by Jules Morreal

Having made her stage debut in a shopping mall at age five, teenager Alexandrea Tocco has since been lauded with continued accolades.

It was an innate urge that caused Alex, as she likes to be called, to break away from her mother’s grasp and captivate a holiday crowd in a New Jersey mall. Her echoing voice resounded to the rafters and swept through each corridor. Shoppers throughout the mall followed the sound to find Alex encircled in an admiring audience. With self created melodies bursting from her young heart and coaxing from an admiring audience she continued with her performance. Spurred by intermittent bravos and a final torrent of applause, Alex giggled at the attention and basked in the limelight. It was the genesis of her stage career. Having experienced the joy of audience kudos, mother and daughter both aspired to continuing ventures into the theater world.

“At first I was worried that Alex was annoying the shoppers” Patty Tocco, Alex’s mother, says, “But when I saw the reaction of an admiring audience, I was brought to the brink of tears and overwhelmed with pride.” It was then that Patty suspected that her daughter may have a natural talent.

Performing came easy to Alex as she later entered countless competitions. Her vibrant voice and attractive stage presence soon earned her a reputation as a rising star. At the recent Young Artist Competition in Fort Myers, her resonant singing rattled the chandeliers at the Broadway Palm Theater. Moving about the stage with the grace of a professional, she charmed her audience with her rendition of ‘Sixteen Going on Seventeen’, from Oscar Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. Sweeping the entire slate of singing and acting categories, she earned a standing ovation, and accepted the overall winner’s trophy from Mayor Jim Humphrey of Fort Myers.

She attributes her success to the tutelage and mentoring of Dr. Carol Nabatoff, PhD, musical director of Nabbie’s Performing Arts School. “Dr. Nabatoff has taught me how to project and deliver a song” Alex says, “And her teaching and advice has served me well.”

It is a magic moment when she enters center stage. The coughing and fidgeting has stopped, and candy wrappers no longer rustle in the seats. A silence engulfs the auditorium. It is then that Alex embraces the audience with her vibrant soprano voice. “Music,” she says, “is an expression of emotions.” Singing an aria or a show tune, Alex can feel the audience response. It is in their eyes, their facial expressions and their attentiveness to her singing that clues her to the success of her performance.

Alex has always felt comfortable facing an audience. During the first minutes of her appearance, a fleeting glance and friendly smile to one or two in the audience is contagious. She says it sets the mood in the theater and creates a bond with her audience.

“To this day I have music in me that must be expressed,” she quietly admits. “I hear it in the wind passing through a bough or a seagull soaring past my window. The ripple in the Gulf as a dolphin skims the surface are all cues from nature’s never ending symphony.” And she adds, “If you have an ear for it you can easily create it as a melody.”

There is more to her singing than vocalization. It is an energy in her that must be expressed. “On stage, my body seems to take wing and I’m wrapped in a spirit urging me to greater heights of singing.” She cannot explain it, but it is her guiding light in each of her appearances. During a performance, she is deeply involved with the message of her song. “I owe it to my audience. They have come to see me, and I don’t want to let them down,” she insists. Knowing she has performed well is her greatest joy.

Her biggest thrill was performing in Las Vegas under the auspices of Dr. Nabatoff in the Access Broadway competition. Young performers from across the country competed for the coveted first place award and the national recognition it affords. Appearing much older than her 15 years, Alex took to the stage like a seasoned professional. It wasn’t long before her singing swept through the audience and mesmerized the judges. She received an extended ovation and was awarded the First Place designation. Her performance contributed greatly to the Nabbie School of Performing Arts taking home the Broadway Cup, the four-foot trophy for Best Studio 2005.

Alex’s success comes as no surprise to Dr. Nabatoff. “Her rare talent and a deep passion for the theater set her apart from the throngs of young hopefuls,” Nabatoff says. “She is Broadway-bound and it is certain she will light up the horizon for years to come.”

Her love affair with the theater is anchored to a deep-seated ambition to perform on the New York stage. “Broadway is my goal,” she says with a sparkle in her eyes. “I plan to go to college in New York, and then sing my way to Broadway.” Receiving a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical is her ultimate goal she says with unabashed confidence.

Alex’s talent extends past her singing. Peppered among her impressive biography are roles in Annie, Peter Pan, The Boyfriend and numerous comedic monologues. She recently delighted a Fort Myers High School audience with her role as Amneris, impudent daughter of the King of Egypt in Elton John’s adaptation of Aida. Her comedic timing and delivery caused the audience to roar in laughter.

Leo Wolfe, Nabbie Artistic Director says, “Alex is a gifted performer. Her dedication to the craft and her natural abilities foretells of her Broadway success.”

With the confidence of a veteran performer and a little bit of luck, a Broadway marquee may someday read;…The Sound of Music, starring Florida’s own Alexandrea Tocco. •