Photo by Howard Owens
As she ends her high school career and prepares again for the opportunity every theater student dreams of, Aubrey Puccio is fairly confident with equal parts of modest and sensible rolled in.
The 18-year-old Le Roy senior has been chosen as one of the Top 40 to compete in Stars of Tomorrow NYC Bound next week in Rochester. Her goal is to make the eventual cut to one of two finalists and represent the Rochester area during a trip to the Big Apple and a whirlwind of professional theater experiences as part of the Jimmy Awards.
“I didn’t start great, definitely not Top 40 material,” Puccio said to The Batavian when asked if she was always a singer. “I was more screamy than singy. My sister helped; she had the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. Then, when ‘Frozen’ came out, I sang ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’, I don’t know how many times. Then I took dance, then performance, in middle school and high school.”
And, as they say, a star was born. She has earned the privilege of being named a Top 40 three times so far, making the cut down to 20 last year. Being pragmatic and not overly optimistic, she has given it some thought as to how to proceed no matter what. Her plans seem solid about going to Ithaca College to major in television, photography and digital media, while also mulling the “what-if” she keeps making it onward through eliminations.
“I have been keeping the idea in the back of my mind, ‘if this were to happen, these are the songs I would perform,’” she said. “I’ve been singing bits and pieces over the year, and now I’m cleaning them up.”
First up for her preliminary tune is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” That wouldn’t surprise anyone who saw her in Le Roy’s “Wizard of Oz” musical as Dorothy. Unlike her strong and amusing characters in other shows, such as “Chicago,” Puccio approached this from the get-go as a purposeful mission to be Dorothy in no unmistakable fashion.
“For me, I felt like this was such a big role that people know, we were in a city, and it was not just a lion, it was a washed-up rock star, and the tin man was a construction worker. It was things like that which I was so excited about. But when I was taking on this part, I’m like, I need this part to be different, this is Aubrey Puccio playing Dorothy, and with that, I need to make sure that I am different from every other person that has ever played her,” she said. “I also had the idea in my head as well, this is my senior year, this is the last time I’m going to be on this stage with my musical family, and there is nothing left to do but leave it all out there.
"You have two choices: you can either dwell in that moment of sadness, of this closing chapter of your life, or you can really embrace it," she said. "And I feel like what I did with that is I took that emotion and I put it into the character.”
It was that role and performance that got her chosen for Stars of Tomorrow, hosted by Rochester Broadway Theatre League. Turns out, her earliest critics—a dance teacher and family members—were right when they watched and listened to her. They would say to her mom, “She’s got something.”
“I always wanted to perform as an aspect in my life,” she said. “When I’m on stage, I don’t feel nervous; off stage, I’m shaking. Being on stage, it’s almost like a second home. It’s comforting to be on stage.”
Le Roy’s Musical Director Jackie McLean agrees that this student has got something. She was chosen out of “close to 300 students that were eligible for the Top 40 this year, which is a huge number,” said McLean, who will serve as her vocal coach for this NYC Bound process.
“I think Aubrey brings experience. I mean, honestly, she's been performing since she was very little as a dancer, she then segued to singing and put all of her talents together. She is one of the most dedicated students to art, and she is dedicated to this incredible process. She also grew up watching the older kids here, and I think that inspired her to want to strive to make New York City Bound,” McLean said. “It's really incredible to see her make it again, because she's one of not very many students who get to attend three times. She was very lucky to attend this competition piece as a sophomore, when she was Madame Thenardier in ‘Les Miserables,’ and then again last year, when she was Velma Kelly in ‘Chicago.’
"And then this year, and I think Aubrey would tell you, this role was a challenge for her, because playing Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz' is a very different performance. The other two are very kind of funny characters, and she really had to find the nuances of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. I think she did a phenomenal job," McLean said. "And she's a standout performer, and I think that's why she's in that top 40.”
Puccio has rehearsals on Saturday and her first event will be the closed session premium round on Monday in Rochester, which includes an audience and adjudication by Broadway professional and Le Roy native John Bolton (Anastasia, A Christmas Story: The Musical, Spamalot), and Rochester-based actor, director and private acting coach J. Simmons.
This will be different than the first time Bolton watched Puccio perform: she played a tree with no lines. She has appreciated his input in the past and looks forward to seeing him again, she said. If Puccio goes onto New York City, her vocal coach will attend not in a professional capacity but as a “cheerleader,” McLean said.
“We’re obviously so excited and so honored. Small schools, we work really hard to put on the caliber shows that we are able to put on. We are very lucky in Le Roy to have enormous community support, and that allows us to put on the shows that we put on. And it's just really nice to see students from our schools be recognized. I mean, the reality is, it doesn't matter how small the school is. It just matters the dedication of the students and their desire to learn and better themselves, and that can happen in a small school or a large school,” she said. “We are very proud of our students and how they push themselves. And Aubrey is; she has been pushing herself since freshman year. We always joke that in seventh grade, she was in ‘Into the Woods,’ and she played the part of a tree, and now she's playing these leads in some very large productions. And it's just inspiring to watch.”
On Thursday, the performers moving on will be announced, and a panel of judges will adjudicate the final two rounds of the competition, ultimately choosing two performers to send to the 2025 Jimmy Awards.
This year’s judges will be SUNY Geneseo Coordinator of Musical Theatre, Don Kot, Broadway professional and Dance Captain/Background Vocalist for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Kamilah Marshall (The Lion King, Rent, Hairspray) and Broadway professional and former Jimmy Awards Vocal Coach, Eden Espinosa (Wicked, Rent, Lempicka).
Beginning Monday, you may go to rochesterfirst.com to vote for your favorite local performer.
At the National High School Musical Theater Awards competition, students will undergo 10 days of musical theater rehearsals, master classes, private coaching and interviews with theater professionals. Based on their skill level and professional goals, students are eligible for college scholarships, professional internships, career coaching and audition opportunities.
At the end of these 10 days, the students will perform a talent showcase at the Jimmy Awards, held at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City on June 23. Judges will then select two grand prize winners for the Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress awards.
