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East Auckland’s Children’s Musical Theatre Studio (CMTS) has been providing local youngsters with the chance to learn theatre craft in a fun and engaging way for 10 years.
In that time more than 600 children have performed for the studio in almost 30 musical productions.
As the saying goes, the best place to be is in the spotlight.
“Others prefer working behind the scenes, helping with set painting, prop making, costume designing and even holding the curtains for cast to enter onto the stage,” the studio says.
“One of our students said, ‘When I’ve been part of musical theatre shows, we start as a bunch of random people and by the time we have all of our rehearsals and work through all the challenges, the cast and crew become like a family’.”
The studio is “very focused” on building confidence in each child who comes through its doors.
“This looks different for every child. Some have never performed before, or experienced dancing in a group. CMTS prides itself on being able to bring the best out in each pupil.”
One parent whose child attends the studio says they’ve been looking for years for the right drama school.
“We’ve tried three other local drama clubs and none of them ticked the boxes ‘acting, singing, dancing’, but CMTS has covered all of those, and more’.”
The studio is offering two classes in February – its After School Musical Theatre classes for children aged six and seven years old and another for those aged eight to 12.
Both classes rehearse once a week and join together in June for four performances of The Grunch, a new musical by New York-based theatre company Beat By Beat Press.
The second show is the iconic Disney tale The Little Mermaid Jr, which is suitable for children aged eight to 15 years old.
The studio says the first rehearsal is on February 9 at 10am and thereafter on Wednesdays and Sundays. Performances are on June 28-29.
“CMTS is not just for children. We also run weekly tap-dancing classes for adults.
“Weekly classes are held on Mondays at midday and Tuesdays at 7pm.
“Both classes are an hour long and no prior experience is needed.”
For the last four years Libretto Productions, the sister company of CMTS, has produced an annual adult cast musical.
The show is for both the experienced and those who have always wanted to give it a go, both males and females aged 17 years old and over.
Follow the Facebook page ‘Libretto Productions’ for more details.
Singing and piano lessons are available for both adults and children.
For more details and to enrol, go online to www.cmtsnz.com and follow Children’s Musical Theatre Studio on Facebook, or email cmtsnz@gmail.com.
