GREENFIELD — Brynn Elliott wants to be a star.
If her recent performance as the lead in Greenfield-Central High School’s production of “Legally Blonde” is any indication, she just might have the voice and acting chops to do it.
Elliot’s drama teacher, Carolyn Voigt, said the 17-year-old actress is a diamond in the rough.
“Brynn exudes professionalism…and flawlessly knows her lines,” Voigt, who recently directed Elliott in the lead role of Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde,” said.
“Brynn was perfect for the role of Elle Woods,” she said. “Not only does she look the part, but she possesses those qualities of Elle that make the audience love her for her humor, smarts, and kind heart. And boy, can she sing.”
Dressed in a pink sequin mini-dress, her character’s signature color, Elliott looked every bit the star on stage earlier this month, belting out the show’s Broadway tunes.
Off stage, her friends say the blue-eyed blonde is as laid back and unassuming as they come.
Wearing a tie-dye face mask, a t-shirt and ripped jeans, the teenager took a break in the school auditorium one day last week to ponder a future on Broadway.
Her parents, Brian and Renita Elliott, support her dreams, and have enlisted the help of a voice coach and acting coach — both professionals in New York City — to virtually coach their daughter and help her hone her craft.
Elliott is just a high school junior, but she’s already planning her auditions to some of the best performing arts schools in the country. Most of them start the audition process nearly a full year before school begins, which means Elliott will stay busy this summer preparing her applications and audition tapes.
She’s got a list of 39 prospective schools so far, including two Indiana schools — Indiana University and Ball State University.
“They both have top-ranked programs,” she said.
While she’s willing to go away for school, staying close to home would be a nice perk to stay connected with her parents and her little brother Corbin, 14.
It was a televised version of the musical “Legally Blonde” that convinced Elliott she wanted to pursue musical theater over acting, which require distinctly different paths in college.
“I’ve wanted to do (Broadway) since I was a little kid,” she said.
Elliott first caught the acting bug when she was in kindergarten, after her mom signed her up for a drama workshop hosted by Chris Schaefer, who runs the local Kids Play production company.
As soon as she first took the stage that summer, she was hooked.
“There’s just something about being on the stage when the lights hit you, and you start singing and saying your lines,” she said.
The budding actress was recently cast as an ensemble member for an upcoming production of “Saturday Night Fever,” to be performed at the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre in Carmel, where she’s attended drama workshops in the past.
She’s also keeping her eye open for other community theater productions to take part in next summer.
Her first stage role was in “Attack of the Pom-Pom Zombies,” a Kids Play production at the Ricks Centre for the Arts.
She later returned to the Ricks for a production of “Legally Blonde,” portraying Elle’s sister alongside her parents, who played the lead character’s mom and dad, and later portrayed one of the bridesmaids in the Crazy Lake Acting Co.’s production of “Mamma Mia.”
While she loves community theater, Elliott has her sights firmly set on acting professionally someday.
“The hope is to get into a (musical theater) program that will give me the opportunity to be signed by an agent,” she said.
The young actress said she knows she’s blessed to have such supportive parents, who not only invest in professional coaches, but who are there faithfully for each and every show.
“My mom’s also done just a ton of work researching all the musical theater schools,” Elliott, who now has a professional consultant helping her navigate the competitive audition and enrollment process, said.
When it comes to actors she admires, the Greenfield teen counts Zendaya and Jonathan Groff as two of her favorites. She said Groff is probably the actor who’s the most fun to watch.
“All of his mannerisms are just hilarious, and his voice is incredible,” she said. “Plus I’ve heard great things about him as a person, so it’s nice to know this actor I really enjoy is actually a nice person.”
Talking to Elliott, it’s not hard to imagine her being described in the exact same way, even after becoming a big star.
