When Jarius Miquel Clielt was at Pebblebrook High School, he was not positive that he would pursue a career in music theater.
Despite the fact that he was part of the Pebblebrook’s magnet program, Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts (CCCEPA), on the way to his last year, CliTt considered a mechanical engineering diploma. In addition to his demands of the Chamber Choir, he said that during his time at Pebblebrook he only auditioned for three shows and performed in just one.
During his last year at school, one of his advisers, Evelyn White, pulled him aside and very much told him that he had to pursue music. But despite small hints here and there, it was not crystal clear that the stage called him until the end of his graduated career at Georgia State University.
“Acting and singing was just something I did,” said CliTt. “I didn’t really know there was a full career.”
And yet CliTt has made a career by standing on stage, in shows such as “Noel: The Musical”, “Once on this Island”, “My Fair Lady” and more. He can then be seen in the National Tour of “The Book of Mormon” that plays Mafala Hatimbi. The tour will be in the Fox Theater from 24-29 June.
“The Book of Mormon” contains music, lyrics and a book by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez. The musical farce follows two Mormon missionaries while trying to spread their faith over a remote Ugande’s village.
For CliTt this is a complete circle moment. The first time he saw “The Book of Mormon” was at the Fox in 2018. This is the second time he will appear in the national tour “The Book of Mormon”, but the first time he will play a leading role.
“Now my face is in the program!” he said.
The first time CliTt auditioned in 2022 for “The Book of Mormon”, he had no agent (though). He said that the most important advice he gives to young people who want to pursue a career in art is not to be afraid of making contact himself.
“They are a bit shocked,” he said about the reaction he gets. “They are like, oh my god! You e -mailed casting directors? Yes, I do that! That is even before I had an agent … The book of ‘Mormon’s book’ the first time I did it, it was all by me.”
Cliert said he thinks he can look at the performance of Mafala during his first run in “The Book of Mormon”, helped him to prepare to get into the role himself. Before this tour was the last time he caught a leading role as Coalhouse Walker Jr. In “Ragtime” in the Duluth Playhouse in Minnesota.
“Your preparation will be the same,” he said about being in the ensemble and taking on a leading role. “You approach it in the same way: with a certain amount of gratitude, a certain degree of focus and readiness.”
Cliert said that some of the reason he felt confident enough to pursue a career on stage, the experience was to see other non -white actors inhabiting the space. During his first trip to New York City, his mother took him to see ‘in the Heights’, the musical of Lin-Manuel Miranda prior to ‘Hamilton’. As a child from Atlanta and Broadway artists singing and dancing on hip-hop numbers helped him to realize that there was a place for him in the industry.
“Seeing hip hop on a Broadway stage everything changed,” he said. ‘There is a feeling of things that I identify [with]While they still love ‘ragtime’ and classics. It is a nice ebb and electricity. “
Tickets for “The Book of Mormon” in the Fox Theater can be purchased online.
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