BWW Interviews: Meet Evatt Salinger and Emma Buchanan, Bobby G Award Winners

The winners of the Bobby G Awards, Evatt Salinger and Emma Buchanan, sat down with BroadwayWorld to discuss their lives up to the ceremony, what they've been up to since and what they're stoked for at The Jimmy Awards. The students are both from Durango High School's production of Les Miserables, which also won best overall production at the Bobby G Awards.

---

Is Les Mis something that's always been on your radar?

Ev: Yep...yep.

Em: It's like one of the most iconic shows. [Our teacher] made jokes about how we would do it senior year, when we were freshman, so when it became it real thing, it was crazy.

Val Jean and Eponine...were these the roles you guys wanted in the show?

Ev: Nope.

Em: Yeah!

Ev: I wanted Marius badly. I love Val Jean, and I love him even more that I've done him. I probably wouldn't change the experience, but Marius is great. But my brother played Marius.

Did you have to prep a lot for this show, or did you know it already?

Em: I think you always have to do at least a certain amount of prep. I knew the show pretty well going into it...I didn't have a lot of time on stage. The character work, I had to put a lot of time into that because I usually play the ingénue.

Ev: In contrast, I didn't know the show very well, and I spent most of the summer taking voice lessons (my first time ever) to get my voice ready to possibly play Val Jean. So I had a lot of prep. I've basically been singing Les Mis for over a year. But that prep I did for this show is probably one of the most transformative parts of my career.

Is this caliber of show similar to what your school has tackled in the past?

Em: Freshman year, we had new directors come in, so we did Cinderella. We did Sweeney Todd.

Ev: Then we did Sound of Music. But we always strived for a certain level of excellence and to do even the classics differently.

Em: Our directors really strive to go all out.

Ev: This has been the biggest project we've ever taken.

Tell me about your journey to the awards.

Em: We found out we were nominees May 4 (I remember the day because "may the fourth be with you") and it came up, and we realized we'd have to go the next weekend for medley rehearsal. But because it's such a long drive, we took a few days of school off.

Ev: We came up on a Thursday and went back Sunday for the medley and for the final audition for lead actor and actress. A week later, we drove back up to Denver with our entire crew, the day before the ceremony. We had a dress rehearsal, we performed with our school, we performed the medley on the Buell stage.

The next day we went to Fox News and sat in there, then we went to the ceremony. We had 10 nominations. We were the second highest after 12. And we didn't get a single award until the last three. We watched a lot of tech ones go by, and we were kinda sad we didn't get any.

Em: It was almost a very sad night for Durango High School.

Ev: It would have been a long drive home.

Em: So yeah, we were watching the troupe kinda slump a little bit, getting sad about not winning anything. Then it got to the final three. He called my name and it sounded like a foreign language. I was like "Wait, who?" Then I saw my picture and realized it was me. It was a total shock to me because I thought [Evatt] was a shoe-in, and there's no way they're gonna pick two kids from the same school. I was so surprised by the win...then Evatt got called.

Ev: After she got called, I thought the same thing. There's no way they're gonna pick two kids from the same school. And then they called my name, and I put my head down, and then there were people on their feet cheering and lifting me up. So I ran up, past Durango High School, and we'd just gotten two, so everyone was cheering. Everyone was on their feet, which I hadn't expected.

So I got onstage and did my speech, go offstage, and [Bobby G publicist] Heidi tells us we need to back to our group.

Em: No matter what, you've gotta support the other kids.

Ev: For this last nomination, which was overall production. So we got out there, I hug my brother. They announce the award...and Les Mis won. So we swept the last three. We hit a home run at the very end. As late as we could do it. And everyone was screaming, jumping up and down, crying. Then we went back stage and watched the director give her speech. And then we drove home.

Em: Actually we stayed at the Buell a lot longer than we should have.

Ev: And our bus got a flat tire.

Em: I don't remember that...

So have you guys been to the Buell before?

Em: I'd been there once to see Wicked when it came through five years ago.

Ev: I'd never been.

Do you come to Denver often?

Em: Not until very recently. I feel like I've been up here a lot in the past few months, but before that, not.

Ev: I've been up here twice. Once when I was little, and we came up last year for thespian conference. We took Les Mis there. We've done two trip for the Bobby G's, we flew up and back over the course of 24 hours to sing the anthem at Coors Field during a Rockies game...and now we're back again. So a lot recently.

Your roles are basically dream roles for a lot of people. Are there other dream roles you're looking at?

Ev: Sure! Marius.

Em: I couldn't play her now, but Diana in Next to Normal has been a dream role in my mind. I also love Natalie, too. But also, more traditional, since I'm not usually into tradition, I love Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes.

Ev: We've got this question a couple times, but I finally have the right answers. I really want to be, even though I'm not Jewish-looking, I want to be Jamie in Last Five Years. I also, until recently, had never gotten to sing "Agony" from Into the Woods. And anything Aaron Tveit has been in. I'd love to play those characters.

You mentioned you're more non-traditional when it comes to musicals?

Em: Yeah, I'm usually more into contemporary musicals.

Ev: I don't know, I think I've actually done more classical musicals. I really love all types of musicals, though. I guess I found my voice with [Val Jean], so recently I've developed more of a classical voice.

