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A Million Dreams showcases young talent

The year-end LB Productions musical is set to take place on June 3 at the Maury Young Arts Centre
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show time Catch LB Productions' A Million Dreams on Sunday, June 3. Photo submitted

A Million Dreams, LB Productions' year-end show, promises to be a musical jam-packed with singing, dancing and ... aliens?

The play was written by student Lara Mullings—with help from LB Productions' Anita Burleson—and will incorporate videos featuring extra terrestrials thanks to the handiwork of Jayden Inniss.

(You might have caught Inniss and his young team at the 72 Hr. Filmmaker Showdown this year after their production made the final cut—despite the fact that they're still in grade school.)

"Jayden has been stage managing for us for a couple years," Burleson says. "He's incredible. We filmed these scenes with aliens. He made a green screen and filmed it on his iPhone and is editing it. It's these videos where aliens are looking down on earth, but he's done the whole thing."

The production will feature around 40 kids from Lillooet, Pemberton and Whistler who took part in LB Productions'—a Whistler-based entertainment company that offers musical theatre, improv and comedy courses, among other things—spring session. While the songs are all from The Greatest Showman, Mullings approached Burleson with an original script built around those songs. "I read it and her ideas were really good," Burleson says. "We fleshed things out and added ideas. What's really inspiring is when you see the young people you've been teaching take (initiative) and go."

The musical follows a character named Julia who has an idea to pair singing and a play and call it a musical. As the play carries on, it leads to a classroom of students inventing a time machine—with a little help from some aliens. They visit Pablo Picasso and the Wright Brothers as children to learn how their formative years shaped who they became.

"What I find fun about working with young people is they have creative ideas," Burleson says. "They're not hindered by budget or what's realistic. The (performance is) a lot of fun with dancing and fabulous music."

To that end, each of the young performers will have a chance to shine. Burleson ensures that there's a part for each of them. "We write our own shows. That way we can incorporate everybody in it," she says. "The older kids get bigger parts, but everyone gets a chance to perform."

That includes the singing. "We're singing and dancing our hearts out on all these songs ... There's a lot of coordinating to give everyone a chance. I have five-year-olds sing a line because that's how they get started. Then by the time you're a teen, you've been singing for years."

Catch A Million Dreams at the Maury Young Arts Centre on June 3 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are available at artswhistler.com.