Welcome to this week's edition of On The Road, featuring the gorgeous Autumn Crockett Cooper! For those of you who are new to The Backstage Blonde, here's a little summary about what's going on. On The Road is an interview series shot by local photographers across the country featuring actors who are currently preforming in Broadway national tours. Practically everyone in the current Broadway company of Wicked was on the national tour before moving to the Great White Way, and I've always loved hearing their  stories from the road. I think national tours are important because they make exceptional theatre accessible to people who might never make it to New York City. I first saw Wicked as a teenager when the tour came to Tampa, Florida! So I hope you enjoy getting to know my talented new friend and fellow Wicked family member, Autumn!

Today's On The Road interview features Broadway actor Nick Cartell. Nick is an Arizona native and majored in Theatre at Arizona State University. He was on the road in 2013 with the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera and has been on Broadway in Jesus Christ Superstar, Scandalous, and Cirque du Soleil Paramour! Nick is currently starring as the legendary character Jean Valjean in the national tour revival of Les Miserables. I love this interview and am so excited for you all to get to know my new friend!

This week's On The Road features one of my magical Wicked family members, Ginna Claire Mason! I first met Ginna Claire back in 2016 when I became a full-time dresser at Wicked, and we bonded immediately. Ginna Claire has been a such an encouragement in my life, and I am so blessed by her friendship! Ginna Claire is a Nashville native, and you might recognize her from the national tours of Newsies, Flashdance, or when she was a member of the Wicked's Broadway company as the Glinda standby. Currently, she is in Wicked's touring company and floating (in a giant bubble obvi) around North America starring as Glinda the Good Witch! I hope you enjoy getting to know my adorable friend a little bit better, and if you are ever lucky enough to meet this little angel in person, please give her a big hug from me!

For today's On The Road interview, I am so excited to introduce you to my new friend, Andrew Eckert! Andrew is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Wagner College with a Bachelor of Arts in theatre and speech and a minor in dance. He is currently traveling across the country in the First National Tour of the gorgeous Broadway show An American in Paris. Click here to follow his adventures, and if you get the chance to meet him, please give him a hug from me!

With Summer Stock season upon us, I invited one of my close friends, Camden Garcia, to write a guest blog post about it! I know many of you are aspiring professional actors, so you probably know landing a summer stock job is an excellent way to break into the business. 

I first met Camden in the Catskill Mountains during summer of 2012 at my first and only summer stock gig! I landed a job at the legendary theater camp Stagedoor Manor, and Camden was one of the hilarious campers I met that summer. We bonded instantly and he has been like a little brother to me ever since. Camden's article is so informative to anyone looking into summer stock jobs, and I'm confident his advice will help guide you in the right direction!