With catchy songs, fun dances and actors playing multiple parts, the beloved animated movie “Finding Nemo” will be performed as a musical stage production in March in Point Loma.
But what makes this version unique is not only that it’s a musical but that the entire cast is made up of local youngsters. Plus, the songs haven’t yet been played for the public.
The costumes are custom-made for this production, and most of the cast members have multiple roles, according to director Laura Bueno.
The original 2003 Pixar movie, produced for Walt Disney Pictures, tells the story of an overprotective clownfish, Marlin, searching for his missing son, Nemo.
“The story is timeless. It’s a beautiful story of family and friendship, of growth and letting go of the reins,” Bueno said.
Though the songs — written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez — will be making their public debut, Bueno believes the audience will enjoy them. After all, the young actors do.
“The music in the show is so, so cute,” Bueno said. “And the songs are super catchy and the kids are super into it.”
Cast members of “Finding Nemo Kids” find plenty to talk about in weekly rehearsals, with most of them learning multiple parts. (Coco Sein)
This is Bueno’s first show with ActLiveNow, the production company behind the musical, but she taught a week-long children’s summer camp for the company’s Junior Theater Program, culminating in a 30-minute revue of “Peter Pan.”
Bueno has long been active in music and performance and teaches more than 50 classes across four different campuses. She relies on several instructors and assistants to help with her busy schedule.
She also has been singing with the San Diego Opera for the past 22 years, as well as performing with San Diego Musical Theatre, Moonlight Stage Productions and several other area companies.
Bueno started her performing arts company, Playground Players Productions, in 2016 and took over Edudance Classrooms in Motion, a children’s ballroom dance company, in 2018.
On top all of that, she’s a professional baker.
Bueno met the young performers she later chose as cast members for “Finding Nemo Kids” during Jan. 15 auditions, for which the second- through eighth-graders signed up via their parents. The session was spent going through the play’s script.
“They got to sing and dance and know the music. I then gave everyone a snippet of a song they had to sing for the next time,” she said.
At the next meeting, Bueno and her team determined the casting.
The leads for “Finding Nemo Kids” are Pablo Ornelas as Nemo, Zevin Einhorn as Marlin and Poppy Card as Dory, a forgetful blue tang fish who befriends the pair.
The lead actors for “Finding Nemo Kids” are (from left) Pablo Ornelas as Nemo, Poppy Card as Dory and Zevin Einhorn as Marlin. (ActLiveNow, Coco Sein)
The leads and most of the other cast members know one another, since they attend Warren-Walker School at the Point Loma-Ocean Beach boundary.
The cast is meeting once a week for two hours during eight rehearsal sessions ending March 5. Then the troupe will have two public performances March 6 and 8.
Bueno said she “tends to stage things very quickly” and expects the youngsters to practice at home on their own.
It’s a schedule that suits 12-year-old Zevin. “I don’t really like sitting at home and not being busy,” she said.
The sixth-grader already has been cast in five plays at her school and portrayed Peter Pan in ActLiveNow’s summer camp production.
Last year she appeared in a production of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”
“I kind of like playing being worried, and my [‘Finding Nemo’] character is always worried,” Zevin said of Marlin. “My character has a decent amount of lines and scenes, lots of being on the stage, and I’m pretty good at memorizing.”
With a dozen kids in the cast, each one — other than the three leading actors — plays multiple roles.
“Since the kids want to be here, they will memorize and learn their stuff very quickly,” Bueno said. “And they will be super busy doing lots of stuff since so many kids have multiple roles. They might be a fish, a shark and a seagull.”
Cast and crew members of “Finding Nemo Kids,” a musical version of the 2003 animated movie, gather for a rehearsal as they prepare for two public performances in March in Point Loma. (Coco Sein)
Bueno, who is married with a 12-year-old son, a 14-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old daughter, said each of her kids has been involved in many of her productions, including a world-premiere opera she performed recently with her eldest daughter.
Bueno said she usually forms strong bonds with the kids she teaches.
“I am looked on like their teacher but they also confide in me,” she said. “I’m the parental figure when the parents aren’t there.”
Her production team includes stage manager Sara Dailey, production manager Coco Sein and assistant director Adelina Rocha.
Rocha attests to Bueno’s ability to work with the younger set, especially since Bueno began mentoring her years ago.
“When I was about 8 years old, I became really interested in musical theater,” Rocha said. Her mother ran into Bueno, and beginning in 2011, Rocha began taking voice lessons.
“I took voice lessons from Laura for about seven years, and she taught me everything about singing and performing and even helped me get my first professional theater job,” Rocha said.
Later, Rocha attended UC Santa Cruz and then moved back to San Diego last year. She learned Bueno was hiring and quickly began working for her.
“It’s very fun, especially since so much of my training has come from her,” Rocha said. “All the things she has taught me, I have taught the next generation.”
Poppy, 11, hopes to continue performing after her stint as Dory in “Finding Nemo Kids.”
If the play “goes really good — if I don’t forget any lines and it all goes like it’s supposed to — I will do more,” she said.
Having performed in three previous plays — but none in a big role — “this time I was going to do good in my audition,” she said.
She describes Dory as “my favorite because she’s so funny and is one of the main characters.”
Poppy said her favorite parts of performing are “having a lot of friends doing the same show” and “knowing there is a whole audience watching you.”
Zevin said she’s “most looking forward to doing the play live and seeing everyone perform at their best.”
“It’s a small theater and really intimate, so kids will be able to get lost in the action,” she said. “And it’s short, so younger kids won’t have to sit for a long time.”
Bueno said she believes “Finding Nemo Kids” will resonate with local residents.
“It’s the perfect show to do by the ocean and for the local community,” she said. “And seeing these very talented kids singing and dancing in their cute costumes — it will be great.”
‘Finding Nemo Kids’
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 6, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 8
Where: Portuguese Hall, 2818 Avenida de Portugal, Point Loma
Cost: $12 for general admission, $8 for guests 15 and younger
Tickets and information: actlivenow.com