Young Troupers of ‘Tosca’ Ready for a Night to Remember

For the 16 youngsters who will appear in “Tosca,” opening tonight at the Music Center, it will be just another night at the opera. The 8-to-12-year-olds will be dressed up and wearing makeup, but for a different reason: as seasoned performers trained by the Los Angeles Children’s Choir and Polytechnic School in Pasadena. They’ve appeared in past Music Center Opera productions such as “Otello” and “Wozzeck.”

“Tosca,” written by Puccini 90 years ago, is tragic opera with all the R-rated ingredients of love, betrayal, murder and suicide. But these kids will be home and safe in bed by the time the action in Act III begins. The children’s choir appears early in the first act, and they are sent home 30 minutes after the curtain rises.

They know the full story line of intrigue and violence, but they say they are unaffected because they know the opera is all an act. “It doesn’t bother me because it’s fake and I know it isn’t real,” explained 11-year-old Daniel Mauer, who attends Polytechnic.

“And with the killing and stuff, we are never in any part when something bad is happening. We are in the happy part,” Daniel said. When asked if he would rather be in the “bad part,” he said, “I kind of like it the way it is.”

The young performers--either members of the Los Angeles Children’s Choir, based in Pasadena, or students at Polytechnic--are being paid $4.25 an hour for rehearsals and $15 per show. “They are chosen because they have experience,” said Rebecca Thompson, who is director of the four-year-old LACC and a music teacher at Polytechnic. The youngsters, who will sing in Italian, have been working with Placido Domingo, who conducts the new production, and director Ian Judge.

“This is my first opera, and I like it because we are not in straight lines. We get to act like kids, run around and get on people’s shoulders and have pillow fights,” said 10-year-old Nathan Nouskajian, who also attends Polytechnic.

Despite having performed on stage numerous times, they still suffer from some nervousness. “Sometimes I just try to believe that the audience is not there and go on with my act as if it was a rehearsal,” said Allegra Echeverria, 8. But for Sarah Harkins, 11, there is no time to be nervous: “Usually you are too busy thinking about the pitch. . . .”

Eleven-year-old Patrick Dougall said: “I get more nervous doing things in front of kids than adults because usually kids talk more openly about it than adults will.”

“Usually there’s this one part that you are always scared of messing up,” said 10-year-old Clayton Woodhall. “For me it is getting Nathan up on my shoulders and I am scared of us falling, but it has not happened yet.”

Falling flat in showbiz is something they’ve already learned to think about, but they still retain aspirations to become performers or actors when they get older. “As for growing up and being an actor, I would like to be in shows but would not want to make a career out of it because it’s too risky,” Daniel said. “You may not always be in a show, and you won’t survive very well without any money.”

“I would like to be in a couple of shows, but I don’t think I would make a career out of it,” said Nathan. “Some people are really rich from it but some just don’t make it.” RELATED STORY: New TV series exposes children to classical music. Page 8.