On March 21, Riverside City College’s Broadway @ RCC series presented a showcase that felt less like a traditional recital and more like a snapshot of artistic growth in motion. Hosted by Vince Oddo, who had spent the previous several weeks working closely with the students, the performance was built directly from that collaboration, shaping a night where each number carried the imprint of both mentorship and personal discovery.

Oddo, a professional performer whose work bridges rock, pop, and musical theatre, opened the evening with “Rock City,” immediately establishing the tone the show would return to throughout the night. This was not a showcase interested in recreating Broadway in its most traditional form. Instead, it embraced a contemporary blend of styles, giving students the opportunity to explore material that felt immediate and personal.

What emerged over the course of the evening was a collection of performances grounded in emotional clarity. Many of the selections leaned into themes of identity, frustration, and self-definition, and the students approached that material with a sincerity that kept the performances from feeling overly polished or distant.

Among the standout performances were Carter and El Friedhof, whose work captured that balance particularly well. El’s rendition of “A Concert Six Months from Now” carried a quiet emotional weight, while Carter’s performance of “Unsaid Emily,” accompanied by his own acoustic guitar, added a layer of vulnerability that grounded the song in something personal rather than purely performative. Both performances felt lived-in, rather than simply rehearsed.

Alphonse’s “Sign of the Times” provided one of the most emotionally resonant moments of the evening. Positioned near the end of Act Two, the performance carried a sense of gravity that made it feel like a natural closing statement. It was the kind of number that shifts the energy of the room, not through spectacle, but through presence.

The structure of the showcase reinforced the balance between individual and collective work. Solo performances dominated the program, allowing each student a moment to stand alone, while the Act One Rock of Ages medley and the Act Two American Idiot dance number shifted the focus to ensemble performance. Both medleys highlighted the strength of Brenda Jill Castillo’s choreography, as well as the cohesion and talent of the student performers as a group.

Oddo’s presence throughout the evening functioned as a steady throughline rather than a spotlight. Returning to open Act Two with “It All Fades Away,” he re-centered the performance while continuing to place the emphasis on the students. His role was clearly that of a mentor, shaping the work without overshadowing it.

That mentorship was made explicit at the close of the performance. After the final number, Oddo returned to the stage with the full cast and opened the floor to questions. While the audience remained quiet, he took the opportunity to reflect on the experience, noting that “RCC is incredibly lucky to have such an amazing group of talented young students in such a relatively small area.”

The comment rings true, but it also points to the larger ecosystem that makes a performance like this possible. The work on display is not only a reflection of student talent, but of the faculty guiding it, including Jodi Julian and the broader RCC Theatre department, whose continued investment in student development creates the conditions for that talent to take shape.

By the end of the night, Broadway @ RCC with Vince Oddo had accomplished something more meaningful than a standard showcase. It presented performers in the process of becoming, navigating style, voice, and presence in real time. That sense of development, rather than perfection, is what made the performance feel alive.