New year brings performance opportunities for local youth
With the new year come new theatrical and musical opportunities for young people in the South Bay.
San Jose’s Playful People Productions is scheduling online auditions for its youth production of “Winnie the Pooh.” The cast of 6to 10-year-olds is expected to begin twice-weekly rehearsals on Zoom on Jan. 19. The rehearsals are set to run Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:305:30 p.m., through March 18. Not all cast members will be called for every rehearsal.
“This theater experience is a fun way for children to safely interact with their peers and become familiar with the structure and expectations of creating a theater production,” says “Winnie the Pooh” director Maureen Driggs.
The show’s final performances will be filmed and then streamed April 15-16 via ShowTix4U.
For more information about the auditions, visit www.playfulpeople. org or call 408-878-5362.
Ragazzi ‘SingFest’
The Peninsula-based Ragazzi Boys Chorus is hosting a free onehour minicamp on Saturday at 10 a.m. Boys ages 7-10 who enjoy singing are invited to attend the online event to get to know the renowned chorus from their own homes.
At “SingFest,” the boys will participate in vocal and other musical games, and they’ll also get the opportunity to digitally meet some of Ragazzi’s faculty members. No singing experience is necessary. Register at www.ragazzi.org or by emailing ragoff@ragazzi.org.
Boys who are unable to attend “SingFest” but want to join Ragazzi can sign up for an online audition. These auditions are open to boys ages 5-18. In the audition, aspiring singers will digitally meet one-onone with a Ragazzi chorus director, who will offer short singing games appropriate for various age levels. Boys and their parents can ask specific questions about the organization at that time.
No prior experience is required for boys ages 5-11, but boys ages 12-18 should have some prior musical experience before auditioning.
Sign-ups are also open for Ragazzi’s “Music and Movement” class for boys ages 5-7. No audition is required for this interactive online class. More information and registration for “Music and Movement” is available at www.ragazzi. org/join-us.
Ragazzi presented “Beyond the Stars,” a live-streamed concert of holiday songs and other works that paid tribute to endurance and optimism. Artistic Director Kent Jue says several hundred people tuned in live to watch the Dec. 13 performance in which about 200 boys participated, many of them singing from their own homes.