| Like so many successful professionals who live in Battery Park City, Evie Dolan works late several nights a week at a job that many would view as glamorous, but she has come to see as part of her daily routine. As with legions of other Downtown natives, she then comes home to her family and tries to relax for a few hours, before starting this cycle all over again the next day. But unlike almost everybody else in Lower Manhattan who fits this profile, Ms. Dolan is 12 years old.
The glamorous job she reports for eight times a week is a featured role in the Broadway musical, “School of Rock,” where Evie plays Katie, the young bassist. The journey that took her to Broadway began in first grade, when she was a student at P.S. 89. “My brother Theo and I were doing an acting program at Kid City Theater in the West Village, as an after-school activity,” she recalls. “One time, the director of the program, Wendy Tonken, got a call from a student at New York University’s film school who needed to cast kid actors in a student production and she recommended my brother for an audition.”
Evie’s older brother Theo was cast in the project, which eventually led to a relationship with a professional manager, who quickly arranged an audition for him (which led to a role) in an Off-Broadway show. Eventually, a theatrical agent signed on to represent both siblings. “Evie and Theo started doing auditions and they loved it,” recalls their father, Patrick Dolan. “It seemed like a good way to for them to develop skills and gain confidence.”
Among these auditions was a tryout for Evie in the part of young Cosette, for the 2014 Broadway revival of “Les Miserables.” Her mother, Abbey Gardner, recalls, “they measured her when she went into the room and it turned out that she was too tall.” But, they soon learned that the casting consultants who were auditioning children for “Les Miserables” were also in search of young talent for another project. Legendary composer and musical theater impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber (who created “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Cats,” among many other fabled hits) was developing a stage version of the 2003 film, “School of Rock.”
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Evie Dolan signs autographs at the stage door of the Winter Garden Theatre in Time Square after a performance of “School of Rock.” She is met there each night by one of her parents, before returning to Battery Park City, where her daily routine includes home schooling.
photo: Behna Gardner |
“We got a call from Evie’s agent, letting us know that she had an audition for ‘School of Rock,'” recalls Mr. Dolan. For her first audition, she read lines, sang and played a Katy Perry song on her ukulele, the instrument she was most proficient on and had played in many elementary school talent shows. She was asked to return for a call back, but this time the casting agents requested that she come prepared to play a song from the show, “Teacher’s Pet,” on her bass.
What followed was one of those show business moments that become the stuff of legend. “Evie didn’t have a bass, and had never played one,” explains Ms. Gardner. But her dad thought that it was good excuse to buy a bass, an instrument he had loved playing in college, so on his way home from work he purchased a Fender Squire. Over the weekend, he took her to Replay Music Studios in the West Village for a lesson.
By the time she stood in front of the creative team again, several days later, Evie had not only mastered the audition number on the bass, but had become proficient at the instrument itself. “They asked her to come back one more time, for the final auditions which would be in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber.” Mr. Dolan recounted.
Evie was thrilled to be cast in the “lab” version of the show — a kind of a developmental, pre-production — in the spring of last year, which culminated with two weeks of performances at the Gramercy Theater, on a stage adorned only with boxes and screens. “For the workshop,” recalls Evie, who was finishing up fifth grade, “I was cast in the role of Katie and had the most amazing time. At that time none of us knew what would happen next.”
For the seven weeks of rehearsals and performances, Evie was tutored in the rehearsal studios with the other thirteen kids in the cast, before graduating from P.S. 276 last June. Shortly after the lab production ended, “I found out that I had made the cast for the Broadway production,” Evie recalls. “I was so happy.”
“The schedule gave Evie the summer to go to sleep away camp and rest up before the rehearsals started in September,” says Mr. Dolan. Evie had been admitted to a very sought-after public middle school, but “we realized just before school started that it was too much to ask of a new school to coordinate all of her studies remotely while she was in rehearsals” remembers Ms. Gardner. “So we decided on a combination of home schooling and tutoring in the theater.”
In September, Evie and the rest of the cast gathered in a rehearsal studio on 42nd Street, where they began an intense schedule of learning lines, music, blocking, positions, dances and developing their characters.
“We rehearsed in the studio for a month,” Evie remembers. “It was really fun and really hard work. Then, in October, we moved to the Winter Garden Theater for what are called ‘technical rehearsals.'”
“School of Rock” opened for previews on November 9, and premiered on December 6. From the first performance, it has been a critical and commercial smash. (A few weeks ago, it received four Tony Award nominations.) Reviewers from the New York Times and New York Post also took special note of Evie’s performance.
Evie has settled into a fairly steady routine. “A typical schedule for her now is to sleep in, then do homework or else work with a tutor until it’s time to leave for Times Square,” Mr. Dolan says. On days when an evening show is scheduled, Evie’s call time at the Winter Garden Theater is 6:00 pm. When she appears in a matinee, Evie arrives at the stage door by noon or 1:00 pm. Because the show is still in its opening season, the cast has had the opportunity to do lots of special events and appearances, including a recent surprise performance with a rock legend who features heavily in the plot of the musical — Stevie Nicks. After the performance, Ms. Nicks was quoted as saying: “to be in the presence of these kids is so amazing that honestly sometimes I close my eyes and I’m not sure that it’s not Fleetwood Mac. It’s very trippy. They are so good.”
When asked what she likes best about being part of “School of Rock”, Evie replies, “first of all, it’s almost impossible to believe that we worked directly with Andrew Lloyd Webber. My family has always been huge fan, especially of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ which my dad saw when he was twelve in London. I really love the whole cast and team — these are people I hope I know and get to work with for my whole life. Alex Brightman, the star of our show, is amazing. He is like our big brother and is such a good role model for us. Also, I love and believe in the message of the show, which is that everyone has some kind of special creativity inside and they need to use it to stand up for what they believe in. Plus I get to sing and act and play live music six days a week!”
At the end of every performance, Evie is met at the Winter Garden stage door by either Mr. Dolan or Ms. Gardner, who must pause while the fans of the show gather there to meet the cast and get autographs and photos. Evie is often asked to reenact the “bass face” she does in the show. “I’m having the time of my life,” says Evie. |
