Payette slips into Grease

Tri-Town native Corey Payette is moving into musical theatre, winning a role in an upcoming production of Grease at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in August. He’s seen above, with actress Rebecca Townes, in a Toronto Centre for the Arts production of Ragtime: The Musical last month. (Supplied Photo)

TEMISKAMING SHORES — Tri-Town native Corey Payette is finding a new outlet for his talents in musical theatre.
The 19-year-old, who has wrapped up his first year at York University, is in rehearsals for a production of Grease at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto.
“I went to an open call audition. They had something like over 1,000 people apply,” he said.
He was one of 120 requested to audition and, after three call-backs, was cast as Teen Angel, a role played by Frankie Avalon in the 1978 film version of the musical.
It will be his second role in a downtown Toronto musical production this year. In May and June, he joined the cast of Ragtime: The Musical in a production staged at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.
Musical theatre is the latest step in his education. But it’s also come as a surprise to him.
“I didn’t really see myself in it,” he said on a visit home last week.
He’s known in the Tri-Towns as a singer. Two years ago, as a student at Ottawa’s Canterbury High School of the Performing Arts, he released Broken Vow, a CD showcasing his voice.
While it has been well received, he said, “it’s not where I am right now.”
“I don’t see myself diving into another CD project right away.”
At university, he’s studying musical composition, working on writing and arranging music for a variety of instruments. He was the only first-year student selected for a university concert earlier this year, where he performed an original piece written for piano and violin quartet.
He said his university studies are “all about finding what you’re good at, and experimenting with things you’re not sure about.”
When he studied operetta composition, he opted to audition for a musical production.
“I was thinking of it as, ‘this is research,’” he said.
But he was successful, and won a part in Ragtime.
He’ll spend the rest of the summer in Escape Productions’ Grease. It runs from August 8 through 20 at the 876-seat Bluma Appel Theatre on Front Street.