. He was so passionate about it.”
“Going to Kutschers and the Raleigh and performing for the olde folks! I also have beautiful memories from rehearsals as Michael Larson played the piano with such passion as we found 4 part harmonies in our “I hear America singing….”
“Singing around the piano with Michael and all of my talented friends. Performing You There in the Back Row. Marveling at the sheer beauty of all of the people I was surrounded by. Performing the final night of camp.”
“Being dance captain and teaching the classics to new members. Teaching “what a country” for a news channel special. Having “Pinky” as our director.”
“I remember idolizing the carousel solo for years, and in my first year in OTC when I go to perform it, it was like confronting an enormous hill. After the parents show I remember being greeted by past members of OTC and their parents or friends... it was super validating for me as a young performer.”
“Oh too many. Probably being silly and disruptive because it was impossible to try to keep the giggles in during Carousel., The beginning of ‘some of us belong to the stars’ and the beginning of ‘our time’.
“I always loved the rehearsal process of putting everything together. Especially my final year at SDM when I basically knew the entire show track. There was just something special about the atmosphere whenever you entered the Playhouse. It was something incredible that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
“Getting off that stage after the final performance and just crying with all the people I love about how much we accomplished and how much we loved each other. I’ve never felt that level of love since. I was the actor my final year.”
“I remember my very last otc second session of 2007 was pretty magical. Sharing the stage with my favorite humans in the world, having the most fun and also feeling so sad it was all ending.”
“Jack throwing a chair at me. I made it! Joanna Efram singing “seeing things” and Evan singing about his Gucci shoes and being somebody… and the costumes… and the ladder… I don’t know why…and leaving the campus to go to the other hotels to sing.”
“Probably when Jack changed the name of that li’l “mini-production” from “Ebb & Kander” to “Our Time,” in that first session of 1982, because he wanted to include other composers, especially Sondheim! “The Actor,” and others through the years, & was proudly the first “I’m not in Philadelphia”
“Sobbing when the seniors sang if we only have love for the last time and remembering being a tiny 10 year old in the audience hearing it for the first time.”
“My favorite OTC memory was singing “You there in the back row”. It always brought chills and a tear to my eye. In that moment I felt so supported by my peers. OTC is truly a family and to this day one of my favorite pieces of theatre I’ve done. I’m so happy that this tradition continues to lives on.”
“Michael Larsen!! and having Jack direct my first year. Also marveling at Danny Gurwin singing Brother Can You Spare A Dime!! Loved getting dressed in our black, white, and red and boarding the bus to the resorts. Something is stirring, shifting ground, It's just begun.”
Molly Smerling pee-ing down her leg 😊 Actually favorite was a rehearsal when Michael Larsen did an impression of each of us doing our solos.”
“Performing "If We Only Have Love" during the blackout in 2015 (StageDark40).”
“During my first OTC callback I forgot my dance shoes and I was PANICKING. I thought there was no way Larry Nye would let me in to OTC if I forgot my dance shoes. But Bailey Endebrock let me borrow an extra pair of jazz shoes she had in her bag and I am eternally grateful.”
“I think one of the most special parts of OTC is the aspect of legacy in the show. When my sister (Gabby Rosenbloom) was in OTC, she had the solo in the beginning of How Lucky You Are. In my last OTC, I also got to sing this solo. Such a special moment for me and for Gabby when she got to watch!”
“My favorite memory will always be opening sequence. When the piano starts and actor comes center stage… and the playbills pull down from everyone’s faces, there’s nothing like the “let me entertain you” and look from the front row of the audience that greets you, wide-eyed.”
“The 1990 “super-OTC”; coming together as a cast in 1991 following Jack’s passing; the guys’ takeover of “Tomorrow” 3rd session ‘91; standing atop the SL ladder w/ Greg Zola during that super-long applause break at the end of the Arrivals sequence.”
“The bus rides to and from the hotel performances, the performances themselves and then going out to eat afterwards.”
“Kutschers…Oh, and: Once Michael had the whole ensemble skipping around the Playhouse from studio to lobby to studio to stage chanting the words “My Diction Sucks!” in two-part rhythmic perpetual cannon. The man loved to make a point.”
“After I broke my ankle and had to do the whole show on crutches...I've truly never felt more loved in my life. And when Lucas MacMahon sang "When you're limpin' along..." after "What Did I Have," and we all just burst out laughing at the irony.”
“My last OTC, performing my final show at Stagedoor, with my best friends to my sides in the last number, all of us crying like children.”,
“The first time, and the last time - singing the impossible dream and fighting back tears. I was the Actor in my final session!”
