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Director Chyrel Miller Gets the ANYTHING GOES Cast Ready to Set Sail

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Director Chyrel Miller Gets the ANYTHING GOES Cast Ready to Set Sail

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ANYTHING GOES director Chyrel Miller has watched graduates of her dance program go on to take bows on cruise ships, national tours, and even Broadway.

Her own resume boasts elite dance training in Chicago, New York, and Paris. Miller began teaching at the university level when she was barely old enough to be a student herself and she has continued to master new styles. For all the rigor and exacting standards she has endured throughout her career, Miller makes sure that joy is at the center of her sessions.

“Community theatre is supposed to be fun, and you need to feel good about yourself when you leave. It takes a lot of courage to come to auditions and rehearsals,” Miller acknowledged. “The point is that no matter what they’ve got, no matter where they get to, by opening night when the curtain opens, they feel confident, and they feel good about themselves. It’s my job to make that happen, and they should never feel discouraged about what they’re doing.”

A childhood illness caused Miller to be clumsy, which her parents tried to correct through dance classes. At just four years old, Miller began her life of dance in a tap class at Barbara Fisher’s School of Dance on the 4th floor of the Vandivort building next door to the Landers Theatre. Soon, she was spending all her spare hours dancing.

“Being an only child, the dance studio became my social outlet, my rehabilitation, and my learning. I lived there Monday through Friday after school. On Saturdays, I went in at 10:00 AM then got home about 6:00 PM in the evening. I did that all throughout grade school, all through junior high school. When I got to be 11 or 12, if you were good enough, Barbara took the students who were there to Chicago for the summer to study at the Ruth Page Ballet School. I got to go every summer.”

The Joffrey Ballet was opening a second studio in Chicago when Miller got old enough to audition. She faced three rejections, but eventually she was offered a position. “Finally, they accepted me. In my ending days of high school, I took off and went to study with the Joffrey ballet. I got to go there.”

After graduating high school, Miller was getting contract offers in New York, but she was looking for more stability and a longer career. She asked the late Dr. Wayne McKinney if he knew of any teaching jobs. The timing was perfect. One of three dance faculty with Missouri State University – then SMSU – had just left. The job was Miller’s on the spot. She began teaching and simultaneously earned her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from MSU followed by a masters in Exercise Physiology from Wichita State University.

What Miller didn’t expect was the pivot she would make from classical dance to musical theatre. The late Dr. Bob Bradley approached her to choreograph MSU’s production of CABARET. Looking back, Miller laughs that she didn’t know the show, musical theatre style dance, or even the name Bob Fosse. She admits that her style was more ballet than jazz, but it led to more opportunities. Bradley asked her to move into the MSU theatre department and direct. She accepted, but she had one important detour, first.

“I took off and started studying in New York with every current jazz teacher that I could find, thus I found [Broadway legends] Ann Reinking and Gwen Verdon at Steps and went, ‘Who are you?’” Miller laughed. “Going way back to Barbara Fisher’s studio, I took a bunch of kids, and they and I went to Broadway Dance Center and had dance classes for a dollar with Gregory and Maurice Hines. I studied Fosse forever with anyone I possibly could.”

Miller has now directed nearly every famous Fosse title for Springfield Little Theatre. Her former students Deirdre Goodwin and Michelle Potterf even went on to roles in CHICAGO on Broadway. Goodwin starred as Velma Kelly and Potterf played Go-To-Hell Kitty and was a Roxie Hart understudy.

After the success of CABARET at MSU, Dr. Byrne Blackwood asked Miller what she would like to tackle next. She ambitiously said A CHORUS LINE, although the rights were just barely becoming available. To their surprise, their application was accepted for the first non-equity production. The pressure was on for Miller to really step up and impress. Former SLT Executive Director Mick Denniston arranged to see a final dress rehearsal. He recognized her incredible talent and called Miller the following spring, asking her to direct at Little Theatre.

“Mick and I ended up with a relationship that I will cherish for my whole life,” Miller smiled. “He was funny, he was weird, he was gutsy, and he had drive and energy like [current SLT Executive Director] Beth [Domann] does, only maybe ten times more. He was young. Beth was his Education Director. Chuck Rogers he had brought over from Missouri State as his tech director. Everybody that was there was young, including me, at the time.”

