On September 12, four Broadway performers sang not from a stage, but from Jane Esty’s driveway in the Pheasant Knoll neighborhood. Sara Esty, Leigh-Ann Esty, and Andrew Wojtal, all Gorham High School graduates, joined with Chelsea Williams from Windham to entertain an audience of 95 masked neighbors. All had been working as professional actors until COVID-19 closed their shows.
Jane Esty organized Broadway Curbside and attendance was free. “Our neighborhood had a lot of COVID cases early and people were looking for a way to reconnect,” she said. “The object was to bring joy to this hard-hit neighborhood and to give four kids a chance to do what they love.” The concert of 13 musical numbers is now available to anyone on YouTube.
Photo credit Jane EstyAndrew Wojtal, Chelsea Williams, Sara Esty, and Leigh-Ann Esty welcome guests to Broadway Curbside where they entertained 95 socially distanced, masked neighbors, seated in their folding chairs.
All four performers have appeared in shows that played on Broadway: Leigh-Ann in “Carousel”, Sara in “American in Paris”, Andrew in “Fiddler on the Roof”, and Chelsea in “Mama Mia.”
The twin Esty sisters began their professional careers with the Miami City Ballet, and since then have appeared in many musical theater and TV productions. They toured with the national company of American in Paris for two years, performing in 40 cities. Last year they both sang and danced as members of the Jets in Steven Spielberg’s film of West Side Story which will be released in 2021. Currently Sara is in New York, the only one from Broadway Curbside currently performing. Leigh-Ann is teaching at Maine State Ballet and taking an online course in cinematography.
Andrew Wojtal, a 2007 GHS graduate, was in the cast of Hamilton and understudying the role of King George in San Francisco when the show closed down and he is there now. Chelsea Williams, who played the Puerto Rican grandmother in “Mama Mia,” is home taking courses at the Maine College of Art.
Alden Berliner, also from GHS, ran the sound-system for Broadway Curbside. Andrew sang his last number, “New York, New York” in the Esty driveway, accompanied by a karaoke soundtrack from YouTube. He said the city was his favorite place — “Oh, after Gorham.”
Although the four young professional musical actors were happy to entertain back home where they started their careers, all are eager to once again stand on bigger stages performing for audiences all over the country.