Imagine: lights shining, heart pounding and palms sweating, standing in front of a panel of judges, pouring your heart and soul into one song for the chance to win a $1,000 education scholarship. It’s not exactly a record contract prize on a nationally recognized realty TV show, but for San Diego County teenagers, it’s pretty darn close.
Fifteen finalists have been chosen from across the county to participate in J*Company Youth Theatre’s Project CenterStage: A Teen Musical Theatre Competition’s Final Concert Round on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m.
“With the success of reality shows like ‘American Idol’ and stuff like that, I thought it was a good way to get people excited about musical theater,” said Aaron Huniu, managing director of J*Company and creator of the first-time event.
The competition, organized in a fashion similar to “American Idol,” consists of an audition round, which saw approximately 60 teens from across the county at three locations. Fifteen finalists were then chosen to perform at the Final Concert Round for the chance to win one of the top prizes, including the previously mentioned $1,000 scholarship. Second- and third-place winners are awarded $500 and $250 scholarships, respectively.
While J*Company is a program of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, participation was not limited to affiliates of the center but open to all San Diego County teens who attend school or live in San Diego.
James Maslow, 16, from La Jolla and a finalist in the CenterStage competition, learned about the competition while doing a promotional concert for J*Company.
“I thought it would be fun. It sounded like a good opportunity to perform and just to get to sing,” said Maslow, who has been performing since he was 6 years old in the San Diego Children’s Choir.
He began performing musical theater in the eighth grade.
Daniel Myers, 14, a student at High Tech Middle Media Arts, is also a finalist. Myers heard of the competition through his previous work with J*Company.
Myers said he began singing long before he knew how to talk.
“My parents tell me that when I was a little baby, I used to hum when I was sleeping and when I woke up, I’d cry,” Myers said. “As I grew older, every single moment of the day I’d spend singing made-up songs or songs I heard.”
Performing with a live band at the final concert will be nothing new for Myers and Maslow, who train with vocal coaches outside of school and have experience performing for large crowds. Both also wish to continue musical theater during life after high school.
“I think I’ll always do some musical theater, because I do enjoy it enough to pursue it in the future,” Maslow said.
He admitted that his real passion is acting and said he wishes to pursue a career in film and television.
“I’ve had a lot of fun doing it so far, and I think that I would really enjoy continuing it for practically as long as I live,” Myers said. “Maybe not professionally, as in every single moment of the day dedicated to it, but every once in a while.”
Huniu and J*Company artistic director Joey Landwehr created the program for the concert from songs submitted by the finalists, taking great care to ensure there was no repetition and a lot of continuity.
“We also had to see if there was enough up-tempos and ballads “¦ if you have 15 ballads, the audience might get a little bored,” Huniu said.
The concert will feature songs from musicals such as “Footloose,” “The Wiz,” “Dreamgirls,” “Funny Girl,” “Showboat,” “The Scarlet Pimpernel” and “My Fair Lady.”
Maslow is scheduled to perform “Lost in the Wilderness” from “Children of Eden,” a musical loosely based on the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament. Myers will be performing the song he auditioned with, “Johnny One Note” from “Babes in Arms,” which tells the story of a boy who puts on a show to avoid being sent to a work farm.
“It’s something that I’m confident about me performing,” Maslow said. “I’ve been really busy with school so it hasn’t been my first priority, and at this point I’m looking at it more as just a fun night, because it’s 50 percent of the audience vote.”
The winner of the competition will be determined at the end of the final concert by the audience and four guest judges, including Landwehr, who has worked as an actor and director in New York City both on and off Broadway.
Other judges are Hilari Scarl, a producer, director, writer and performer, plus actor/dancer Peter Kalivas and actor James Leo Ryan.
A Chinese auction, or a combination auction and raffle, will be held during intermission and includes autographed Broadway cast posters. A final group performance will precede the announcement of the winner, and an encore performance by the winner will conclude the concert.
Tickets for the Final Concert Round of Project CenterStage, sponsored by Scripps Investments and Loans Inc. and Jeffrey and Barbara Lubin, are $20 and are available at the JCC box office, by visiting www.lfjcc.org/jcompany or by calling (858) 362-1348.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre, 4126 Executive Drive.
For more information and a complete list of finalists, visit www.sdcjc.lfjcc.org/jc/projectCstage.php.