Emily Johnson to perform with pros in ‘42nd Street’
June 1, 2010
By Tara Sackman
Since she was 10 years old, Emily Johnson has dreamed of performing musical theatre professionally. Six years later, she has earned that opportunity. Johnson is a junior Eastlake High School student who will be dancing in the main stage production of “42nd Street” with the Village Theatre.
Dancing in “42nd Street” marks Johnson’s first professional show. It has been a big change from her usual theater work.
“Compared to educational theatre, I’ve learned a lot,” Johnson said. She was expected to learn and retain the information at a much faster rate than she had previously.
“The pace was very quick,” she said.
Johnson has been dancing and singing since she was very young. Around the age of 4, she joined the KIDSTAGE program at the Village Theatre while continuing to take acting and singing classes.
The program encourages children of all skill levels to be involved in theater classes and productions.
At 10, Johnson auditioned for the show “Anything Goes” on the KIDSTAGE and gained experience performing but it also got her noticed by Steve Tomkins, who is directing “42nd Street.”
Now at 16, she is old enough to audition for the main stage with professional performers.
“Because Emily is such a mature young lady, she seemed to fit right in with the cast. Her talents superseded her age,” Tompkins said.
The audition process for the main stage starts with one audition for the whole theater season. Actors have to perform a monologue and a song.
From there they are called back for individual shows. Johnson was called for “42nd Street” and had further auditions. She performed a song from the show, “We’re in the Money” and also learned a short tap combination as well as a ballet and jazz combination.
Even then, there was another round of auditions, which included a harder dance combination.
About a month later, Johnson was notified that she was in the show and had been cast as an ensemble performer.
“After the initial 370 people for callbacks, we saw probably 150 people for 26 roles,” Tomkins said.
Johnson learned everything in about three or four weeks for the show.
The fourth week of rehearsal was a technical rehearsal for the performance she said.
“We rehearsed for about eight hours a day, six days a week, and I was called at least two thirds to three fourths of the time,” Johnson said. The week before opening night they held technical rehearsals 10-12 hours per day in preparation.
Johnson will perform more than 80 shows over two months.
The show will run for one month in Issaquah and then another in Everett.
Since rehearsals take up most of her time, Johnson decided to transfer to Bellevue College to do running start.
Almost all of her classes are online now, and she does her homework either before rehearsal or at the theater.
“It actually ended up being a good thing because I found out about casting in December,” Johnson said.
Eventually Johnson plans to join the Actors Equity, an actors union. She also plans to transfer to a university to study musical theatre, which she hopes to pursue as a career.
Despite being younger than the rest of the cast, Tomkins said she has adapted well to the quicker pace of the show.
“I didn’t feel I had to adjust to anything because of her age; she is just so talented,” Tomkins said.
Intern Tara Sackman can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 248, or samrev@isspress.com.
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