A New Port Richey brother and sister learned to knock 'em dead in regional theaters before heading to Broadway - and divergent paths. They're now back home and putting on a show.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published May 30, 2003
It's been 20 years since Shanna Ursua saw a notice in the newspaper that Richey Suncoast Theatre was holding auditions for The Music Man. She was 10 years old at the time and wanted to be a dancer.
"For me to be in the show, they needed a boy to be my partner," Shanna said.
She went home and recruited her big brother, Michael, who was 12 at the time and loved playing the piano.
That show changed their lives.
The Ursua kids became show people, singing, dancing and playing their way up and down the west coast of Florida in amateur and professional theaters, then packing up for New York City to sing, dance and play some more.
From there, they've traveled the world, together and separately, performing in and directing dozens of musicals and plays in theaters large and small.
Now, two decades after that hometown start, the Ursuas are back at home base in New Port Richey, where, for the first time, the two have teamed up to direct and choreograph a professional production, the musical Annie Get Your Gun at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre in Hudson.
"I love it," Michael said. "We work together so well, and we always have. I can get an idea and call Shanna at midnight, and it's okay."
At least Shanna's husband and fellow choreographer Chris Sell and their little girl, Megan, haven't complained about the late-nights calls - so far.
The owners, cast and crew at the Show Palace love the collaboration.
"They are great," said Sal Sessa, co-owner of the Show Palace. "They're so professional. They really know their stuff, and they respect the cast."
"They expect hard work; they have high expectations," said Shirley Cothran, production assistant. "They want people to learn fast, and these people do." Cothran, a New York native, has high praise for the result.
"I have seen things on Broadway that are not as creative and challenging as what they are doing here," she said. "They work fabulously together. They watch and pay attention. They really complement one another."
Cast member Troy LaFon adds to the praise.
"They are totally prepared - Michael knows (the show) from all angles, he had it all written out - but they're open to working with the actors," LaFon said. "If people can't do (a move or step), they modify it."
In the beginning ...
The Ursua family moved to New Port Richey in 1980. The kids commuted to Lakeside Christian School in Clearwater, but Shanna switched to Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg. She credits Gibbs and community theater for her professional dancing success.
"The dance studio there - there's nothing in New York that really compares," she said during a swing through Clearwater with Cats in 1999.
They both learned the nuts and bolts of theater in the many theaters in this area - the now-defunct Royal Palm Dinner Theatre in Reddington Beach and the Royalty Theatre in Clearwater, as well as St. Petersburg Little Theatre, Clearwater City Players, Golden Apple Dinner Theatre in Sarasota, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Masque of Temple Terrace, and, of course, Richey Suncoast.
"My mom would drive us anywhere, any point on the Earth, so we could be in shows," Michael said.
Sometimes the brother and sister performed together, sometimes apart, especially when good roles came up for each of them at different theaters.
One time, in 1988, Michael got a good role in Two by Two at Richey Suncoast at the same time Shanna was starring in Dames at Sea down the road in Clearwater.
Their first paying jobs were, interestingly enough, in The Music Man at the Royal Palm in 1986.
"We got $70 a week," Michael said. "I still have the check stub in my scrapbook."
Their mom, Cherilyn, has stacks of scrapbooks with her children's clips, photos and complimentary press reviews.
Over the years, the two have done just about every well-known musical - many of them twice - and many lesser-known shows and revues.
(Hello, Dolly! Carnival, Mame, The King and I, Cabaret, Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, Little Mary Sunshine, Man of LaMancha, No, No, Nanette, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Once Upon a Mattress, 10 Nights in a Barroom, Chicago, A Chorus Line, A Day in Hollywood (A Night in the Ukraine), The Fantasticks, The Boy Friend, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Evita, Babes in Toyland, Sweeney Todd, Cinderella, Oil City, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Hans Christian Andersen, La Cage aux Folles, Singing in the Rain, and many others.)
For The King and I, Shanna played Tuptim, one of the king's minor wives, and dyed her abundant red hair black. Later, when she played the title role of Gypsy, she wore a wig.
After Shanna graduated from high school and Michael dropped out of college in New York, the siblings shared a flat in New York City and performed together at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.
"We got an apartment in Hell's Kitchen on 45th Street, one block from Broadway," Michael said. "It was the perfect, perfect, perfect location. We paid $800 a month, had a doorman, were treated like royalty. Now, it's $2,000 a month."
Then their paths diverged.
"Shanna did cruise ships, her being the dancer, and she's so pretty," Michael said. "With me, it's always piano." He jokingly calls himself a "piano monkey" because he so often gets the piano-playing roles.
Shanna played in the national tour of 42nd Street; Michael did the show in Europe. Shanna played in My One and Only in Europe; Michael was doing the national tour of Singing in the Rain back in the states. Shanna danced in the Broadway tour of Cats; Michael was in New York, playing piano and singing in the cabaret show My Doris Day.
Next on the agenda, Michael will direct Oliver at the Show Palace (July 11-Aug. 24), while Shanna and husband Chris will direct their dance studio's production of Lights, Camera, Action at the Center for the Performing Arts at River Ridge in June.
In the fall, Michael heads back to New York, where he'll rejoin My Doris Day, which is being considered for a run on Broadway.
Even so, he'll be looking homeward.
"I hope Shanna and I can work together again sometime," Michael said. "We've had so much fun doing this."