From there, Miller’s life became a whirlwind of MSU productions, SLT productions, Tent Theatre, and shuttling students to dance intensives in New York. From 1969 to 2000, she was always on her toes.

“I was around those kids constantly and The Landers offered me the opportunity to fulfill my raging desire to direct and choreograph shows,” Miller explained. “MSU gave me a show in the fall, a show in the spring, and two Tent shows. I was just hungry. I filled in with all the Landers shows. So, by the time I got to 2000, I finished up at The Landers Theatre with SOPHISTICATED LADIES in June. I retired at the University because I had started so young. I now had full retirement benefits, so I left, and when I had been in New York one summer, I found Pilates.”

While taking summer dance classes in New York, Miller was feeling the ache of stressing her body to extremes for decades. She had once suffered eight broken ribs and a broken back while performing a pas de deux. Her fellow classmates recommended she incorporate Pilates into her routine to alleviate pain. In 2000, the fitness regimen was just reaching America. Classes were one-on-one by appointment only. Miller attended her first session and loved it.

“I decided that’s what I wanted to do for a living, so I applied for a sabbatical from the University. Totally thought I would not get it. They gave it to me,” Miller said. “So, I moved to Toronto, which is where I needed to be, and studied for a year and got fully certified. One of the first fully certified Pilates instructors in the United States.”

For the next decade, Miller focused on building the first Pilates studio in Springfield. Even SLT Executive Director Beth Domann became certified in Pilates under Miller’s instruction. Business was booming when Miller decided to step back from the studio. Domann immediately beckoned Miller back to SLT. Of course, her triumphant return was a Fosse production.

“I came in and did CHICAGO in 2011. My only requirement was that Bill [Hale], and I get married in the intermission of Chicago and Beth marry me,” she laughed. “So, we did that, and I used the chorus girls of CHICAGO in their fishnets and bare midriffs as my bridesmaids, and I used the guys in their jazz pants and leatherette covered in oil and glitter as my groomsmen, and we filled The Landers Theatre with champagne.”

ANYTHING GOES brings Miller back to her roots of tap and she recruited a former student to assist with the choreography. Felecia Black specializes in classic big Broadway showtune tap dancing. Together, they created a spectacle that incorporates a talented cast with varying levels of tap experience.

“You can’t bring them in and give them something that makes them not want to audition and be scared and to say, ‘I can’t,’” Miller dictated. “That’s my philosophy on auditions for musicals and working with the people at The Landers. I find that if you pick up those people that literally have the nerve and the energy and vivaciousness to come out and do it, that in 16 weeks when the curtain goes up, you will look fabulous.”

Miller and Black make a ‘perfect blendship’ team and are proud of the cast of ANYTHING GOES going into opening night. Miller is confident that they are ready to ‘wow’ the crowds.

“You’re building a theatre audience. If they never do a dance number again and never do a show again, if they can come back and appreciate what’s on stage and applaud for those people, you’ve succeeded.”

ANYTHING GOES runs June 12 – 28 at Springfield Little Theatre. Tickets are available now.

Dancer and Choreographer Felecia Black Will Have You Tap Ready for ANYTHING GOES Auditions

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Taps and stamps form a drumroll as the curtain rises. Dozens of glittering shoes sparkle as they fly together in unison. A chorus of sequined suits accentuates the grandeur of a chorus line engaged in musical magic. If you have ever dreamed of stepping into that show stopping row of high kicks, but you never learned to step ball change, help is on the way. Dancer and choreographer Felecia Black is headed to Springfield Little Theatre to train ANYTHING GOES hopefuls how to shuffle and flap.

As soon as Chyrel Miller agreed to direct the Broadway classic ANYTHING GOES, she knew just who to call to help shape the classic tap routines. Her former student, Felecia Black, grew up in Kansas City before earning her BFA at Missouri State University. After a professional dance career in NYC, she settled with her family in Colorado. Miller coaxed Black back to the Ozarks for the production and they agreed to offer tap workshops in advance of auditions this March.

“One thing I’ve always been pretty good at is helping people to get there,” Black explained. “I think that’s one of the reasons why Chyrel wanted to bring me in, because she knows that’s a skill that I have is to get people in their shoes and making sounds.”

