{"id":9465,"date":"2014-11-28T00:11:56","date_gmt":"2014-11-28T08:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=9465"},"modified":"2014-11-27T20:09:29","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T04:09:29","slug":"lokash-cast-in-musicals-title-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/11\/28\/lokash-cast-in-musicals-title-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Lokash cast in musical\u2019s title role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julian Lokash plays the title character in Carousel Theatre\u2019s James and the Giant Peach<\/em>. (photo by Tim Matheson)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When asked how long he\u2019s been an actor, 11-year-old Julian Lokash didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cSince I was born!\u201d was his immediate response.<\/p>\n

The young actor is the star of the upcoming Carousel Theatre production of James and the Giant Peach<\/em>. As James, he\u2019s in every scene, which has meant that he has been in rehearsals for two months, from 9-5 each day, except on Mondays, when he has the chance to go to school like other children his age. He is in Grade 6, in the French immersion program \u00c9cole Jules Quesnel in Point Grey.<\/p>\n

Julian is not only an actor. He is what the theatre world calls a triple threat. \u201cI dance and sing as well,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was just 1 or 2 years old, I was always dancing around and singing, even before I could talk,\u201d he explained when asked about how his parents knew he was interested in the performing arts.<\/p>\n

Julian shook his head emphatically (perhaps even a bit theatrically) when asked whether anyone else in his immediate family has any talent for musical theatre. He did say that his father\u2019s cousin works for Dreamworks and that his dad also has an aunt who played in an orchestra but, as far as Julian is concerned, he\u2019s an anomaly in his family.<\/p>\n

Looking outside of the family for performance role models, Julian said he is a big fan of many of the actors on the TV show Glee<\/em> because he thinks they have great voices. He also loves the Disney movie Frozen and, specifically, Idina Menzel, the voice of Elsa.<\/p>\n

When he was younger, Julian was involved in Stage Coach, a theatre arts program that developed his interest and talent for musical theatre. More recently, he spent his last two summers in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver\u2019s Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! musical theatre summer school run by Perry Ehrlich. \u201cPerry was the one who told me to try out for James and the Giant Peach<\/em>,\u201d said Julian. \u201cHe\u2019s sort of like a musical theatre agent because he\u2019s watching out for things for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Julian has had an acting agent in the past. Through that agent, he did a commercial for Crayola. \u201cI\u2019m at a pause right now because I don\u2019t have time for TV or commercials right now,\u201d he said. He admitted that, at this point in his life, he prefers musical theatre but thinks that, in the future, he may have to do some TV. He\u2019s confident that he\u2019s found his calling and already has part of his acceptance speech ready for his Tony or his Oscar. \u201cMy friends wanted me to tell you that they are really supportive. My family is so supportive, too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With theatre such a big part of his life, Julian does ballet, tap and jazz dancing, as well as voice lessons. The busy schedule of rehearsals, not only for James and the Giant Peach<\/em>, but for any production, requires strong family backing. Luckily, his parents are happy to see their son doing what makes him happy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all about the arts, however. Julian likes to be active and he gets that through dance as well as regular family ski weekends at Whistler. \u201cI love to ski but I think this winter my brother and I are both going to tone it down and maybe only ski Saturdays,\u201d he said. He admitted that he\u2019d like a bit more time to spend with his friends.<\/p>\n

Despite his busy schedule, Julian has found time to participate in a Jewish education class organized by a number of parents in his neighborhood. All of the students are kids living in Point Grey who attend public school and whose parents want their children to have some Jewish education without formalizing a connection to a synagogue. He mentioned that he\u2019s not very religious but he does like to celebrate the Jewish holidays.<\/p>\n

James and the Giant Peach<\/em> tickets are available through Carousel Theatre for Young People<\/a>. The musical adaptation of Roald Dahl\u2019s classic children\u2019s novel is at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island from Dec. 6 to Jan. 4, after which Julian will return to the life of a regular, but talented, Grade 6 student.<\/p>\n

Michelle Dodek<\/strong> is a freelance writer and community volunteer living in Vancouver.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julian Lokash plays the title character in Carousel Theatre\u2019s James and the Giant Peach. (photo by Tim Matheson) When asked how long he\u2019s been an actor, 11-year-old Julian Lokash didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cSince I was born!\u201d was his immediate response. The young actor is the star of the upcoming Carousel Theatre production of James and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[2586,2588,2585,2587],"class_list":["post-9465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-carousel-theatre-for-young-people","tag-james-and-the-giant-peach","tag-julian-lokash","tag-roald-dahl"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}