AUDITIONS FOR MADAGASCAR

“This show has a ton of main characters, plus a lot of group ensembles, and random zoo animals,” Sparks said. The ensembles also give the director a unique chance to expand the cast as needed, adding another penguin or zookeeper as the cast allows.

“It doesn’t have to be a named character,” Sparks said. “This is a good introduction to musical theater. If itás their first year and they just want to blend into the background and see how musical theater works, we will have them sing with a group of people at auditions so they don’t have to sing by themselves.”

With a show such as “Madagascar”, set in New York’s Central Park Zoo, expect a costume experience that will make the show that much more fun for both the young performers and the audience alike.

“We spend a lot of time and money on costumes,” Bottorff said. “They get some really cool costumes. The set is always amazing.”

With all the animals, “it will be a lot of fun to costume,” Sparks added. The set for this musical is unique in that Stage Door Productions uses more projected backgrounds, giving performers more room on stage, and adding flexibility to the scenes. The projection allows each scene to almost come to life with movement.

“We do less on set building because there are times when we have 75 kids on stage, and there is no place for them,” Sparks said. “We have awesome projected backdrops that have motion and are very interesting.”

Bottorff founded Stage Door Productions with her sister, Susan Ahlers Leman, 10 years ago with the goal of giving kids early experience in the theater arts. A decade later, Bottorff said it is rewarding to see how the kids who started with Stage Door 10 years ago have progressed in their abilities and confidence, and how that translates to the rest of their lives.

“There’s so much data and research that shows how the skills you learn just transfer over into everything,” Bottorff said. âItás really fun to see these kids succeed. They build self-esteem, empathy, accountability, musical skills, memorization, and getting up in front of people. This is a really safe place for kids to do that.”

Audition packets are available at the Stage Door Productions website and Facebook page. Performers are asked to audition only for the part they most want, in order to streamline the audition process. Performers can name other parts of interest when they fill out the audition packet.

The one things kids and parents most need to keep in mind is the commitment necessary to the rehearsal schedule. Rehearsals begin June 6 and will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, each week through the show wrapup on July 22. “We need the kids there to play off of each other,” Sparks said. “If there are conflicts we can work around some of them, but it is important to be there.”

“The cast of these Stage Door shows have a lot of fun,” Sparks said. “We do mean business, we have to focus, but it is a lot of fun. We don’t want it to ever be a chore. We want the kids to want to be there.”

With “Madagascarás” familiar tunes, lively script and wildly fun attitude, parents and kids can expect a memorable summer filled with that favorite refrain: “I like to move it, move it, move it,” all summer long.