“The first time, and the last time - singing the impossible dream and fighting back tears. I was the Actor in my final session!”
“Larry Nye and Phil. Their combination alone was the best part of OTC. Also, the finale with the baby photos always made me cry.”
“Besides singing “A Matchbox of our Own” on a Trunk with David Jon and Devin Schwartz, it was screaming all the tunes via the bus ride to the hotels, then chowing down on fries in the coffee shops below.”
“Waiting for the cast list summer of 2015 and when I saw my name Chris Olsen screamed for me, it felt like magic being added to this tradition I wanted to be a part of so bad.”
“The entire OTC hopping in a line around the Jack Romano theater singing the end of Working until we all filtered back to the rehearsal and Michael cued us to end.”
“Standing next to my best friend when he was the actor during his last summer crying and having him say “you’re next” before I was the actor for my last summer.”
“My first year in OTC I spent a lot of time on the ladders. One day they had been freshly painted earlier in the day, but of course that didn’t matter. Rehearsal must go on. I kept those red-stained character shoes with me for years, through NY auditions, until they finally fell apart.”
“Creating sections of it with Jack and Tim and Michael, some of which still exist today. Wilkommen, What a Country, Tintypes…. A lot of laughs. I was the second person (after Jeff Sharpe) to ever sing the opening solo lines to “What a Country”
“Creating sections of it with Jack and Tim and Michael, some of which still exist today. Wilkommen, What a Country, Tintypes…. A lot of laughs. I was the second person (after Jeff Sharpe) to ever sing the opening solo lines to “What a Country”
“Michael Larsen. When he was messing around and just joking with everyone. We were a family.”
“My final OTC. All the grads sang “we’re gonna make it after all” and Courtney Balan and I had the “our time” solos. The Actor, Brother Can You Spare a Dime.”
“Holding hands during “Our Time.” Running harmonies with Philip Shute. Getting in my first time on my birthday and scream crying.”
“The bus, the food after the show, the green room, and of course the blue lights in Kutchers and crowding around the piano singing with Michael.”
“Getting to sing the solo at the beginning of “Our Time” my graduating summer, and then getting to turn around and sing the next verse of the song to all the younger kids in OTC. It was a full circle moment after being one of the younger kids who looked up to the older kids in OTC so much!”
“My first year when the returners smacked down my folder and we ran through the theatre for “All the Livelong Day”. Getting to do the Larry dance with one of my best friends. Sitting in the OTC meeting and realizing I was surrounded not only by an insane amount of talent but by true friends (and yes, I cried).”
“Right before my very first performance, it was my first time in black white and red, we were backstage at Kutchers, cast mates were cheering me on…chose my Playbill, took a deep breath and thought to myself, “here we go” and Michael started playing the opening notes of Wilkkommen. The greatest. Oh, and grilled cheese.”
“Michael Larsen leading us in our 4-parts for "All the Livelong Day", trapesing around the Playhouse in a huge follow-the-leader line until we got back to our positions around the piano. The vamp for "Our Time," standing in the wings with our baby photos in hand, everyone in tears.”
“Singing in the playhouse with Michael Larson the last reunion! Corner of the Sky, the octave up! Also played the ‘Actor’ my last year.”
“Jeff Murphy getting mad about the lip pop at the end of "Don't Pass the cup" in "Hey look me over" and us doing it anyway. "I'll be passing round the cuban cigars" and Give my regards to broadway solo at the end before the tap break.”
“I auditioned for the corner of the sky audition solo and felt really great about what I did, and then little Brian Muller went up there and sang it up the octave. It was no contest. I was the Actor for three summers starting in 2005 to 2007.”,
“Michael Larsen. Being at the top of the center stage ladder for tintypes; shoe flying across the stage at Kutschers as I did a kick and wasn’t able to retrieve it until 3 songs later.”
“Sitting with the cast talking through the whole show and the meaning behind it all. Just the cast- no adults. Led by the older cast members.”
“The hand squeezes during carousel. Our time solo Carousel “Stop my alarm” You there in the back row “Frankfurters!” “When the news is all bad”. I am already crying thinking about getting to sing “our time” with everyone.”
“I always loved running around during phone calls and trying not to laugh when we had to be still. Facing each other holding hands during Our Time and sobbing when it was the last day of camp and we knew we had to go home.”
“The fact that I got to grow up doing this show every summer, and slowly got to see myself in leadership roles that I witnessed when I was younger was extremely special and will forever hold a place in my heart. I had Proud of Your Boy and “I’ll soon be passin’ round the Cuban cigars”. Usually did “sure me and my mom will move anywhere” line in the phone call sequence.”
