By Amber Noizumi
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]
 Photo courtesy of Anne Warren
Third-year Anne Warren is the recent winner of
the Carol Burnett Award.
Just looking at the 5-foot-5-inch, fair-skinned blond, you might
expect her to sing in soft-spoken chirps. But the powerful, crisp
notes that thunder from this delicate actor quickly dispel that
notion.
Anne Warren, a third-year musical theater student, is a woman
with a big voice and big dreams to match.
“My dream is to play Belle in “˜Beauty and the
Beast’ ““ that’s my corny one,” Warren said.
“I also want to be Eponine in “˜Les
Miserables.’
But for Warren, those dreams are not so far out of reach. Just
in April, she auditioned for the touring productions of both
“Footloose” and “Les Miserables.” Though
she didn’t get cast, she is getting her name out there.
“I just need to get my foot in the door ““ which is
hard,” Warren said.
For Warren, those big dreams started out when she was in her
junior high school choir and they performed Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat.”
“After my first musical, I was addicted,” she
said.
But Warren’s family constantly moved around to Washington,
Minnesota, Idaho and Northern California before finally settling
down in Coto de Caza, Calif., where Warren first got her lead role
as Martha in Capistrano Valley High School’s production of
“The Secret Garden.”
“It was so fun and exciting to finally get a lead
role,” Warren said. “And it was vindicating because I
had waited so long and I knew I could do it. Playing Martha just
made me want to do more.”
While many parents dread the thought of their children trying to
break into show business, Warren’s parents have stayed behind
her.
But Warren’s parents are not the only ones who recognize
her talent. Recently, she won the Carol Burnett Award, which is a
$1,000 scholarship given to the winner of a musical theater
competition.
“I was so shocked when I won. I really didn’t think
I won. My friends’ scenes were amazing and I thought that one
of them had won for sure,” Warren said.
Though not everyone can win the competition, Warren feels that
these type of theatrical experiences at UCLA help shape students
into better performers.
“I watched everybody grow a lot during the
competition,” Warren said. “I know I learned so much
about myself having to put the scene together pretty much on my
own.”
The competition also introduced her to big names such as Dean
Pitchford, who wrote the lyrics for “Fame” and
“Footloose,” as well as renowned choreographer Lee
Martino.
“It was so cool getting to perform for Dean Pitchford
because I had just auditioned for “˜Footloose,'”
Warren said.
Warren also got to meet the co-writer of “Company,”
George Furth, when she played Amy in UCLA’s production of the
musical.
In addition to making connections, Warren, who has moved around
all of her life, has found a comfortable niche at UCLA.
“The other students are like my family. We have all of our
classes together, we practically live together,” she
said.
“The professors are really, really wonderful too.
They’re really encouraging and obviously think we have what
it takes to make it. UCLA is a very nurturing, encouraging, really
positive place to be.”
This summer Warren will be biding her time trying to make a name
for herself in film, television and commercials, but her heart
remains with the theater.
“Musical theater isn’t as appreciated as it should
be. It’s the hardest to do, because you have acting, singing
and dancing all in one, and it’s live,” she said.
Though show business can be a world of rejection, Warren feels
like she’s up to the challenge. After graduating, she plans
to go to New York and put what she’s learned at UCLA to the
test.
But she feels more confident with the encouragement she’s
received from professors and with achievements like the Carol
Burnett Award.
“It always feels good to get encouragement from people in
the professional world, because nine times out of 10 you’re
going to get rejected, and not get the job. John Hall, my
professor, always tells us “˜You’ve gotta sell your
package.’ And when you get awards it means that they like
what you’re selling,” Warren said.
Warren hopes her award will bring her successes similar to
Burnett, who made her theatrical ascent in New York after leaving
UCLA.
“Carol Burnett is an amazing woman. She has been a pioneer
for women in musical theater and has opened so many doors and
windows of opportunity for young women today that are aspiring
young actresses as she was,” Warren said. “Maybe one
day I will be able to look back on my career and be able to have
someone say the same things about me. I hope so.”