Gotta sing, gotta dance

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The annual Sounds of the Season community talent show at the Admiral Theatre may be an amateur talent show, but you wouldn’t know it from the level of talent involved.

More than 50 singers, dancers and musicians tried out for the community talent show; only 18 were chosen.

They will take to the stage Dec. 21 to compete for the $500 grand prize, and the priceless adoration of the audience. Seattle comic Greg Bennick will once again serve as Master of Ceremonies.

The chosen few are: two groups from Port Orchard’s Just for Kicks School of Dance: Allegro Dance Troupe and Intermediate Allegro; J&J Tap Company, of Port Orchard; choir North Song, from North Kitsap Baptist Church; vocal quartet The Gray Girls, from Bremerton; Eighty Flying Fingers from Bowling Piano Studio, Silverdale; barbershop quartet Three Tootsies and a Roll, Bremerton; duo Eric Spencer and Rana Teresa Tan, Bremerton; Ugalino Piano Duet, Silverdale; and Jewels of the Nile, teen dance troupe from The Dance Within, Poulsbo.

Solo performers are: dancer Carrie Micallef, Silverdale; guitarist/singer Katie Sparrow, Bremerton; dancer/singer Amelia Brummel, Hansville and vocalists Meka White, Paige Lawson, Aaron Davidson and Kierra Brobst.

One contestant will be appearing on the Admiral stage for the first time, although she’s been performing all her life — all 10 years of it.

Amelia Brummel is the daughter of Pete and Carolyn Brummel of Hansville, and her first role was as baby Jesus in the church Nativity play. She was four months old.

Her mother admits that Amelia didn’t care for the role — she screamed the whole time — but that “even when she was a baby we noticed that her face lit up around people. It was obvious from the beginning — she’s always enjoyed making people smile.”

It’s appropriate then that Amelia will sing and dance to “Born to Entertain,” from “Ruthless — The Musical.”

“Ruthless” tells the story of a little girl who is determined to make it big in show business, but Amelia said that’s not her goal.

“I’m thinking of acting as my second job,” she said. “I really like animals so I think I’d like to be a vet — or I might head toward Broadway first, then become a vet.”

Amelia said she likes to perform because she likes to make people happy, “and I like applause.”

From her already lengthy resumé, Broadway doesn’t look that far off.

As well as many acting and singing roles locally, Amelia auditioned at the Theater Puget Sound, a general audition from which Puget Sound theaters select actors, and she has landed several lead roles in shows around Seattle.

She is currently playing ZuZu in “It’s a Wonderful Life” at the Attic Theatre in Bothell, and in March she will play the lead role of Tina, the starstruck girl in “Ruthless.” She already has one song down.

She has performed “Born to Entertain” 30 to 40 times over the past two years as a solo show with the Liberty Bay Danceworks.

She has had private acting, singing and dancing lessons, as well as dancing with the Liberty Bay Danceworks and attending music theater summer camps. She and her brother Owen, 7, are homeschooled, but her mother is no stage mother.

“Personally I have zero experience in this arena,” Carolyn Brummel said. While the family spends up to 10 hours a week on lessons, plus drive time, Brummel said there’s no pressure on Amelia.

“As long as she’s having fun — that’s the goal. She feels she has a gift for connecting with people. She feels the need to share that.”

Amelia has pledged that whatever prize money she wins at the talent show will be donated to Bainbridge Kids Care, a non-profit organization started by Amelia’s friend, 11-year-old Maddy Figueroa, to collect funds to build a school in tsunami-affected Sri Lanka.

Amelia will be up against some stiff competition. For example, the Intermediate Allegro dance troupe is performing what may be the most unusual act. The group of 14 dancers age 10 to 15 will perform “Shake Your Groove Thing” — dressed as senior citizens and using walkers as props.

“When people see this number they just stop,” choreographer Tanya Bleil Geiselman said. “Everybody loves this dance.”

The dancers have performed it at the Puyallup Fair, the Festival of Trees in Tacoma and the South Kitsap High School Holiday Extravaganza. It was co-choreographed by Stephanie Gohd-Clarke.

The members of the troupe have performed in the talent show for the past six years, and took home the grand prize in 2004.

By contrast, it will be the first public group performance for the sisters who call themselves simply The Gray Girls. That’s their last name — Jennifer, 11, Rebecca, 13, Kimberly, 15 and Meghan, 16.

All of them have performed in musical productions at Western Washington Center for the Arts (WWCA) and Central Stage Theatre of County Kitsap (CSTOCK).

Rebecca played the lead role of Mary Lennox in CSTOCK’s February production of “The Secret Garden,” and Jennifer played the title role of Oliver in CSTOCK’s July musical.

For the talent show they will sing several Christmas songs a cappella. It’s been said that siblings are able to sing the best harmonies because their voices are genetically matched. This will be a good chance to test that theory.

Judging the talent show will be Karen Hanan, executive director of Arts Northwest, Josh Brown, Kitsap County commissioner and a third judge who was not confirmed by press time. Let’s just hope his last name is not Cowell.

Sounds of the Season takes place 7 p.m. Dec. 21 at the Admiral Theatre, 515 Pacific Ave., Bremerton.

Tickets are $12 general admission, all seats reserved, available at the box office or by calling (360) 373-6743.