OLTL: Let’s Put On a Show
ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s show-within-a-show, Prom Night: The Musical, begins airing June 15. Consequently, the teen actors — Kristen Alderson (Starr), Brittany Underwood (Langston), Portia Reiners (Brittany), Brandon Buddy (Cole) and Jason Tam (Makko) — are busy learning songs and rehearsing production numbers. I recently dropped in on a recording session at the studio belonging to OLTL’s musical director Paul Glass.
Buddy was quite apprehensive about the whole thing, since he was in the company of trained and experienced singers. “This whole thing petrifies me,” he shudders. “They are all singers but me. I’m just gonna wing it and see how it goes.”
Alderson has been singing on the show for years; Reiners made her debut at 7 in the title role of Oliver (yes, she got her hair cut very short); Underwood soloed in last year’s production of Mother Courage in New York’s Central Park (starring, ahem, Meryl Streep); and OLTL newcomer Tam is currently on Broadway in the revival of A Chorus Line. Nevertheless, they all assured Buddy he would be fine.
Not that this as a walk in the park for the others, either. “This is a different style for me, so it’s a little scary,” explains Underwood. “Some of the notes are harder for me to hit, but I’ll do it. I’ll work through it.”
Reiners’ singing roles have not got her to Broadway yet, but her resume reads like a primer in musical theater. “I’ve done Meet Me in St. Louis. I did Gypsy. I did the original Little Princess, Annie, Oliver.”
Tam also began his career at a rather tender age. “I started doing musical theater when I was in third grade. I do this show during the day and at night I play Paul in A Chorus Line.” Sounds exhausting. “I am a little bit, in a good way,” he sighs. “It’s fulfilling to get to do both.”
Tam’s co-stars assured Weekly that they will catch a performance as soon as possible.
The OLTL musical sees everyone talking about rehearsing for a play Langston wrote (because there was not enough money to get the rights to do Oklahoma!). However, the musical numbers viewers see are more like the characters’ dreams. (Got that?) The musical will play out over the course of four episodes.
Some of the adult characters will also perform: Kathy Brier‘s Marcie will sing. (She is their high school teacher.) Kassie DePaiva (Blair) also plays a part, as she’s Starr’s mother.
All of the musical material was written especially for OLTL, which offered these young actors the rare opportunity to be the first to perform a song. “It’s great to put your own spin on something,” Tam says. “It’ll be your voice the first time [fans] hear it, so it’s really cool. I’m excited.”
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