Today's edition of On The Road features my beautiful new friend Shoba Narayan! Shoba is a Pennsylvania native and is currently starring as Eliza Hamilton on the Philip national tour. Before this, she was in the 12-time Tony nominated musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. In that role, she made Broadway headlines in 2017 by being the first South Asian female in a principal role in more than a decade. I am thrilled for you guys to get to know this strong female lead and find out what she loves about playing Eliza!

This week's edition of On The Road features the third and final member of Aladdin's sidekick squad, Philippe Arroyo! Philippe is a native Floridian and gratulated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in musical theatre. You might recognize him from his time on the Into the Woods national tour. Currently, Philippe is playing Omar on the first national tour of Disney's award winning musical, Aladdin! Make sure to check him out when Aladdin's magic carpet lands in your city!

I'm excited to introduce you all to Jed Feder for this week's edition of On The Road! Jed is a Colorado native and proud Northwestern Alum. He is currently touring the United States with the first national tour of Disney's hit Broadway musical, Aladdin! I hope you enjoy getting to know my new friend!

I am super exited about today's edition of On The Road because it features one of my talented Disney cousins, Zach Bencal! Zach is originally from New Hampshire and studied musical theater at the University of Hartford. He is currently on the road with the first national tour of Aladdin! Zach plays one of Aladdin's sidekicks, Babkak, and is one of the most hilarious guys I've ever met! I know I'm biased, but I highly recommend checking out Zach and the rest of the Argrabah crew when they pass through your city!

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!