Allyce Berry, singing in the 2006 Variety Show
"Beautiful Belle" is Allyce Barry
Beginning with "The Music Man", Allyce has performed in nearly 25 stage productions.
by Shelly Franklin
"Beauty and The Beast" is this year's Fall Musical production at the Liberty Theater. The lovely leading lady is none other than Allyce Barry!
Seventeen-year-old Allyce began her acting career in Dayton at the tender age of ten. She played the part of Amaryllis in "The Music Man". Her singing was as sweet as her disposition. Since that time she has performed in twenty-two or twentythree stage productions - she's not sure which number is correct. Allyce has loved the theater as long as she can remember. She has participated in every variety show, high school production, Missoula Children's Theater production and every major musical performed at the Liberty.
A typical day for Allyce begins at 6:00, when she gets going to make it for her zero period choir class at Dayton High School, where she is a senior this year. She takes as many Honors classes as are available, and is also the President of Youth and Government. After school she stays for Drama club and then hoofs it home for a snack, some homework, and then back to the Liberty for practice until about 9:00 pm, when she returns home to finish homework.
Two years ago, after her involvement in Missoula Children's Theater, Allyce was invited to audition for the prestigious Performing Arts Camp in Missoula. She hastily sent off an audition tape and was accepted. She attended the camp for two weeks. According to Allyce, "It was musical boot camp." The campers put in grueling hours of movement practice, singing practice and elocution. "I went to breakfast in my sweats the first morning and found myself standing in line behind a girl in silver 6-inch stiletto heels and a mini-skirt. My bunk mate was a very blonde girl who had tape-recorded herself dressed as Marilyn Monroe draped over a white grand piano, singing "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend". I was not about to tell her about my audition tape after that. The kids at the camp were very serious and very competitive."
Allyce doesn't see herself as very competitive. "That's why I don't think I ever liked sports." she says. "I do this for fun, and strangely enough, I find it relaxing." Being Belle is easier than the role she had last year as Nancy in "Oliver". Nancy was a complex character who was actually older and had suffered at the hands of an abusive partner. It took Allyce a lot of emotional energy to portray Nancy and make her believable. Belle, on the other hand, is a more "flat" character. She is bookish and sweet and naïve. Allyce believes that any complexity of character comes from the fact that Belle is intelligent, and even now it is sometimes difficult to be an intelligent woman. Allyce quips, "Belle is a Disney Character. Who doesn't want to be a Disney Character?"
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