Category: Helping Hands

By Ellen S. Wilkowe

Miles Schmidt of Morris Plains is no stranger to the stage. He has played Chip from Beauty and the Beast, Gomez from The Addams Family Jr., and most recently, as “Little Boy” on the national tour of Elf.

Now, he wants to be cast as the winner of Morristown Onstage. He will compete against 15 other amateur acts vying for cash prizes at the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) on March 4, 2025. It’s the Morris Educational Foundation’s 18th annual fundraiser for the Morris School District.

Morristown Onstage 2025 finalist Miles Schmidt. Photo by David Okada

Schmidt, 13, will perform Giants in the Sky from Into the Woods.

“It’s a song that can make you feel like you can do anything,” he said.

For the Morris Township teen, “anything” included securing his spot as a Morristown Onstage finalist, instead of just watching from the audience. “I felt ecstatic because when I saw the show last year, I really wanted to be a part of it,” he said.

So, how did this stage-hopping Frelinghuysen Middle School 7th grader wind up on the national tour of Elf ?

Passion.

Schmidt credits the smash musical Hamilton with igniting his fervor for the stage. Specifically, the performances of Jonathan Groff and Lin-Manuel-Miranda. “I watched it and it sparked something,” he said. “Their take on history was stunning, and I enjoyed the music. I still sing those songs years after I heard them.”

He traces his original musical inclination to early childhood, when his mom enrolled him in group music classes when he was just weeks old.

During the pandemic, he was living in El Paso and started taking piano lessons on Zoom.

“I was just 8 years old,” he said. “I spent a lot of time performing—acting and singing—while on the keyboard. So my mom and teacher recognized that maybe voice and performance lessons were a better fit for me.”

Morristown Onstage 2025 finalist Miles Schmidt and his mom, Lacey, at Media Day in January 2025. Photo by David Okada

His family relocated to Morris Plains in 2021 and he immersed himself in the local playhouse scene, including the Children’s Theatre on Tour through the Paper Mill Play House in Millburn, and Annie’s Playhouse in Mendham. He also appeared in several productions with the A.P.P.L.A.U.S.E Theater Company.

The MPAC stage is familiar territory, too. Schmidt has appeared in spring productions of Matilda and Beauty and the Beast.

His most recent role as “Little Boy” in Elf—as well as an understudy for the character Michael, took him on the road for two-and-a-half months. He relied on Zoom for schooling.

“The school district was very supportive,” said his mother, Lacey.

In addition to Morristown Onstage, Schmidt is preparing for Frelinghuysen’s spring production of Shrek, where he will perform the role of Lord Farquaad.

Should he win Morristown Onstage, he plans on putting the money toward dance lessons.

Longterm, Schmidt has set his sights on Broadway and a career in the performing arts.

Sixteen top amateur acts from Greater Morristown will compete at the Mayo Performing Arts Center on March 4, 2025 for cash prizes at the 18th annual Morristown Onstage. Presented by the Morris Educational Foundation, the show benefits programs in the Morris School District. Tickets are $43-$95, available online or at MPAC, 100 South St., 973-539-8008.

Finalist Haniyah Hill will bring experience and ambition to Morristown Onstage

February 24, 2025

Jeff Prescott

Arts David Okada Featured Front Page News Helping Hands Marion Filler morristown onstage 2025 Schools No Comments

By Marion Filler

Haniyah Iman Hill, a 7th grader at the Frelinghuysen Middle School, is back for her second appearance at Morristown Onstage.

Looking a little taller and sporting a new hair style, Hill is ready to try her luck again when she sings I’m Here from the show The Color Purple at the Mayo Performing Arts Center on March 4, 2025.

“My style is still the same, but my skills have gotten better since last year,” says Hill. Normally soft spoken, her voice shifts dramatically into a big, bold emotional mode during the song.

Hill is among 16 amateur acts competing for cash prizes and local fame in the 18th annual edition of the Morris Educational Foundation’s contest to benefit programs in the Morris School District.

