For the past twelve
summers, Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!
has attracted hundreds of enthusiastic and talented participants from
throughout British Columbia and as far away as Whitehorse, Edmonton,
Regina, Yorkton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island,
California, Virginia, Texas, Austria and Israel.
The
director and creator of the program is PERRY
EHRLICH, who combines a busy legal career with his love of
musical theatre and working with children. Perry, a composer, pianist,
teacher, arranger, producer, adjudicator, writer, and talent coordinator,
also directs SHOWSTOPPERS, the popular teenage performance troupe. See
www.planR.ca/showstoppers
Perry
has assembled an impressive Faculty of professional instructors (including
directors, musicians, choreographers, and actors), each working in his
or her respective field including:
- Musical director
WENDY BROSS STUART ("The
King and I", "Crazy for You", and ""Big:
the Musical" and upcoming "Oklahoma!" for Theatre Under
the Stars; "Company" and "Ruthless" at Waterfront
Theatre; "The Last Five Years" at Firehall Arts Centre;
"Little Mercy's First Murder" for Touchstone Theatre; "Peer
Gynt" for Blackbird Theatre), composer and arranger
- Choreographer
and director VALERIE EASTON
("Beauty and the Beast", "Cabaret", "Funny
Girl", "Singing in the Rain", and "West Side Story"
and upcoming "Gypsy" at Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage;
"Kiss Me Kate" and "Anne of Green Gables" for
TUTS; "Peter Pan" and upcoming "42nd Street" for
Royal City; numerous television shows including "Making it Big"
- Director and
choreographer SUSAN LEHMANN
(for television, "Twice in a Lifetime", "Maralee Dawn
& Friends", and "Charlie Horse Music Pizza"; for
theatre, "A Christmas Carol" at the Waterfront and "A
Midsummer Night's Dream" for Bard on the Beach; "Can Can"
for TUTS); has choreographed numerous dance companies and choirs
- Jessie award-winning
director and actor CHRIS McGREGOR
("It's A Wonderful Life!", "A Christmas Carol",
"Anne", "Treasure Island", and "The Wind
in the Willows" at the Waterfront; "Gremlin" tour of
BC elementary schools) ; former co-artistic director of Carousel Theatre
; plays Gil in Ice Cube's new movie "Are We Done Yet?"
- Musical director
WAYNE GWILLIM ("Pinocchio"
for Stirling Festival Theatre; "The Last Five Years" for
West Side Live; "Berlin to Broadway" and "Falsetto's"
for Sheridan College; "Candide" for Regina Lyric Light Opera
; upcoming "Elegies" for Acting Up Stage Theatre Co.; Smile
Theatre); composer and arranger
- Choreographer
ISABELLE MAHEUX ("Grease"
and "Starmania" at Laval University; pantos at Metro Theatre;
University Ste-Anne Nova Scotia, Notre Dame High School, Princess
and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines)
- Choreographer
JASON FRANCO ("Casper the
Musical" and "The Mask" at Butlins Family Entertainment
Resorts in England; "Beach Blanket Bedrock" and "Jetsons
Space Blast" at Paramount Canada's Wonderland; "Can Can"
for TUTS; "Guys and Dolls" for Point Grey Secondary; Harbour
Dance , Urban Dance Company, and Dena Wosk School of Performing Arts)
- Set designer
and costume co-ordinator JAIMIE TAIT
(Co-Artistic Director of The Polliwogg Factory Theatre Society; Green
Thumb Theatre; Vancouver International Children's Festival; Graduate
of Studio 58 and College of the Fraser Valley Theatre Diploma Program)
Final productions
in the Norman Rothstein Theatre will feature an original script and
broad repertoire of music from Broadway and movie musicals.
Peter Birnie of
the Vancouver Sun in his review of a final performance of Gotta
Sing! Gotta Dance! commented: "I came away genuinely
thrilled, not only impressed at the energy and talent on display but
moved by the beauty that bursts forth when children and teens gain genuine
purpose in life. Some of the kids are clearly headed for professional
careers (and many of these have already set out on the journey), while
all the others who'll go on to be doctors and lawyers and such will
do so with a better appreciation of teamwork, effort and the joy of
learning tricky skills."
Alex Browne of the
Peace Arch News commented: "It's a program well-worth a
look, not only for parents with stage-struck children, but also casting
directors wondering from where new talent will come".
THE FINISHING
SCHOOL will again be offered for serious musical theatre students
attending Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!
THE FINISHING SCHOOL will feature approximately ten sessions
from 3:15 PM to 5:15 PM. Students will receive instruction in audition
technique, preparation of monologues and songs, and will participate
in intensive dance workshops and encounters with well-known professionals
in the theatre community. Further Information will be available shortly.
SCHOLARSHIPS are
available through the generosity of the "Babe Oreck Memorial Fund"
and "Phyliss & Irving Snider Foundation" for those with
financial need.