In his student apartment at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), senior Brandon Bomer from Atlanta has a framed photograph of himself on stage with Broadway actor Michael James Scott, who played the Genie in productions of “Aladdin” in New York City, London’s West End and Sydney, Australia. In the photo, Bomer and Scott are singing together in last year’s “Holiday Spectacular,” an annual December performance for SCAD’s Bee Sharps.
Bee Sharps is the school’s elite student performance ensemble. Bomer is one of 16 students who auditioned against stiff competition to earn a coveted spot. Backstage during the same show, Bomer got another opportunity to be oncamera with a star, Caissie Levy, who was the original Elsa in Disney’s Broadway production of “Frozen” and played Elphaba in the Los Angeles production of “Wicked.” When Bomer’s friends, huge Levy fans, heard he was going to be taking the stage with her, they begged him to see her. She graciously agreed to hop on FaceTime with his friends, who were tickled by the call.
Moments like these were the manifestation of a vision set forth by Mike Evariste, SCAD’s artistic director of executive ensembles. When Evariste took the helm of the school’s ensembles in 2022, he started shaping the Bee Sharps program. He wanted to give current students the opportunity to perform at a professional level, make connections in the industry and be mentored by icons. The program was partly inspired by its counterpart, the HoneyBees, an elite performance ensemble of SCAD alumni. Candice Glover, a SCAD alumna who won the 12th season of “American Idol” and now works for the school as a music coordinator, was famously a HoneyBee. Evariste wanted to build a similar program, but for current students.
The Bee Sharps perform throughout the year, booking roughly 100 shows or more, ranging from corporate events, to black-tie fundraisers, SCAD’s Film Festival and concerts at resorts. They’ve performed at notable venues including Atlanta Botanical Garden, Georgia World Congress Center and the Fox Theatre…