Friday, July 6, 2012 - The Morning Star B1
arts
%$)4/2 +RISTIN &RONEMAN s s ENTERTAINMENT VERNONMORNINGSTAR COM
B
SECTION
www.vernonmorningstar.com
You could be looking at the next Dorothy PHOTO SUBMITTED
Vernon’s Christie Stewart gets closer to the merry old land of Oz as a top 20 finalist in CBC’s Over the Rainbow talent contest. KRISTIN FRONEMAN Morning Star Staff
You could say that Vernon’s Christie Stewart is over the rainbow with excitement. The Kalamalka Secondary School grad recently found out she has been selected as one of 20 young women to vie for the part of Dorothy in the upcoming Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz, which is scheduled to open at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre in December, 2012. It’s all part of CBC TV’s new reality show, Over the Rainbow, where judges, including those from Canada’s top theatre circles as well as musical giant himself, Webber, will select who will play the girl from Kansas. The show follows on the heels of 2008’s CBC reality talent show, How Do you Solve a Problem like Maria?, which featured the search for Maria for The Sound of Music. That part, coincidently, was won by a B.C. resident, Surrey’s Elicia MacKenzie, who has gone on to star in the Toronto production of Rock of Ages. Stewart, who is about to enter her fourth year of acting specialization at the University of Victoria, first heard about the Vancouver audition for Over the Rainbow on Facebook. “It was very last minute. Someone had posted an ad about it on the UVic theatre page. I thought ‘wouldn’t that be so great?’�
Becoming Dorothy is a dream for and I sang a song I had prepared. Then she Stewart who played the part of the Mayor had me sing Over the Rainbow. She stopped of Munchkinland 12 years ago in a local me after two notes before getting me to production of The Wizard of Oz. do vocal scales. I thought that was it,� said This year, she returned home to take Stewart. over as stage manager when the same Instead she was sent to meet with casting local musical theatre studio, The Lights of director Stephanie Gorin, who had her sing Broadway, which Stewart has Over the Rainbow bar for bar. been a part of since she was a “I watched as girls filtered child, remounted the show at out, a lot of them crying. Some the Vernon Performing Arts had golden tickets. When it Centre. came to my turn, (Gorin) “Christie personifies all asked me what would I do things musical theatre,� said — Christie Stewart about school if I had a chance Stewart’s former vocal coach to be Dorothy. I said I would and Lights of Broadway leader drop everything. And she told Charity Van Gameren, who runs her stu- me, ‘You may have to do that.’� dio out of the Vernon Community Music Armed with a golden ticket, Stewart School. “She started studying voice and attended the callbacks at Toronto’s CBC musical theatre with me at the age of eight studios June 21 to 23, where she performed until she graduated high school and I knew in front of vocal coach Jeannie Wyse, choreright away that Christie was meant to take ographer Sean Cheesman and Gorin. to the stage.� She again sang Over the Rainbow, and her Stewart was one of approximately 200 own selected piece The Trolley Song, made females who initially auditioned for Over the famous by Dorothy herself, Judy Garland, in Rainbow in Vancouver. (Auditions were held the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. around Canada, with more than 700 show“At the end, they called 20 girls to the font ing up in Toronto.) and no one at the time knew we would be in “They auditioned six girls at a time in a the top 20,� said Stewart. “Daryn Jones, the hotel there. We were brought to this teeny host of the show, was there and he thanked room where we met a vocal agent for the us all, saying the judges had made their decifirst screening. She asked me about myself, sion. Then he said ‘You’re in the top 20.’
“I don’t cry often, but I did this time.�
“I don’t cry often, but I did this time.� Now back in Victoria, Stewart has a month to prepare for the next round, when the potential Dorothys will return to Toronto. Ten will then be selected to appear in the televised version of the contest, airing in September. With the physical demands that will be expected of her, Stewart is currently looking to take dance lessons, under the recommendation of the judges, and is running and biking. She is also keeping her vocal cords in shape by singing every day. She is already registered for UVic in the fall, and says whatever happens, she is grateful for the opportunity and experience. “This is exactly what I want to do with my life,� she said. “Definitely, my love and wish is to be in musicals.� Here in Vernon, Stewart’s family, including mother Kerrie, father Cal and sisters Lisa and Stephanie, who have also been longtime musical theatre students in Lights of Broadway, will be rooting for her, along with her top cheerleader. “Christie has the it factor for theatre and when she takes to the stage to act or opens her mouth to sing it is pure magic,� said Van Gameren. “I am extremely proud and not at all surprised by her success. She is gifted, determined and grounded, the perfect combination for success.