CFVA’s Teaching Artist and Performer, Michaela Wright, sat down to chat with Axel Rimmele who recently played Colin Craven in Central Florida Vocal Arts’ “The Secret Garden” and is currently touring with the “Mrs. Doubtfire” Broadway National Tour!
Michaela had the chance to ask Axel all your burning questions regarding life on tour, performing professionally, and school as a working student.
Broadway Q and A:
Michaela: What’s your favorite role you’ve played and your go to audition song?
Axel: Well, that’s an impossible question to answer. I mean, obviously, Colin Craven in The Secret Garden, Artful Dodger in Oliver, but originating the role of Ben Patterson in True North is something I’ll always remember and I’m absolutely having a blast playing Christopher Hillard on tour.
Axel: My go-to audition song would have to be…that’s a pretty hard question to answer. There are a few good ones that I like. There’s “Where’s Love?” And “Round Shouldered Man,” stuff like that.
Michaela: So, Axel, we hear you’ve been busy. Tell us a little bit about your life as a child touring artist.
Axel: We’ve been on tour with Mrs. Doubtfire since the end of September, and that followed 6 weeks of rehearsal in New York, which I mean, that was, it was amazing. The city’s really, it’s breathtaking. It’s been a lot of flying, driving, hotels and stuff like that, but I’m having so much fun with my cast members, and it’s really cool to see this country and the awesome theaters we play in.
Michaela: So you loved New York?
Axel: I really did. Yeah.
Michaela: What cities have you been to on tour? And which has been your favorite?
Axel: So in order, Buffalo, Hartford, Providence, Columbus, Nashville, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and now Cleveland. It’s pretty hard to pick a favorite, but there’s been some really cool memories made in all of them. Some highlights were Thanksgiving in Detroit, New Year’s in St. Louis, and Buffalo, of course, was an awesome start in the Fall, and Nashville was also awesome.
Michaela: I think a lot of people are dying to know, how does school work when you’re on tour?
Axel: I go to school at the theater for about 3 to 4 hours a day. Typically, school will go from lunchtime until 5, and then we’ll have dinner break before the show. The show usually starts around 7 or 8.
Michaela: Does everybody do the same thing as you or do you have an individualized school plan?
Axel: All of us have an awesome tutor and backstage guardian, Miss Kristin and she helps us basically, as we complete work for the school we’re enrolled in. For example, I’m currently in sixth grade at Orange County Virtual School.
Michaela: I think I remember there being multiple children in Mrs. Doubtfire, the movie. Are there also multiple children in the show?
Axel: So in the show, we actually have 2 groups of children. There’s me and Kennedy Pitney and then there’s Cody Braverman, and Emerson Mae Chan. All of them are really nice and like it’s really fun getting to do the show with them.
Axel: And another thing on the school topic is that we get to go on field trips in most cities. For example, later today we’re going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we went to Niagara Falls in Buffalo.
Michaela: That is so fun. That’s a dream come true.
Axel: And in Washington, DC. We also went to the Library of Congress and the White House.
Michaela: Did you have fun at the library?
Axel: Yeah, one of my favorite parts was the original lyrics of The Sound of Music and the original “Candy Man” script was also there.
Michaela: You recently played Colin in Central Florida Vocal Arts’ The Secret Garden at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Tell us some of your favorite parts about working with CFVA on that show.
Axel: Obviously, I loved working with our director, Eric Pinder, and the other kids on the show, Abby, Lilly Belle, and Camden. Performing at Dr. Phillips Center was also really cool. It’s a magnificent theater.
Michaela: What about working on The Secret Garden helped specifically prepare you for a life in professional theater?
Axel: With The Secret Garden, I worked with phenomenal vocalists like Alexis, Justine, Edwin, and Sahid. I saw how they prepared and took care of their instruments and it was really cool to see them in action. Also, on the final show of Secret Garden, the wheel on the wheelchair I was riding in fell off, and Edwin and Abby and I kind of just had to roll with the situation, and that experience has prepared me for situations like that. It was a fun experience, because I got to like roll with the punches.
