Stars of tomorrow to come out tonight at Kimmel Center

THE KIMMEL Center is where you usually go to watch world-class and world-famous performers. But these days, it's also where potential stars of tomorrow are learning their craft.

Tonight at the Kimmel's Perelman Theater, the latest crop of Show Stoppers will strut their stuff in a program called "Traditions," a musical salute to cultural diversity culled from four Broadway musicals - including "Fiddler on the Roof" and "In the Heights.

But tonight's performance is just the tip of the iceberg for the 55 high-school students from around the region who, since the winter, have convened two afternoons a week to hone their theatrical skills through Show Stoppers, the no-tuition educational program whose classes are conducted by artists and teachers affiliated with the Kimmel Center.

Created two years ago by Carole Frazer, the Kimmel's education manager, Show Stoppers is designed to help talented kids develop their skills as singers, dancers, actors and behind-the-scene artists.

"We know that some kids are extremely gifted in one area, but we want them to be exposed to all of them," offered Frazer. "One of the unique things is that it's really a place for students to grow their skills, so it's not necessary that they come in as a 'triple threat,' " she added, referring to proficiency in singing, dancing and acting.

"It's basically to help them mature their skills. We don't charge any fees for being in the program because we really want to go after the development of talent."

But the nurturing of performing skills isn't the program's sole purpose. "It's meant to be a skills-based approach, but there's a creative element, too," she explained. "The students have participated in the creation of two of the shows that we've done.

"Last semester we did a show on bullying. We like to look at where kids are in their own lives, what they might be facing, the challenges of every day. Every great musical is based on a great story. So, we try to make the kids invest in their own ideas."

There are two Show Stoppers semesters a year, fall and spring. Each is capped with a production, like tonight's "Traditions." Entry into the program is by audition; the next round, for the fall 2015 semester, will take place in August. Exact dates are TBA.

Students (grades 9-12) who are interested in auditioning should check the Kimmel website to get the particulars, which should be posted by July. "We provide them what they need to prepare for the auditions so they come in knowing what to expect, and they have a fair chance to put their best foot forward, so to speak," said Frazer. But applicants should understand that while it's certainly fun, it's not necessarily all fun and games.

"It's a good place for kids to come after school, but it's not just come in and have a good time," she warned. "There are standards and discipline."

This iteration of the second play in Simon's "Jerome Trilogy" (so-called because the narrator of each is Eugene Jerome, the aspiring writer who stands in for Simon in these semi-autobiographical works) has a solid ensemble cast, breezy staging and, of course, plenty of the author's trademark wisecracks and gags.

That said, there is a slight caveat here: "Biloxi Blues," which recalls Simon's time as an Army private going through basic training in 1943 in Biloxi, Miss., is not the wall-to-wall guffaw-fest those who know Simon best from "The Odd Couple" or "Laughter On the 23rd Floor" might expect.

Instead, there are plenty of dramatic interludes touching on such subjects as anti-Semitism, the plight of homosexuals in those less-enlightened times and the mental disintegration as a sergeant descends into madness.

Nonetheless, this is still a comedy, and the laughs come regularly from start to finish.

The eight-person cast is led by Pete Pryor, as Sgt. Toomey, and Jordan Geiger, as Pvt. Epstein, the two characters at the heart of the dramatics. Pryor is wonderful as the blustering, hard-as-nails martinet whose idea of punishing a soldier for a rules infraction is to force one of his platoon-mates to do 100 pushups in order to create enmity between the two GIs so as to prepare them for battle.

Geiger goes toe-to-toe with Pryor as Epstein, the intellectual Jewish malcontent from Queens for whom the Army, with its endless discipline and illogical rules, represents the antithesis of everything in which he believes. He brings to the role just the right amounts of vulnerability and off-putting condescension.

As Eugene, whose goals are to survive the war, lose his virginity, fall in love and become a writer (not necessarily in that order), James Michael Lambert plays it with just the right notes of detachment and understated comedy. He has most of the punchlines, and he rightly uses a scalpel, not a chain saw, when delivering them.

The two female roles - the hooker Rowena and Daisy, the Catholic girl with whom Eugene finds love (at least temporarily) - are likewise surveyed with aplomb by, respectively, Julianna Zinkel and Clare Mahoney.

Special kudos go to Geiger, Lambert and the four other actors portraying soldiers for being able to act convincingly despite the numerous pushups they are all required to do.

Samantha Bellomo's direction is crisp, and James F. Pyne Jr.'s set, while static, and by necessity visually bland (it is after all, the interior of a WWII Army barracks), definitely works.

Bottom line: If substance counts as much as nonstop jokes, the trip to Malvern is definitely worth it.