Em: Les Mis, at least for Eponine, is a little more pop-rock...she's grungy, so there's a little more of an edge to her, as opposed to Val Jean, who's a little more classical.

Ev: I've done Rodgers and Hammerstein. I did Sweeney Todd, which is a little more...but then I didn Von Trapp.

Do you know which roles you'd want to be if you were the opposite gender?

Em: That's such a good question.

Ev: You'll have to give me a second.

Em: There are so many options.

Ev: Well! We just saw Wicked. And that made me want to be a girl, who could belt. So Elphaba I guess. Actually! I'd like to be Sierra Boggess as Christine in Phantom of the Opera.

Em: I love Donkey in Shrek. I love his songs. I love the character. I mean, obviously, even if I was a boy, I probably still couldn't play Donkey. That'd be fun.

I'm always so jealous, I always want to play the guy character.

Ev: Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream. Because [Emma] played in, and she was awesome.

Have you been working together a while?

Em: We went to preschool together, then we connected in theatre in middle school. In fifth grade, we were part of Willy Wonka. We were part of a singing/dancing '50s group...

Ev: We were Joanie and Chachi in Happy Days, Bottom and Titania, Captain Von Trapp and Maria, Johanna and Antony...yeah. We were in a gala show together. It's been a lot.

Did you branch out into Durango's community theatre?

Em: As you get a little older into high school theatre, it's a bit more difficult, but my sophomore year I was a part of The Little Mermaid in the community, which was a lot of fun. But the youth theatre program in Durango is really strong. There's a lot of wonderful people who have really built up that program. Especially when we were in the youth program, it was incredibly strong. That's where a lot of my confidence and performance ability came from because I got really comfortable with those people, and they were so fun-loving and joyful and really lifted you up. I think more of the technique came in high school.

Ev: I fell in love with theatre with the youth community programs, and how to be onstage and perform. I really learned to act and sing in high school. Honestly, the strongest community theatre program, at least when we were there, was the youth program. The adult program, usually the good ones are the ones who were in the youth program

Do you know your agenda for New York yet?

Em: So we have rehearsal tomorrow night, then we're basically in rehearsals from eight in the morning until 10:30 at night every day.

Ev: Some of that's rehearsing for medleys, some of that's the opening and closing numbers, and some of that's coaching our audition songs.

Em: Thursday night we get to see An American In Paris and eat at Sardi's beforehand. Pretty excited about that.

Ev: Sunday is the judges audition. Monday is the Broadway debut....final showcase of everything we've been working on.

Em: Which is going to be hosted by Sutton Foster, which is very exciting.

Do you know who you're working with on your songs?

Em: They don't tell you until you get there. And sometimes they have guest artists appear. Last year they had Stephen Schwartz.

Ev: Andy Karl was in the finale.

Em: They have surprise artists you'll be working with. Sutton Foster is the only name I've heard.

Have you seen the documentary about the Jimmy Awards from a few years ago?

Ev: Yes.

Em: I did! And I actually saw it the year it came out, not knowing that I would end up doing the same thing, which is kind of crazy.

Ev: I watched it a couple days ago. It's really intense. Just talking with the other nominees, it doesn't sound quite so insanely dramatic, but it is a lot of work.

Have the former nominees given you any tips?

Ev: We had dinner with them last night. They gave us a lot of good tips. Definitely about saving yourself and your health as well as...it's really about the acting. There's a lot of great singers, but the ones who can sing and act are the ones who won.

Em: The other thing they were really stressing is everyone at that point is really good, so there's not a level of having to prove yourself, to give too much in a way. And to just have fun. Soak up the experience and love what you're doing at all moments.

Ev: The other things is, this competition, this is the first year we've had the opportunity. For some kids, The Jimmys has been a be-all, end-all for years. And it's a super competitive environment. So their tip was to surround yourself with the people who are they to have fun, make friendships and learn, versus the people who are going to try to break your foot.

Em: I hope there aren't any of those...

Ev: The people who look at you as competition.

What are your plans for after the trip?

Em: I'm going to Wright University to get a BFA in musical theatre.

Ev: In the fall, I'm going to Pepperdine University for a BA in music and a minor in applied mathematics.

What's been your favorite part of the journey so far?

Ev: I say when we came to the first medley rehearsals, and we met the nominees for the first time. The nominees, at least for the Bobby Gs, were super nice, awesome people who were really talented but also really fun people to hang out with and bond over theatre with. And that was really cool.

Em: We tried to spend as much time as we could with them.

Ev: They've sent us some messages, and people we've met across the state have said congratulations.

Em: I think my favorite part has been hanging out with the Bobby G staff because they've done so much for us and provided these wonderful opportunities.

Ev: True.

Em: This wasn't something I ever thought was a possibility, especially because we didn't even know about the Bobby Gs until this year. So it's crazy that all of a sudden we're doing all these crazy things, and it's all-expenses paid, and they've taken such good care of us. They've really become a family. It seems like a lot of the other kids don't get opportunities like doing interviews or have their own blogs on BroadwayWorld, or doing these incredible things that these guys specifically do for the Bobby G kids.

Em: And they could spin it and make it publicity for them, but they've been really aware of setting us up. For this to help our careers going forward and teaching us a lot about that art.

Photos by John Moore and Emily Lozow

To post a comment, you must register and login.