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Fresh Face:

Mitchel David Federan

by Katie Riegel

Mitchel David Federan

Age: 11

Currently: Tap-dancing, back-flipping and stealing the show as Young Peter to Hugh Jackman's Peter Allen in the new bio-musical The Boy From Oz.

Hometown: Solon, Ohio. Federan's whole family transplanted from a suburb of Cleveland to New York so that he could do the show and as he puts it, the city is "much faster paced, of course, but very exciting. Very energized." This small town boy clearly fits in to the big city, just like his character. Not only is the wonder-kid a huge Broadway fan ("I've seen so many musicals. I love Hairspray!"), but he's also a diehard Yankees fan.

Hola!: Federan began dancing at the age of two at a dance studio run by his mother. At seven he landed his first professional job, but not in your typical locale. "A judge from one of our yearly competitions said, 'You know, you should go audition for the Rockettes show,'" he recalls. "And I did and I got it," he says proudly, "in Mexico, of course. We lived in a hotel for two months but all I knew was the show in Spanish."

The Big Time: Despite his young age Oz is not Federan's first time on Broadway. He first took to the Great White Way as a replacement in 2001's The Music Man but says the process of opening a show has been completely different. "Opening is amazing! Of course we had the big opening night party and we had the recording for the CD. This is my first really big thing," he says, "and I've been with it for about three years now. I'm the only person left from the reading. Only ten other people that are in the cast now were in the workshop so there have been a lot of changes to the cast and the show as well."

Talk to Me, Boy: The change he was most excited about was the addition of Hugh Jackman to the cast for the original workshop. Federan knew the actor from his role as Wolverine in the first X-Men movie and says that though he was nervous at first to meet the star, things are different now. "You can just talk to Hugh for hours. You know most movies stars I've heard are not like that but he'll talk with you and you just want to talk with him," he says. "He's a very hard worker and great role model. He also has a son who's three-years-old--Oscar--and he's great fun to play with." So does Mr. Jackman share secrets with his young pal? "I can't think of anything," Federan says. "Maybe I do, I'm just not gonna tell you."

Putting It Together: Along with his nightly appointment with the stage of the Imperial Theatre, Federan also has a recurring role on the daytime soap All My Children, which he occasionally films during his days between home-schooling with his mother, photo shoots and interviews. "It's great because it keeps me busy," he says. And he also finds plenty to keep him busy in his downtime backstage. Aside from playing games with his understudy and building contraptions out of Kinex blocks, Federan is Mr. Popularity with the whole crew, possibly even more so than his movie-star counterpart. "Well I did say Hugh's onstage all the time, right?" he jokes.

Jack of All Trades: So he sings, he dances, he acts, he plays sports-what can't this kid do? "A lot, of course," he laughs. "I'm trying to do everything. My mom's trying to let me do whatever I want to do." He says he would like to keep acting but is keeping his options open for the future. "I'm taking on new things every day."

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