Daniel Koehler bringing Buddy to life in OMT’s Elf Jr.

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

“My role in Les Mis was Lesgles at Mayfield Secondary School. It's a minor role; he has a few lines.”

We three were seated in a local coffee shop: Caledon resident Daniel Koehler, whose next foray is to star as Buddy in Orangeville Music Theatre's production of Elf jr , showing at the Opera House this weekend, January 24 to 26, his mother, Ruth Koehler and ourselves for the Citizen. Tucked up with coffee, tea and an attractive-looking hot chocolate, we took on Daniel's background, philosophy and the upcoming production of Elf jr.

“For the Inn Keeper scenes,” he told us, “there was no choreography really – just do your own thing. In one of the shows, I went around and picked up three pints and drank them all at once..”

The talk turned, briefly but interestingly, to the Koehler family's travels last summer. 

“We went to Asia” –  they passed the tale between mother and son - “Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, for two and a half weeks. We did a hop-on and hop-off airplane to see it all.

“What we learned was that there's a lot of different cultures and we can't do the plane thing. But we're going on a cruise for March Break. There are lots of kids to meet on a cruise then.”

Our initial interest in meeting Daniel for this interview was the very warm praise given by the Director of Elf jr., Tesha Mazur, in his role as Buddy

His comment about the millieu in which he excels, “comedy changes – society changes and the way people like their entertainment. So, comedy must be merged with another style of drama. I like good, honest comedy. Comedians are meant to make you laugh – that's why I like to hear when comedians and comedies do well, like Jojo Rabbit.

“When Elf jr first went out, it faded into obscurity – Elf the musical lasted two months. I'm in Mayfield's rep program. I never took a drama class. I'd rather take and hone my craft, myself. Mayfield is completely different. Discipline is not really an issue – I think everyone there understands – [for Les Mis] we were off-score fairly soon – songs are easier to memorize – so, it wasn't too difficult. I think everyone was really excited.”

Ruth Koehler took on the conversation to talk about Daniel as a child. “He always was enthusiastic about performing. At six years old, he created a play – had all his stuffed animals arranged and then did the play himself – a one-man [child] show. He sang O Canada at the Opera House in grade six.”

Convinced of his potential, Daniel's parents sent him to Alton Public School, an arts elementary school, where Daniel was in Peter Pan, Zeussical jr and, most significantly Lion King, in which he played Scar. 

“That was the most interesting and fun villain,” he remarked. “I was in 11 shows at Alton.”

There then popped up some important news, to wit: “Mayfield is entering the Ontario Festival/National Theatre School with a one-act play, written and produced by the grade 12 students, a drama. I auditioned and got in. I'm playing the part of Flynn and he gets a huge crush on a girl. He proposes with a song. It's a secondary character but is in most scenes. Like Chip in Beauty and the Beast.”

We speculated about the future and he offered, “I really hope acting is in my life. I checked, though, and there's only 30,000 that have made it to be famous actors out of the millions of actors...

“i just want to be in as many productions as possible to fill my resumé.”

However, “I try to stay in the present as much as I can. I used to think about the future – sometimes, you just need to let the sun rise, you know it's going to set eventually. I found this philosophy has really helped. Instead of worrying if I'm going to become a musician, I just play my piano. It's really just become a hobby. It's better learning like that if I'm going to audition for music/jazz in the next few years.”

He said, “I like intense acting a lot, more to convey so much emotion that the audience has that ‘wow – what just happened?' I love that.

“But comedy makes people feel better. With Buddy [in Elf jr], the moments evoke funny- some of the ideas I've had – some of the ideas Tesha's had make it so funny.”

About coming to see Elf Jr, “Buddy takes up most of the show - I have one break – four minutes – I need to keep up the momentum throughout the entire show. Every rehearsal, every song, I keep trying to bring the energy up. When you hear me on stage, I completely change my character for Buddy. Also, it's funny.

“Somebody worries you're going to flinch at the acting but, in comedy, you know you're going to have a good time when it's called Elf jr. This is my sixth show with OMT.

“Why come? You don't see that many comical musicals- you're gonna want to come here to laugh and see cute kids.”

OMT's production of Elf jr is on at the Opera House, this weekend from Friday, January 24 through to Sunday, January 26. For tickets, go towww.orangevillemusictheatre.com/tickets.