Student singers record song for Harrison musical

Washougal resident Diana Larson and Portland musician Michael Allen Harrison have teamed up once again to showcase some of East Clark County’s best young singers.

Nine of Larson’s private voice students recorded a song for Harrison’s upcoming musical adaption of “It’s A Wonderful Life” at the musician’s Beaverton, Oregon, studio on Tuesday, Aug. 30.

The recording will be included in a licensing package that Harrison hopes to eventually send to schools and theaters all around the United States.

“The recording went great. (It was an) awesome experience for the kids,” Larson said. “I am always excited about (these types of) opportunities. I used to perform, I was with a symphony, I did all these things. Now I get to enjoy the ride watching these kids do it. It looked like a golden opportunity for them, something that most kids don’t get to do, so that’s exciting. For the kids, it’s a big honor.”

Harrison and Alan Berg debuted their first version of an “It’s a Wonderful Life” musical in 2013 at the Stumptown Stages theater in Portland. The production caught the eye of Alan Cohen, the artistic director and manager of Eastside Community Theater in Gresham, Oregon, who asked the musicians if they had a version of the production that could be presented by children and teenagers at his theater.

They didn’t, but were more than happy to create one.

“A lot of these big Broadway musicals, like ‘Into the Woods,’ have a regular version and also a ‘junior’ version,” Harrison said. “(Producers) edit it down so it’s a shorter show, make it more accessible for community theaters and children’s theaters, because the age level and the talent level is different than what you get on Broadway. … I’m having more fun putting together the junior version than I did the original version.”

Harrison figured that if he was going to create a “junior” version of his beloved holiday musical, he should try to include some children in the process. And in order to do so, he could think of no one better to reach out to than Larson, a friend and frequent collaborator.

“One of the things that also happens with these junior versions is (that) a lot of times the community theaters can’t find musicians or afford musicians to play the score, so I’m also providing tracks for (their musicians) to perform to,” Harrison said.

“I’m recording the score so that we’ll have the voices on it, and some of the songs have children’s voices on them. That’s why (I reached out to) Diana and her kids. They’re going to be part of the demo recording people will be listening to (in order) to learn the music. I’m recording the whole score with the voices on it, and then I’ll do a second mix that will just be the instrumentation so that they can perform (when the performers are) singing live.”

The song, written by Harrison, is called “No One Can Stop Me (Not Even a Girl).”

“This is a brand-new song,” Larson said. “It’s very, very Broadway sounding. It’s just really, really cute. Because it sounds like a musical, I don’t want them to just sing it. I want them to take on the emotion of the song.

“When you’re (singing a song) from a Broadway-themed (production like) ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ it’s not enough to just sing it, even when you’re just practicing. You almost need to take on the facial expressions and everything to try to get the emotion of the song out there. It sounds better when you really are putting your whole ‘everything,’ your emotion, your face, everything into the practice (session). I told them when they’re actually in the recording studio, same thing — take it on like you’re onstage in a musical.”

The students — Amanda Osorio, Tia Williams, Catherine Yung, Shaunak Deshpande, Shalaka Deshpande, Eve Deva, Ricky Dodla, Ben Termini and Sadhana Parachuri — rehearsed the song for three weeks at Larson’s home studio before heading to Beaverton to record the official version.

“We didn’t get sheet music for this, either,” Larson said. “We got a track with (Harrison) singing it and another file that has the words on it. That’s because he was still in the creative process. There’s solos within this song, and (Harrison will) put soloists in wherever he feels like that’s necessary. Everybody gets to (participate), but what their part will be, it’s just like studio work — you have to be ready when you go in. I like that it teaches them resilience, too.”

Larson, who works as a paraprofessional at Jemtegaard Middle School and serves as the director for the Washougal School District’s Soundstage after-school performing arts program, has known Harrison for more than 10 years.

Her Soundstage students joined Harrison and former “American Idol” contestant Mac Potts for “An Evening of Music” event at Washougal High School’s Washburn Theater in 2019; and her private students teamed up with Harrison to present a concert at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Vancouver earlier this year.

“I just participated in one of their big recitals a few months ago. The kids were just charming and talented and fun, and I thought they would enjoy having an experience being in the studio,” Harrison said. “Diana is a legacy teacher. She loves those kids. She cares about them. She’s just a person who loves what she’s doing. She loves passing on her knowledge. It’s always just a wonderful time. She just does a lot of good out there. She’s just one of the best people I’ve ever collaborated with, and I consider her a friend. She’s terrific.”

Harrison is a strong advocate for music education. He founded the Snowman Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing instruments, instruction and inspiration to disadvantaged youth in the Pacific Northwest. The Foundation’s “Ten Grands” concert series, which showcases a concert featuring 10 master pianists on 10 grand pianos, has raised several million dollars in cash contributions as well as donated instruments to support youth music programs.

“He’s good with kids,” Larson said. “He’s patient, but you can see that he really wants to help them learn and understand the music. And he encourages them — some of those kids were scared to sing with him at that concert, and he encouraged them. He has a very calm demeanor. You can see that he cares about the kids, and he tells them that they are doing a great job. It’s his persona. Nobody can start a foundation to support kids so that they can have musical instruction and instruments unless they have a huge heart for kids.”

The Eastside County Theater will debut the production in November. Larson hopes that eventually it can come to Washougal as well.

“I told (Harrison), ‘I’d like to actually follow through and do this out here,'” she said. “I’d actually like to (produce it), because I’ve put together musicals before. I think it’d be (great) if that could happen. We could even do it in our school district, and it would be wonderful.”