Dothan Brook School music teacher Alicia Stein rehearses with cast members of Trumbull Hall Troupe’s musical “Six” at the school in White River Junction on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Macy Bettwieser, left of Stein, is a Hartford High student who is also competing in Broadway World’s Next On Stage. Rehearsing with her are Lia Hammond, Ava Bucci, Amelia Whipple, Cora Winslow and Madison Garrow. Stein is also Trumbull Hall Troupe’s music director. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsThis story by Marion Umpleby was first published in The Valley News on Jan. 15Hartford High School senior Macy Bettwieser was one of the many students undergoing the grueling process of applying to college last fall. Since she was applying to musical theater programs, she had to submit recordings of show tunes and classical works.Without mentioning it to anyone, Bettwieser also sent a video to Broadway World’s Next On Stage, a national competition that, among several prizes, offers a full ride to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York and Los Angeles.In December, she learned that she’d been selected from among more than 250 applicants as one of the 15 to make it to the next round.What followed was a whirlwind of rehearsing and trying to garner public votes to progress to the next stage in the competition.On Sunday, Jan. 19, Bettwieser will travel to New York City to compete against two other contestants in the final round, a feat that rests on a foundation of hard work and passion, from Bettwieser, her family and her educators. Even before she first set foot on stage, music was part of Bettwieser’s life.“We’re a super big music family,” she said in a phone interview.Growing up, her mother, Anisha Bettwieser, sang in chorus and took voice lessons. Bettwieser’s dad, Stephen, built sound systems for a roller rink in Utah before studying medicine. Her two older brothers are both engaged in the technical side of theater.The family moved to Vermont for her dad’s residency at Dartmouth just before Bettwieser finished third grade.The next year, she participated in her first musical: “Honk! Junior” at Dothan Brook School. From the get-go, Bettwieser was drawn to the big roles.“Her brother had one of the speaking roles and she was so jealous, she just wanted it so bad,” her mother said.The next summer, despite being one of the younger kids, she was cast as Ariel in a production of “The Little Mermaid” at a theater camp at ArtisTree in Pomfret.In fifth grade, she played Dorothy in her school’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” Director and theater teacher Lanni Luce West, who’s directed Bettwieser in almost 15 shows, was struck by her talent at such a young age.“She had a natural instinct at 10 years old. She understood the stage,” Luce West said in a phone interview.After that, Bettwieser also participated in productions at North Country Community Theater and Trumbull Hall Troupe.“I usually do three or four shows a year,” she said.She also became more dedicated to honing her singing voice, and enrolled in Singing for the Stage, a group class at the Upper Valley Music Center, in middle school.It was the height of the pandemic, and the program was hosted online, but Bettwieser stuck with it. She soon transitioned to private lessons with Julie Ness, a voice teacher at UVMC, with whom she’s continued to train.Working with Ness helped her strengthen her technique and confidence, Bettwieser said.“As much as our technical work has been great, (Bettwieser) also sings a ton on her own, and there’s a lot of self-discovery and pushing the boundaries of what she knows so that she can discover everything that her voice does,” Ness said in a phone interview.One important moment of self discovery happened when she starred in Trumbull Hall Troupe’s 2023 production of “Les Misérables,” as Fantine, whose solo “I Dreamed a Dream” — a gut-wrenching ballad about dashed hopes — is a musical theater anthem.Hartford High School student Macy Bettwieser will compete in Broadway World’s Next On Stage competition in New York City on Jan. 19. Bettwieser was rehearsing for the musical “Six” on Tuesday, Jan. 14, in White River Junction. Photo by Jennifer Hauck/Valley NewsDirector Luce West was struck by Bettwieser’s ability to embody a character so unlike her.“She can just perform beyond her years, and Fantine is such a difficult role,” she said.Emotional ballads are now a staple of her repertoire. In the video she submitted for the third round of the Broadway World competition her eyes brim with tears during the crescendo of “Beautiful Little Fool” from “The Great Gatsby.” Her expression shifts with every new phrase, pushing the story forward.“If you’re going into musical theater, it’s not a singing art form, it’s a storytelling art form. … So then the work becomes about connecting to the lyric, and thinking about your voice as a whole color palette, and any choice that we make vocally has to come from the emotional situation you’re in,” Ness said.Even though emotional ballads are her favorite to perform, Bettwieser hasn’t been afraid to venture into new and uncomfortable territory, including comedy.In her junior year, she enrolled in a program at Northern Stage that helps kids decide if a career in musical theater is right for them. Last year, director of education Robert Grant encouraged Bettwieser to participate in a comedic show that was largely improvised.“It was so far outside of her comfort zone, but she did it,” Grant said. “She’s committed as an artist to learning from failure, which a lot of people try to avoid.”“I’ve been able to bring a lot of comedy into moments when I’ve needed it,” Bettwieser said.This year, Bettwieser chose to enroll in the cosmetology program at the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center through HHS, as a way to support herself while pursuing theater after graduation.She may have auditioned for Broadway World’s competition on a whim, but as Luce West pointed out “as soon as the ball got rolling, she had to be 100% dedicated to making this happen.”Preparing for each round often included learning and recording a new song within 24 hours, said Andrea Nardone, Bettwieser’s chorus teacher at Hartford High School. She memorized “Beautiful Little Fool” on the ride home from an audition and recorded it the following morning.Pulling it all off has taken many hands. Ness, Nardone and Bettwieser’s mom helped her choose songs and record them, and Kevin David Thomas of Northern Stage has recorded the piano tracks. The song for the final performance, “At Long Last” from “Bright Star” for came from a list of more than 50 songs.Bettwieser’s mom has been especially vital not just in preparing for the competition, but managing the logistics of the 11 programs she’s auditioning for.“My mom has been my number one supporter. She’s basically been doing the entire process with me. She’s the person who drives to New York City or Boston for my auditions, and she never complains,” Bettwieser said.Procuring enough votes to advance in the contest has also been no small task, especially when the other contestants are from big states like California and New York.“We were at a music festival in Vermont and random music students were coming up to her to be like: ‘Are you Macy? I voted for you,’ ” Nardone said.On Sunday, Bettwieser’s family, as well as Ness, Nardone and Luce West will go to New York to watch her last performance.Only the judges pick the final winner. “I just think it’s so amazing how supportive the community has been throughout this experience, because it’s not often that someone in a small town does something like this,” Bettwieser said. In “Bright Side,” “At Long Last” expresses joy at the end of a difficult journey, a fitting choice for its singer.Read the story on VTDigger here: Hartford High senior heads to New York City for singing competition.