Rock’s biggest anthems return to rock the Castle | Entertainment – entertainmentnews.biz

The 2024 version of Anthems features a number of long-time cast members, including Jay McManus, Brian Ashton Miller, and Courtnay Mitchell, who told Branson Tri-Lakes News they all have different ways they keep the show fresh and exciting for themselves as performers.

“The way I keep it fresh as a performer is the new parts of the show we have every year,” McManus said. “Every year we have a few new numbers here and there. It helps because it gives us something to be excited for, and it makes us a little nervous when we do new songs.”

But he said the audience is a factor in keeping the show exciting for him.

“When I look out at the audience, and I can see ‘Oh, they haven’t been here before’ or ‘They’ve been here before’ or ‘He’s been here before,’” he said. “I know I just have to do the best show I can possibly do for the people who are watching whether it’s 200 people or 1,000 people, I try to do the same show.

“Even if it’s people you know who come to the show a lot, I always want to give the best show I can because even if they’ve seen it 10 or 20 times I want it to be exciting.”

McManus said another factor which keeps it fresh is the changing of the shows at Christmas, and new cast members who bring a variety to the stage.

“When new cast members come to the show, it definitely changes things up on stage,” he said. 

Miller said what keeps it fresh for him is focusing on the details of his performances.

“You always have to find new nuances in your performance,” he said. “Whether it’s a new phrase. It’s acting something different. We’re not just singing these songs, we’re live, and we’re performing them. You have to tell the song’s story and all of these songs have a great story. As an actor, I want to challenge myself to tell the song’s story in the most perfect way.”

Miller added the people who are on stage with him can help keep the show new to him.

“There’s a comfortability with people you’ve been with,” Miller said. “This is our fifth season for those of us who have been the originals. It’s easier to try to do new things with them, and it’s more comfortable to expand your performance when you’re with people you’ve known for a long time.”

Mitchell, who is the creator of the show, said she’s lucky because she gets to cover all parts of the show.

“I sing and dance, so I get to fluctuate around and I’ve done just about every [position] in the show,” she said. “I’ve been Kristen, I’ve been Melody, I’ve been everyone in the show. So it keeps it fresh for me because I’m everyone in the show!”

She admitted she doesn’t play the guitar, so that’s the one role in the show she doesn’t perform.

“We’ve joked that it would be funny if I came out and pretended to play guitar to a track,” she said.

She said there have been times when she’s filling in for someone else in the show where she’ll accidentally find she’s performing a different part.

“There’s been times I’ve been on stage, and I’m in the middle of a move and I see a space, that I realize ‘Oh, I’m supposed to be over there,’” Mitchell said. “The good thing about Anthems of Rock is with so many things going on you can cover when you make a mistake, and many times people don’t notice them.”

She said sometimes when the audience catches a mistake, it actually bonds the performers and audience because it’s a shared moment of humanity.

“I remember one time, Jay fell on stage very badly,” Mitchell said. “It was good the audience saw it and they laughed along with us because it helped the fact no one could sing because everyone saw him fall really badly in the center of the stage.

“Sometimes you can hide it, sometimes it’s very obvious for the audience, but it’s all about having fun, dancing, and rocking out. We have a great time during the show.”

Mitchell added the fun on stage carries throughout the backstage area.

“I’m one of the resident scarers,” she said. “I like to scare people backstage. If you go to our Instagram page you’ll see videos of me scaring people.  So we do get up to a bit of mischief but we’re a great family unit back there. There’s a lot of us from the U.K. obviously, so we’re each other’s family here.”

One of the newcomers to Anthems of Rock is guitarist Ryan Jagru. He is replacing Jacob Nelson, who left the show to do missionary work in Australia, and who also won multiple Guitarist of the Year awards for his performance in the show. Jagru said despite having some big shoes to fill, he’s not feeling any pressure.

“He did a great job, and he was awesome,” he said. “What’s great about guitar players is that we all have our own different style, and this is my favorite kind of music, so I’m not competing against him and I’m just doing my own thing to contribute to the show.”

He said he was born in the 80s, so the bands of the 80s like Poison, Motley Crue, and Whitesnake are his kinds of bands. He said when he found out he would be the lead guitarist for the show, excitement also gave way to a realization he would have a lot of work to do.

“I knew most of the songs because this is my favorite type of music,” Jagru said, “but to really delve into it, I just put my head down and worked it all out. Every day, just sitting in my room, playing and trying to learn something.”

Anthems will have two more February shows on Feb. 23 and 24, then will be performing at 8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday through the end of October. The other shows at the Castle begin in March, with New Jersey Nights opening Friday, March 1 at 8 p.m.; Dublin’s Irish Tenors & The Celtic Ladies opening Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m.; and The Ultimate 70s Show opening Sunday, March 3 at 8 p.m. The new show Cirque: Electric Dreams will open on Friday, May 24 at 2 p.m.