Canyon Lake 10 year old stars in ‘Annie’

BY Kelly Lopez

Sarah Gamble with her younger brother, Michael Gamble, prepare to go on stage in the summer 2017 in an All That Jazz Performing Arts Center production, The Pirates Camp. The two have performed together in various productions, this being the first. Photo provided by Douglas Gamble.

Sarah Gamble is a 10-year-old Canyon Laker who has a résumé of someone twice her age. She is starring in the lead role in the musical Annie, playing at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater now through Sunday. The show is presented by the prestigious theater company Temecula Valley Players. Annie has been running since February 6. The last show is Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Sarah has been in many performances with Temecula Valley Players including All That Jazz, All Shook Up, A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland (as Little Alice). She has also performed in Beauty and the Beast with Moonlight Stage Productions in Vista.

The role of Annie is her first lead and her favorite role. “I was really nervous the first night,” she said. “But, I just tried to have fun.”

Sarah has been learning to sing and dance since she was very young. She started her journey towards stardom at age 6 in Music Man. She said she continues to improve her dancing at All That Jazz, a performing arts center in Temecula. She also has a vocal coach who she works with regularly.

“I was acting and putting on plays at home even before I started the classes.” she said.

Jill Brodersen, who is the All That Jazz owner and one of Sarah’s instructors there, is the director of Annie.

“Sarah is a complete joy to have at my performing arts center,” Jill said. “She works very hard and always has a positive attitude! She is also a member of our competition dance and musical theatre teams.”

Jill said the entire cast of Annie is very strong, but it’s the children who steal the show.

“I think the audiences will really fall in love with the children in the show,” she said. “They are powerhouse performers and adorable at the same time.”

In this backstage photo from the Spring 2019 show All Shook Up, Sarah Gamble and her younger brother, Michael Gamble, pose together in full costume. Photo provided by Douglas Gamble.

Sarah said she loves acting, singing and dancing so much that she has no other hobbies. “I love spending time with the cast and inspiring little kids to perform,” she said.

In her spare time she enjoys watching Broadway musicals on tour. She has already seen Wicked and Hamilton.

Sarah and her family have lived in Canyon Lake for 11 years. She lives with her parents Douglas and Liz Gamble and her brother Michael Gamble.

For them, performing is a family affair. Michael recently played Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol alongside Sarah.

“Michael dances, too,” Sarah’s grandmother, Catherine Gamble, said. “He wants to be in the next play, Willy Wonka.” Sarah’s father, Douglas, is very active with All That Jazz Performing Arts Center as well. He is one of the directors at the center and he helps build props and sets.

The Gambles are a multi-generational family in Canyon Lake. Grandparents Don and Catherine built the 157th house in Canyon Lake, Catherine said.

“When we were younger, we used to go water skiing early in the morning before work,” Catherine said. The family moved here permanently in 1992. Douglas met his wife Liz in Canyon Lake when she was a bartender at the Lodge. Don has had a business in the Canyon Lake Town Center for the past 7 years.

Sarah has her sights set high for the future. She plans on making a career out of singing and dancing. When she is an adult, she said she wants to be a Broadway star and be in musical theater. In the meantime, she is enjoying the spotlight and plans on trying out for a role in the play Cinderella next, she said.

Tickets for Annie are still available for purchase at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater box office (2051 Main Street, Temecula, CA 92590), online at www.temeculatheater.org or by calling 866-653-8696 (if no answer, leave a message).