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Joined: Sep 29, 2008 Posts: 19739 Location: Albany, GA
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:20 am Post subject: Adam Lambert: North County friends and mentors speak
Adam Lambert: North County friends, mentors say homegrown 'Idol' worked diligently to reach stardom By PAM KRAGEN| Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:07 AM PDT
Adam Lambert grew up in Rancho Penasquitos before heading to the bright lights of Hollywood and stardom on "American Idol." Photo courtesy of American Idol. Photos are courtesy of Fox Television, Adam-lambert.org, Moonlight Stage Productions and Nancy Hickey. "... Backing them up are ... talented young actors who we're sure to see more of in the future. Adam Lambert, who just graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in June, is a big surprise with his lovely and powerful tenor voice in the part of Doody. He stands out in 'Those Magic Changes' and in 'Rock 'n' Roll Party Queen'. ..."
--- Excerpt from a review of "Grease" at Moonlight Amphitheatre, Vista, published in a September 2000 edition of Preview.
Adam Lambert may now be a household name, but the fearless Hollywood glam-rocker ---- who came in second in last week's "American Idol" finale ---- grew up in anonymity (other than the occasional critic's rave review, see above) in Rancho Penasquitos during the 1980s and '90s.
Over the past week, local friends and colleagues who've known the charismatic 27-year-old singer for a decade or more reminisced about the Adam they knew, both as a young boy and as a fiercely talented young musical theater actor, who packed his bags for L.A. nine years ago and has been making music (and theater) there ever since.
Those who know Lambert say that his seeming ease onstage and his effortless high notes didn't come out of nowhere. He has been working diligently toward this goal for nearly two decades.
"He has invested his entire life in music and performing, and that means working at it. His talent didn't just happen overnight as some people think," said Kathie Bretches-Urban, who has known Lambert since he showed up ---- as a boisterous, likable 10-year-old ---- to audition for Metropolitan Educational Theatre, a San Diego-based youth theater company founded by her late husband, Alex Urban.
Born in a trunk
"He'd just come out onstage, and it popped," said Bretches-Urban, who now lives in Long Beach. "You'd see that sparkle in his eye. That gift is a passion. It's something in (his) soul that just exudes from every pore. You know that this child has discovered his chosen path, even if he doesn't know it yet."
Lambert was a self-professed "hyperactive kid" whose now-divorced parents, Eber and Lelia Lambert, enrolled him in theater to channel his energy. His first role in 1991 was as Linus in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at San Diego's Lyceum Theatre. Like his father, Lambert's coloring was fair ---- a thick head of strawberry blond hair, fair skin and freckles. He took to acting, singing and dancing quickly and formed a tight circle of friends in the theater community.
"Music and performing were the only things I ever knew Adam doing," Bretches-Urban said. "He was not a kid that did sports. That was just not his thing. I do know that he worked, much like an athlete would do, on his singing with voice lessons for his entire life."
She said that Lambert's family were big fans of his talent from the start. Lambert's father helped build sets, his mother volunteered her time, and his younger brother, Neil, also performed with Metropolitan from an early age (in his online blog a few months ago, Neil Lambert said Adam constantly annoyed him while they were growing up by wildly improvising while singing along with every song on the radio).
"He had great parenting, but his parents were never 'stage parents.' They let him be who he was and they supported him wholeheartedly," Bretches-Urban said. (Lambert's father now lives in North Park, his brother --- a recent UC Santa Cruz grad ---- is moving to New York City and his mother lives in San Francisco).
Lambert did three or four shows a year with Metropolitan from age 10-17, often as the star, but not always ---- and that was intentional. Bretches-Urban said the Metropolitan credo is to develop talent, not create "stars," so during Lambert's teen years, he mentored younger actors (which she said involved everything from "teaching them a dance step to wiping a runny nose"). And he was cast as often in the ensemble as in the lead ---- even though he had the kind of talent she said "you only see once in a lifetime."
"It grounds them. It's like being part of a team or a family. It teaches you humility," she said. "Adam truly is as genuine as he looks on television. His family gave him a great foundation, and I like to think we helped give him a lot of good values. Did you see on every 'Idol' episode how he thanked the orchestra or the band? Those are the things we still teach our kids today. You get what you give. What you put out there in the universe comes back to you. And you see that sense of kindness and generosity in Adam's persona."
During Lambert's well-publicized "hometown visit" to San Diego with the "American Idol" camera crew a few weeks ago, his whirlwind tour of North County included a stop in Poway to visit Bretches-Urban and her Metropolitan students. Lambert watched the students perform, critiqued their performances and talked to them about the need to give back and be a responsible role model.
"I was very touched by that," Bretches-Urban said. "Coming to see us, and sitting on the stage and talking to these kids, he'd really come full circle."
Building his stage presence
Yet while Lambert was always humble, he never lacked for confidence, Bretches-Urban said. He had an innate comfort onstage, and he knew he had a voice that would one day take him places. At a press conference last week, Lambert said he conquered his fears by slowly pushing the envelope every time he took the stage, beginning when he was a teen-ager, so that now he's not afraid of anything.
While attending Mt. Carmel High School, Lambert sang in the choir (and at his class graduation) and played the lead in several school musicals. Last week, Mt. Carmel's former choir director Nancy Gray told the North County Times: "I've taught for 30 years, and Adam was by far the most talented boy ever."
While in high school, Lambert also did several youth- and adult-cast shows at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista, including playing Captain Hook in a youth-cast "Peter Pan" and playing Doody in Moonlight's 2000 adult-cast production of "Grease." Joshua Carr, his director for both productions, remembers Lambert's laserlike attention to detail.
