REFLECTING ON A GREAT YEAR-GEARING UP FOR ANOTHER ONE!

It all started when Natalie ranked 3rd in the NATS Granite State Chapter Musical Theater Auditions in Concord NH. She later that year took a lead in the Thetford Academy Musical GODSPELL singing the iconic song Oh Bless the Lord My Soul. She was a Jr. Counselor at the Pentangle Musical Theater Camp in Woodstock VT where she sang solos and duets from Annie Get Your Gun.

Her sister May also had a great year. She joined after the NATS Auditions but was featured this summer as Lord Farquart in her camp theater production and sang Try to Remember from the Fantastiks, among other songs, at the Pentangle Musical Theater camp along side her sister, Natalie. They also traveled to BRAZIL!

Rei Huston achieved a remarkable commendation from the National Hal Leonard Vocal Contest where she was a semi-finalist. Each year the publisher holds this contest and thousands of students from around the country send in their videos for consideration. This is the second time Rei has been recognized for her outstanding work. Rei also followed her heart into the Commerical Contemporary arena singing and playing the piano for her NATS Audition which she is looking forward to continuing as the new VT Chapter will be holding specific auditions in 2024 for the newly formed Commercial Music category. Rei also participated in the Youth Ensemble Studio at Northern Stage and played Planktons robot wife, Karen, in Spongebob the Musical. (Which was awesome! I saw it!) Rei traveled to JAPAN this Summer!

Sarah joined the studio this year and did an amazing job with her NATS Classical Audition in Manchester NH. She has been singing songs of the sea this summer including Wellerman accompanied by her brother David. Sarah participated in Shrek at camp this summer in the chorus and at the Pentangle Musical Theater Camp with Natalie and May. She has some excellent Musical Theater Songs coming up for auditions this fall. She and her family went to HAWAII this summer and were lucky to have missed the wildfires as they were on the big island.

Arabella was busy this year with performances through the Youth Ensemble Theater at Northern Stage and Crossroads Academy. She performed in the Wild Goose production of Urinetown in Bellows Falls VT, (which was so great!) took the UVMC Song to Stage class and was in the Children’s Chorus of Opera North’s Carmen where she also got to play Young Carmen in a flashback! Arabella was the 2023 NATS New England Chapter Musical Theater Audition WINNER in her age group competing with students from Boston, Connecticut, Maine, NH, VT, Rhode Island and Canada! Arabella visited IRELAND!

Sadly we say goodbye to Anna King who spent the early part of the Summer in the chorus of the North Country Community THeater production of 9 to 5! Anna is a documentary film maker and actress who walked the boards with the Footlighters at Hanover High School for many years. She directed the senior show. Throughout her time in the studio Anna acted in shows at Barn Arts and The Thetford Parish Players. Starting off as a rock singer, Anna developed her soprano voice and joined her talent to some of the best singers in the Upper Valley. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

Beatrice Rakin also graduated this year. She started in the studio as a Freshman at the Sharon Academy. Beatrice performed regularly at Northern Stage and NCCT where she was on the board. Thankfully, Beatrice never shied away from her beautiful voice and all of its glorious coloratura. I will miss working with Beatrice. She had excellent taste in classical repertoire bringing stunning art songs to my attention. I can’t wait to hear her on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera someday. She has that rare talent that can take her into that world if she chooses.

I was fortunate to get to spend time walking the hills of Tanglewood in Lenox MA with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I sang the world famous Carmina Burana by Carl Orff a composer who also invented the system I use to teach music in the public schools. I worked with the conductor Andris Nelson. After that I took a class on Trans Voices with Renee Yoxom a Canadian non-binary voice teacher. Just last week I finished the TUNDI Wagner in Vermont Festival at the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro Vermont where I covered (understudied) the role of Rosseveisse in the Wanger Epic Opera, Die Walkure. (Some of you will remember the scene from Bugs Bunny- “Will the Wabbit!” ) It was truly a BUCKET LIST moment.

Backstage Magazine Interview with Broadway Legend Patti LuPone

Thursday, May 26, 2022 by Magellan Helm | Uncategorized

When I lived in Kansas City, I had the opportunity to share the stage with Patti LuPone. It was the inaugural concert of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. I was there to sing the Brahms German Requiem with the Symphony Chorus and Patti was in the audience. Throughout our rehearsal, legendary musicians were walking in and sitting down to listen. Placido Domingo was particularly noticed. But Patti LuPone was one of us. She blended into her surroundings and her presence was barely noticed. I caught sight of her and told my neighbor, “ “Look! It’s Patti LuPone!” Her response. “No. It can’t be.” Well it was and that collective disbelief is what allowed me a few short minutes of her time backstage. What a spirited conversation we had!

Her most recent triumph is in the female adapted and directed musical Company written by LuPone’s good friend, now deceased, Stephen Sondheim. She won the Olivier Award for her role and standing ovations mid show after singing the iconic, “Ladies who lunch.”

Here is a snippet of the article which deals directly with the importance of understanding a song and delivering it directly to the audience. This is her magic. Her MOJO! Take her advice and run with it!

Take lyric interpretation, which she has always used as her North Star. “I have to make sense of the story in order to sing the song, and that’s where I start,” she says. “Think of when people tell you a joke. There is energy, tension, anticipation, and there’s the resolution. It’s the same thing in the songs. You are leading to something. How do you build to the climax? How do you build so that you’re not climaxing through the entire song, or so that you don’t miss the climax altogether?”

When she’s offstage or in the audience watching others perform, can she tell when an actor isn’t connecting to the lyrics? “Of course you can!” she snaps. More than anything, LuPone suggests, that lack of connection to the material points to an actor’s inability to truly be present in the scene.

She has no clever tips or tricks for how she manages to do so herself, night after night, year after year, show after show. Her solution is as simple as can be: “I want to be onstage.”

“I want to tell the story,” she says. “Before I start the show, I always look out at the audience, because I want to see who I’m playing to. I will look them in the eye. I’m in a musical. It’s presentational theater. I deliver lines to people. I look in the corner of my eye and decide: Who am I gonna give the ‘Kiss off, Rodney!’ line to? I clock them, and that’s the person I give it to. And then, throughout the show, I’m looking at people—not to make them uncomfortable, but to include them in the story. You are telling a story to someone else. You can never lose sight of that.”

BREAK THAT FOURTH WALL PEOPLE! It’s worth it!

MLH STUDIO VOCAL

Backstage Magazine Interview with Broadway Legend Patti LuPone

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