You might think that, with two performing arts studios and an annual enrollment of 1,000 kids in musical theater and dance workshops, that actress/teacher Janet Adderley would have become a CEO caught up in the mechanics of running the business than imparting her energy and techniques to up-and-coming talent. Not so. Adderley, who is celebrating her 13th year in Pacific Palisades and is completing an addition to her studio on State Street in Santa Barbara, has honed a masterful faculty and administrative support team, which allows her to do what she always has done: teach. A true Broadway baby, Adderley enjoyed a feast of theatrical parts, including roles in ‘Starlight Express’ and ‘Cats,’ before moving to Los Angeles in 1990 to work in film and television. With her luck not as stunning, and with two young daughters, she elected to set her stage career aside to teach kids and adults the magic of the musical, using Broadway as her text. She opened her 28,000-sq.-ft. studio in the Highlands in 1997 and launched the Santa Barbara school in 2005. ’On the East Coast, theater is king,’ Adderley says while taking a ‘hot second’ to reflect on her mission. ‘All kids go into the city to see shows. Whole families go to New York for a week just to see Broadway musicals.’ It’s not so easy in Los Angeles and that’s why Adderley’s repertory is strictly Broadway, which she refers to as ‘the source.’ ‘It’s all about tried-and-true Broadway, where kids have an opportunity to chew on art, on words that have value and worth.’ While Adderley School’s text is Broadway, she doesn’t impose her favorites on her students; favorites that run from ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Westside Story’ to ‘Into the Woods.’ ‘If it takes a ‘High School Musical’ to get kids to sit down to watch ‘Guys and Dolls,’ that’s okay with me,’ she says. Students are between the age of 5 and 14, although several have started as young as 3. Adderley defines her school as striking a balance between those structured for the complete novice and the ‘I-can-get-your-kid-into-show-business’ model. Adderley’s mantra: As long as the student walks out that door loving the process, she feels as if she is doing her job’building a future audience and/or future craftsmen. The three-week summer camp, which met five days a week, mirrors the regular 14-week, once-a-week workshops. In the first week, children get to know one another, and the director, choreographer and musical director get to know each child. In the second week, the teachers tailor the productions to the kids, making sure that each child will be able to perform a solo and duet. They learn production numbers and dance steps, and work on blocking and scenes. The last week is dedicated to a ‘stumble-through, when we just throw it up there to see how it’s looking,’ Adderley says. Her students presented their culminating show, ‘Wicked,’ last Thursday in Santa Monica. Their ‘home’ theater, the Pierson Playhouse, was unavailable. While most of the older students, once in high school, become involved in their school drama programs, Adderley works with a group of ‘top drawer’ actors in the Adderley Repertory Company. These kids meet for four hours on Saturdays mastering their craft and preparing a show. Over the years, several of her students have gone all the way to Broadway and, on many occasions, the children have collaborated as backup choruses for musical productions and CDs. An upcoming video, produced by David Foster and featuring Andrea Bocelli, will include an Adderley chorus. Adderley is equally proud of her staff, some of whom have made the Broadway cut. Former teacher Jeff McLean, who got his break in the ‘Spamalot’ national tour in Las Vegas, recently offered a master class to about 30 summer camp students in the Palisades studio. Currently starring as Warner in ‘Legally Blonde’ at the Pantages, he was joined by cast members including Becky Gulsvig, who stars as lead character Elle Woods. Looking over the last dozen years, Adderley, who divides her time between the two studios, has made some self-discoveries. ‘As much as I want to feel that I can train people and walk away, I can’t,’ she says. ‘The secret sauce is me. I have learned that it’s way easier to be proficient and to teach the craft than to be loving, nurturing and mentoring. These are God-given gifts.’ Adderley says that she will continue to find young, energetic men and women who genuinely love children. ‘It fills us up when our progeny shines.’
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