Little Ones Playing a Big-Time Gig : Academy Awards: A dozen members of the Sherman Oaks Children’s Community Choir take it all in stride as they sing an Oscar-nominated title song.

Sandwiched between pop singing idols Madonna and Jon Bon Jovi, a choir of San Fernando school kids did its best to steal the show Monday at the 63rd annual Academy Awards ceremony.

So what if Madonna sells millions of records, the 32-year-old pop star “looked worn out” during rehearsals for the gala event, 8-year-old Thomas Hobson said.

Thomas and 11 of his pals from the San Fernando Valley performed the Oscar-nominated title song from the movie “Home Alone” before a worldwide audience at the Oscar ceremonies, a Cinderella story if ever there was one, except for one thing. These kids are sharks.

“They’re yawning and saying, ‘When’s this gig over?’ ” said Carol Lombard, director of the Sherman Oaks Children’s Community Choir. “It’s just another day at the office for them.”

That might be, but these kids mean business. Ten members of the group got on the Oscar show through audition by beating out the adult choir that recorded the song “Somewhere in My Memory” for “Home Alone,” the hit film about a boy inadvertently left behind when his family goes on vacation.

By landing the slot, the group joined Madonna--who sang “Sooner or Later” from the film “Dick Tracy”--as well as Reba McEntire, Harry Connick Jr. and Bon Jovi, who each sang tunes nominated for Oscars.

The musical lineup did not scare the choir members, especially those ambitious stage kids who have performed on TV commercials and in such films as “Die Hard II.” The children, who range in age from 7 to 13, played with hand-held video games and other toys in their hotel suites shortly before the show at the Shrine Auditorium.

Although none of their past performances have been on the scale of Monday’s Oscar night debut--where choir members emerged from a giant Christmas gift box as dancers dressed as toys came to life around them--most of the kids displayed the steely calm of professional entertainers.

Lombard, who serves on committees of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, has for 11 years been sending members of her choir out on auditions and performances.

Choir member Olia Ougrik, 9, who goes by the stage name Olia Deneuve, is studying ballet, singing, acting, golf, Spanish and Russian, said her mother, Sophie. Olia, of Sherman Oaks, said she picked her stage name in the hope it would lead to exotic acting roles.

“What really turned me on was the professionalism of the group,” said Michael Norquist, 10, a fifth-grader at Sherman Oaks School.

The 30-member choir, which rehearses Wednesday afternoons at the Van Nuys Senior Citizens Center, is a mix of boys and girls ages 7 to 17. Each pays $60 a month to sing in the choir.

While calmly building a spaceship out of Legos, Michael said he wants to be a doctor but added “my career is being pointed in another direction.”

There were one or two children, however, who admitted to feeling nervous about performing in a show before hundreds of celebrities and broadcast to millions of viewers worldwide.

“My stomach starts to hurt and I can’t eat very much before a show,” said Brianne Le Pon, 8, of Sherman Oaks.

After the performance, parents and their children decided to skip a scheduled punch-and-cookies celebration at a nearby hotel so they could beat the traffic and rush home to proud relatives.

“We thought we’d want to stay around and watch the Oscars, but everybody wanted to go home,” Pat Norquist, Michael’s mother, said. “We’ve got a lot of relatives waiting with open arms and so the parties will go on at our separate homes.”

Brianne and others said they were at first excited about seeing some of the stars who performed at Monday’s Oscar show. But after 16 hours of rehearsals, some said they were disappointed seeing their idols close up, letting loose with the sort of comments ambitious newcomers usually make about established stars.

About Madonna during rehearsal, Brianne gave this critique: “She had a pretty outfit but she wasn’t wearing any makeup.”