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Utah = theater: Young=20 girl + big voice =3D Two lead = roles

Nevada singer=20 commands the spotlight when she opens her = mouth.

By Roxana Orellana

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 07/02/2009=20 01:11:10 PM MDT

Click photo to = enlarge

Ellie Smith=20 performs at DISH Las Vegas charity event for Three = Square at=20 the Spring Preserve. The 12-year-old from Las Vegas = will play=20 Mary Lennox at the Utah Shakespearean Festival "The = Secret=20 Garden" and Annie at the Tuacahn Amphitheater in = September.=20

Ellie Smith was born with music in her soul. As = infant, she=20 would coo to the tunes she heard as she lay in her = crib. At=20 age 12, she's still singing around her house, or = humming while=20 she's doing her algebra homework. "I just hear music = all the=20 time," she tells family and friends.

But the Las Vegas girl doesn't just sing at home. = This=20 summer, she's performing lead roles in musicals at two = southern Utah theater companies, playing Mary Lennox = in "The=20 Secret Garden" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and = the=20 title role in "Annie" at Tuacahn Amphitheater.

The acting gigs come on top of her usual = after-school job,=20 singing the national anthem, "God Bless America" and = other=20 patriotic songs at professional sports games and other =

Ellie=20 Smith, 12, of Las Vegas is cast as Mary Lennox in the = Utah=20 Shakespearean Festival "The Secret Garden." She will = also play=20 the lead role of Annie at the Tuacahn Amphitheater in=20 September.

events.=20

She was 6 when she first belted "The Star-Spangled = Banner"=20 at a Nevada gymnastics meet, one of many performances = that=20 have earned her the nickname of the "Star Spangled = Girl." Her=20 parents estimate in six years she has sung in front of = more=20 than a million people, including congressional = delegations on=20 Capitol Hill, on national TV at the Dodgers-Phillies = National=20 League baseball playoff game in 2008, and before = National=20 Basketball Association games, ranging from the Utah = Jazz to=20 the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Father Rick Smith rarely recalls her getting = anxious before=20 she takes the stage -- except once two years ago at a = Las=20 Vegas charity event when she performed between Kelly = Clarkson=20 and Tony Bennett. "She just has, I don't know what to = call it,=20 a gift of a gene," Rick Smith said. "She is confident = in her=20 own ability."

As Ellie Smith explains: "I don't get nervous, I = get=20 excited. Stage fright is not an issue to me. It's hard = work,=20 but it always pays off because it's so much fun."

She's working hard this summer, learning two roles. = "It's=20 really fun, but it's hard because you have to memorize = both=20 shows and learn the blocking," Smith said of her = double duty,=20 exuding confidence beyond her years. "My family helps = me a=20 lot. And I work on it a lot."

She'll share the Mary Lennox role with Summer = Sloan, 13, of=20 Salt Lake City, through Aug. 29. A few days later, she = will=20 transfer to Ivins, where she'll take over the role of = Annie,=20 joining her younger sister, 10-year-old Amy, who plays = the=20 orphan Kate.

Playing roles in two theater companies is hard work = not=20 just for Ellie Smith, but for the whole family. Rick = and Jerry=20 Smith split their time between the two girls, driving = back and=20 forth from both locations while headquartered in Cedar = City.=20

"When she got the lead in both of these shows, we = were just=20 so blown away and honored at the same time," Rick = Smith said.=20 "It's quite a statement about her

Ellie Smith -- "The Star = Spangled=20 Girl"

ability.=20 We know she is really good and it's so nice to see = that others=20 see that."=20

Ellie Smith started rehearsing "Annie" at Tuacahn = for=20 several weeks in May before heading to Cedar City for = "Secret=20 Garden" rehearsals. Once the festival show runs = smoothly,=20 she'll go back to learning her "Annie" lines. To stay = current,=20 on off nights, she heads to Tuacahn to watch "Annie." =

The Ivins outdoor theater is familiar territory, as = she=20 played the young Cosette in "Les Mis=C3=A9rables" and = Brigitta in=20 "The Sound of Music" at the company last summer. = "Ellie just=20 has this voice, so strong, and you can tell it's = something she=20 really wants to do," said Scott Anderson, Tuacahn's = producing=20 director.

You cannot help but notice her talent, said Lise = Mills,=20 personnel manager and assistant casting director at = the Utah=20 Shakespeare Festival, but just as important is her = commitment,=20 which allows her to hold her own on stage with = professional=20 actors.

The company was looking for children with maturity = and=20 youthfulness for parts in "The Secret Garden," which = marks the=20 first time USF has cast child actors in lead roles. = Also in=20 the cast are Nikaiya DeBirk, 11, of Salt Lake City, = and Talon=20 G. Ackerman, 10, of Provo, who are double cast as = Colin=20 Craven, a young crippled boy whom Mary befriends.

"These children are professional," Mills said. = "They go to=20 rehearsal. They are dropped off and get down to = business."=20

Ellie Smith said Mary Lennox is the "funnest" role = she's=20 ever played because she gets to live in Cedar City = with her=20 friends. "Her emotions are so complex," the young = actor said.=20 "She doesn't sing just happy songs. She sings about a = lot of=20 stuff, her life."

Star-spangled girl

Ellie Smith stars in two musicals in southern Utah = this=20 summer.

"The Secret Garden"=C2=BB in repertory at 2 and 8 = p.m. through=20 Aug. 29 at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, 300 W. = Center St.,=20 Cedar City. Tickets are $23-$66, available at = 800-PLAYTIX.=20 Visit http://www.bard.org/ for more=20 information.

"Annie" =C2=BB in repertory with "Footloose" = through Oct. 17=20 (with the addition of "Aida" Aug. 25-Oct. 17); curtain = at 8:30=20 p.m. through August, 8 p.m. in September and 7:30 p.m. = in=20 October at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre, 1100 Tuacahn = Drive,=20 Ivins. Tickets, $25-$49, at 435-652-3300 or = 800-746-9882.=20 Visit http://www.www.tuacahn.org/ for = more=20 information.

See a video clip =C2=BB The young singer performed = "The=20 Star-Spangled Banner" in January 2009 at a Phoenix=20 Suns-Chicago Bulls basketball game. Search for the = headline=20 "Ellie Smith aka 'The Star Spangled Girl' " at www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DfKhL4Vnzuuc.

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