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 Children's workshop teaches musical theater Workshop is a la 'High School Musical' -- without the drama January 3, 2008 BY GLORIA CARR Staff Writer ST. CHARLES -- The girl in the red sweat shirt aptly performed her designated role as an alto, her voice mixing along with the chorus during the song from Wicked . Next up was the song Seasons of Love from Rent . "In truths that she learned, or in times that he cried, in bridges he burned, or the way that she died," the girl in the red shirt belted out the lyrics in a powerful, soulful voice that went beyond her 13 years. Cara Collins, of Oswego, has been performing since the age of 3 and received the Noble Fool Theatricals Performing Arts Academy's Musical Theatre Boot Camp class for Christmas. She joined other tal0ented teens and youth performing a musical showcase of Broadway shows. She loves musicals, she said. "I like how they are random and everyone bursts out singing all the time," Cara said. The recent three-day workshop focused on learning audition techniques for musical theater with equal emphasis on singing and dancing. NFT's workshop leads into this month's auditions for its spring presentation, Oliver! The popularity of such shows as High School Musical and Sweeney Todd has fueled interest in musical theater, said Ken Jones, musical instructor. Hairspray and Wicked also have helped, he said. Jones has been performing since age 7, but in the 1980s there were no children's theater groups like today. The roles he performed were in regular plays that called for child actors, he said. Today, NFT is one of a variety of children's troupes, including Steel Beam Theatre and the nonprofit Children's Theatre of Elgin. NFT's workshop drew 19 performers who gathered the day after Christmas inside a conference room at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, just down the corridor from the Studio Stage that would become their stage in a few short days. "That looked really good," instructor Christy Svoboda said, clapping her hands. "The back row, I'm having trouble hearing you." For many of the children and teens who enrolled in the camp, it was their first attempt at musical theater, Jones said. Svoboda and Jones taught the group songs and dances from Rent, Wicked, Oliver! and other Broadway musicals. "Who's a soprano?" Svoboda said. "OK, sopranos move forward, altos in the back row." The rehearsal started again as Jones turned on the boom box, holding it in his left hand with a cup of coffee in his right. He watched every turn, every movement, every step. "Wave hands, stand tall, move left, move right, turn," Svoboda said. The music stopped, but Svoboda said to try it again from the top. "Yeaaaah, good job," she said. The group took a much-deserved water break. Maddy Donatelli, 9, of Geneva, took a seat and drank some water. She had two lines in the showcase. She played Glinda the Good Witch. "I say 'Come on Elphie, let's go. We'll be late for Wiz-o-mania,'" said Maddy, who wants to be an actress and singer. Elphaba the Bad Witch was played by Madison Kleba, 9. Maddy performed in her first play last year in School of Rock. "I was lucky because it was my first play and I got to say five lines," said Maddy, holding a water bottle on her lap, her brown hair pulled back with a headband. Maddy is a big fan of High School Musical. "I like the music and how the dancing is together," she said. With the break over, the group took the floor again. "This is a really good job," Jones said of the group. "We just started today, not even professionals learn this quickly. "I feel we got a lot of work done, but we have a lot of work to do," Jones said. Show time Two and a half days of rehearsals are over and it's 40 minutes to show time. Jones guides the performers upstairs to the green room where they will do their makeup in the dressing room and prepare. "They've grown so much in two days. I don't know how it happens, but it does," Jones said. The workshop has taught the teens and youth how to sharpen their audition skills, how to sing a song without looking at the music and singing in harmony. "The energy and adrenaline is pumping through them," he said. Lindsay Graham, 9, of Lombard, walks around the room filled with two sofas and mismatched chairs. "Why is it called a green room?" she asked Jones and Cody Westgaard, production manager, pointing out it is not green. The two are stumped. "I don't know the answer," Westgaard says. Jones doesn't know either, but he has been in an actual green room that was green in a New York theater. "It's a silly old theater tradition," Westgaard says.The answer seems to satisfy Lindsay, who wanders off to join the others in the cast who were making a video on someone's cell phone. Lindsay is just "partially" nervous, she says. Her twin sister, Charlotte, comes out of the dressing room a short time later wearing a shiny, black shirt, and the two wait for curtain call. Downstairs, family members gather. A few minutes after 3 p.m., the performers shuffle backstage, illuminated by a blue light. Whispers fill the area, followed by "shhhhhs.""All set here?" Jones says. "Yes," four performers say in unison. "Shhhh, no talking," he says. "I'm getting nervous," someone else says. A few seconds later, Jones is introducing himself and the performers. They march out, in a single-file line and take their places. The first song is from Rent, and again Cara nails her solo. Later, the cast performs One Short Day from Wicked, doing every nuanced move they had rehearsed over the past two days. Charlotte Graham's black shirt sparkles in the light and Lindsay Graham smiles brightly throughout the song. The showcase ends, the performers run off stage and return to take a bow. The applause and whistles reverberate in the theater. Everyone, for that moment, is a star. Auditions Noble Fool Theatricals Youth Ensemble is holding auditions for its spring production of Oliver! The auditions, open to youth ages 11 to 18, will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, and 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at Studio Stage in Pheasant Run, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles. No appointment is necessary. Bring a head shot and a resume. Prepare a one-minute monologue and 32 bars of a song that displays your talent. This is a tuition program. If cast, tuition is $200. Actors are responsible for their own costumes. A second program will be offered for costumes, hair and makeup for Oliver! Tuition is $175. Performances will be April 5, 6 and 12. For more information, call (630) 443-0438. |
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