Imagine a world where 10-year-olds are measured at auditions and are told they are too tall to play a role in a musical. Imagine being told that if you reach 5 feet tall, you probably won't perform in a musical professionally until you are 18 again. Imagine hearing that you are too tall, or too skinny, or too heavy, or the wrong ethnicity. Imagine sitting in dance class listening to parents talk about how great their children are, and showing YouTube videos of their children to anyone in eyesight. Now imagine in any of these situations that you are that child.
At around 10-years-old, while waiting to go into an audition, Joshua Turchin was told that many children stop acting professionally in theater once they hit the 5 foot mark or when their voices change because there are few shows with children over the age of 12. That period of time is known as the dead zone for child performers. As a child with a perfectly average height percentage on the growth chart, he realized that his time as a working actor could be limited. Rather than fulfill the height prophecy and enter into the dreaded dead zone, he decided to take action and prove the stage parents wrong. After a brief attempt to write a musical based on a horror game, he took his mother’s suggestion to write about his own experiences. The Perfect Fit was born.
The Perfect Fit features the book, music and lyrics by 12 year old musical sensation Joshua Turchin. “We are all trying to figure out where we belong in this world,” says Joshua. “It is through the ups and downs, trials and tribulations, forced fits and imperfect fits that help us to find our real perfect fit.”
After finishing the first draft of The Perfect Fit in March 2019, Joshua submitted it to the Rave Theater Festival through a blind submission process. A month later, he found out that it was one of only twenty shows selected out of hundreds across the world that applied.
“One of the most exciting parts of this production is that this is the first time an audience will ever hear this full script and score out loud,” adds Joshua.
Perfectly Theatrical, LLC is the perfect fit for this production to bring it to Rave. They have been involved in many Broadway productions over the years, including the 8-Time Tony Award Winning Musical, Hadestown, and fan favorite, Be More Chill, among many others, including On Your Feet’s UK Tour, Tuck Everlasting and the upcoming revival of The Secret Garden.
Joshua is excited to continue the journey of The Perfect Fit and can't wait to see where the show finds its next perfect fit.
