Isabelle Moore accepted into Joffrey School of Musical Theatre program
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 7, 2016 1:46 PM
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Isabelle Moore of Mount Olive portrayed Wednesday in "The Addams Family," one of her many acting credits. She started singing at age 2 and began voice lessons at age 4. She was recently accepted into the Joffrey School of Musical Theatre program in New York City and will spend two weeks there this summer.
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Isabelle Moore of Mount Olive in the recent performance of "Little Women" with the Sampson Community Theatre
MOUNT OLIVE -- Isabelle Moore has been accepted into the Joffrey School of Musical Theatre program this summer.
This is the second year for the musical theatre option at the prestigious school, best known for its ballet program.
The intensive summer program will feature daily classes in acting, singing and dancing, taught by present-day Broadway performers.
Miss Moore, 15, auditioned a few weeks ago along with a friend, Melina Matthews, who is 12. Melina's mother, Suzi Matthews, owner of Performing Arts School in Clinton, encouraged Isabelle to try out and sharpen her auditioning skills.
Both young ladies got into the Joffrey program, which is open to ages 9 to 25, and will room together, said Isabelle's mom, Karen Moore.
Mrs. Moore, a proud mother of four -- Andy, 26, Emma, 23, and 13-year-old son, Dylan -- said she knew early on that Isabelle had a unique gift.
She has fond memories of Isabelle singing around the house and out in the yard. Neighbors, she said, would come outside and applaud.
"I finally went to a voice teacher and said, 'Could you just listen to her?'" Mrs. Moore said. "She said she didn't take anyone before they could read. But then she heard Isabelle and said, 'I'll take her.' She was 4."
Isabelle has always been a performer at heart, she said.
"I started singing when I was 2. Emma was actually the one taking voice lessons," she said. "She would come back home with all these songs. I couldn't read obviously but I was a good mimic. They called me Parrot for a long time.
"I would start copying all of her songs and that's when mom and dad decided to sign me up, too."
She followed in her big sister's footsteps for a long time, she said, and still looks up to her.
"She has such a pretty voice. She's such a good singer," she said. "We sing together a lot. Usually we perform around here.
"I try to rope her in with me because it's so fun. She has the prettiest soprano voice."
Isabelle -- whose father, Kenney Moore, is the founder of Andy's (named for his firstborn), now known as Hwy 55 Burgers -- has been frequently called upon to sing at various company events, including the opening of its location in Denmark.
She also has an impressive resume in acting, performing in Sampson Community Theatre since age 10, doing shows at Faison Arts Company since she was four, plus a lot of performances for churches, the DAR and other area organizations. She even tried out in an open call for "The Voice," where she estimated about 5,000 were in her audition group alone.
She is currently taking classes at the Raleigh Conservatory, with hopes of auditioning for the N.C. Theatre in the near future.
But from the time she sang beneath the two magnolia trees in her front yard, she said she has always had one goal in mind -- going to Broadway.
"Ever since I was little, I didn't exactly have any other plan," she said. "When I hit high school, I started thinking, 'You know, in case this doesn't work out, I should probably have a Plan B but I still haven't figured one out."
The experience of auditioning in New York City was exciting and special, but not entirely new.
"I felt pretty prepared for it but I didn't want to get my hopes too high because I had gone to New York before for another audition when I was a lot younger and I didn't get that one," she said. "That one frustrated me for awhile but it was kind of good to learn that you can't place all your hopes on one."
She admits she felt positive about the 75-minute audition -- 60 minutes of dancing, 15 of singing -- even though no feedback was given at the time.
"I was actually pretty proud of myself afterward because I wasn't scared," she said. "Maybe that means (I'm) moving on a little bit when you're not scared any more."
Getting the news two weeks later that she was accepted into the program -- she'll go June 20 through July 1 -- just reinforced what she is working toward.
"It's taught by authentic Broadway people, teachers from 'Wicked,' 'Phantom of the Opera,' 'Matilda,' 'An American in Paris.' We go to see their shows at the end of the week, teachers that we work with," she said. "I saw that one of the teachers has 11 students on Broadway. I watched the video. Wow! This is something.
"I'm so excited. I want to learn so much."