Morristown Onstage 2025 finalist Haniyah Hill with her dad, Rex Hill, a former MoS finalist. Photo by Marion Filler

Her parents, vocalist Nailah Taylor-Hill and Rex Hill, a professional musician, competed in Morristown Onstage years ago.

“We did it twice. We didn’t win, but we did well,” says Rex Hill. “I accompanied Nailah and I’m doing the same thing for Haniyah. I’m pretty much like a music coach.”

Speaking of his daughter, he adds with a smile: “She’s not that quiet. When she gets comfortable around people, she’s loud.”

Over the last year, Haniyah has matured as a singer, according to her father. “That means her approach to the music and the song is more mature, her breathing technique is a whole lot better and she takes the time to really dissect the song.”

As a finalist last year, Haniyah Hill sang the Whitney Houston hit, The Greatest Love of All.

I’m Here is performed at the climax of The Color Purple, and symbolizes the triumph of self-love over adversity. As one critic said, “The song is not meant to be sung, but roared. It’s not meant to be heard but felt.”

Hill intends to make it happen.

“My mom chose this song when her sister passed years ago, and I wanted to memorialize and recognize her. It’s not a sad song, it’s inspirational,” she says.

She also is inspired by Fantasia Barrino. As the first American Idol winner to sing on Broadway, his version of I’m Here routinely brought the house down.

As the youngest of nine children, Hill is surrounded by a musical family. Her grandfather sings, and her dad’s side of the family are all musicians. “They sing and play everything except woodwinds,” her mom told Morristown Green in 2024.

With of plenty of support and enthusiasm to guide her, Hill is motivated to be a success.

Is singing a big part of her life?

“Yes, very!”

Does she plan to continue and get really famous?

“Yes, I do!”

The Morris Educational Foundation presents the 18th annual Morristown Onstage on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. Sixteen amateur acts from Greater Morristown will compete for $2,500 in prizes, in a benefit for the Morris School District. Tickets are $43-$95, available online or at MPAC, 100 South St., 973-539-8008.

Morristown Onstage finalist Melissa Valeroso, from both sides now

February 23, 2025

Jeff Prescott

Arts beth carroll David Okada Featured Helping Hands morristown onstage 2025 Schools No Comments

By Beth Carroll

Melissa Valeroso believes in using both sides of her brain.

Her left brain led her to a Bachelor’s degree in accounting at Seton Hall and a career as a senior tax consultant at Deloitte in Morristown.

Her right brain led her to audition for Morristown Onstage. On March 4, 2025, when she takes the stage to belt out Christina Aguilera’s Bound to You, she’ll be all right brain.

Valeroso is one of 16 finalists this year in the Morris Educational Foundation’s annual fundraiser at the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC). Every year performers with connections to Morristown, Morris Township, or Morris Plains vie for cash prizes bestowed by the judges and the audience at Morristown Onstage.

This year’s judges are Ladonna Burns, a New York-based singer, actress
and vocal performance coach; Gabriela Jileva, owner and director of
of Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Morristown and Summit; Tom Sellwood, owner and director of the Sellwood Studio of Performing Arts conservatory; and Allison Larena, president and CEO of MPAC.

Morristown Onstage finalist Melissa Valeroso. Photo by Beth Carroll

Should Valeroso win any prize money, she intends to donate half to the American Red Cross LA Region to help people impacted by the wildfires.

“The remainder I would use to get myself into a real studio and try recording some music,” she said.

Valeroso grew up in Old Bridge and still lives there with her parents, Liza and Ricky, while commuting to Morristown for work. Her parents immigrated to the USA from the Philippines, and while she and her brother were born in the USA, she is proud of her heritage and of her status as a first-generation American.

Although she’s always enjoyed singing — she participated in her high school’s musicals — Valeroso’s career in music was sidelined when, like Chloe in the movie Pitch Perfect, she ended up with vocal nodules that required surgery.

“I never really had voice training,” she said, “Unless you count the vocal physical therapy I had to do after my surgery to strengthen my vocal cords.”

That therapy worked! By the time she was 17, she was singing with her dad’s band, The Echoes, at gigs around New Jersey. “It was kind of a doowop band,” she said.

