How did a little girl with big talent get from the regional stage lights of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre to the big lights on Broadway, earning a major role as one of the orphans in the revival of the musical hit, Annie?
The same way you get to Carnegie Hall — practice, practice, practice — and study with the husband-and-wife team of Jason and Jackie Bayne Gillman and Greg Graham, Broadway veterans now running The Broadway Artists Intensive, a three-week advanced musical theater training program at the Kravis Center that returns in July.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Greg Graham and the Gillmans and the guest artistic directors they bring from New York City,” says Tracy Butler, Kravis Center’s director of education.
“They provide a wonderful opportunity for kids who come from all over, including New York, for a high-level and rigorous intensive few weeks,” she says.
There are currently 30 spots open in the intensive, which are available by audition only, set for March 28 at the Kravis Center. Students between the ages of 12 and 20 will be selected for the program, which immerses them in the three major musical theater disciplines: acting, voice and dance.
Skye Alyssa Friedman, the Florida actor appearing in Annie, is just one of the many acting and theater students that the Gillmans have helped land on Broadway and pursue their dreams.
Between Jason and Jackie Gillman, the couple has done nine Broadway shows and met in 2005 when they were both understudies for the Broadway show Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring John Lithgow and Jonathan Pryce.
After relocating to Florida, the Gillmans decided to take their combined expertise and impart their knowledge and experiences to kids who are talented, motivated and have the same ambitions to perform on stage on Broadway.
Their program brings Broadway guest artists such as Tony-nominated actress Laura Bell Bundy and Emmy Award-winning and Broadway choreographer Josh Bergasse (On the Town, So You Think You Can Dance) to West Palm.
And it brings New York casting directors such as Nora Brennan, who cast the Broadway musicals Billy Elliot and Matilda, and TV/film/Broadway casting director Justin Huff of Telsey and Company (Newsies, Kinky Boots) to work one-on-one with the kids.
This year’s guest artist had not yet been announced by presstime.
“We’re just as excited as the kids are, when they book a show,” says Jackie Gillman. “The parents tell us, ‘You’ve given them so much confidence and so much direction.’ For us, it’s rewarding and inspiring.”
“As performers, we’ve spent our whole lives doing this. Why not take what we know and impart this knowledge kids who are motivated and driven?” she says.
The program is hard work — a point Gillman drives home using the Twitter hashtag #notacamp. Kids work five days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and spend time on voice, dance, acting, and improvisation lessons.
“Every person on faculty has appeared in multiple Broadway shows,” Gillman says. “Our focus is on process, not product. We instill these values in the kids.”
“That’s why we bring in top-notch Broadway veterans; to share their insights, train the kids and show them the right path to getting on Broadway,” she says.
“We all have in common that we trained hard for many years and worked on our craft. We want to motivate these talented kids to do what they need to do, whether it’s getting a private voice coach, taking private drama lessons or improving their dance repertoire,” she says.
Other local performers who have benefitted from the Broadway Artists Intensive include 11-year-old Erich Schuett, 16-year old Arrow ZurSchmiede of Sunrise and Brianna Scully, 20, a musical theater student at the Boston Conservatory in Boston.
Schuett is currently in New York City on auditions and being home-schooled, says his mother, Juliann Schuett.
He just finished his very first professional audition for the upcoming show Finding Neverland, due to open on Broadway in April, produced by Harvey Weinstein and starring Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer. He had a final callback, but at 5-foot-2 found he is too tall for the role.
Instead, he booked Puccini’s opera Tosca with New York’s Chelsea Opera Co. to play the shepherd boy (a brief appearance at the beginning of Act III) and will travel with the touring company of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber alongside countertenor Terry Barber, who personally hand-picked Schuett for the role.
“We’re so blessed to have Jackie and Jason,” says Juliann Schuett. “Otherwise we couldn’t have done what we’ve done. “We followed their advice to the letter, so I know their program works.”
ZurSchmiede participated in the intensive last year and hopes to be accepted again and get feedback to see how he’s progressed and what else he needs to focus on.
“The best advice I got from the Gillmans is to be the most prepared person in the room,” he says. “Talent is great, but if you’re not prepared, people may not want to work with you.”
Preparation is an emphasis in their curriculum as is concentrating on the process, not the end result.
Scully, who signed with a New York agent while still in middle school, credits the Gillmans for getting her where she is today.
“I owe so much to them,” she says. “They stress the importance of training and what they get out of the kids is amazing.”
She acknowledges them for helping her win her current role of Roxie Hart in the Boston Conservatory production of of the musical Chicago, and says, “They’ve been incredible people in my life.”
Scully has large ambitions and hopes to create, produce and direct her own works in the future.
“I want to know it all,” she says.
Students interested in auditioning for The Broadway Artists Intensive must pre-register for the March 28 auditions by calling 561-651-4376 or visiting www.TheBroadwayArtistsIntensive.com. Students unable to attend the auditions may send video auditions by visiting the Broadway Artists Intensive website and clicking on “Auditions.” The camp runs from July 6 to July 25 at the Kravis Center, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The cost for participating students is $1,500.