The Jayme Starr Podcast

McKenzie Kurtz graduated from the University of Michigan in 2019 with a degree in musical theater (MT19). Over the course of her career at University of Michigan she was lucky enough to participate in several different musicals like The Drowsy Chaperone and The Little Mermaid. She even got to play Ariel Moore in Footloose at The Muny which was directed by Broadway veteran, Christian Borle. Kurtz was the very first member of her graduating class to make her Broadway debut as Princess Anna in Frozen on Broadway. Although she was only in the show for a few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closing of Frozen this opportunity for McKenzie was a dream come true. Hopefully, we all will be able to see her in a new Broadway show when everything opens up again this fall!

Alanis Sophia is an actress/singer who was just recently on this past season on American Idol, where she made it to the top 16. This Florida natives passion for music was something that she discovered at a young age and knew that being in the business was right for her. Sophia has been an Idol fan for as long as she can remember and she is a huge fan of the OG AI Kelly Clarkson as well as other famous alumni such ad Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Tori Kelley, and David Archuleta. Besides American Idol alumni, she is also a big fan of Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift. (PLEASE NOTE: This interview was released before Lovato came out as non-binary, so the pronouns spoken her were she/her) One of the coolest parts about Alanis is the fact that she is my age, although it is rare, it awesome getting to talk to someone who has grown up in my generation and I loved discovering the fact that we have SO MUCH in common.

Brittany Conigatti is a Broadway star who has starred in A Bronx Tale and The Prom on Broadway. Besides working in NYC, Conigatti has gotten the chance to tour the country in shows like Matilda, A Bronx Tale (she did both productions Bway and tour) and most recently, Mean Girls. Brittany's favorite musical is Beauty and The Beast, and has been able to perform in a regional production of the show. However, she has yet to star as her favorite Disney Princess/character of all time, Belle. Besides her love for Beauty and the Beast and Belle, Conigatti loves traveling to Disney World when she gets the chance too. She especially loves attractions like Enchanted Tales with Belle and Fantasmic.

Christina Ricucci is a actress, singer, and dancer who has been sharing her passion with the world for more than half her life. She began her career as a dancer, and has been rising to the top ever since. Christina has appeared in several films and TV shows over time, and has even released a visual album which is the score to a short film she got the opportunity to work on. Some of Ricucci's role models include Judy Garland and Liza Minelli and she hopes to follow in their footsteps someday. She would love to be part of the Broadway community one day. You never know..... we could see her starring in a show that Judy Garland made famous such as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, or maybe even A Star is Born. 

Happy 100th EPSIODE! After 16 months, we have finally reached the 100th episode of The Jayme Starr Podcast. In this episode, I am chatting with Ciana Pelekai from this past season of NBC's The Voice. At 20 years old, Pelekai was part of Team Legend on Season 20 of The Voice. She was one of those lucky people who was granted a version of the "Welcome to Team Legend." song that John Legend performed for each of his team members as he was recruiting them at the beginning of the season. Besides having EGOT superstar, John Legend as her coach, Pelekai was lucky enough to work with other mentors such as Brandy for this seasons Battle rounds of the show and Snoop Dogg for the knockout round. In this episode, get to know all about Ciana's experience on The Voice as well as a special connection she was with Disney's Moana. 

Lauren Jbara is a sports journalist from Metro Detroit. She is an alumni of The University of Michigan where she double majored in Nuro-Science and Communications. After finding a love of sports and broadcasting from her Dad, Jbara made it known that working in this field is something she wanted to do. Currently, Lauren resides in Denver, Colorado where she covers the Colorado Avalanche and the Colorado Rapids. When Jbara isn't bust reporting and working on Colorado, she loves to come home and visit her family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, more specifically you can find her on one of Michigan's famous lakes with her puppy, at a U of M Football game, or at the famous Michigan staple, Leo's Coney Island. 

Rachel Moore is no stranger to musical theater. She has spent years working in musical theater icon, Andrew Lloyd Webber's productions of both Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies. Moore got her first glimpse of the show in Germany where she got the chance to perform as Christine Daae as well as cover a few other roles. She even travelled the country as Daae on the Love Never Dies National Tour. Prior to the pandemic, Rachel made her Broadway debut as a Carlotta alternate in the longest running musical theater production on Broadway. 

Savannah "Vanni" Latimer Lynch is a social media influencer. She has a passion for fashion, cooking, and all things social media. With 167k followers on instagram, Vanni uses her platform to share what she loves most. In addition to her work on social media, Vanni also has a blog and website (wwww.savannahlatimer.com) that she uses to expand her work as a social media influencer. Here she also displays products that she has fallen in love with as well as her favorite recipes. Lastly, Vanni may be a familiar name to you if you are a big fan of anyone from the Lynch Family. She is married to actor/singer Riker Lynch (formally in the band R5, her brother-in-law is Austin and Ally's Ross Lynch) and has been featured on sister-in-law, Rydel Funk's YouTube channel was well as Rydel and her husband, Capron's YouTube channel. 

Arielle Jacobs is a musical theater performer who has gotten the opportunity to take in part in several iconic shows. She made her professional theater debut performing as Gabriella Montez in the national tour of High School Musical. (I unknowingly saw her in the show when I was 5) She then went on to be part of the original touring cast of In The Heights where she played Nina, and eventually made her Broadway debut in that same roll. Jacobs' then went on to play Nessarose in Wicked on Broadway alongside former podcast guests, Kara Lindsay and Caroline Bowman. ( She was my first Nessa at my very first Broadway show alongside Bowman and Lindsay) Another role Jacobs' originated was Princess Jasmine in the Australian version of Aladdin, which then lead her to her most recent Broadway gig of playing the same role in Aladdin prior to the COVID pandemic. 

Jess Carroll is a social media influencer and TV host. She has worked on several red carpet events, and has interviewed some of the biggest stars like Meghan Trainor, William H. Macy, and Shaq. In addition to working on the red carpet and on TV, Carroll is also a social media influencer with over 20,000 followers on Instagram. Carroll is also the founder of the #YesLife Program which is a program to help individuals find positivity and productivity. Jess Carroll truly has a passion for what she does both with the red carpet, and for assisting others when it comes to live their best life/lives.