[slideshow_deploy id=’899′]
BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
Westwood, New Jersey — Brittany Sambogna, a 2008 graduate of Westwood Regional High School and a 2014 fine arts graduate of Montclair State University, is aiming for a career on Broadway.
She just added “lead singer for the maiden voyage of a luxury cruise ship” to the top of her resume, which will help.
Sambogna, who earned a B.F.A. in acting with a minor in musical theatre, has signed a contract to entertain audiences of 500 to 600 nearly nightly on weeklong cruises of Western Europe aboard the AIDAperla, whose port is Hamburg, Germany.
The ship will stop at Southampton (London), England; Le Havre, France; Zeebrugge (Brussels), Belgium; and Rotterdam, in the Dutch province of South Holland.
Its carrier, AIDA Cruises, says the ship has 1,643 cabins, 900 crew, 16 passenger decks (of 18 total decks), 12 restaurants, three snack bars, 14 cafes and bars, and a complement of helpful “humanoid robots” to help with customer service.
Attractions include a climbing area, water slides, miniature golf, cinema, glass skywalk, spa, and shops.
Sambogna will sing Broadway tunes and a world of modern, pop, rock, Eighties, and Nineties favorites, which she says she loves performing.
AIDA Cruises says it emphasizes an active, ultra-casual cruise experience and that its passengers tend to be young, active, and out to have fun.
Passengers also speak German, principally, though Sambogna said 90 percent or so speak English.
She’s been teaching herself German via an app and will have to give a show in German—hits from “Cabaret.”
On nights when other shows—a magician and aerialist included—anchor the main theater, she’ll get to work in the ship’s lounges, singing set lists of her choosing.
The company is flying Sambogna to Hamburg in April and putting her up in an apartment for two months for rehearsals.
Her contract has her working from June 16 to Oct. 13, and she’ll get time off to disembark and go shopping and sightseeing.
Her family will join her for a cruise at the end of June. She said her dad, John, is her number one fan, who is moved to tears as she sings “even in the shower.”
She said her mother, whose folks hail from Germany, is thrilled to know her daughter will be sailing from Hamburg and is learning German.
Sambogna, also familiar to many from behind the counter at her family’s venerable Westwood restaurant, Pompilio’s, has two older sisters: Courtney, an art teacher at Emerson Jr./Sr. High School, and Blair, who manages a Life Time Fitness center.
She said she’s sad she’s going to miss attending nieces’ birthdays this year but just couldn’t pass up the gig.
She added that although this is her first time working on a cruise ship, it’s by no means her first time playing on one.
“Cruises are my go-to vacation with my family, so I absolutely love them and I know I don’t get sick, which is good,” she told Pascack Press Feb. 21.
She’s been “everywhere tropical,” and said the Caribbean, a favorite destination, will be a tough act to follow.
She’s up for the challenge and the great experience.
“I feel like for anyone in musical theater the goal is Broadway, and that’s always going to be in the back of my head, but ever since graduation that seems like a very, very big goal. Not everybody gets that far,” Sambogna said.
“As of right now,” she added, “my goal is just to be able to get jobs and make money doing what I love. Anywhere that takes me—like across the water on a cruise ship—I’ll do it.”
She said she’s been “in and out of the city every other day for auditions—on the grind” ever since graduation.
“Once in a while you get a yes, which is really great,” she said.
As much as she loves singing, she notes acting is her first passion. She’s already performed in several plays in Manhattan.
She also recently was lead singer for “Miracles,” a Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Virginia show, and spent a year touring with George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, performing for students on conflict resolution, health and wellness, bullying, and character education.
Following each performance, post-play discussions provided starting points for engaging classroom conversations.