“Performing at Kutchers and Raleigh and the bus ride there! Performing for the entire camp. "Shuttles and Checkers and Casting Directors", Carousel, What I did For Love, "When the news is all bad..." These are some of the best memories of my childhood!”
“My favorite memory is the final moments we share together right before going onstage to begin. We all used to look at each other and just 'know' that no matter what we had each others backs, and we would never forget this feeling. And the atmosphere breaking as we hit our harmony perfectly on "and sometimes your heart breaks with a deafening SOUND"
“There’s always a lyric, a moment from those shiny days at SDM that return me to myself, to home. The day I got an otc call back is still the most nerve-wracking of my life, my still dear friend Rachel Geisler walking me through it, prepping me on the dance sequence. I hold on to those friendships as sacred treasures - the high we all felt holding our baby photos out to the crowd as if we had already made it.”
“My favorite part of OTC was actually rehearsals! I loved standing around the piano in our vocal sections and learning the words by rote -- no sheet music! Musical theatre as oral tradition. It's actually how I grew up learning music in church so it made that experience so special and unlike doing the main shows.”
“The first time I was in OTC, on the Monday performance for the campers, during “Hey Look Me Over” I turned my head the wrong way and made direct eye contact with Jamie Mayers who was sitting in the audience. I never messed that part up again!”
“Over the years, I did Impossible Dream, If I Can't Love Her, Who Can I Turn To?, "Who am I anyway?". I was also the Actor in my final session at Stagedoor! Taking in the moment before delivering "This above all else/To thine own self be true..." in my final OTC.”
“Performing You There In The Back Row. That moment would always give me shivers-- the stage lights bright in my eyes as I searched for the back row, the hands on my shoulders, the absolute wall of sound coming from the OCT ensemble... So special. When I think back on my Stagedoor days, I always get little butterflies in my stomach. Truly. To be honest, I can't think of a time when my love for the arts was more pure.”
“In 2003 I bought the VHS of OTC and watched it every day (until) I learned every song, every dance move. 2007 I finally got cast. That was the best day of my young adult life. Zooming around the Playhouse. It was a ritual, a rite of passage, a sacred induction. OTC has become the foundation of some of the most important relationships in my life and I cannot say enough how grateful I am.”
“Standing around the piano learning music. Sobbing at the official OTC meeting. Taking pictures before the show/sobbing afterward. Getting in trouble for having too much fun. Hand squeezing during "Carousel". Jeff Murphy shouting "Let that little girl in there" during rehearsals. Jeff Murphy, in general. The life long friendships I've made.”
“Concord Hotel, they forgot to lock the rollout stage and during the What a Country “dance” the stage started rolling back under the bandstand. My 3rd summer, doing a run thru at Brown’s, the soloist of “The Actor” was having trouble vocally. Out of nowhere, Jack yelled from the back of the theatre, “Jamie!!!! YOU sing it! It was like getting a Broadway show. I sang it that whole summer and the next. This memory, like most from Stagedoor are so clear in my mind.”
“OTC was my absolute favorite part of camp. I loved going to the raleigh and kutshers, I loved the sense of family, I loved feeling like I was part of something bigger than myself. Carousel, Broadway Baby, and Somebody - the thing at the very end for the people who had been there the longest. The whole thing. I'd give anything to go back.”
“On my first day of OTC, I was really uncomfortable and nervous in the playhouse because I wasn’t sure where I belonged. At that exact moment Jeff Murphy came up, put his arm around me, and said “Welcome to the family” and he was really happy to have me there. Then during the (before first performance meeting) OTC has every year. I was so flattered, caught off-guard and filled with gratitude when Randi Kleiner AND Shaina Taub both came up to me after the meeting - and told me that they were really happy to be performing with me in OTC that night.”
“I always loved running around the theatre when we we're learning the working section. Smacking the scripts out of first year's hands was always so funny (even when it happened to me) and it was such a joy to do every time. I miss Larry and Phil, and everyone who was in the OTC casts.”
“Performing at the Browns and Raleigh Hotels with my friends. Working with Jack Romano and Michael Larson. And now sharing the OTC experience with Lexi and watching her on the same stage doing the same show and making her own AMAZING Stagedoor friends and memories!”
“All of it. Playing kutchers, browns, the pines, goose fight with Danny Goldstein and Michelle Federer, playing the playhouse. Brother, Actor (with Goldstein and Zola), enough of frankfurters, cigar.”