Winner of the First Playbill "Broadway Belt-Off Challenge" Announced

By Playbill Staff
20 Jan 2012

Host Lance Bass
Host Lance Bass
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Nearly 10,000 votes were cast in the first-ever "Broadway Belt-Off Challenge," which featured the cast of the Tony-winning revival of Anything Goes competing against the company of the long-running Abba hit Mamma Mia! 

And, the winner is ... Mamma Mia!, which received 61.23% of the vote.

Playbill had recently posed the following challenge to both Wendy Bobbitt Cavett, music director of Mamma Mia!, and James Lowe, music director of Anything Goes: Create an entirely new, a cappella arrangement of the songs in your score that show off the music in an innovative and exciting way.

Lance Bass, formerly of the pop group ‘N Sync and Corny Collins in Broadway’s Hairspray, hosted the challenge. Performers for Anything Goes included Raymond J. Lee, Clyde Alves, Ward Billiesen, Justin Greer, Mark Ledbetter, Michelle Loucadoux and Kristen Beth Willams, with cast member Daniel J. Edwards credited as co-arranger and beat-boxer. Mamma Mia! featured Gerard Salvador, Allyson Carr, Deanna Aguinaga, Halle Morse, Catherine Ricafort, Lauren Sambataro, Felicity Claire, Corinne Melançon, Judy McLane, Lisa Brescia, Jennifer Perry, AJ Fisher, Bryan Scott Johnson, Albert Guerzon, Alison Luff and Tony Gonzalez.

The Mamma Mia! cast will go on to compete with the winner of round two of the “Broadway Belt-Off Challenge.” Playbill.com would like to know which shows you would like to see compete in the next challenge; e-mail your choices to Playbill Editor Blake Ross at bRoss@playbill.com.

To watch the winning Mamma Mia! video, look below: