Gabby Tennor’s face beams when she talks about her recent stint with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Gabby, 10, of Hagerstown, had the opportunity of a lifetime when she was cast to play Jesus in the MET’s production of “El Niño” by American composer John Adams.
Her MET experience showed her “you can do anything, be anything with God’s help, because like a lot of things that people have said to me like, ‘Jesus is not a girl or that Jesus is not Black,’" she said. "I’ve always thought Jesus can be anyone because Jesus is in everyone, can come into anyone.
"So let Jesus take you where he wants you to go and don’t block him off of your life because he put you on the Earth for a reason.”
Gabby will be a fifth-grader at Grace Academy this fall, but she's already steeped in performance culture: Gabby has vocal and acting coaches, and a manager and agent for modeling, voiceover and commercials, TV and film.
And that's how she wound up on the MET stage.
Gabby's manager, Jody Prusan, sent a photo of her in response to an audition request in December. Weeks later, Prusan contacted Gabby's mother, Barbara Tennor, to tell her the director of “El Niño” had seen her and wanted her to audition for the production
“El Niño” uses “texts in English, Spanish and Latin, from biblical times to the present day, in an extraordinarily dramatic retelling of the Nativity,” according to the MET's website.
Part of that story includes the killing of Jewish baby boys by Herod the Great, king of Judea when Jesus was born.
Gabby told The Herald-Mail she had no idea what part she was auditioning for; she thought she was going to be playing one of the children who were killed.
But then she was called back and was asked to play Jesus.
A first-time theatrical experience
El Niño ran from April 23 to May 17 at the MET. Gabby’s role included acting out what the soloists were singing about.
The cast included two Jesuses — a boy and a girl — in addition to two Marys. "Mary of the Land’s" Jesus was played by the boy; Gabby portrayed Jesus for "Mary of the Sea." Gabby loved the part, which was her first role in a theatrical production.
Gabby attends Grace Academy but she missed two months of school while she was in New York for rehearsals and performances. Her mom went to New York with her, while her dad, Robert Tennor, and sisters Gia Tennor and Delilah Appiah held down the fort at home.
Grace Academy worked with Gabby, her mother said, so she could homeschool while she her mom were in New York and New Jersey, where the family owns a property. She also received tutoring on the set.
She's a star!
That arrangement seemed to work; at Grace’s awards ceremony, Gabby made the Distinguished Honor Roll.
And the school presented her with another award: Future Movie Star.
"They make their end-of-year awards very unique based on the kids' performance or activity, so they had awards like “fashionista of the year” and other cool awards that make the kids feel special," Tennor said. So they created that one for Gabby.
Tennor said the staff at Grace were invaluable in helping Gabby keep up with school work and take part in the production. Gabby’s work at Grace included opportunities to memorize poems and Scripture and to act out the stories, Tennor said. Those skills came in handy when Gabby played Jesus.
Her classmates were a little jealous because she got to miss two months of school, Gabby said. But when they saw some of her other projects, they thought they were cool.
Gabby wants to do more projects like this; but her mom says she also wants Gabby to “have time as a kid.”
"I hope that I get to do another performance again," Gabby said. "But I don't think my mom would let me do it until I'm a lot older because of school, and my mom always says that school has to come first; both my parents do actually."
Comments / 0