Utah theater: Young girl + big voice = Two lead roles

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Ellie Smith performs at DISH Las Vegas charity event for Three Square at the Spring Preserve. The 12-year-old from Las Vegas will play Mary Lennox at the Utah Shakespearean Festival "The Secret Garden" and Annie at the Tuacahn Amphitheater in September.

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Ellie Smith was born with music in her soul. As infant, she would coo to the tunes she heard as she lay in her crib. At age 12, she's still singing around her house, or humming while she's doing her algebra homework. "I just hear music all the time," she tells family and friends.

But the Las Vegas girl doesn't just sing at home. This summer, she's performing lead roles in musicals at two southern Utah theater companies, playing Mary Lennox in "The Secret Garden" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and the title role in "Annie" at Tuacahn Amphitheater.

The acting gigs come on top of her usual after-school job, singing the national anthem, "God Bless America" and other patriotic songs at professional sports games and other

Ellie Smith, 12, of Las Vegas is cast as Mary Lennox in the Utah Shakespearean Festival "The Secret Garden." She will also play the lead role of Annie at the Tuacahn Amphitheater in September.

She was 6 when she first belted "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Nevada gymnastics meet, one of many performances that have earned her the nickname of the "Star Spangled Girl." Her parents estimate in six years she has sung in front of more than a million people, including congressional delegations on Capitol Hill, on national TV at the Dodgers-Phillies National League baseball playoff game in 2008, and before National Basketball Association games, ranging from the Utah Jazz to the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Father Rick Smith rarely recalls her getting anxious before she takes the stage -- except once two years ago at a Las Vegas charity event when she performed between Kelly Clarkson and Tony Bennett. "She just has, I don't know what to call it, a gift of a gene," Rick Smith said. "She is confident in her own ability."

As Ellie Smith explains: "I don't get nervous, I get excited. Stage fright is not an issue to me. It's hard work, but it always pays off because it's so much fun."

She's working hard this summer, learning two roles. "It's really fun, but it's hard because you have to memorize both shows and learn the blocking," Smith said of her double duty, exuding confidence beyond her years. "My family helps me a lot. And I work on it a lot."

She'll share the Mary Lennox role with Summer Sloan, 13, of Salt Lake City, through Aug. 29. A few days later, she will transfer to Ivins, where she'll take over the role of Annie, joining her younger sister, 10-year-old Amy, who plays the orphan Kate.

Playing roles in two theater companies is hard work not just for Ellie Smith, but for the whole family. Rick and Jerry Smith split their time between the two girls, driving back and forth from both locations while headquartered in Cedar City.

"When she got the lead in both of these shows, we were just so blown away and honored at the same time," Rick Smith said. "It's quite a statement about her

Ellie Smith started rehearsing "Annie" at Tuacahn for several weeks in May before heading to Cedar City for "Secret Garden" rehearsals. Once the festival show runs smoothly, she'll go back to learning her "Annie" lines. To stay current, on off nights, she heads to Tuacahn to watch "Annie."

The Ivins outdoor theater is familiar territory, as she played the young Cosette in "Les Misérables" and Brigitta in "The Sound of Music" at the company last summer. "Ellie just has this voice, so strong, and you can tell it's something she really wants to do," said Scott Anderson, Tuacahn's producing director.

You cannot help but notice her talent, said Lise Mills, personnel manager and assistant casting director at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, but just as important is her commitment, which allows her to hold her own on stage with professional actors.

The company was looking for children with maturity and youthfulness for parts in "The Secret Garden," which marks the first time USF has cast child actors in lead roles. Also in the cast are Nikaiya DeBirk, 11, of Salt Lake City, and Talon G. Ackerman, 10, of Provo, who are double cast as Colin Craven, a young crippled boy whom Mary befriends.

"These children are professional," Mills said. "They go to rehearsal. They are dropped off and get down to business."

Ellie Smith said Mary Lennox is the "funnest" role she's ever played because she gets to live in Cedar City with her friends. "Her emotions are so complex," the young actor said. "She doesn't sing just happy songs. She sings about a lot of stuff, her life."