IMTA’s star shines on Broadway
IMTA Press Release December 12, 2007
“It’s been the most incredible experience ever!” – Drew Tyler Bell
IMTA Los Angeles ’01 alum Drew Tyler Bell is currently making his Broadway debut in
Spring Awakening at the Eugene O’Neill Theater in the role of “Hanschen.” Although his stint as a replacement for a vacationing cast member was briefly interrupted by the union stagehands’ strike in November, Bell has been contracted for a two-month run in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 2007.
Spring Awakening is based on the 1891 Frank Wedekind play of the same name and features an original score by Grammy-nominated recording star Duncan Sheik. It has received some of the best reviews of the year: “A fresh breeze of true inspiration” from
The New York Times, “a breakthrough musical of the highest order” from
The New York Observer, and “startlingly inventive” from
The Washington Post. The musical “explodes on the stage and pours out over the audience like hormones raging through a sixteen year-old body,” states the show’s official website, springawakening.com. “It is a story of uncontrollable emotions and undeniable passions, of first love and lasting regrets. But most remarkably, it is a musical that answers the questions teenagers have been asking forever.”
IMTA Chief Operations Officer Nancy Mancuso attended a performance of
Spring Awakening immediately after the stagehands’ strike was settled. “Drew was absolutely outstanding,” said Mancuso. “It was such a thrill to see him perform on the Broadway stage. It seemed as if Drew had been with the cast from the beginning…he fit right in.”
Bell recently starred in
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising for 20th Century Fox and has starred for four years as Thomas Forrester in the CBS daytime drama “
The Bold and the Beautiful.” He appeared in the feature films
Her Best Move,
State's Evidence and
Jeepers Creepers 2, the series “
Standoff,” “
Jake 2.0” and “
All About Us,” and the recently released
Love’s Abiding Joy for the Hallmark Channel. In addition, Drew has been in numerous national commercials both as an actor and dancer. He has been dancing since the age of six and is currently a member of the Los Angeles tap troupe "Tapsounds Underground.”