Knoch teens await results of auditions
Two Knoch High School students — Brecken Ferrell and Torrance Bajuszik — are sharing the stage as they rehearse for the upcoming musical “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”
But the two took the stage earlier this year in Chicago to audition for the Unifieds, and now they are awaiting the results.
Officially known as the National Unified Auditions — the Unifieds are musical theatre tryouts put on every year in several cities around the country where multiple colleges, universities, theatre programs and conservatories hold auditions for their incoming classes.
Brecken spent a week at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago being put through his paces by a battery of schools.
“Each school has different requirements,” said Brecken. “You had to prepare to sing cuts of two contrasting songs, do a monologue and dance with audition members.”
Brecken, the son of Glenn and Michelle Ferrell of Saxonburg, sang “Lost in the Wilderness” from “Children of Eden” and “Heaven's Light” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
Torrance also performed at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago singing “I Can Cook Too” from “On the Town,” and “I Will Be Here” from “Ordinary Days.”
“I knew the material so well,” said Torrance, who has also performed with the Pittsburgh Musical Theater and the CLO Conservatory.
“I just let it happen and didn't overthink,” she said of her auditions for 15 schools.
Now comes the hard part, waiting to hear which school will allow her to pursue a major in musical theater and commercial music.
Brecken said, “I thought I did really well. I should hear something this month or at the beginning of April.”
“I've already heard from one of them,” he said but added he wouldn't make a decision until he sees where he's been accepted.
Torrance has a project to keep her obsessing from hearing from a school.
She plans to return to a recording studio to continue work on releasing an EP of what she calls pop country music.
