Broadway and Vine connects Napa Valley students with stars of the New York stage
Broadway and Vine, the local non-profit that brings New York performers to Napa Valley, is giving local students life-changing opportunities in the arts, many of which have come about organically.
Jacob Langfelder, a Tony-nominated Broadway producer, founded Broadway and Vine in in 2021 to present shows in Napa Valley with stars from the New York stage.
Langfelder also wanted to create opportunities for local students to meet and learn from these top performers. His ideas included bringing performers into classrooms, finding ways for students to work with Broadway and Vine during the summer and even arranging for one-on-one voice lessons with the stars.
“All these are ways young artists get to directly engage with Broadway performers,” Langfelder said.
In 2021, schools were back in session after the COVID-19 shutdowns, but students had to stand six feet apart from each other due to COVID-19 restrictions. Standing six feet apart only applied to Broadway and Vine’s first season in 2021, but it prompted Langfelder to explore other ways to involve young artists, such as working behind the scenes on productions.
From there, Broadway and Vine sought ways to showcase young artists, including opportunities to be soloists, instrumentalists or part of a choir.
Learning that some high school musicals had been cancelled during the pandemic, Langfelder invited students to sing duets with performers at the Broadway and Vine concerts.
As the COVID restrictions lightened, performers were able to go into schools to work with students. Because most of the Broadway and Vine concerts take place during summer break, Langfelder began putting together a choir with students from local schools.
One of the Broadway and Vine students, Jackson U’Ren, was a student at Vintage High School when Langfelder brought in Broadway star Betsy Struxness for a masterclass with his choir class in May 2022.
“It was the coolest thing ever, and it was so exciting,” said U’Ren, who began volunteering with Broadway and Vine, helping out in ways that included coordinating photography and video for the shows.
“Jackson was just a sort of a jack of all trades and really helpful,” said Langfelder.
Today, U’Ren is a singer/songwriter/pianist majoring in popular music performance in his sophomore year at the University of Southern California. Even during the school year when he is not in town, U’Ren has contributed to Broadway and Vine remotely, editing videos of past performances and participating in artistic planning for 2026.
“Jackson has gone above and beyond with remote support,” said Langfelder.
Music has always been a part of U’Ren’s life. His father is a drummer who has worked in Napa and his mother played piano; there was always music in his house. He began piano lessons while in elementary school and went on to study choir and theater in middle and high school. It was midway through high school, after attending a summer camp, that he realized he wanted to do music for the rest of his life.
As a volunteer with Broadway and Vine, U’Ren played piano for Betsy Struxness on KTVU and performed with major artists including Brooke Shields, Andrew Rannells and Mandy Gonzalez at Broadway and Vine shows.
At first, he said, it was extremely nerve-racking to meet such famous people.
“Now that I’ve done it more, it’s just as exciting and way less scary,” said U’Ren. “You learn that they’re just people and they’re just people who love what they do as much as you love what you do, and so it takes a little bit of the sting out of it.”
“Everybody who I’ve done a Broadway and Vine show with has been one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” added U’Ren.
U’Ren praises Langfelder’s leadership and the opportunities that he’s providing to students.
“Jacob always gives me opportunities that I don’t think I would come across in any other place with any other person,” said U’Ren. “He is endlessly kind, generous and supportive.
“It’s so about the students and about the young people and about lifting them up,” U’Ren added. “It’s really awesome to work with somebody who’s so honest and really is doing what they say they’re aiming to do, and that’s lifting young people up and giving them a platform.”
U’Ren hopes to be a touring artist working as a keyboard player for someone else or ideally touring himself, writing and performing as a frontman in theater and music shows.
“Showing the initiative of being competent as well as really caring about what you’re doing; I think that stands out,” said U’Ren. “I think that’s true across every discipline but especially in the music industry.
“If you’re someone who people can trust will get their stuff done and will do it the right way and will care about it and put [in] as much effort as they [can], I think that is such a special thing that people really look for and gets you pretty far,” U’Ren said.
Another Broadway and Vine student is saxophonist Saverio Guzzo, an exchange student from Italy spending a year in Napa.
Guzzo loves American music and jazz, having been inspired by the saxophonist Charlie Parker.
Guzzo met Langfelder by chance when he was playing the saxophone in a band room while a Broadway and Vine choir was rehearsing.
“He was really incredible,” said Langfelder, who invited him to work with Broadway and Vine.
Guzzo played saxophone at a Broadway and Vine concert at Inglenook Winery, as well as with the band Royal Jelly Jive at the Blue Note in Napa. He’s also performed with Broadway artists, including Ana Gasteyer.
Langfelder thought it was “really serendipitous and wonderful” that Guzzo got to perform at Inglenook, due to owner Francis Ford Coppola’s Italian heritage and Guzzo being from Sicily.
“[It’s been a great] experience in America,” said Guzzo. “Everything [has been] a dream.”
Guzzo hopes to build a career for himself as a musician.
“I’m really just proud of the opportunities that are being presented that young artists might not otherwise be afforded,” said Langfelder.
“There are students that get to essentially work in all aspects of production and not just sit on the sidelines. It’s wonderful to be able to go watch a show, but then to also get to experience what it takes to put it all together; you never know when that spark is going to ignite.”
The Broadway and Vine student programs are split up into three different sections: the student performers, production apprentices and the artist-in-residence program, which is currently in full swing with Betsy Struxness directing and choreographing Vintage’s production of the musical “Grease.”
“Broadway and Vine is this umbrella that kind of connects these opportunities,” said Langfelder.
Langfelder didn’t know he wanted to produce but ended up stumbling onto it. Some of his survival jobs included working in press, casting and production. When he wasn’t onstage, he would be working offstage.
“To give young artists that experience was sort of a natural fit,” said Langfelder. “When people see these arts programs, the idea is for young artists to perform onstage, but there’s this whole other world where they can work in the arts, but they don’t necessarily have to be onstage.
“It’s a really unique opportunity to see all different aspects. Performing is the biggest appeal, but there are so many other areas that people might excel and might really come to love.”
Broadway and Vine has offered students scholarships with the money they have raised.
Students interested in working with Broadway and Vine can send a message through the website broadwayandvine.org or email Langfelder at info@broadwayandvine.org.