If setting sail on the S.S. American is on your 2026 vision board, then the first step should be brushing up your tap skills. Workshops are open to new and experienced dancers. Tap dance has a wide range of styles and Black is experienced in all of them. She has trained with some of the biggest names in the business. For anyone who feels anxious about the exact steps required for ANYTHING GOES, Black promises there will be an opportunity to learn the audition combination in advance.

“That way, people can kind of get comfortable and be able to practice before they come,” she explained. “Tap is a very specific skill set that not a lot of people have. And there are different styles of tap too. I know teachers down [in Missouri] that teach more of clogging or rhythm tap like Savion Glover, but I’m old school Broadway. I have done those other styles, and I even studied with Savion in New York. I even studied under Gregory Hines for a little while when I was young. It’s a skill set that I have, but I enjoy the Broadway tap more.”

Black and Miller previously worked together on an SLT production of THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. Black remembers that she took the cast back to the very basics to get them show ready.

“I had all these young girls who had never worn heels before,” she remembered. “We spent one whole evening walking up and down stairs. That was the whole rehearsal. I wanted to teach them to walk gracefully up and down stairs. I’m hoping to get some people in [ANYTHING GOES] that have tapped before and if they haven’t, that’s fine too. We can make it work. I’m excited about it.”

There’s nothing that captures the spectacle of American theater quite like a big tap number. The precision, the percussion, and the pizazz of a cast moving as one is a timeless crowd pleaser. “I want it to be the old school Broadway. If it’s not blonde wigs and big smiles and tap shoes, I don’t usually get hired for it,” Black joked.

ANYTHING GOES director Chyrel Miller first spotted Black’s talent during her dance classes at MSU. Black was among the first students to launch the university’s musical theater program, which has since produced a litany of successful performers who have gone on to national tours, Hollywood films, and Broadway.

“I was the first Musical Theatre degree recipient. They didn’t really have a program [then],” Black reflected. “I was actually a music major studying opera at the university when I first came. Then Chyrel got ahold of me and she was like, ‘No, no no. You don’t belong here. You belong with me.’ They were kind of writing the program when I was there. I was one of the first kids, which meant I had to triple major at the time in theater, music, and dance.”

On top of her busy studies, Black added teaching at Springfield Ballet, which then met in the Landers Theatre, to her schedule. There, she became familiar with Springfield Little Theatre opportunities and began performing at SLT in addition to MSU and Tent Theatre.

“If there was a musical during the 90s, I was probably in it,” Black reflected. “I did teach some classes at Springfield Little Theatre. If they had a tap show coming up, I would teach tap to get ready for the show.”

Black starred in THE GOODBYE GIRL and listed SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, CABARET, and the First Night Springfield productions among the many shows she appeared in. She credits former SLT Executive Director Mick Denniston with supporting her early career and helping her grow as an artist.

“Mick will always be a part of my heart. He was so generous with his time and energy with me. He and his whole family took me in when I lived there. He was an amazing man,” Black remembered. “He always, always just believed in me. He was such a big influence in my life.”

At SLT, Black was able to explore the multi-facets of crafting, producing, and performing in a show. Not only was she trained in performance, but she gained behind the scenes skills necessary for marketing a show. She remembers feeling encouraged to take big risks and learn from hands-on experience with the support of her teachers and advisors.

“Mick and Chyrel both really gave me a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t normally have,” Black shared. “That’s the special thing about the Landers, or SLT, they make space for you. They make a creative space for you.”

To complete her degree at MSU, Black was required to present a capstone project called ‘juries’. She and classmate Craig Zuckerman felt that none of the established opportunities faithfully represented all that they had mastered as artists. She approached SLT and Mick Denniston with a vision for her presentation and received a green light to create something new.

“I was trying to be a choreographer. That’s where my passions were,” Black explained. “I [told Mick], ‘I want to choreograph something. I want to do my own show.’ He said, ‘Well, you need to get a grant, and then you can do it here.’ He let me do my juries at the Landers, which was wonderful. [Mick] and Chyrel helped me write a grant and get the money. Craig and I produced a whole show.”

The duo presented DANCE A TO Z to sold out audiences at the Landers Theatre. Beyond choreography and dance technique, Black felt that her experience at SLT prepared her for the professional world.