"You could see the focus in his eyes and the drive to be the best he could be," said Carr, the new theater manager/producer at Welk Resort Theatre in Escondido. "He started with me in the youth theater program and immediately displayed commitment and drive even at that young age, and he quickly moved into the leading roles."
"He is bright, friendly, funny, down to earth and grounded," Brombacher said. "Despite his talent, he doesn't have an inflated head, and he's so articulate and professional in the way he conducts himself."
Brombacher said Lambert's flamboyant stage personality was already developing in his teens, particularly in the role of, what else, the flamboyant pirate Captain Hook.
"He was an adventuresome performer as Captain Hook," she said. "He was always out there for the journey. He wanted to be different and put his own stamp on it ---- and he did."
After graduating from Mt. Carmel in 2000, Lambert attended Cal State Fullerton, then dropped out to pursue performing full time, Bretches-Urban said. He did regional musical theater, toured with the musical "Hair," fronted the rock band Citizen Vein and became a regular featured performer in the L.A. glam-rock stage spectacle "The Zodiac Show" ---- where he honed his stage swagger and experimented with outrageous makeup, hair, costumes, jewelry and fingernail polish.
His breakthrough came in the 2004 L.A. rock opera "The Ten Commandments" starring Val Kilmer. Critics panned virtually everything in the show ---- except Lambert's scene-stealing vocals.
"I went up to see him in that show, and I was amazed," Brombacher said. "The solos they gave him were stratospheric, and he nailed them. He took the town by storm."
Lambert joined the national tour of "Wicked" in 2005 and was the understudy for Fiyero (the male lead) in the L.A. production from February 2007 until it closed last fall.
In an interview last week with the Associated Press, "Wicked" casting agent Bernard Telsey said of Lambert's audition: "He came in and had that amazing voice ---- or as I like to say, 'instrument,' because he has this incredible range. I literally remember saying, 'Oh my God, this guy has the highest range.' "
Breaking through
Musical theater work may have been steady, but by 2007 Lambert admits that he was at a crisis point. In a teleconference last week, he said that his decision to audition for "Idol" grew out of frustration with the lack of progress he was making in his theater career.
"I was in the ensemble of 'Wicked' in LA. It was a great job. It was paying the bills, but I wasn't satisfied artistically. I wondered, is this it? Is this my life? I want more. There's more that I should be doing," he said. "Then this presented itself to me, and the timing was right. I didn't audition before because I didn't think I was ready. I think things happen when they're supposed to happen."
As for his almost other-worldly singing voice and effortless high notes? Lambert says they now come naturally. "I don't really think about it. I try to figure out beforehand how I'm going to sing a song, but then I just go. I've been doing it for a long time, so I just do it."
When Lambert lost the "American Idol" title last week in a stunning upset to soft-spoken Arkansas native Kris Allen, much of the speculation over Lambert's defeat centered on whether his sexual orientation (Lambert has been playfully coy with the press on the subject) hurt him in the voting. Lambert answers simply, "Probably."
But he isn't dwelling on the controversy, or on his No. 2 finish.
"I feel like I won by getting to the final," he said. "It's not about the title. It was about the experience. I made music. I got to do a different performance every week. I was able to use 'American Idol' as a platform to get myself out there. There's no need to dwell on the negative. I am looking forward to the rest of my career."
What's next?
Lambert said his future is likely to include an album produced later this year by 19 Recordings (the "American Idol" label). Negotiations are already under way, and Lambert wants his first album to reflect his diverse interests and his versatility as a singer (on "Idol," he sang rock, pop, disco, musical theater, country, Motown and swing with equal ease).
"My thing is, I don't want to do one specific genre. I'm more about fusion," he said. "We want an album to have a cohesive sound, but it could be a collection of different styles."
And while many of the "American Idol" winners' first albums have been criticized for being bland, overproduced and rushed to market, Lambert said he wants more control of his debut CD. "I've expressed my desire to have a lot of involvement in the process. I'm a collaborator. I don't like to be told what to do. I'm hoping they pair me with some amazing producers, and I plan on being present and involved in it."
Lambert says he'd like to work again with guitarist Slash, who mentored the "Idol" contestants in one episode ("I felt so at home with him onstage. That guy is so rad"). He felt "honored" to share the stage with Queen guitarist Brian May (many music critics have compared Lambert's voice and stage persona with that of the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury). And he says it "blew my mind" to perform with Kiss in the "Idol" finale. He has also said he'd like to collaborate with singers including Katy Perry, Madonna and Lady GaGa.
As for the future, Lambert said he'll focus on music. Maybe one day he'll consider a trip to Broadway or even movies or television if the opportunity presents itself, but now he's eager to get out on the road with the "Idol" tour (which arrives at the San Diego Sports Arena on July 18).
Tour audiences can expect him to perform in his own, unique theatrical way.
"It's all in the name of good entertainment. It's about the music, but it kind of packages it in a more flashy, dynamic way," he said. "Theatricality is one way of performing. It's not a better way, but it's my way. David Bowie is a great example of someone who did it, and Michael Jackson and Madonna. There's a slew of artists who do it, and I'm just lucky 'American Idol' embraced it."
Carr said he's not surprised at Lambert's success, because he's been working so steadily toward that goal since he was a boy.
"He makes smart choices all the time; and regardless of the outcome of 'Idol,' this young man is going to be a superstar."
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