It started out as any other school play. Once on This Island Jr. (a version of Once on This Island that’s been adapted for teens) tells the story of a love triangle. Ti Moune is a peasant girl who falls in love with the rich Daniel Beauxhomme (French for “beautiful man”), but can’t marry him because he’s betrothed to Andrea. It ends bittersweetly as Beauxhomme and Andrea marry, and Ti Moune dies of starvation and heartache just outside their home. But the gods have mercy and turn Ti Moune into a tree (below, left) that shades both Daniel and Andrea as well as panhandlers like she once was.
Unlike any other school play, this one’s cast was plucked from 22 disadvantaged New York high schools, and the fledgling young actors and actresses have a mentor in Rosie O’Donnell.
“Once on This Island happens to be a piece of theater which wonderfully resonates with and through young actors,” says director/choreographer Timothy Johnson. “So as a director/choreographer working with young actors my approach was, essentially the same as it would be with adult actors: to lead them in the best way that I can to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances as they tell the story of this particular musical play.”
Today, the average ticket price for The Lion King is $120, but thousands of New York children can’t afford to buy their lunch at school, much less entrance to see a Broadway production. Kind of similar to Ti Moune. She lives on the same island as the wealthy, but her geographical proximity doesn’t make her equal to the Beauxhommes.
That’s where O’Donnell comes in. In 2003, she started Rosie’s Broadway Kids to bring theater to disadvantaged New York City youths.
“They had no idea that this [Broadway] world existed,” says Lori Klinger, RBK’s artistic and executive director. “They didn’t know who [Rosie] was at first. Rosie who? Rosie Perez?”
But they know now.
“She’s a bit of a mom to them,” Klinger adds. “They love her because of what she’s done for them, not because of her celebrity.”
What O’Donnell has done is deliver a 100-percent acceptance rate into performing arts high schools, which have a 95-percent graduation rate versus 60 percent at city public schools. Starting in fifth grade, the kids can participate in RBK after-school programs. Those who show promise and drive are asked to stay on, while Klinger and her staff prepare them for high school auditions by their eighth grade year.
“New York City has a lot of different high schools, and the process to get in is very complex. It’s like applying to college,” Klinger explains. “When I went to high school, you just went to the high school in your town. Here, you have to apply. There’s performing arts high schools; there’s academic high schools. But there’s also your catchment high school. If you don’t apply, the one you go to. So, right on, we decided that the kids could use their talents to go to performing arts high school. And a greater percent of those kids go to college. So they don’t feel so awkward. They’re not in a group of kids that aren’t college-bound, starting in high school.”
Kids Will Be Kids
RBK students practice in the Maravel Arts Center (at right). It’s close enough to Broadway that I spotted Zach Braff (in rehearsals for the new play Trust) noshing on a Five Napkin Burger on my way there. But it wasn’t always this way. The first five years, RBK didn’t have a space of their own.
“[The eldest students] took our classes and joined us when there was nothing,” Klinger tells Tonic. “There was no building. There was no one to look up to. They were it, and I just have a real fondness for them.”
Named after O’Donnell’s former teacher Pat Maravel, the building consists of five floors of practice space, a performance studio, offices and even a rooftop to host events. But even with ballet bars lining the walls, don’t expect the kids to don tutus and slippers.
“I have to call my class ‘Dance Basics’ because when they hear ‘ballet,’ they go running,” Thecla Harris (below, left), an artistic associate, laughs. “But it’s basically Ballet 101.”
Not only are the RBK students kids, but they’re kids from the poorest 22 high schools in Manhattan.
“I still don’t think all of them have big enough dreams,” Klinger sighs. “They dream of a two-year college, here in the city, because that’s what their siblings did, or they know someone who did that…. That’s where we’re trying to push them and nudge them. Which was the idea of sending some of those kids [to summer camp], so they get a taste of, ‘Oh. There’s something else out here.’”
What is out there for the leads in Once on This Island Jr.? Klinger guesses for Mary Dunkley (Ti Moune), it’ll be a singing career. For Daniel Lieberson (Daniel Beauxhomme), drama, which he’s currently studying at LaGuardia Arts High School. Josh Ramos, who played the god of death Papa Ge, will most likely pursue musical theater. Kirra Silver, the actress who played Asaka, the goddess of earth, got into a performing arts school, but instead, chose an academic high school: Stuyvesant. And Tony, the god of water? “Theater critic,” Klinger says. “That’s just what I think. He’s always curious about theater and wants to know all the facts.” As for the tiny beauty who played the goddess of love? Celeste Estrella dreams of law school.
“I always say, ‘You’ll go to college, and you’ll major in anything,’” Klinger says. “You [may or may not] major in musical theater. Imagine, you have a great resume, you’ve worked on Broadway, you’ve done television, you’ve performed all over the city, you have a letter of recommendation from Rosie O’Donnell. That will go far.”
What the Future Holds
In 2011, the first group of RBK’s students will graduate and go to college. For the first time, the program will have a group of alumni who can mentor the younger students and guide them through this musical theater experience. As for RBK, don’t expect to see the program at a public school near you.
“I think a lot of people think bigger is better, and I think this is it,” says Klinger (middle, at left). “I don’t want to go to every city in America. I don’t want to grow so big. I like that I know every kid’s name and that every teacher here knows every kids’ name and that they know that and that we’re all watching them. Checking your report card, looking underneath your fingernails, helping groom you, everything. I like that. So my dream is to continue to do quality work, but not necessarily get bigger. I want financial security for the organization, so that we don’t always have this chasing game of raising money.”
On September 20, they’ll have a little help from O’Donnell, Cyndi Lauper and of course, the kids, who will perform at a gala at the Marriott Marquis Theater in Manhattan. RBK hopes to raise $1 million that evening, so Klinger and her staff can continue to bring Broadway to those less fortunate.
“I look at this building, and I look at the beautiful children, and I think about the performance we just saw, and I think, ‘Who could dream that?’” Klinger gasps. “That wasn’t my dream because this is beyond a dream, so it’s surpassed any dream I’ve had.”
Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of RBK; Photos 3 and 4 by Kathryn Wilson.