- March 15, 2025
The youth singers rehearse their part of the show with Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mandy Gonzalez sings on stage at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center during rehearsal. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Choir member Asher Maggs of Creekside High School in northern St. Johns County, poses with Mandy Gonzalez during the book signing. "I'm really dying inside," Asher said. "I literally love Mandy Gonzalez." Photo by Brent Woronoff
Kailany Hudson of Sugar Mill Elementary School in Port Orange, poses with Mandy Gonzalez, as she receives her copy of Gonzalez's book, "Fearless." Photo by Brent Woronoff
Ann Paris (right) directs the choir as music director Dan Lipton plays the piano during rehearsal. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mandy Gonzalez and music director Dan Lipton (left) direct choir members during rehearsal. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mandy Gonzalez rehearses with music director Dan Lipton (left) and Central Florida musicians. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mandy Gonzalez rehearses for her concert at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center in Palm Coast. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center Director Amelia Fulmer (pink jacket), with a Flagler Palm Coast student/auditorium volunteer and members of the choir as they wait to take a photo with performer Mandy Gonzalez. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The volunteer youth choir rehearses on stage with Mandy Gonzalez hours before the show. Photo by Brent Woronoff
When the Fitzgerald Performing Art Center announced it was holding auditions for a youth choir to back up Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez during part of her Flagler County performance on March 13, young performers, age 8 to 16 from as far away as Winter Park, jumped at the opportunity.
Nearly all of them knew Gonzalez is, stream her performances and follow her on social media, said Ann Paris, who served as the choir’s director.
“Seeing Mandy on stage, I’m just beyond impressed, Buddy Taylor Middle School student Gabriella Hitt said after the choir had its rehearsal with Gonzalez a couple of hours before the show. “Honestly, I’m really just speechless about how amazing she is in person and I'm just really blown away.”
Twenty-six singers from Flagler, Volusia, St. Johns and Orange counties sang with Gonzalez on stage. After their rehearsal, they joined Gonzalez in the Fitz’s small Black Box Theatre for a book-signing. Gonzalez signed and gave out a copy of her young adult novel, “Fearless” to each member of the choir and then posed for a photo with each youngster.
“She's really just an amazing sweet person,” said Matanzas High School student Emily Robinson. “You can tell that she's very strict about her performing, but in a good way, like she's on top of it. She's very professional, and she's really nice..”
Gonzalez starred on Broadway as Angelica Schuyler in “Hamilton,” the green witch Elphaba in “Wicked” and originated the role of Nina Rosario in “In the Heights.” She has had major roles in movies and TV series. And “Fearless,” is not only the name of her novel but also her first solo album, released in 2017. The title song was written by Hamilton and In the Heights creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Amelia Fulmer, director of the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center, said when auditorium staff book shows they are always looking for a way to incorporate arts education for students.
“When I saw this show with Mandy Gonzalez, I knew that she would do a workshop with a choir, so we put in a contract for her to have the choir sing with her, and her assistant sent us the music,” Fulmer said.
An audition for the choir was held on a Saturday morning where each singer sang a solo. They had one rehearsal less than two weeks before the show, said Paris, who teaches choir and theater at Buddy Taylor Middle School and founded the non-profit Flagler Performing Arts Academy which holds a summer camp and show at the Fitz.
“Most of these kids are from choirs or they’re in musical theater,” Paris said.
Fulmer said the performers drove from all over when they heard they could sing with Mandy Gonzalez.
“We were very fortunate that Nikki Tilton Gross happened to be one of the parents that came to the audition, and she played piano for Ann Paris to direct,” Fulmer said. “We did the meet and greet with Mandy, and she's just been really great, very nice, very personable.”
Gonzalez was accompanied on stage by accomplished music director Dan Lipton. Lipton, who played piano, and Gonzalez, were accompanied by Central Florida musicians on guitar, bass and drums.
“I could have contracted her just to sing with piano,” Fulmer said. “But our audience likes live music with real good guitar players and drummers. We thought that was really important to add to the show.”
It was a show that gave the Fitz an opportunity to bring a bit of Broadway to Flagler County and a chance to give local up-and-coming performers a memory that will last a lifetime.
“I feel like it's hard to believe. It’s almost like a dream,” said London Hibbard, a student at Buddy Taylor Middle School.
“It's been really, really fun,” Emily Robinson said. “I do a lot of musical theater, but this is really different from what I normally do. I follow Mandy Gonzalez on Instagram and stuff, and it's just really cool to meet her and be able to be involved in something that she does and see a little part of her life and be a part of it.”
