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She enjoys performing monkey business on stage
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BY: ARLENE FINE Senior Staff Reporter
Seven years ago, when Andrea Kovelman chanted her bat mitzvah haftorah in her Baltimore synagogue, the beauty of her voice prompted suggestions that she become a cantor.
Kovelman chose instead to attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. In March she answered an audition call and got her first professional theatrical job. She is a Bobo Brother (a spider monkey) in “Go, Diego, Go Live! The Great Jaguar Rescue!” The play, which features characters from the kid-favorite “Dora the Explorer” Nickelodeon TV series, will be at Playhouse Square’s Palace Theatre April 25-27.
Because she is replacing an injured cast member, Kovelman had to jump right into the show. Literally. “I only had 24 hours to prepare, so I didn’t have time to be nervous,” she says. “I had to absorb everything thrown at me and be ready when the curtain went up.”
After one month on stage, Kovelman is hooked on the show. “The second the kids hear the words ‘Dora the Explorer,’ they go wild,” she says. “They are so responsive to all the action on the stage that their unreserved enthusiasm, especially when we interact with them, fuels my own.”
Although her run with the show will last only until June when the healed regular cast member returns, Kovelman still pinches herself at her good fortune. “One of our stops is Radio City Music Hall,” she says. “I’m only five feet tall, so I could never be a Rockette. But to be on that famous stage, even as an adorable spider monkey, is pretty amazing.”
When her stint is over, Kovelman plans to return to her New York apartment and begin auditioning for shows again. “After my experience on ‘Go, Diego, Go Live!’ I have fallen in love with live theater all over again,” she says.
afine@cjn.org
Kovelman chose instead to attend The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. In March she answered an audition call and got her first professional theatrical job. She is a Bobo Brother (a spider monkey) in “Go, Diego, Go Live! The Great Jaguar Rescue!” The play, which features characters from the kid-favorite “Dora the Explorer” Nickelodeon TV series, will be at Playhouse Square’s Palace Theatre April 25-27.
Because she is replacing an injured cast member, Kovelman had to jump right into the show. Literally. “I only had 24 hours to prepare, so I didn’t have time to be nervous,” she says. “I had to absorb everything thrown at me and be ready when the curtain went up.”
After one month on stage, Kovelman is hooked on the show. “The second the kids hear the words ‘Dora the Explorer,’ they go wild,” she says. “They are so responsive to all the action on the stage that their unreserved enthusiasm, especially when we interact with them, fuels my own.”
Although her run with the show will last only until June when the healed regular cast member returns, Kovelman still pinches herself at her good fortune. “One of our stops is Radio City Music Hall,” she says. “I’m only five feet tall, so I could never be a Rockette. But to be on that famous stage, even as an adorable spider monkey, is pretty amazing.”
When her stint is over, Kovelman plans to return to her New York apartment and begin auditioning for shows again. “After my experience on ‘Go, Diego, Go Live!’ I have fallen in love with live theater all over again,” she says.
afine@cjn.org
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