Talk to Avril Brigden and Aubrey Maddock for awhile, and you'll quickly find out that they're enthusiastic about just about everything to do with Royal City Musical Theatre's Annie.
Everything, that is, except the bloomers that the orphans have to wear.
Those are tight and itchy and make the girls really glad that in their real lives, they get to wear jeans.
The two girls are onstage as orphans in Annie, which opens at New Westminster's Massey Theatre on April 10.
They met up with The Record during their March break to talk about their experiences in the musical.
"It's going really well!" said an enthusiastic Aubrey, a 12-year-old Grade 6 student at Montecito Elementary School in Burnaby.
"I really like the experience, it's really fun," agreed Avril, who's 10 years old and in Grade 5 at Burnaby's Sperling Elementary. "I like that I'm doing what I love."
That love, of course, would be performing.
Neither girl is a stranger to the world of singing, dancing and acting in front of crowds.
Aubrey - who appears as Kate - starting her acting career at the age of eight, when she played Matilda in her school production of Willy Wonka and then appeared as Marta in Footlight Theatre's The Sound of Music. A year later, she was cast as a featured munchkin in Footlight's The Wizard of Oz, and at age 11 played Mabel in her school's production of I Need a Christmas Vacation.
She also plays the violin and sings with a Coastal Sound Music Academy choir, as well as taking creative dance with ArtSpace.
Avril - who plays Pepper as well as understudying Annie - studies musical theatre and dance at Lindbjerg Academy of Performing Arts. She's been in four shows with Lindbjerg Academy and recently appeared in Align Entertainment's Shrek The Musical. At last year's Kiwanis Fraser Valley Music Festival, she won the Best Broadway Performance award.
They're both thrilled to be part of the cast for Annie.
"I love the music, I've always loved the music," Avril says, noting that she got the CD when she was little and listened to it over and over and over again.
They both love the choreography created by director Valerie Easton for the Royal City production, and they're excited to perform with the full orchestra.
And they also like the chance to get onstage and get dressed up - or is that down? - in their ragged orphan clothes, with messy hair and dark blush to give them dirty faces. Except, that is, for those itchy bloomers - which they were horrified to learn children did, indeed, used to have to wear for real.
"I feel bad for the people back then," Avril says, her lively face expressing her disgust at the idea.
Bloomers, aside, however, the two are delighted with the chance to play children who aren't much like their real-life selves.
"I love my character," says Aubrey. "I love how no one in the orphanage is like peaches and cream, they're all tough."
Avril agrees.
"Mine is super-tough," she says. "She's kind of given up hope that her parents are coming for her, and she makes herself feel better by picking on everybody else."
(Which is, mom Tara McBean says, the absolute opposite of the real-life Avril, who she describes as a collaborator and a mediator. She says with a laugh that she's just hoping Avril doesn't start liking Pepper's personality just a little too much.)
Pepper, incidentally, is a role that's near and dear to the heart of Cassady Ranford, the New Westminster resident who appears in this production as Daddy Warbucks' secretary, Grace.
Ranford's first appearance in Annie was as the tough little orphan in a New Westminster Secondary School production of Annie.
Ranford, a graduate of the musical theatre program at Capilano University, is thrilled to be working on the show again as an adult, and to explore another side of the production that inspired her to pursue a path in musical theatre in the first place.
The show is no small undertaking for any of the cast members.
The orphans are on hand for three to four rehearsals a week - including some full days on weekends. Avril has to devote even more time than the other orphans because she's at most rehearsals to the bitter end, learning the Annie part should she have to step in for Julia MacLean.
There's the occasional morning where their parents have kept them home from school till morning recess just to give them a chance to sleep in and recover from the night before, but they both embrace the challenge.
For McBean, seeing her daughter come alive with enthusiasm has made the investment of time and energy worthwhile.
"What I really love is that she comes home and talks about what a great time she's had with everybody. The fondness for the group, that to me is value for all our time and effort," she says. "She's just really excited about being a part of it."
The two girls say they're enjoying working with the Royal City Musical Theatre company, which has given them a chance to reconnect with some performing friends and make some new ones - including each other.
And they both enjoy working with the adult members of the cast, too.
"I like when adults don't treat you like kids, you're also friends with the adults," Avril says.
For Aubrey, there's an extra-special reason to enjoy working with the adults - Daddy Warbucks is being played by none other than her own real-life dad, well-known local performer Steve Maddock.
"To be involved in a show with my kid is a delight," he says with a smile. "Who knows when this will happen again?"
Maddock adds he's thrilled to be taking part in this show - the company's 25th anniversary performance - because the group has done so much for his life as a performer.
Royal City Musical Theatre Company gave him his first performing opportunity, in the 1997 production of Guys & Dolls, when he moved West from Ontario. He's since appeared in the company's productions of The Sound of Music and Carousel.
"I was delighted to get cast in this role," he said. "Royal City, they've done a lot for me and my career. To be able to participate in their 25th anniversary is pretty special."
Several New Westminster residents have key behind-the-scenes roles in the production: Chelsea Carlson as production manager, Omanie Elias as set designer, Chris Sinosich as costume designer, Suzanne Ouelette as assistant choreographer and Jessica Hildebrand as assistant stage manager.
Annie is onstage April 10 through 26 at the Massey Theatre, 735 Eighth Ave., New Westminster.
See www.royalcitymusicaltheatre.com for all the details.
Tickets are available through the Massey box office at 604-521-5050 or tickets.masseytheatre.com.
