By Mark Collins
Thursday, May 15, 2008
A casting director for Disney came to Boulder in early May and left impressed.
David Ayers and Angela Gaylor, who run Broadway in Boulder, a musical-theater training school housed in Parlando School of the Arts, hosted Jennifer Rudin, head of casting for Disney Theatrical Productions, earlier this month.
Initially, 600 people auditioned for 85 slots. Those 85 got to work with Rudin in a series of workshops in Boulder. During the workshops, Ayers said, Rudin was on the lookout for talent to possibly fill roles in a handful of upcoming Disney stage and screen productions.
"We think people are great out here, but you never know how they're going to show for directors from New York or L.A. who see thousands of actors every year," Ayers said.
By the time Rudin left, she had asked six local children to attend callbacks for the Disney musical "Mary Poppins" in Chicago next month, and is eyeing five other local talentsfor possible spots on other projects in the future, Ayers said.
In Chicago, Disney is looking to cast the roles of Jane and Michael Banks, the two children in "Mary Poppins," for both the national tour and as replacements for the current Broadway production of the musical. The six children invited to callbacks are Lizzy Scholz, of Boulder; Orion Pilger, of Lafayette; Aida Neitenbach, of Louisville; Shawnee Elliott, of Golden; Keely Kritz, of Littleton; and Thomas Walsh, of Vail.
Ayers and Gaylor will hold a "boot camp" for the children heading for Chicago callbacks.
"We're going to have them go over the sides from the shows, go over their British accents and the songs they need to know," Ayers said.
In addition, Rudin tapped other local actors for future callbacks in other Disney projects, Ayers said. They include Robert Johnson, who just played the man-eating plant in "Little Shop of Horrors" at Boulder's Dinner Theatre, up for Mufasa in "The Lion King"; Chris Douglas, of Boulder, up for Simba in "The Lion King"; and Avi Gottlieb, of Boulder, up for future Disney Channel projects. Ayers said Rudin wants to keep an eye on Julia Johanos, of Louisville, and Emily Luhrs, of Boulder, for possible future consideration, as well.
Ayers and Gaylor moved to Boulder in 2006 from New York, where both were Broadway performers, and opened Broadway in Boulder last year. Ayers said plans are already in the works to host more workshops in the future like the one Rudin gave.
"The more things we can do to bring these opportunities to Boulder, the better," Ayers said. "There's a lot of talent out here."
