Fort Myers' Jonny Serrat was sitting with his Melody Lane Performing Arts teammates in the Cobb Convention Center in Atlanta during the Junior Theatre Festival awards ceremony. Melody Lane had just received an award for Excellence in Ensemble for their production of “Aladdin.” Now the individual awards were being announced.
“They started naming the Outstanding Performers and my name went up and I'm like no way,” Serrat recounted. “They first listed the theater, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center, and then they said my name and there were so many emotions. I was very happy. I was surprised. It was awesome.”
He was honored, of course, by the recognition and the medal he received. But he was over the top with the other perk that comes with the award – a spot in the iTheatrics summer camp in New York City.
“There are pilot productions, brand new shows that are being workshopped and adapted,” said Serrat.
As part of those groundbreaking productions, he’ll have the opportunity to foster relationships with his fellow campers and a host of Broadway producers, directors and performers. But it’s more than the chance to learn from Broadway’s best.
“It's kind of comforting,” he said. “They started out in the same position as you, and maybe they didn't have as many resources as you do, but they still somehow made it and it's kind of awesome to see.
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Serrat was part of the competition team that Melody Lane Performing Arts Center took to Atlanta in January for this year’s Junior Theatre Festival. Director Dana Alvarez calls JTF theater’s Super Bowl. Called a “rousing celebration of theatre” by The New York Times, the Junior Theater Festival applauds and empowers young people and educators creating student-driven musical theater around the globe.
The weekend competition draws more than 7,000 competitors, teachers, family, friends and members of the public. This year, 141 teams from 31 states, Washington D.C., England, Scotland, Wales, France, Malta, Australia and New Zealand participated in the weekend festival. So, receiving Outstanding Performer recognition is quite a feat.
Competitors are given 15 minutes to perform a medley of musical numbers from a junior musical theater production. They then receive feedback from the adjudicators, who are a combination of Broadway producers, directors and performers.
This year, Melody Lane performed a medley from “Aladdin JR.”
The key to success at JTF, noted Alvarez, is choosing songs that tell a complete story, which can be challenging since junior musicals typically have run times of between 90 and 120 minutes.
“So we did ‘Arabian Nights,’’One Jump Ahead,’ ‘Proud of Your Boy,’ which is actually a solo for Aladdin that we were able to work all of the cast in with choreography, and a new song for the musical called ‘Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim,’ which is about Aladdin and his friends,” Alvarez noted. “Then ‘The Cave of Wonders’ into ‘Friend Like Me’ and then we ended with ‘A Whole New World.’ So we stuffed a whole lot into those 15 minutes.”
One huge benefit that comes from competing in the Junior Theatre Festival is the opportunity for students to attend workshops with Broadway’s best and brightest.
Students also enjoy a New Works Showcase of performance selections from upcoming Broadway Junior musicals presented by JTF groups, and other mainstage performances featuring powerhouse Broadway guests and those who took part in the workshops.
“This year, there was Jasmine Amy Rogers, who was just Tony nominated for playing Betty Boop in ‘BOOP! The Betty Boop the Musical,” said Serrat. I was starstruck. She’s great. Phenomenal.”
Serrat began acting in elementary school. Not that he had a choice. He attended Edison Park Elementary.
“It's a performing arts school,” Serrat noted. “Every student was required to audition for the school show (which was ‘High School Musical’). I wasn't too interested at first, but then I got a call back for [the role of] Troy Bolton.
Bolton is the lead in the musical. The captain of the high school basketball team, Bolton breaks convention by pursuing theater and indulging his passion for singing, much to the chagrin of his father, his coach and his teammates.
“When I got the call back, I became very interested and ended up landing the role. And now we're here.”
In between, he also had a part in Melody Lane’s summer intensive production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
This was Serrat’s fourth Junior Theatre Festival. He said he auditions for the team each year because of the workshops they offer at the festival.
“The workshops they provide there are very helpful. They really are. And they also provide iTheatrics summer camps for acting, dancing, singing. It's a really great experience and it's very fun, too.”
For more on Melody Lane’s Excellence in Ensemble and the Junior Theatre Festival, visit “Melody Lane Performing Arts receives Excellence in Ensemble award at Junior Theatre Festival.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