“The other great things about SLT that was wonderful for me was I learned how to do all the things, not just the artistic part of it,” Black said. “I was given the freedom to learn how to write a press release. I was given the freedom to learn how to find the money for what I needed to do. They helped me find that and learn how to do that. That was invaluable for me as an adult coming out of there. They just really taught me a lot about the business of the art and how important it is.”

Throughout her career, Black has been a visionary, crafting and pioneering new projects. After graduating, she formed her own dance company under the umbrella of her mother’s studio in Kansas City. She later worked professionally as a dancer and choreographer in New York.

“I did a lot of preview kind of shows where they were presenting shows to producers for Broadway,” Black detailed. “I even did one POCAHONTAS themed show. We would pitch shows to producers. I did a lot of choreography workshops for choreographers in New York at Broadway Dance Center and Steps. I worked as a working dancer in New York for several years.”

Black’s family moved frequently for her husband’s career in the military, and she later took a break from performing to support her son, Owen, who became a successful ballet dancer. As a young boy, she encouraged him to try other activities like soccer, but he naturally gravitated to the arts for athletics. When his passion persisted, Black helped support his career which ultimately led to the Houston Ballet and a busy traveling career. He has since transitioned to college where he studies electrical engineering and physics.

After decades of traveling and living around the country and even abroad, Black still holds a great reverence for SLT. Her husband even teases her that through all her professional theater experiences, she’s never found a place quite like the Landers.

“I’m really excited about it. I’m really excited to be back home, so to speak. The Landers feels like a home to me even though I was only there a few years,” she gushed. “Every time I go to Springfield, I have to stop by there because it just feels like home. It’s the place where I cut my chops and they gave me the opportunity to do that. I miss it every time I do a show.”

Sign up today for an ANYTHING GOES tap workshop to prepare your audition.

OKLAHOMA! Star Gabby Catlin Spent Years Looking for an Artistic Outlet Like SLT

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Growing up in Indiana, OKLAHOMA! was one of the first musicals that captured the imagination of actor Gabby Catlin. She remembers that as a child, her family owned a VHS copy of the classic along with CATS and WEST SIDE STORY. This sweet memory sparked her excitement to audition for the final production of Springfield Little Theatre’s 90th EMERALD ANNIVERSARY SEASON. Even with her lifelong affinity for the show, she was surprised to land the lead role of Laurey Williams.

“When I found out [SLT was] doing OKLAHOMA!, I was like, I have to audition,” Catlin gushed. “I just have to be in the show because it’s gonna be so memorable for me to be able to live out little Gabby’s fantasy of this show. Then the cast list came out and I was flabbergasted and so honored. I started crying in the car. I just was so excited that I feel like from day 1, I was automatically connected with her and felt like I knew her.”

Although she has spent a lifetime watching Laurey’s story, Catlin started fresh in her preparation. She dug deeply into the character, even preparing a music playlist to align her mindset with Laurey’s.

“It’s kind of a fun thing to do because I use all types of music,” Catlin shared. “Modern music and old music and musical theatre and non-musical theatre. It’s just all about the feelings it evokes and how to get yourself in the right space.”

Tracks where she finds inspiration include ‘You’re the One that I Want’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ from GREASE but also music from Sara Bareilles, Whitney Houston, and Celine Dion. These powerhouse women guide Catlin through Laurey’s strengths and stumbling blocks.

“Some folks might hear that and think, ‘Well how in the world?’ But really, it’s about I’m listening to a song and think, ‘Oh no, that’s Laurey. She’s in there,’” Catlin explained. “So, I add it to the playlist to just again make that connection, get those feelings, find those moments to speak deeper to get into the zone.”

During the rehearsal process, Catlin has been digging into the text under the guidance of director Clayton Avery. Laurey is the show’s protagonist, but not always its heroine. She can be daring and independent, but also fickle and immature. Catlin is sympathetic toward Laurey’s faults as well as her moments of triumph.

“One of the things I love about working with Clayton is that he does a lot of table work and scene work with his actors just so they know the background and the history. Their relationships with others,” she praised. “Getting to explore those pieces is what really fleshed out Laurey for me. There’s moments where as an audience member, you maybe don’t like her and moments where you think, ‘Why did you do that?’ But as the actor, you always have to be your characters’ biggest advocate. In real human life, not every choice everyone makes is agreeable. Not every choice is something that we want to root for.”

