Arts & Entertainment

Avon's Emery Sings for Chance at Headlining Show at Broadway's 54 Below

Avon High School senior Katie Emery has advanced to the semifinals of 'The Callback.'

An Avon native will perform in the semifinals of a New York singing competition at a prestigious Broadway dining and performance venue thanks to fan support. 

Avon High School senior Katie Emery's rendition of "Say the Word" at 54 Below in the preliminary round late October garnered 1,974 page views on YouTube and 262 likes, qualifying her as one of three wildcard performers in a six-person semifinal round. Emery thanks everyone who voted for her. 

"I am so excited that I have made it to the next round!" Emery said. "It means so much to me. This has been an amazing experience and I can’t wait to perform again on Monday night."

The six will have a five-minute set to prove that they deserve to advance to a mini-cabaret at the finals in front of Broadway judges and the chance to make it to "The Final Callback" in December, according to the website.

The opportunity came about for Emery, 17, after she found the opportunity on the 54 Below website and sent in an audition video. 

"I was really excited and really nervous to sing," Emery wrote in an email to Patch. "I wanted to do a good job. Florence Henderson performed her cabaret show right before the competition. It was surreal to me that I was going to be performing on the same stage that she just performed on."

The semifinals will be a live, video-recorded performance that will be posted online. 

"All of the performers are competing for their own show at 54 Below Nightclub," Emery said. 

Dancing was Emery's first exposure at a young age to performing and she said that she's gotten involved in singing and acting as she's grown up. You may have seen her in shows on the Avon High School stage, as well as regional and local community theater productions. 

Emery has even had and "Off Broadway" stint at the Irish Repertory Theater, landing the title role in new musical, "The Piper." Grammy Award winner Marcus Hummon and Michael Aman wrote the show and Michael Bush directed. 

"It was the most amazing experience that I’ve had in theater," Emery said. 

In addition to her studies at Avon High School, Emery attends a half-day program at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. 

"I hope to continue performing forever," Emery said. "I’ll take whatever path I’m meant to take and hopefully perform at a variety of places and in different mediums. Broadway is of course the ultimate dream as is working in television and film.  In a perfect world it would be amazing to be on a sitcom and be on Broadway in between filming seasons. For now, I am following this path and will see where it will take me. And I’m looking forward to my journey, wherever it may lead me."



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