News

A dream of the stage comes true

By Scott Wagar

11/18/2014

Johna (Pritchard) Miller is living a dream come true. She is currently performing in one of the best-known Broadway musicals in theater history, which is currently in its fifth national tour across the nation. 

The musical is “Jekyll & Hyde” and it is an opportunity which Miller holds deep to her heart.

“This tour has been an experience of a lifetime,” Miller said. “The cast is fantastic, both as performers and as people.” 

Miller grew up in Bottineau and is a 2006 Bottineau High School graduate. From high school, she attended the University of Minnesota School of Music where she earned a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance in 2011.

To be part of the “Jekyll & Hyde” musical is somewhat of a surprise for Miller, because her field in college wasn’t in musical theater. In fact, her degree from the school of music is as far as one can get from Broadway and its musical genre.

“As a college student, I studied classical. Upon graduating, I identified as a classical singer, which gave me the option of singing in recitals, operas and churches,” Miller said. “Musical theater is undeniably more popular and accessible to a wider range of audiences; therefore, there are more audition opportunities in the musical theater genre.  

“I’d never had any training in theater, I never considered musical theater as an option for myself,” Miller added. “However, I auditioned for a production of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ and was cast as the lead soprano, Mabel. Because operettas tend to sit somewhere in between an opera and a musical, they are often done by both types of companies.  

“This production was done by a musical theater company and after doing that show, I was encouraged by my colleagues in the production to pursue musical theater.”

Although Miller’s leap from classical music to musical theater wasn’t an easy transition, her skills and talents in music brought her far in a short time period. In less than a year from “The Pirates of Penzance” Miller was well on her way in musical theater.

“In October of 2012, I booked my first paid gig, a dinner theater show that ran four shows,” Miller said. “At this point, I had started to audition for other professional companies and was consistently getting call-backs from auditions. I felt that I needed acting training since I had none, and took some acting classes at the Guthrie Theater.”

The Guthrie paid off for Miller because she has performed in such regional production as “Les Misérables,” “Wizard of Oz – The Wiz/Wicked Performance,” “Into the Woods,” “Pretty People Suck,” “Christmas and Cold Feet” and “Murder Mystery Masquerade Ball.” Miller was also the vocal director for “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr.” 

Her journey to “Jekyll & Hyde” started while performing in regional theater in Minneapolis, which is where Miller and her husband, Nathan, have called home for the past three years. 

“‘Jekyll & Hyde’ was the first national tour audition I ever did,” Miller said. “I auditioned for the tour in Minneapolis. The company is based out of New York and they held auditions in New York City, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. After my initial audition I was called back and performed music and reading from the script for the director.  My audition and call back were filmed for the casting agency in New York so that they could review it, too.”

Miller is the understudy to the lead of the musical who plays Emma and Lady Beaconsfield, along as the exclusive soprano of the production’s ensemble.

Miller stated she is enjoying her time in the production of “Jekyll & Hyde” for one important reason.

“I like singing and performing, and I do it in whatever capacity I can. I’ve sung in operas, operettas, oratorios, recitals, musicals and church gigs, and I love them all for one reason, my passion is to sing and perform,” Miller said. 

“Musical theater is just another avenue to performing.  That said, the musical theater environment is very different from that of classical music.  The rehearsal atmosphere tends to be more light-hearted and social. Musical theater actors are often very extroverted, social and talkative. The rehearsal is more focused on acting and character development. Classical music rehearsals are often more regimented and music-centric,” she continued.

“Though they have different approaches, both have professional, serious singers and actors committed to producing quality work.” 

The tour started on Sept. 24 at the Ames Center in Burnsville, Minn., and over the next six months Miller will perform in over 100 performances with around five performances each week. 

“I perform shows nearly every night, with occasional days off for breaks or more extensive travel,” Miller said. “Although the nature of touring is variable, a typical show day involves traveling to the theater and getting to know our surroundings.

Each theater is different and brings different challenges for our tech crew including different configurations of our set, lights, sound.  

“Stages, being different sizes and depths, means that our cast needs to adjust blocking to accommodate each individual venue. We need to do mic checks before every show and adjust sound levels according to the space,” Miller added. 

“There is also some stage combat in our show, so we do fight calls before every show to ensure the safety of the actors that are involved in them. After fight call and mic checks, the actors apply stage makeup and get into costume. The stage manager keeps us updated on time, and eventually calls places. Then, we put on the show.”

On travel days, the production company plans every inch of their travels right down to minute.

“The cast and crew travel separately. We have a semi that hauls our set, one bus that carries our crew, and one bus that carries our cast, musicians, and company manager. We mainly travel by bus, but if the jump from city to city is very large, we are flown, and our bus meets up with us. For example, last week we flew from Jacksonville, Fla., to Abilene, Texas,” Miller said. 

“The crew travels separately since they need to get to the venue ahead of time. Some of the things they do before the cast even arrives include reconstructing the set, setting up lights and sound, placing spike marks on the stage, placing props backstage, setting up costumes and caring for wardrobe items (re-styling wigs, laundering costumes), training local stagehands and more.” 

Miller stated that being part of the cast of “Jekyll & Hyde” has been an enjoyable time for her, especially with the music she gets to perform and the friends she has made with the cast.

“The musical itself is unique as it’s not your traditional feel-good musical. It explores themes of duality, good and evil, and how we as humans struggle with those things. There is substance to the script and the music which makes doing the show every night a challenge and a pleasure,” Miller said.  

“And, we have a very kind and caring group of individuals who take care of each other and love each other. With the brutal and competitive nature of the business being what it is, that is a rare quality to have in an entire cast. More than that, as a cast we take our job of bringing this story to audiences all over very seriously. There is not one actor that gives less than their all in every show.”

Miller also stated that besides enjoying her time on stage, the production has also been an educational experience for her.

“Like all performing artists, actors and singers are forever students of their craft,” she said. “This tour is yet another step in bettering my abilities as a performer.”

When the tour comes to a close in 2015, Miller, with her growing skills from “Jekyll & Hyde” will join the cast of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” as Shy, which will be performed at the Old Log Theater in Minneapolis from June 12 through Aug. 29. 

Miller hasn’t forgotten her roots in Bottineau, and embraces her ties to the local community with all her kind tenderness. So much so, her thoughts spin greatly in the pinnacle of her mind about the kids who may have the same dream she did growing up in Bottineau. 

“Something I’d like to tell the kids at home who want to dream big is to surround yourself with people who support you,” Miller said. “They won’t necessarily be the people you’re with by default. Seek out encouraging, positive people who believe in you. Once I found that in a teacher, it was life and career-changing.”

Miller has a website for individuals to see what she is up to in her career. The website has photos, videos and posts that grant news updates of Miller; along with a calendar that shows the dates of her performances. 

There is also a link where individuals can subscribe to with an e-mail to receive notification of new productions she will be cast in. 

Individuals can find the website at www.johnamillermusic.com.