05/14/2026
BY MAX SILVERSON
The Star-News
Photo: Violet (right) of McCall performs at Lincoln Center with fellow soloists Brock from Draper, Utah and Jantzen from Chandler, Arizona. Courtesy of the Educational Theatre of Idaho and MCP.
About 30 local students age 12 to 17 recently returned from a trip to New York, where they performed on stage at the Lincoln Center and spent a week immersed in Broadway theater.
The young actors in the Educational Theatre of Idaho were selected for a week-long program in April with the Broadway Junior Company and Manhattan Concert Productions.
The McCall company performed songs from the Broadway musicals “Wicked,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Wiz,” along with over 140 other students from across the country and abroad.
Among those attending was McCall-Donnelly High School senior Sierra, 18, who left New York with new ambitions.
“I always wanted to continue on with theater, but it kind of felt like a distant dream…going to New York made that dream feel a lot more achievable, like this is something that I could do if I wanted to because I’m good enough to get in with the big leagues,”
Sierra said.
“I guess the only word that I can really use to describe it was starstruck,” Sierra said. “Just being there at the Lincoln Center and performing with all of those other amazing kids, it just felt like a dream come true.”
The program included about five hours per day of professional instruction in singing, choreography and acting.
Sixteen-year-old Donnelly resident Tabatha said the experience of traveling to New York and performing at Lincoln Center brought a “different energy” to theater.
“It definitely opened my eyes to how many opportunities there are out there…you do have to work more for them, but it is worth it for the feeling that I felt on stage,” she said.
Theater members Violet and Quincy also had the opportunity to perform solo on stage following private rehearsals with Broadway Music Director Laura Bergquist, who worked on “Newsies” on Broadway and the Yiddish version of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Reflecting on the experience, Educational Theatre of Idaho music director Linda Moyer said the trip to “the Super Bowl of music” has had an incredible effect on the students.
“It really energized some of the kids, they came back as different people and their acting has taken them to another level,” Moyer said.
The trip was not all work, with students taking the opportunity to see some classic New York City sites like the Statue of Liberty and Rockefeller Center.
One favorite stop among the participants was a visit to Ellen’s Stardust Diner, a restaurant staffed by up-and-coming Broadway starts, who perform songs from classic musicals while waiting tables.
It was a unique privilege to have Broadway actors come to your table and perform right in front of you, said Joey, 14, of McCall.
Singers at the diner performed some of the same songs that the Idaho group had learned for the trip, including “Defying Gravity,” from “Wicked.”
The students also attended their first Broadway Musical, choosing between “Disney’s Aladdin,” “Hadestown” and “& Juliet.” After the performances they got to meet the stars in the productions and were even invited on the stage of “Disney’s Aladdin.”
Link to full article: https://www.mccallstarnews.com/dreaming-of-the-big-stagemccall-theater-company-reflects-on-broadway-visit/
The McCall Star-News
Manhattan Concert Productions (MCP)