Valeroso performed such songs as At Last by Etta James, Sway by the Pussycats, These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ by Nancy Sinatra, and Mercy by Duffy.

In high school, she suffered from depression and while traditional therapy was helpful, she feels that music was a different kind of therapy that was also an effective tool in her mental health treatment.

“I think it’s important to talk about it,” she said. “Mental illness is real and it’s harmful to treat it as something shameful.”

While she feels strongly about using her voice to promote awareness of the importance of mental health, in a few weeks she’ll be using that same voice to wow the audience at the MPAC.

There’s that left brain – right brain duality again. If anyone can pull it off, Valeroso can. She’s had a lot of practice.

MORE COVERAGE OF MORRISTOWN ONSTAGE 2025

Morristown Onstage finalist Franchesca Henry loves a challenge: She will sing one of opera’s most demanding arias

February 23, 2025

Jeff Prescott

Arts David Okada Featured Franchesca Henry Helping Hands Marion Filler morristown onstage 2025 Schools No Comments

By Marion Filler

Soprano Franchesca Henry, 27, works hard to develop her voice. She teaches privately and online, lands parts in local productions, and has studied and performed in Italy. She also has a steady church gig with Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, and a part-time job at Agricola in Morristown to help keep the lights on.

The extraordinary result of all her efforts will be in the spotlight when she sings Giacomo Puccini‘s Ch’il Bel Sogno from La Rondine (The Swallow), as a contestant at Morristown Onstage on March 4, 2025.

“It was (Puccini’s) first opera, and is not well known,” she explained. “But this aria is in the first act and you’re given a kind of treat almost as soon as you sit down. The song is like a competition piece,” a favorite among opera contestants because it is so challenging to perform, she said.

Morristown Onstage 2025 finalist Franchesca Henry. Photo by Marion Filler

Henry is among 16 finalists who will compete at the Mayo Performing Arts Center for cash prizes, in the Morris Educational Foundation’s 18th annual fundraiser for the Morris School District. The competition is open to people who live, work or study in Morristown, Morris Township, or Morris Plains.

Ch’il Bel Sogno (Beautiful Dream) is a “very moving piece, we call it a rubato,” Henry said. “It’s almost like speaking. And then it becomes very still. There are a lot of times when it moves forward, almost like it’s imitating speech, but then you have these still moments when I’m singing high A’s, B’s and C’s.”

“Changing from this moving – singing- speaking to this legato, this stretched-out singing, and finding the vowel sounds to make them the most beautiful and also understood,” is hard she admitted. “But the song is fabulous.”

The aria is about love; it’s by Puccini, after all. A courtesan fantasizes about the possibility of a chaste romance, a new relationship. Henry is the Swallow or the Rondine of the title, who flies towards the sun and happiness, yet may never find it.

A Bolivian American, Henry was born in Maryland and started singing when she was just 2 years old.

“My mom paid a lot of attention to me. She sang in a Bolivian cover band at the time, and I would just come out on the stage and join her.”

Henry took lessons as a child and studied voice for many years, and has performed with the Bronx Opera in New York and the New Jersey Light Opera in Chatham. She also participates in Dreamality, Inc., a nonprofit in Parsippany that offers music education to children in disenfranchised communities, and to the developmentally disabled.

However, the road to becoming a professional opera singer verges on the impossible.

“A lot of people think opera is so ancient that no one likes it. No. There are so many young people like myself who love opera and sing opera,” Henry countered.

To prove her point, she recently entered the Laffont Competition, sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera, as one of several thousand aspiring singers from the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The requirements are grueling, and when all is said and done, 10 finalists are selected and their careers are virtually guaranteed. In the New York District, sopranos abounded. How tough is it to make the cut?

“Last year they compared it to getting Taylor Swift tickets,” Henry quipped.

MORE COVERAGE OF MORRISTOWN ONSTAGE 2025

By Ellen S. Wilkowe

By Marion Filler

By Beth Carroll

By Marion Filler

Navigation