MILLBURN, NJ — Eight of the most talented young performers in South Orange and Maplewood will soon put their singing, acting and dancing abilities on display as part of the Paper Mill Playhouse’s “New Voices of 2016: Everything Old is New Again!” concert on July 29 and 30.
South Orange’s Olivia Pryor and Naomi Fisch, and Maplewood’s Hunter Kovacs, Lila Zinner, Alex Iozzio, Georgia Post-Lipnick, Charlotte Post-Lipnick and Milo Shields were chosen to join 112 other performers, ages 10 through 18, in the 21st annual show meant to highlight the most promising young talent from throughout the New Jersey and New York area. For this year’s theme, the participants will showcase their skills in a range of numbers from musicals based on books, pop music, Broadway revivals and people’s lives. This means audiences can expect to hear everything from “Wicked” to “American Idiot” to “Grease” to the popular “Hamilton.”
In all, the cast promises that the concert is not one to miss.
“The songs are fantastic, the show is fantastic, the music is fantastic,” Kovacs, who is performing in his third New Voices show, told the News-Record in a July 8 phone interview. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the show with this cast because next year it’ll be different. So I encourage anyone who can to come and see the show because it’s amazing.”
Anyone assuming “New Voices” is on par with a schoolwide recital due to the youthful ages of the participants would be mistaken. The show is actually the finale of the prestigious Paper Mill Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory, a program that provides weeks of intensive, professional-level training to students who are largely culled from more than 400 auditions both for their performance abilities and their seriousness for the craft. And they have to be serious to handle the work they are put through. The average day in the conservatory consists of classes on such subjects as scene study and improv from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., followed by another several hours of “New Voices” rehearsal.
It is by no means easy, but it is all worthwhile for Kovacs. Though he has already received professional experience through his two Paper Mill productions, national commercials and a Kidz Bop album, the 16-year-old Maplewood resident said the conservatory has greatly enhanced his skills as a performer. For instance, he said the program’s song-interpretation course has taught him how to dig deeper into his character when approaching how to sing a musical piece. That type of expert instruction taught by “wonderful” teachers is what makes the conservatory so invaluable to young performers like himself, he said.
“As a performer, it’s one of the most helpful experiences I think I can get,” Kovacs said just after finishing a three-hour dance rehearsal. “I wouldn’t want to spend my summer any other way.”
Kovacs added that this year’s conservatory is particularly enjoyable since he is part of the radio-to-stage section of the show, which is singing beloved pop songs that have been used in Broadway musicals. Though he loves traditional show tunes, he said he has been listening to artists such as Journey and Billy Joel since before he started in musical theater, so performing their music is a lot of fun for him.
Pryor also enjoys her section of the show. As a member of the cinema–to-stage company, she told the News-Record she is learning material originally from films, including “La Cage aux Folles” and “Kinky Boots,” that she had not been exposed to previously. Becoming acquainted with the songs has been a great experience so far, she said, and she is looking forward to more.
Unlike the veteran Kovacs, this is Pryor’s first year with the conservatory. And the 16-year-old South Orange resident is thrilled to have been chosen, saying that she is learning new things in each class and growing as a performer daily. Plus, she said being around young people with a shared interest in the theater has been a blast.
“Everyone is so dedicated, and we’re able to make friends while doing what we love,” Pryor said in a July 10 email. “I’m also able to learn from just watching people my own age, and that’s a really cool experience.”
Also exciting to Pryor is the knowledge that she is getting the same training that many big-name stars received during their time in the conservatory. The program counts Oscar winner Anne Hathaway and Tony winner Laura Benanti among its many famous alumni. Shanice Williams, its most recent success story, scored the lead role of Dorothy in NBC’s live production of “The Wiz” not long after studying in the conservatory.
The reason the program has been able to produce so many famous names has to do with the rigorous training it provides, according to Paper Mill Playhouse Director of Education Lisa Cooney. Cooney said the conservatory is not a summer camp for theater kids; rather, it provides the tight timeframe and pressures one would find in the professional world. This year, she said the students were given only two weeks to learn their music and begin staging for the show immediately after that — far less time than the months usually given for a school performance. They are expected to commit themselves totally to the show, she said, because the same would be required in a professional production.
In the end, Cooney said the students come out of the conservatory ready to pursue a career in the theater.
“If they get through this — and they do — and they put on a great show — and they will — then they have more confidence,” Cooney told the News-Record in a July 7 phone interview. “They know that ‘If I keep this attitude and I keep this focus, I can do this for a living.’”
Many might do just that, especially considering that Paper Mill invites talent agents and managers to see its young performers in action. But industry representatives are not the only ones who attend the “New Voices” concert. In fact, Cooney said the show has attracted a following of Paper Mill patrons only interested in being thoroughly entertained.
“People have figured out that the ‘New Voices’ concert is where you would see a Laura Benanti,” Cooney said, adding that she hopes even more people will attend this year’s show to witness something that they will not find anywhere else. “There are several moments in the show when the full company is singing, and the symphonic choral sound that they create is something that you have to experience live in the room.”