Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical
is spending its first holiday season in New York, but some of its
youngest cast members are already veterans of yule-themed
entertainments. Sky Jarrett, 13, played Tiny Tim
to F. Murray Abraham's Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden in 2002. Jahaan Amin, 11, has danced in The Nutcracker
with the Washington Ballet and the Moscow Ballet. Molly J. Ryan, 11,
has on three different occasions played Tootie—to whom older sister
Esther sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"—in Meet Me in St. Louis.
All three are making their Broadway debuts in The Grinch. Along with castmate Daniel Manche, who's appearing in his third Broadway show, they sat down with BWW for a group interview between performances one day earlier this month. Daniel, Molly, Jahaan and Sky are Little Whos in the "white cast" of The Grinch, which has as many as 12 performances a week. On days with four shows, the white and red casts each perform twice. Every other Sunday, one cast does all three shows. No wonder the kids say keeping up their energy on stage can be the hardest part of the job.
"We
put so much energy into every number and we have to bounce back and do
it again," says Sky. "The first show [of the day] is really exciting,
and then the next show, the next show, it's not as exciting. But you
can't show that. You want to make it like it's the first time doing it,
because the audience has probably never seen the show before."
"Every
performance you have to keep on pouring out that energy," adds Daniel,
noting that their second number, "Whatchama Who," takes a lot out of
them. "We have to basically use all of our energy on that…," he starts
to explain, as Jahaan jumps in to agree: "Yeah, we do! For like 30
seconds, I'm like [panting]."
For Jahaan, though, the most difficult thing about her current work is being away from her family in Baltimore—"my dog and my dad and my grandparents" and most of all, her 14-year-old brother. "My brother and I are like best friends," she says. Jahaan and her mother are renting an apartment near the theater district during The Grinch's run. Molly is also from out-of-town, but her whole family has moved from St. Louis to New Jersey while she's in the show. 
Sky
(right) has always lived in the New York area, in Westchester County,
while Daniel moved here from Alabama a few years ago when he was cast
as a replacement for young Guido in the Broadway revival of Nine.
Both he and Sky are able to go to their schools at least three days a
week and in the morning when their first show of the day is in the
afternoon. Molly is homeschooled on days when there are no shows, but
she and all the children receive tutoring at the theater on performance
days. Jahaan goes to the theater for tutoring every day, since she's
away from her regular school in Baltimore.
Each
child traveled a different route to Who-ville. Jahaan's background is
mostly in dance. Other than one school production last year, she hadn't
done any theater before The Grinch, but has danced
in recitals and competitions. She's performed at three Baltimore
venues—Lyric Opera House, Hippodrome and Mechanic Theater—with the
Washington Ballet and the Moscow Ballet, which employs local talent for
the children's roles in each U.S. city on its Great Russian Nutcracker
tour. But Jahaan actually considers herself more of a hip-hop dancer
and says working with the B. Funk Dance Company (in the Baltimore area)
has shaped her a lot as a dancer. And while the other children didn't
have a definitive response when asked which famous performer inspires
them, Jahaan immediately replied: "Michael Jackson all the way! And Janet Jackson."
