When we last met you, you were performing in a Broadway show on tour - how is that going/how did it go - and any major milestones since we last interviewed you?
The tour was incredible! I am beyond grateful to have had the time I did with the cast and crew of “School of Rock” and learned a lot about myself. Being on stage was amazing, but learning all my tracks was very challenging. Being away from home for so long was also really hard, but I’m so glad I had such a great opportunity. Since then, my regular life has “taken over,” so to speak. I am now a junior in high school, the principal cellist of the Binghamton Youth Symphony Orchestra, a section leader in my school marching band, was selected as the guitarist for New York State School Music Association All State Vocal Jazz Ensemble and also earned a spot with the All State Mixed Chorus, and released the first two singles from my first album to all the major streaming platforms. My voice has changed a lot, so I’ve had to spend a fair amount of time growing into the new one and learning good vocal technique. Recording and writing music has also been a major step forward in the last few years. I’d been writing music since I was 11, but I
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hadn’t really bothered with lyrics until I was about 14 when I wrote my first song. In terms of performance-related accomplishments, since returning from tour I’ve performed twice at the NYS Blues Festival and won their KJ James Memorial Scholarship, my band and I opened for blues guitarist Eric Gales, I’ve attended several concerts, and continued to perform 40-50 shows a year which is one of my most favorite things to do. In the last 6 years, so many amazing things have happened that sometimes I can’t believe it all happened to me.
What new projects have you been working on since we last spoke of special interest to the stuttering community?
I’m really proud of my new EP, “Can’t Get The Words Out.” It’s a deeply personal title that had been in my brain for a while, and I really wanted to use it to send a positive message to others who stutter or have a speech impediment. The title track specifically deals with my own journey from frustration related to my stutter to acceptance.
What was your experience with audit Eamonn Hubert
What is the School of Rock the Musical Broadway tour? What is your role?
School of Rock the Musical is based on the 2003 School of Rock movie starring Jack Black about a down-and-out aging rocker who can’t pay his rent and dreams of winning Battle of the Bands. After the band he started kicks him out, he takes a call intended for his housemate, a substitute teacher, and shows up at a fancy prep school pretending to be his housemate and takes the job. He finds that the grade-grubbing kids in his class are also gifted musicians and then recruits them into his band for the Battle. He almost pulls it off, but not quite… Everyone learns that it’s best not to judge a book by its cover and also to be who you are, not who someone else wants you to be and never give up your dreams. Everyone is great at something!
Ever since he was 6 years old, Eamonn Hubert has been performing. While he’s been in countless shows with his dad, thanks to their band Hot Dogs & Gin, this year he performed on one of his biggest stages yet – School of Rock the Musical. While Eamonn, 10, was on a U.S. tour with the group, we caught up with him to learn more!
The tour has been going on since 2017 and wraps up this June. I joined in January 2019 and have been in rehearsals since then. I am a swing which is sort of like an understudy, but I will cover 4 different male kid roles when the primary actors are out for whatever reason. There are several child and adult swings in the Company, some of whom know as many as 10 or more tracks or roles! My debut was March 13 as guitar whiz Zack Mooneyham. I was also on as Billy the stylist and then James.
The casting associates for the tour saw some YouTube videos of me playing guitar. They contacted my mom and invited me to send in a video audition. I learned the songs and a few lines and sent in my tapes. They then invited me to come to NYC for an in-person audition when I was about 8. It was my first time visiting the city! I got to the final 8 but didn’t get cast. It was disappointing, but they told me they would be calling for me again and they did, about 6 months later. I went back to NYC, auditioned again, got to the final 8 again, but didn’t get cast. Then I sort of forgot about the show and kept performing at home with my band and taking violin lessons. I got a couple of lead parts in my local theater’s productions of Willy Wonka, Jr. and Wizard of Oz. I worried that maybe my stutter was the reason I wasn’t cast, but casting is a complicated process and you just never know what all is behind the decisions.
To our surprise, just before Christmas 2018 my mom got another email from casting inviting me to return to NYC for another audition. This time, I made it to the final 2 boys and got the part!
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