Shannon, my oldest daughter, is in a musical titled "Once on This Island" as part of the local youth theater company "First Stage". I had never heard of the show when she mentioned they were going to do it last year and the story didn't sound very compelling so I didn't really get into it very much. Plus, Shannon doesn't like to sing around the house so I hadn't really heard any of the music for the show until last night.

Yesterday evening the First Stage kids did a sneak peak preview of the musical. It was sort of a cliffs notes version where they sang a medley of the music and acted out some parts of the show. This cliffs notes version is what they will be performing in Atlanta this weekend as part of the Junior Theater Festival and last nights sneak peak was their first "public" performance of the show.

I've now seen about eight different First Stage productions plus I was involved in one (Scrooge). The kids try really hard to put on good shows and I think, for the most part, they succeed. With each show however I've had some issues -mostly the boys singing voices aren't on par with the girls - and many of the kids are hard to hear during their speaking parts. The volume is both a product of the fact that these are mostly small kids who just can't project their voices well yet and the acoustics of the venues here all generally suck. A bunch of awesome volunteers work to help by providing mics and a sound system - but It's just not quite the same hearing them over the speakers (accompanied by interference from people who forget or choose not to turn off their cell phones) as it is to hear their voices pure and without any enhancement.

Thus it was with great trepidation that I went into the basement of a church last night to see the short form version of "Once on this Island". There was no set beyond four wooden boxes. The cast of kids was basically the same cast I've seen in a few of the other shows. The basement was loud and echo-y as the kids prepared to start and the parents all talked. Honestly, I didn't think I would enjoy it even though my daughter was in it.

Then the parents and leaders all stopped talking and the kids started to sing. The weird echo-y vibe was replaced by really nice acoustics for the kids singing voices. The cast as a whole choir sounded great; they were loud but well balanced; they were easy to understand; and their voices all seemed to harmonize together really well. I was a bit stunned.

Then the lead girl started to sing. I hadn't really heard her sing before (though she was Chef Louie in "The Little Mermaid" I think so she had a solo there). Her voice last night was excellent. I mean, she sounded like a kid who would be singing on Broadway for 98% of her songs. She was stable, had great range and control, and her tone was perfect. Plus, she had a pretty naturally animated face that didn't oversell the acting parts. She was really really good.

The girls in First Stage have always been more abundant and better singers than the boys. This is still the case. There are three boys in the cast and about 30 girls. But the talent gap is closing thanks to the obvious work Teddy has been putting into his singing. His voice has dropped some which partly explains it - but his control and his confidence are so much better now. He really surprised me - he sounded excellent. He's only about 14 so I imagine he was be killing it by the time he graduates. His vocal growth in the last two years has been astounding.

Some of the kids in the cast are a little sick which was had a negative impact on their voices - but even with those minor problems this cast sounded really good. The performance I saw last night was easily the best ensemble performance I have seen in a First Stage show. All of the kids (with the exception of the sick ones) sounded better than I have heard in the past - and the rest of the cast did a great job with the chorus, the dancing, and their acting as set pieces (the choreography was really clever and made great use of just four small wooden boxes).

I am really glad I got to see the show last night and I can't wait to see the full length performance in March.