Indianapolis native Cory Lingner was on stage at Radio City Music Hall on June 7 as an ensemble member of "On The Town."

His family was in the audience applauding the show's four Tony nominations: Best Musical Revival, Tony Yazbeck for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, John Rando for Best Direction of a Musical and Joshua Bergasse for Best Choreography—and recalling that just two years ago, April 2013, at the University of Oklahoma Cory Lingner was portraying the role of Gabey, the farm boy determined to find the girl of his dreams in their production of "On The Town."

A May 1, 2013 review by John Brandenburg cited, "Lingner was at his best singing "Lonely Town" in act one and an "Imaginary Coney Island" dream dance in act two."

Since the Oct. 16, 2014 official opening at the Lyric Theatre, Cory Lingner has been on Broadway with the New York revival "On The Town." Now, a mere two years after gaining his college degree, Lingner was part of the glitz reprising the 1944 Comden-Green-Bernstein musical originally choreographed by Jerome Robbins and directed by George Abbott.

June 5, Lingner emailed from New York: "So today was an exciting day to say the least. This morning my cast and I went to the Avatar Studios to do some pre-record vocals for some of the things we're going to do on the TONYS on Sunday. I'm always fascinated when I'm in the recording studio and that whole process. I hope I get more opportunities of that in the future. Then, this afternoon we all went over to Radio City Music Hall for the first time for our camera blocking rehearsal. I've seen shows in that theater before but I've never gotten the chance to be on stage. After having watched the TONY Awards for the past several years and then taking my first steps on that stage and realizing that I was going to be a part of the awards ceremony this year… to say that I'm feeling excited is an understatement! I'm just overjoyed and immensely grateful each and everyday to be a part of this "helluva" company and show. There are times when I don't know how I got this lucky. This past year has truly been a dream come true that's been two decades in the making. I'm just on cloud nine and couldn't be happier!"

Is it a twist of fate that Tony Yazbeck's 2015 TONY nomination was for the portrayal of Gabey, the role that closed out Lingner's student time at the University of Oklahoma?Nov. 14, 2014 http://www.exploredance.com posted "In League With the Dreamers: an Arts Reviewer's Log" about Cory and his brother Chris Lingner, who dances with the Cincinnati Ballet. See: http://www.exploredance.com/article.htm?id=3916&s=author&sid=9034

Cory Lingner