Stanley Park becomes a musical place during mid-summer nights at Malkin Bowl, in Vancouver.
Contributing to this year’s Theatre Under the Stars are two Delta performers playing lead roles in two musicals, The Prom and Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, July 6 to Aug. 26.
The Prom is a Broadway musical, and a Netflix movie, based on a 2010 incident in Mississippi when Constance McMillen wanted to bring her girlfriend to the school prom and wear a tuxedo, however, she was banned from attending by the local school board.
The play debuted on Broadway in 2018, and balances hopefulness with “hard-hitting hilarity,” as four down-on-their-luck actors try to help out.
Playing the role of Alyssa Greene in The Prom is Brianna Clark from North Delta, who also lives in New York.
She’s back to renew her visa because her student visa is expiring.
Her previous roles, eight years ago, with Theatre Under the Stars were as a dancer in the ensemble.
“So, it’s been really fun to return and do a big role that I’ve always wanted to play,” she said.
Clark recently graduated from New York University in musical theatre and is a classically trained pianist. She recently appeared as a series regular in AppleTV’s SEE, starring Jason Momoa.
She got involved in theatre as a hobby when she was in high school and previously studied molecular biology at SFU. Clark said she switched to acting on a dare, adding that in a perfect world, she would love to return to science when she’s older, but that she’s very happy performing now.
“It’s challenging and also really rewarding, especially doing a show like The Prom where you get to be part of a story that’s really important today,” Clark said.
Once she gets permission to work in the U.S. she wants to return and try to get a major role in a Broadway musical.
“That’s the dream. I would love to go back and actually play the role that I was offered for that tour, which was Zoe, in Dear Evan Hansen,” she said.
In Matilda the Musical, Jyla Robinson, who owns Studio West in Ladner, is taking on the role of meanie headmistress, Miss Trunchbull.
Matilda, now on Netflix, is set in an English village, “where a brilliant little girl with a lively imagination is bullied by her self-absorbed parents and tyrannical head mistress.”
Miss Trunchbull is not a nice person and knows how to get what she wants.
“She’s very mean. She’s a disciplinarian and she’s basically the evil character of the show,” Robinson said.
It’s been challenging and exciting to play such a character.
She said Trunchbull is definitely the hardest role she’s ever played.
“She goes so deep and so dark into getting what she wants and she’s not kind and not nice about it,” she said, adding it’s an emotional roller coaster for her as an actor. “But I’m excited to bring my authenticity to the role. I think people will be entertained. I hope people will enjoy my performance.”
Another Tsawwassen performer is also part of this year’s Theatre Under the Stars.
Eric Timuss, a Capilano University musical theatre student, is part of the supporting ensemble in The Prom. It’s his second production with Theatre Under the Stars.
For showtimes and ticket information see: https://www.tuts.ca/.
