If You Got It, Flaunt It!

This past Saturday, I made an addition to my "Playbill" series. Many people, theatre-loving or not, are familiar with the Mel Brooks movie, "The Producers". Many people are also familiar with the character Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yonsen Tallen-Hallen Svaden-Svanson (and yes, that is the full name) made famous by blonde bombshell Uma Thurman, and Leo Bloom as potrayed by Matthew Broderick. I decided this would be a fun shoot to do... so that's what I did :-)


Meet Ashley Edmiston! I had met Ashley a couple of times before I even decided to do this shoot through mutual friends and other theatrical adventures. Casting her as Ulla for this shoot was an easy decision! I actually got the idea when I was reading her bio when I went to see West Side Story with Rockville Musical Theatre (she was Consuelo). Since she had played the character, I figured it made sense, plus she physically fits the part, so it was pretty much a win-win. She channeled Marilyn Monroe for most of the shoot, and what she came up with was perfect. Not to mention she pretty much directed herself... I hardly needed to say a word!


On the right we have Mark Hamberger, a friend I met when I did Hello, Dolly! this past summer with Rockville Musical Theatre. When Ashley and I decided to make it a paired shoot, we wanted someone with a boyish charm and an expressive face to portray Leo. Mark was one of the first people we thought of, (for obvious reasons). Mark definitely had the more difficult character to portray between the two and still did a great job with it. Ashley and Mark had both performed together in West Side Story, so it was definitely a good choice, especially when it came to the coupled shots. The chemistry was very natural and they were both very comfortable in front of the camera.

Thanks Ashley and Mark for an awesome shoot!

sb.imagery

All images owned and copyrighted by Scotty Beland.