- April 26, 2025
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Fourteen-year-old Lara Zoppe has been learning how to sing, act and dance for 11 years.
At 3, she became a student at Ovation School of Musical Theatre and has since taken just about every class it has to offer. She has learned various technical skills such as how to perform on stage as well as how to socialize and work as a team.
Zoppe used all those lessons in portraying Eurydice in "Hadestown: Teen Edition" that played at the East County theater for two weeks in April, with the show closing on April 19.
She said she loved landing the role — Ovation used two separate casts during the run so more of its students could be included in the production — because she always had connected with the character. Eurydice joins Hades in exchange for basic necessities and later regrets her decision in giving up her freedom and a chance at love.
Ovation School of Musical Theatre was established in 2013 and is owned and operated by Matt and Michelle McCord. So both Zoppe and the theater have grown up together.
“They are like my second parents,” Zoppe said. “They have taught me everything I know about theater and about life, and they’re such good figures to have in my life.”
Michelle McCord said it has been an exciting journey to watch Zoppe grow her talents over the years.
“I’m her vocal coach and her ballet teacher so we have really produced her,” Michelle McCord said. “It’s just glorious to watch that.”
Michelle McCord called "Hadestown: Teen Edition" a powerful, exciting and emotional show. She said it was a rare piece for the theater because it was a serious drama. She said the theater's growth has allowed it to develop a trust with its students that has allowed the shows to do scenes that involve love, anger, fear and panic.
“Instead of pizazz and jazz, we are going into really deep emotions,” Michelle McCord said.
The Ovation School of Musical Theatre utilizes a black box theatre. Matt McCord said it as not as elaborate as other theaters, but added they have quality equipment when it comes to lighting and sound.
“Essentially storytelling is storytelling,” Matt McCord said. “If the story is good and it’s presented well, you don’t always have to have the trappings of an elaborate setting.”
With the double casting of "Hadestown: Teen Edition," 18-year-old Micaela Ramirez-Walsh played Eurydice as part of the "Diamond cast." Like Zoppe, she had long wanted to play the role.
“Michelle’s direction is so real, and the atmosphere she creates with her shows, especially this one ... it’s magical. You’re immersed in it, you’re there,” Ramirez-Walsh said. “It feels like I’m her, like I’m Eurydice when I step onto that stage.”
Ramirez-Walsh graduated from Manatee School for the Arts in 2024. She recently performed in her first professional theater job with American Stage Theatre Company in the bilingual musical titled “Familia de Flamingos” as Leo. She did two shows per day five days a week from Feb. 3 to March 28.
Other students embraced their roles as well.
Gabriella Cruz, 18, has been a student at Ovation for eight years. She plays Persephone in the Diamond cast for Hadestown. She said she loves the role as it brings a new warmth that she never experienced in other roles she has played.
Cruz has taken ballet classes for seven years and said that McCord’s classes specifically were the core for all of the skills she has learned.
“It set the base for dance for me,” Cruz said. “It gave me strength, it gave me flexibility and it gave me everything I need for every other class that I took.”
With all her experience as a student, she has also become a member of the Ovation faculty. She currently teaches tap, lyrical and musical theater classes.
Ella Aleksandrowski, 18, is home-schooled and has been attending Ovation for a year.
“The space is so welcoming and lovely, especially for home-schooled students, to come to a space where they can meet friends and socialize with people,” Aleksandrowski said.
Matt McCord said Ovation's goal is to provide lessons on creative thinking, teamwork, responsibility, poise and confidence for all of the students.
Ovation offers both regular classes and summer camps. Classes for students ages 6-17 (although students have been accepted as young as 3) begin in August and run through May. On June 2, a series of one-week summer camps begins. It is an eight week series and each week is a different theme. Themes for this summer include Wicked, Sing 2, Descendants, Moana, The Little Mermaid, The Greatest Showman and Hamilton.
“It’s very intense but a lot of fun,” Matt McCord said. “Every Friday we do a performance to show their families what they have been working on all week.”
On top of the weekly camps, there will also be a two-week Shrek themed camp and a four-week A Chorus Line camp.
