- April 18, 2024
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Lifelong Ormond Beach native Chelsea Turbin is on tour with the “American Idiot” musical, which will make stops back in Florida this month.
BY MIKE CAVALIERE | ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Chelsea Turbin, 22, attended Tomoka Elementary, Ormond Beach Middle and then Seabreeze High School. But where she learned the most, she says, is in the theater.
“I’ve always been serious about (theater),” says Turbin, who joined Ormond Beach’s Children’s Musical Theater at 7 years old and remained a member until she was 15. “Theater is where I made my friends, learned responsibility and how to follow my passions in life.”
After CMT, she joined Seabreeze’s American Musical Theater and also worked six seasons at Seaside Music Theater, in Daytona Beach.
“It was during my time at Seaside that I realized I could actually make a career for myself in the theater, and (so I) went on to get my bachelor of fine arts from The Boston Conservatory last year."
And the education paid off. Turbin is now touring with the musical production of Green Day’s “American Idiot,” which will make stops in Jacksonville and Tampa this month.
“Considering that I'm still so young, I feel pretty awesome with the way my career is going so far,” Turbin says — but ultimately, she wants to be on Broadway. “Isn’t that The Dream?”
“(Children’s Musical Theater) shaped me into the singing, dancing, acting machine I am today!” Turbin says. “We would do three shows a year, and they always made sure that you knew the big shows: “42nd Street,” “Grease,” “The Secret Garden” … But we still got to work on some lesser-known shows, too.”
The group also gave her a start in tap-dancing, jazz and ballet, making her time in CMT “an extremely rewarding experience.”
“They're still like family to me today,” she says.
Turbin embarked on her current tour almost a year ago and has performed in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At the end of summer, the play will take her to Japan and South Korea, as well.
“It’s exhilarating,” Turbin says of the theater. “The lights, the orchestra, the sound of the applause and laughs … I've always felt at home on stage not because I'm the center of attention but because I love to entertain. … Ask any artist and they'll tell you that getting to share the art they make, and having it affect people's lives, is one of the best feelings in the world. ... This has been the experience of a lifetime.”
See for yourself
Ormond Beach’s Chelsea Turbin will travel with the “American Idiot” musical tour to host shows May 14-15, in Jacksonville, May 16, in Fort Myers, and May 17-19, in Tampa. Visit http://www.americanidiotthemusical.com.
