Taking Center Stage

Mike Sciacca

The lights of Broadway may only be a glimmer in their wildest

dreams, but for now Huntington Beach youngsters Breanna Bowers and

Lauryn Judson are taking center stage in local theater.

Breanna, 13, and Lauryn, 9, are appearing in Broadway on Tour’s

production of the hit musical “Annie,” running at the Ebell Theater

in Santa Ana through Sept. 15.

Breanna, who will be an eighth-grade student this fall at the

Orange County High School of the Arts, plays the role of Lily St.

Regis, the girlfriend of one of the story’s central characters, the

pick-pocket rogue, Rooster.

Lauryn, in her first endeavor with the company, is playing

10-year-old Tesse, a character she describes as “being a crybaby and

a friend of Annie’s.”

“I’m having a great time with this show,” said Breanna, now a

veteran of four musicals, including one previous run with “Annie.”

Other stage performances include “Jungle Book” and “Bugsy Malone.”

Breanna has appeared in various singing and dancing groups

throughout Orange County and earlier this year appeared on national

television with America’s Kids at an Olympic torch lighting ceremony

held at Universal City Walk.

She has been singing and dancing, she says, since the age of 2.

She takes vocal and acting lessons with separate coaches each week.

“I really enjoy what I’m doing and one day, I really want to make

it to Broadway, that is my goal,” she said.

Although Breanna has never been to the Great White Way, she knows

that the stage is for her.

“It’s exciting to play different characters who a lot of the times

are a lot different from yourself,” she said. “Lily St. Regis and I

are nothing alike.”

Breanna’s voice also can be heard on various recordings including

Knott’s Berry Farm’s family Christmas show.

For Lauryn, who will enter the fourth grade and the Gifted and

Talented Education program next month at Circle View Elementary

School, the acting bug bit about a year ago.

Her love of performing, she says, encompasses more than the stage.

In addition to appearing in four previous musical productions --

“Sound of Music,” “How to Eat Like a Child,” “Lil’ Abner” and “The

Wizard of Oz” -- Lauryn plays piano, sings and dances.

“What’s interesting about Lauryn is that around the house and in

front of her friends, she’s very quiet, but when you put her on

stage, she’s a whole different person,” said her mom, Pauline.

Lauryn, who also finds time for other favorite hobbies such as

swimming and reading mystery books, says she shares Breanna’s dream

of reaching Broadway one day.

“That would be the best,” said Lauryn, who, like Breanna, works

weekly with vocal and acting coaches. “I plan on performing for a

long, long time.”

For more than 12 years the nonprofit Broadway on Tour Children’s

Theater has been providing family-themed entertainment. The tour

presents five shows per year and two of the five, including “Annie,”

are fully staged Broadway musicals.

The other three shows are one hour musicals designed specifically

for children ages 3 to 10, said Broadway on Tour’s Cheryl Long.

Family tea parties are commonly held before each show and the

production company’s motto is, “Children bringing theater to

children.”

“We are thrilled to be presenting “Annie,” which is one of our

audience’s favorite shows,” said Laurie Holden, president of the

tour’s Board of Directors.

Broadway on Tour’s 2002-03 performance schedule, which begins

following “Annie,” includes “Little Red Riding Hood,” Roger &

Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” “The Adventures of the Big Bad Wolf,”

“Sleeping Beauty” and “Grease.”