THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | SEPTEMBER 19, 2021
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Chandler, EV kids to present ‘Junie B’ ARIZONAN NEWS STAFF
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welve-year-old Savannah Springer doesn’t get in trouble very often. The Mesa seventh grader is pretty good at following the rules, from helping around the house to completing her homework on time. Now, she is one of two performers playing the title role of Junie B. in the Arizona premier of “Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School” and trying on a different personality for size. The new musical, produced by Limelight Performing Arts in Gilbert, is based on the bestselling books by Barbara Park and shares the saga of the wisecracking Junie B. – a self-appointed expert on all things first grade – who is determined to
The ‘Junie B’ cast includes, from left: Shea Fuery, Janelle Frazier), McKenna Henry, Gabriel Ritchie and Edward Oster. Jaelyn Harden, Owen Aspinall, Ava Chiappetta, and Piper Perea. (Pablo Robles)
write the ultimate guide to school. The production features a cast of 16
young performers from across the East Valley.
“Junie B. is constantly making jokes and getting in trouble,” said Springer. “It is so much fun to play a trouble-maker in this show and do things I would never try to get away with in real life.” The show uses high-energy music and comedic dialogue to take audiences through a series of stresses and mishaps as precocious Junie confronts the challenges of first grade – and gets in a lot of trouble along the way. “One of my favorite lessons of the show is that Junie B. learns how to control her anger when things aren’t going her way,” said director Rio Chavez of Mesa. “She faces her anger head on by learning to control El Toro Fabuloso, the bull
Mirage mirrors Fleetwood Mac’s talents BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI GetOut Editor
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ichelle Tyler of the Fleetwood Mac tribute act Mirage has heard the words many long to hear: Stevie Nicks would like to meet you. Tyler, who was playing in the Nicksonly band Belladonna, was performing acoustically with her husband when a woman approached her back-up musicians backstage. She said her husband was Steve Real, Nicks’ vocal coach, and she was so impressed that she was hoping to get Tyler on the phone with the legendary singer. Unable to get to Tyler, she recorded Belladonna with her phone and sent it to Nicks. “They flew my husband and I up to Reno and we went backstage during a meet and greet,” Tyler recalled. “I said, ‘Hi Stevie. I’m Michelle Tyler. I think you heard me on a phone call?’ She put her
Mirage is, from left, Bob Weitz as John McVie, Keith Foelsch as Lindsey Buckingham, Annie Boxell as Christine McVie, Richard Graham as Mick Fleetwood and, seated, Michelle Tyler as Stevie Nicks. (Photo by Tyler Weitz) hands on my shoulders and said, ‘We tried so hard to get that call through.
It was great to hear somebody doing a good job with my music.’ She then
see LIMELIGHT page 48
leaned in and said, ‘I’ll tell you what. Anytime you want to take over, you just let me know. I’ve about had it.’” The two shared a laugh and that was the first of a handful of meetings. “She’s been very supportive, and her backup singers have said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” she said. “That’s the only endorsement that Stevie would give anybody. They’re not a band that goes around and does that. Saying I could take over at any time, that was a pretty good pat on the back.” Fans can see what Nicks admires when California-based Mirage plays a number of shows in the area, including Thursday, Sept. 23, at Seville Golf and Country Club, and Wednesday, Oct. 27, at IronOaks in Sun Lakes. Mirage sticks with the “Rumours”-era of Fleetwood Mac. “We’re very authentic,” she said. “Everyone plays an actual role. We play the
see MIRAGE page 48
