Ali Ewoldt Instagram – Yesterday we said goodbye to my mentor and teacher, conductor and director and coach, the man who made us all promise to give him “all the credit and ten percent” and truly deserved it, Dr. Renato Vellutino, aka “Doc.” Doc took me on as a voice student at age 10 and gave me a foundation of technique I still rely upon. He made musical theater in our small public high school, Pleasantville H.S., important and exciting and something for the entire community to participate in. He taught us that “fun is excellence and excellence is work” and that every single person onstage and off was valuable and critical in putting on a show. He came to see me on tour and on Broadway and at 90 years old, remembered every solo I sang with our high school chorus. He loved his family and his students passionately and made sure that we knew it. I can never thank you enough, Doc, but I promise to carry your legacy forward always.
1. Doc coming to see me play Tuptim in The King and I at LCT (a role he cast/directed me in in H.S.)
2. Doc directing us in Kiss Me Kate
3. Doc, his son Gian-Carlo, grandson Jake and I recreating a scene from KMK in an “Encore” parody I never finished in 2020
4. Singing for Doc and Mrs. V from a safe distance in 2020
5. Doc’s 90th Birthday
6. Part of the Les Miserables medley we did in HS (on VHS)
7. To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die | Posted on 01/Oct/2023 22:27:35