Michaela: No pun intended. Right?
Axel: Yeah. And something that’s happened with this show as well. So there’s been occasions where my shoe fell off, my shoe has fallen off twice on tour, and one time I was entering for a scene, and my shoe fell off and I put it like, basically on my hand, and I had to act with it on my hand. And the second time I lost it backstage so I just went on stage with one shoe.
Michaela: I think you need to request some smaller shoes. Do you have a lot of costume changes in the show?
Axel: So in the show we really don’t have that many costume changes. But there’s definitely a few. I do wear the same costume a few times during the show, but it’s always with a different jacket, or like different shoes or something.
Michaela: So how is it backstage with the touring production? I know that you’re in a different theater many times, and there are adjustments to be made. How much preparation and backstage touring do you have to do before the show?
Axel: On Tuesday we have mic check, and then, after mic check, basically, we’ll go backstage, and we’ll take a little view of where the quick change booth is, and like how small the pass through is and stuff like that.
Michaela: So typically, how many days do you stay in a city before you move on?
Axel: So at the most. It has been 3 weeks, which is where we are right now in Cleveland, but usually it’ll go from maybe 1 to 2 weeks.
Michaela: And do you travel on a bus? or do you fly?
Axel: For shorter distances, it makes it a lot easier to travel on a bus. Like from Detroit to Pittsburgh we took a bus, but basically everything else is flying and driving, and somehow getting to the next city.
Michaela: Where can people see you performing in the coming year?
Axel: We will be in 6 cities over the next 2 months, including Philadelphia and Chicago, and then the tour has a five-week swing in Florida, including a week at the Dr. Phillips Center in late April. It’s gonna be pretty fun to revisit that theater in the bigger section.
Michaela: Everyone at Central Florida Vocal Arts and all the people that have worked with you here in Central Florida can come see you! Do you have specific dates?
Axel: It’s from the 23rd to 28th.
Michaela: Okay! So mark your calendars! April 23rd through the 28th, Axel’s in town.
Michaela: Are you going to be backstage to give autographs at the stage door?
Axel: Yeah, we always sign autographs.
Michaela: So this is your chance to get Axel’s autographs!
Michaela: What is your best advice for a young performer who would love to follow in your footsteps, or an older performer, like me, who would love to follow in your footsteps?
Axel: My best advice is to get on stage whenever possible, and give it all you’ve got. You want to make every role that you play your own. So, you want to put your own special pizzazz on the role and explore the community and get familiar with the city, and have a nice time there.
Michaela: Amazing! Life’s an adventure, huh?
Axel: Yeah, and also exploring the community theater offerings in your area. Orlando was an awesome place to start my theater career.
Michaela: Besides CFVA, what other Central Florida organizations and theaters have you worked with?
Axel: I’ve worked with St. Luke’s Methodist Church theater where I did Oliver and I also worked with CFC Arts and River players as well, and all those have been wonderful opportunities. And at the time it was called the Orlando Rep, but now it’s called the Orlando Family Stage, and I worked there as well.
Michaela: We’re so proud of you! We can’t wait to just share with everyone how proud of you we are! And I hope that you have a really good time on your field trips and a really good rest of run for your show!
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Axel is proof that the artistic life cycle we have created at Central Florida Vocal Arts is successful in so many ways. We have the opportunity to work with skilled students who are looking to further their onstage experience, we share our opportunities to be onstage, and we get the opportunity to hear them share their achievements with us.
Join us for our Summer training program designed to train the entire artist and give students the confidence they need to be successful artists.
What: Summer Institute I and II
When: June 10th to 15th (ages 7-12) / June 17th to 22nd (ages 13-18)
Where: The Renaissance, 415 E Princeton St, Orlando, FL 32803
Learn More and Enroll Today: https://www.centralfloridavocalarts.org/events