“Playing Anne is something I was told I would never do”

The pandemic compelled the Charlottetown manufacturing of Anne of Inexperienced Gables—The Musical on hiatus for the primary time in 55 years earlier than its much-anticipated return this previous weekend.

On Prince Edward Island, there is no such thing as a higher marker of “again to regular” than the return of Anne of Inexperienced Gables—The Musical. 

The present a couple of spunky, freckled orphan coming of age at her adoptive household’s farm, impressed by Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel, has performed in each Charlottetown Competition since 1955. It was the longest-running theatrical manufacturing on this planet, and, till the pandemic nixed it in 2020 and 2021, had turn into a extra quintessential a part of P.E.I. summers than pink sandy seashores and lobster rolls.

 This 12 months, the present goes on, and Charlottetown benches and buses are as soon as once more plastered with promotional pictures of Anne in her basic pink pigtails and inexperienced corduroy overalls. 

The face on this 12 months’s promos belongs to Kelsey Verzotti, a 26-year-old actor born in Calgary and dwelling in Toronto who’s enjoying Anne for the primary time this 12 months. Verzotti is not any stranger to the musical: she performed Diana Barry, Anne’s greatest buddy within the present, on the Thousand Islands Playhouse manufacturing in Gananoque, Ontario, in 2019. However embodying Anne for the primary time within the province the protagonist calls house, as the primary Asian-Canadian ever forged within the function, has Verzotti making ready for a brand new stage of limelight. Maclean’s caught up together with her earlier than the present’s opening evening this previous weekend: 

Welcome to P.E.I., Kelsey. Are you settled in Charlottetown?

Kelsey Verzotti: I’m truly dwelling in Sherwood, 10 minutes from Charlottetown, and I’m having main FOMO. I like strolling my canine on the Charlottetown waterfront, and I wish to be nearer to the widespread hangout spots. However it’s in all probability factor for me to not reside inside strolling distance from Cow’s Ice Cream. 

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Anne of Inexperienced Gables is big on P.E.I., and dwelling within the metropolis would possibly get you acknowledged greater than you’d like. Has it already began?

I’ve been acknowledged a pair instances, however I heard they’ve simply plastered my face on journey buses, and I believe the primary storage, on the Charlottetown Confederation Centre of the Arts, may have my face on it. So I’m bracing myself, however laying low for now. 

It’s your first time dwelling on P.E.I., however you’re no stranger to Anne of Inexperienced Gables after enjoying Diana Barry in Gananoque previous to the pandemic. Why audition to play Anne this time?

After I performed Diana, I fell in love with musicals. After which, as I obtained to know the play, I additionally fell in love with Anne. I like her character and I can relate to her in a couple of methods. She’s obtained a horrible mood, and I can get that method—actually reactive—with my mother and father. I like her capacity to talk her thoughts and ask questions that set off individuals’s creativeness. Principally, I resonate together with her want to slot in and be accepted. For instance, this function is one thing I used to be advised I’d in all probability by no means do.

Since you’re not red-haired? You’re the primary Asian-Canadian to be forged as Anne in Charlottetown. Do you consider that rather a lot?

We’re so knees-deep into the performing and rehearsing that I don’t actually give it some thought currently. However after I take a step again, I notice it’s large. One in all our producers advised me the opposite day she was driving by way of city and noticed a bit Asian lady get her picture taken subsequent to a promotional picture of my face on a bench. Moments like these remind me that this chance is even larger than simply me enjoying the half.

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For the present, are you going with a pink wig, or pink hair dye? 

Wig. I picked a color a bit toned down from the basic neon orange and it feels pure—I’ve been advised I ought to dye it completely, however I don’t suppose I can preserve that financially, or wish to spend my summer season within the hairdresser’s chair. 

This 12 months, Diana Barry shall be performed by Emma Rudy, who performed Anne in 2019. You and Emma went by way of the Musical Theatre and Efficiency graduate program at Sheridan School collectively, and now you’re every in a task the opposite has performed earlier than. Do you trade pointers? 

It’s nerve-racking to play an element that somebody simply performed, and so they simply watch you do it. However Emma has been a complete rock for me within the course of. Our relationship spans 10 years, and having her right here makes it really easy—even once we mess up. I’m so used to enjoying Diana that I stored singing Emma’s traces in Kindred Spirits, however we laughed about it.

She gave me good recommendation about enjoying Anne: spare your power. It’s a vocally exhausting half. We play eight reveals every week, and that’s commonplace for a manufacturing, however Anne’s traces are so excessive, and I haven’t performed a task this huge earlier than. So, getting good sleep this summer season is necessary.

I hope you’ll be able to nonetheless take pleasure in P.E.I. regardless of the loopy schedule.

I actually have, up to now. After I’m out with Emma in Charlottetown, she is aware of all people and all of the cool locations. You possibly can go someplace and discover a full bucket of mussels for $13. I’m like, “How?” It’s an amazing begin to the summer season.