Catlin studied theatre during undergrad at Millikin University, but discovered a second passion that led her to pursue a masters degree. That training led her to become Director of Student Conduct at Missouri State University where she oversees disciplinary matters for the institution. She helps guide struggling students to recover from their mistakes; a trait she sees reflected in Laurey’s journey.

“I found that is kind of a connection with my job. One choice does not a person make,” Catlin philosophized. “It tells the larger story. In finding Laurey, she makes some choices, and she makes some statements, and she does some things that to the onlookers, it frustrates you or infuriates you, but how human is that? To portray a character that’s perfect all the time, that’s not real to life. I love that Laurey really shows a true to life person that deeply deals with struggles and makes choices and isn’t somebody you always want to root for, but as the actor, my job is to tell the complete story and find the humanity through it all.”

Laurey and Catlin share a bold independence and a powerful soprano range. They have also both been imbued with resilience after learning that getting what they want hasn’t been a straight line. Catlin enjoyed performing while growing up in Indiana and decided to pursue theatre in college. After several disappointments, she pivoted to crisis management.

“In college, there really wasn’t anything locally besides the productions that we would do in school, and I never got cast in school,” she revealed. “So, I saw everything, but I never got cast while I was in college. I kind of got the message that, ‘Well, maybe you’re just supposed to be a theatre enjoyer and not a theatre performer.’ Which is kind of why I set my sights elsewhere.”

Catlin accepted a job offer and moved to Springfield without knowing a soul. She found it difficult to make connections at first and treated herself to a solo night out to see MATILDA at Springfield Little Theatre. She recalls texting a friend to share her admiration for the performance and expressed interest in joining the organization. She passed on the next audition but eventually stepped up to take a shot at CINDERELLA. Her audition didn’t go as planned, but the experience drew her in, and her efforts paid off.

“I went [to audition for CINDERELLA] and funnily enough, I ended up getting up on stage to sing my song and I forgot everything and had to start over again. And I was like, ‘Well, what do you do?’” she laughed. “But everybody was so nice, they were so encouraging. I had so many people just come and compliment me and say kind things to me. Chyrel Miller was the director and said, ‘You did a beautiful job,’ and I just left the space feeling so encouraged. I thought, even if I don’t get a callback, what a positive experience I had that I could come back and do this again and feel the same way. So, then the callback happened and then I got cast and the rest is history.”

Catlin admits that she would have liked to have had more access to the arts growing up. She performed in choirs and did plays in school and church, but she marvels at the SLT youth programs.

“Coming here and seeing just how high of caliber the showmanship, the performances, the quality is. And that it’s all volunteer based. I had never experienced anything like that,” Catlin noted. “As I have been more and more exposed to the Judy and the [Springfield Little Theatre] education department and education series, I think about the different trajectories my life could have had if I had had education and training exposure at such a young age. I’m so thankful that I’ve got that now, but it’s really, really incredible to watch these kiddos get to experience these things and have these teaching moments that even if they decide not to go on and pursue theatre professionally, they’ve got such fundamental life skills from being able to be in productions. To think quickly, to manage time well, and build relationships in such a high stakes environment while creating art bringing together community. I’m envious of that and so grateful that I’ve found that now.”

In only a few short years, Catlin has found her name on several cast lists in the Ozarks – often as the lead. She finds gratitude in the way her life has unfolded and the opportunity she now has to balance two of her passions every day.

“I really just think that hopefully folks can take from my story, even if somebody tells you ‘no’, if you have the passion to pursue something that you should continue to chase that,” she encouraged. “Though my 8-5 job is different than this, I still very much view this as a part of who I am. That I am very much an actor and a performer and an artist and just encouraging folks that if that’s your dream, if that’s your passion, don’t let anybody stop you from that. That’s so vital and the right people will come along at the right time to help that come to fruition.”

After a long day at a demanding office job, Catlin treats playing to a house of more than 500 people like her second job. She prepares, shows up, and delivers. “Sometimes the opportunities aren’t there, and we create them ourselves, but if you have the passion and the drive for doing that, you are the artist that you say you are.”

Tickets are now available for the final weekend OKLAHOMA! at Springfield Little Theatre.

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