The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘It’s a brand new day’
Summer campers’ music, dance skills in overdrive as they stage ‘Disney’s Camp Rock’
CROMWELL — About 25 Cromwell Music campers filed into a classroom at the high school, as director Raymond J. Sinclair II asked the teens to help move all the desks and tables to the periphery of the room.
As the fourth through ninth grade students carried out their task, Sinclair paced out 30 steps across the width of the room to mark off the area that corresponds with the high school auditorium stage.
The cast launched into the beginning number of “Disney’s Camp Rock The Musical,” “Last Summer / Brand New Day” — an exuberant song that builds in intensity as various characters introduce themselves through lines sung solo.
Sinclair stopped the music after a couple minutes.
“I just have a brief observation. I’m using computer speakers that are pretty good and I can’t
hear you,” he said. “I need you to inflect, I need you to project, I need you to sing louder.
“It’s one of two things: You just don’t know the song yet or you’re just not comfortable. We’re all friends here, it’s all good,” Sinclair told them.
Erin Soko plays Shane, the Joe Jonas’ part in the 2008 film, which features Demi Lovato, the Nick and Kevin Jonas of boy band fame, and other young Hollywood stars.
“I’m nervous because the first thing I do in the play is I come out and start singing, so I feel as soon as I get out there, people are going to know, ‘oh, that’s a girl.’ I feel like that’s going to throw some people off,” Soko said.
“I love being a Jonas Brother, because he’s literally me,” said Sam Barret, who plays Jason (Kevin Jonas in the movie).
“We have so many 2008 boy band moments,” Soko said, as her fellow cast members laughed.
“If I ever met Joe Jonas, I’d probably pass out, I love him so much,” said Makenzie Dunn, whose phone home screen and lock screens bear his likeness.
The show is about members of a music camp who discover a competitor opens across the lake, threatening the first camp’s possible closure.
Mitchie Torres, Julia’s character, is trying to get everyone together for big competition between the two camps. Her character is “very caring and stands up for everyone’s rights — she’s fighting to keep the camp from closing,” said Julia, 14, an incoming freshman at the high school who acted in sixth grade. She’s been a soprano most of her life, but now sings alto.
When she first started performing, Julia began working on her voice so some day she’d be prepared to be the lead.
“I just knew that was one of my dreams,” she said.
The show is all student choreographed, said Sinclair, K -12 Music Department facilitator and director of bands at Cromwell High School. Two graduated students returned this summer to teach the students their dance numbers.
“It’s totally them — young adults taking over,” he said.
Meanwhile, the campers are having a blast rehearsing for the show weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are a total of about 50 students in the production.
“We were charging people $5 if they called us the JoBros instead of the Jonas Brothers,” Soko said with a chuckle.
“They slept over my house the week before camp and we watched the first movie. I started to learn some of the duets I have with Julia (who plays Lovado’s character). The scariest part for me was the five seconds right before I was about to open my mouth,” she added.
Cromwell’s music program is growing because there is a new curriculum in town, Sinclair said.
“I heard stories from the middle school teacher last year that kids that did camp were far ahead of the others. It’s neat because I want to make music a positive culture here in town, not something that’s going to compete with anything or anybody else,” said Sinclair, who sings and plays trombone.
“I don’t mind the dancing and singing, but I don’t like the actual speaking lines,” Dunn said, because they are harder to memorize.
Damon Adams, who plays Nick Jonas, is still trying to get comfortable in his role.
“There’s great music and great talent going all around. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with the show, but it actually was a lot of fun,” said Adams, who missed the audition but sent in a video.
“I didn’t even know the song. I was planning on auditioning, so I went through it with Ms. (Karly) Deangelo once and then I kind of liked it,” Dunn said. “I didn’t even sing the whole song. They stopped me, because they knew me, so it wasn’t that nervewracking.”
“I saw her role coming from a mile away. I was like, ‘you are definitely Tess,’” said Carol Rogozinski.
All of the players were on pins and needles when their parts were given to them.
“When they were announcing the cast, they went from the bottom up, so you had to wait and see if you got the part you wanted,” he said.
Taylor Rovetti, 11, is part of the ensemble. Last year, she took part in the concert band and chorus summer camp, which did not have a performance. In the music technology class last year, students could choose from piano, ukelele or guitar.
“We get to try almost every instrument there is,” said Taylor, who picked the flute because her mother played it. “It was actually pretty easy to play,” said Taylor, who sings in the “Camp Rock” ensemble, dancing and singing.
“We’re trying to connect the school year to the next school year, build the drama program to something where, when kids come up to the high school, this cultivates that kind of interest,” said Sinclair, who admits it’s not easy putting together a musical in four weeks.
This summer music camp experience helps combat the “summer slide” — a tiny but significant loss of knowledge gleaned over the last school year because of the non-academic pace of the students’ break.
There are other benefits, Sinclair said.
“Besides confidence, it develops cognitive, oral skills. There’s a definite correlation scientifically between what instrumentalists and vocalists do when their brain develops,” which is often reflected in their SAT scores,” he said.
“It’s all there, so there singing and dance at the same time — that’s using both sides of the brain,” Sinclair added.
For information and tickets, $15, visit Cromwell Music Camp on Facebook, email cromwellmusiccamp@gmail.com or call 860-632-4841, Ext. 14813.