There’s nothing like being upstaged by a bunch of children.
A recent dress rehearsal of the Pixie Dust Players‘ performance of Winnie the Pooh at the Summit Playhouse displayed outsized talent and professionalism from of a cast of tiny actors and actresses, including sizzling siblings from Morris Township.
Danielle Becht, 9, and Bobby Becht, 7, have leading roles in the summer production as Owl and Tigger, respectively.
Danielle was a star of Morristown’s Got Talent! last winter, as a teensy singer with a booming voice. Her kid brother Bobby is breaking into the performing world as a pint-sized actor with gallons of spunk.
Danielle Becht at Morristown’s Got Talent
The 35-minute musical features actors from Munchkin age to adolescence. Even the shyest young ones on stage exhibited composure throughout Wednesday’s rehearsal, smiling the whole time.
Whenever a kid accidentally repeated a line (which was next to never), he or she just picked up again with the next line like it was nothing. The music and costumes were sweet and campy, and minor characters fit right in as Christopher Robin’s woodland pals. Smaller children played the roles of “hunny” bees, while more experienced kids like the Bechts nabbed plum roles as narrators and lead figures such as Pooh, Piglet, Owl, Tigger, Rabbit, and Kanga.
As Owl, Danielle had some of the more sophisticated lines and a great costume consisting of a purple-plumed poncho and elaborate face paint. She had an owl-perch high on the set, and a front-and-center musical scene.
Playing the boisterous character of Tigger, Bobby looked like he was having fun just being himself as the comical, energetic little tiger — a natural delivering his lines on a black bouncy ball.
“I like to act and sing, but I haven’t really danced in a while,” Bobby said through a faded layer of Tigger face paint.
Danielle admitted she likes competitions like Morristown’s Got Talent better than plays. “I like when it’s just me singing,” she said.
“It’s funny because on the car ride over here tonight, she told me she likes plays better,” chuckled Kristin Becht, mother of Danielle and Bobby.
A little sibling rivalry might seem inevitable. Yet overall, Becht said, her two kids are supportive of each other. “They give each other suggestions when they act, and they practice reading their lines together,” she said.
Despite all the hard work of rehearsals, Becht said her kids enjoyed themselves in the five weeks it took to pull the play together.
Rising star: Danielle Becht. Please click icon below for captions.
Winnie the Pooh will run at the Summit Playhouse through this weekend. Showtimes are Saturday, July 14, at 11 am, 1 pm and 5 pm; and Sunday, July 15, at 10 am and 1 pm. Tickets are $10.
The Becht children will return with the Pixie Dust Players’ in The People Garden, also at the Summit Playhouse, on Saturday, August 4 and Sunday, August 5. Tickets are $15.
Danielle’s busy summer run extends into mid-August in the Kids Cabaret 2012: There’s No Business Like Show Business at Brundage Park Playhouse in Randolph.
For these two talented and driven Morris Township thespians, its seems there really is no business like show business.
