It won’t be the last time you’ll hear the name Angela Regiani.
The Clarkston High School junior dreams of becoming a famous performer someday. And it just so happens things are going her way.
Most recently, Regiani was one of a team of dancers from Deborah’s Stage Door for the Performing Arts in Rochester Hills to grace the stage at Hollywood’s The Reel Awards, a 12th annual Oscar kick-off event that brings together the best celebrity impersonators from around the world for a night of music, dance and comedy.
The show, in which ticket sale proceeds go to benefit several children’s charities, was held March 20 at The Henry Fonda Theatre. Among the celebrities there were Lainie Kazan, co-star of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and longtime television game show personality Monty Hall.
Regiani and the 35 other dancers from Deborah’s Stage Door provided the musical entertainment for the evening with four different numbers including “Lady Marmalade” and “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
“It went very well,” Regiani said, who spent March 17-24 in California, much of it for intense rehearsals.
“I was nervous, but it was an excited nervous,” she said, admitting she typically gets butterflies before a performance. “When you stop becoming nervous, it’s a bad thing.”
Regiani said several major networks and well-known television show crews were there filming including MTV, Entertainment Tonight, HBO, E! Entertainment Television, and more. “They were all there.”
“It was a really good opportunity to work with real professionals in the business and get a feeling of what it is like to put on a real show instead of a local show. It was a great experience.”
The 17-year-old plans to have a career in stage work. “I’m what you call a triple threat; a dancer, singer and actress.”
She’s debating between performance art colleges like New York University, Merrymount Manhattan in New York or the University of Calgary in Canada to study music theatre design. Afterwards, she’d like to get a master’s in musical theatre writing.
Regiani has been dancing for 15 years and has been a student with Deborah’s Stage Door since she was 11.
Through the dance studio she has performed at the Thanksgiving Day Parade’s Hob Nobble Gobble, the Woodward Dream Cruise, many charitable gala events, and has travelled nationally for competitions. She and the dance company were also awarded America’s Top Dance Group on the Emmy nominated Showstopper American Dance Championships television show.
Mom Sherry Regiani said of her daughter, “I’m really proud of her. She’s worked very hard and done an awful lot this year. She has worked her heart out.”
This summer, Regiani will attend a summer camp at the University of Southern Florida in Tampa for a theatre dance and vocal program called the Broadway Theatre Project, directed by Ann Reinking, famed jazz choreographer Bob Fosse’s wife. The program will be in Fosse style and is typically for college students and professionals. “Very few high schoolers do this,” Sherry Regiani said.
Out of 2,000 applicants, only 150 people are chosen for this program. About 50 those people are returning participants from the prior year, and Regiani was chosen.
Sherry Regiani said Angela was also accepted to the American Theatre Dance Workshop at Hoefstra University in Long Island, New York. Because of the Broadway Theatre Project, Regiani decided to decline attending the American Theatre workshop.
She wrote a letter saying she would not be able to attend, but her mother said, “She received a letter back saying her video audition was so strong, they would really like to have her there.”
And during her senior year, she, as the recipient of the Co. Dance Scholarship and Assistant Teacher’s Award, has the opportunity to travel the country to 20 different Co. Dance Convention workshops where she will help demonstrate dances to participants. Her travels will be all-expenses paid and Regiani will also receive a per diem.
Out of more than 700 students, Regiani was chosen for this honor, Sherry Regiani said.
Regiani said it is an amazing feeling to touch someone through performance.
“It allows people to get away from the world, to forget their worries and just enjoy an evening of entertainment.”