Emily is about to become a cat

Emily Mack, 10, a fifth-grader at Sacred Heart School in Troy, received an early Christmas present this year: news that she will appear for four days in the musical, "The Aristocats," in New York City.

Last month, Emily joined other students from Sacred Heart who traveled to New York with their parents and teachers to audition for four Disney musicals being developed for use in schools: "Sleeping Beauty," "Mulan," "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Aristocats." The youngsters chosen during the recent auditions will perform in April in four-day workshop presentations of the musicals in New York.

The children from Sacred Heart have all participated in musicals produced by the school's drama club, including last year's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Audition

At the audition, the children sang 16 bars of any song they wanted before a panel of 12 judges.

"It was crazy -- and also scary," Emily said of the audition. "We were all pretty nervous."

"Other kids brought their agents, resumes -- and some even had photographs of themselves," said Stephen Constantakes, 9, a fourth-grader who was awed by the size of the theater and the number of children there. "Some had stage make-up on and fancy costumes. I felt like they were going to win because I didn't have any of that. I did pretty well, but I remember trying not to look directly at the judges. I stared at a window behind them."

Nerves

Katie LaFerriere, an 11-year-old sixth-grader, recalled that "there were a lot of judges, and they saw every move I made with my hands, eyes, everything. I was mostly worried about what I might do wrong."

She chose a song from the musical "Wicked" and sang it a cappella.

Jenna Yager, also 11, admitted, "We were all pretty nervous. The judges made me nervous, and the piano was very loud. I worried that I wasn't singing loud enough because all I could hear was the piano. I thought I did pretty good. I only made one little mistake."

Waiting period

The students returned to Troy to wait for a call for a second audition. "The waiting was the worst," noted Arianna Constantakes, 11.

She and Emily were notified that they were among 50 children from the original 400 who had auditioned. Two weeks later, they made a second trip to New York. This time, the competition was a bit stiffer.

"Those kids had stage make-up on," Emily said. "They were carrying their stage clothes in bags; some wore fancy outfits. They were the serious performers."

She sang "Everybody Wants to be Cats" from "The Aristocats."

"It took five minutes to do the whole thing, and it seemed like a very long time," she said. "I decided to put everything into it. I held my hands like a cat would and moved from side to side. I was nervous, but not as much as the first time. Once I got going, it was pretty good."

Winner

Emily was surprised when she was told she would be in the musical, playing Maria, the youngest cat.

"I am very excited about it all," she said. "My mom is a music teacher, so I have been seriously singing for about six or seven years. I've performed in several musicals at school."

Although Katie was not called back, she said that her experience has given her an opportunity to see what it is like to seriously audition for a part in a major musical.

"I would definitely do it again. I was glad to be there and realized that if I want to be chosen [sometime in the future] I'll have to practice more than I did. There are a lot of talented kids out there."

(12/16/04)