Viral local bride

The most viewed video on YouTube is a music video called “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, with over 6.4 billion views.Billion. Ed Sheeran is on the list of most viewed videos. On that same list is Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Maroon 5. Their videos also have billions of views.

Quaintly, number 29 of the Wikipedia list of most viewed YouTube videos is “Wheels on the Bus” by Little Baby Bum, with 2.2 billion hits. A Sonoma Valley couple has video on the list, too.  Theirs has only had a little over 2.5 million views, but that is not bad for a wedding video.

Local residents Amy Miller and Brad Surosky were married in 2007.  In their wedding party and amongst the guests attending were some superbly talented people. Rather than a simple toast, one of their friends orchestrated an entire production. No sappy speech read from a crumpled and wine stained sheet of paper. Singing! Dancing! A total of eleven people participated in the “toast”, and the resultant video is so darn cute that even 12 years later, it is still a very popular video. 

It is probably a video de riguerfor all brides; “Best Wedding Toast Ever – Amy’s Song”.  Good luck recreating something like that.  To do so, you will need Groomsmen and Bridesmaids who have had experience in live musical theater.  Just like Amy.  Just like Brad.

Miller and Surosky, along with their friend and business partner Stephan Stubbins, are the driving forces behind the hugely successful Transcendence Theatre Company, and the Broadway Under the Stars series. The shows are presented on an outdoor stage in 

Beautiful Jack London State Historic Park. The season concluded on September 8. 

After living in Los Angeles for eight years, the three experienced stage actors had a dream to present live theater productions in a beautiful outdoor setting. They met up with their Stubbins, who shared the vision, and began a search for a location.  Miller called it, “A very serendipitous story. We embarked on a research trip in an RV across America.” They soon became focused on “wine country”.

The travelling scouts reached a conclusion, “We choose Sonoma.” The serendipitous part of the story occurred when they were tipped off to the plans for Jack London State Historic Park. An announcement that the park was slated to close had been made just the day before.

A quick presentation to Parks representatives resulted in quite a challenge. They could use the winery ruins at the park or their shows, but they had only $83 and six weeks to put a show together as a sort of “test”. 

They passed the test and, as they say, the rest is history.  Transcendence just closed out their eighth summer season.  The totals this season read like this: 15 sold out performances, over $500,000 raised for the parks, 44 musicians, 97 songs, and over 74 different performers passing across the newly constructed stage. Those are impressive numbers for the young theater company.

This year, Transcendence produced their first full length Broadway production, “A 

Chorus Line”.  Miller directed the show and it sold out all of its eight performances in June. Three other productions followed; “Fantastical Family Night”, “Those Dancin’ Feet”, and the recent “The Gala Celebration”.

They all added up to many “Best Night Ever” events for almost 18,000 local residents and tourists. The shows are first class Broadway styled productions and delight all who attend.

The affable and entertaining Miller participates in most of the productions. Sidekicks Surosky and Stubbins perform and handle many of the behind the scenes tasks.

Now that the season is over and the stage has been struck and stored away, the work begins on preparations for the next Transcendence productions. They will present “Chicago” next summer. Soon will be pre-production meetings, casting, technical revisions, rehearsals, and finally live shows. The cycle begins again.

The team of Miller and Surosky are working on another production, one that will have a run of many decades. Their first child, a boy, is due in January. “Transcendence was my baby for so long.  I want a real baby now,” Miller said. Andthatcycle continues.

It won’t be too long now before the talented couple is adding to the “viewed” number of “Wheels on the Bus”.  While they are watching that video, check out “Best Wedding Toast Ever-Amy’s Song”.