“As an actress, teacher, wife and mother, I have found that a balanced life leads to a balanced career. My acting teacher, Bill Esper, once said to me, ‘If you want to work on your art, you must work on your life.’ That is now what I tell my students.”
Jodi has been training singers, actors, and speakers for fifteen years. Now a Broadway veteran, Jodi’s roots in entertainment run deep. Her Russian family came to America in the early 1900’s and settled in the lower east side of Manhattan. Her Grandfather’s love for music blossomed there, and he soon discovered he could play any instrument by ear. He began playing the drums and bass, and later played the bugle in the army, where he also learned he could sing. He grew to modest notoriety in New York City where his band, “Ray Miller and His Orchestra”, played to standing-room only crowds in every dance hall south of 14th Street. Jodi’s mother, Phyllis, became the band’s lead singer at age sixteen. Phyllis eventually left show business to become a wife, teacher, and mother to Lynn, Jodi, and her twin brother Todd.
“In my senior year at Penn State University, I was trying to decide whether I should go to graduate school or head straight to NYC and take my shot at Broadway. Before college ended I had booked my first off-broadway show, ‘My Name Is Pablo Picasso’, and the choice was made for me.”
Soon after that show, Jodi began booking consistent work in musical theatre. “Performing went back several generations in my family, but my Penn State training was as a dramatic artist. I got my BFA in acting, and had no formal musical theatre vocal training. I quickly learned that my BFA wasn’t enough,” she says. Fortunately, she landed a coveted spot with her world renowned voice specialist, Joan Lader, and began studying the Meisner based acting philosophy with Bill Esper and later, Tim Phillips.
“I’ve been a working actor ever since. From Arkansas to Illinois, from workshops to off-broadway, I kept going. I worked hard.”
And then on March 27th, 1997, Jodi made her Broadway debut in the original company of Jekyll and Hyde The Musical playing various roles, eventually taking over the role of Lucy. She went on to originate the role of Pam, in Urban Cowboy The Musical and toured the country as Maggie in the play Lend me a Tenor. A few stand out regional theatre experiences include Lily St. Regis in The 25th Anniversary Production of Annie directed by its creator Martin Charnin at the Goodspeed Opera House, the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd at Gateway Playhouse, Marlene Deitrich in Barry Manilow’s, Harmony, at the La Jolla Playhouse. She returned to off-broadway later in her career to rave reviews playing the already familiar, infamous, Marlene Dietrich, in Dietrich and Chevalier. Recent hometown professional credits include a solo performance in the title role of I’ll Eat You Last, A Chat with Sue Mengers at Music Theater of Connecticut and Tanya in Mamma Mia at Ridgefield’s ACT of Connecticut. In 2017 Jodi won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lina Lamont in the Summer Theatre of New Canaan’s production of Singin’ in the Rain.
She credits coming back to CT and working locally as the catalyst for becoming a mother to son Jackson, and for sparking a new passion to begin her career in teaching.
“Along the way, lessons came, sometimes like an avalanche. Those lessons, and the lessons still to come, are what have given me the best kind of training an actor can have--a full life.”
Like any life, it’s had its ups and downs. In 1999, Jodi suffered a vocal hemorrhage during a performance of Jekyll and Hyde that brought her professional singing to a temporary halt.
“The question I needed to answer for myself was, how do I perform eight shows per week plus understudy rehearsals, do press events, keep auditioning for future projects and not further injure myself? How do I keep my voice? The answer was, I couldn’t. On my doctor’s orders, I went silent for several weeks. That was followed by hours and hours of voice rehabilitation, body work and mental focus and, thankfully, I recovered. That experience brought me a newfound respect for the vocal instrument.”
That new respect inspired Jodi to rebuild her voice foundations in Arthur Lessac Speech, as taught by Barry Kur. She followed with ten years of study with renowned Voice Teacher, Joan Lader, and learned the Alexander Technique from Dr. Richard Nichols.
Jodi continues to perform professionally today. Her sold-out one woman show, A Broad’s Way was performed across the tri-state area and showcased music and stories from her journey in the theatre. “My show has been a blast! Every performance is always a little different, and the stories are endless,” she says. In the past five years she has been nominated seven times for the Connecticut Critics Circle awards. Her nominations and win include:
Best Solo Performance for I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers at MTC
Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Gypsy at MTC
Best Ensemble in a Play for Vanya Sonia Masha and Spike at MTC
Best Featured Actress in a Play for Vanya Sonia Masha and Spike at MTC
Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Hairspray at STONC
Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Legally Blonde at STONC
And Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Singin’ in the Rain at STONC, which she won in 2017.
Through all her success as an actor, however, Jodi feels her true accomplishments have been made through teaching. She is a member of New York Singing Teachers Association (NYSTA), National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and serves on the Alumni Board Penn State University School of Theatre. She holds master classes in acting, musical theatre, and cabaret at universities and colleges around the country.
“I have had many successes performing, but I am especially proud of my teaching. Teaching has made me a better performer. Teaching has made me better at everything.”
For over fifteen years Jodi has been an early childhood music advocate and a Music Together specialist. “I taught children from the ages of three months to five years ‘Basic Music Competence’ (BMC), and closely observed the dramatic development of rhythm and pitch skills in these children. Music ignites ‘the spark,’ quite literally sparking the brain’s neurons. This ‘spark’ builds foundations for organizing thoughts and language skills, not to mention social skills.” she boasts. Jodi was also a mentor at Weston Middle School for several years and directed The Music Man, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Lion King and Giants in the Sky there. Jodi currently teaches Musical Theatre and Voice/Speech at the Performing Arts Conservatory of New Canaan.
Jodi has also spent over fifteen years as a yoga student. Her practice has taught her to keep healthy and present in her life, and her work with vocal yoga connections has transitioned from the mat into the vocal lessons she teaches to her students.
Most recently Jodi has had the pleasure of founding SBE studio, her growing home-based hub where she works with husband Scott Bryce and staff to teach conservatory driven private lessons and group classes.
That’s about all for now. Check back, as life keeps on keeping on.
