Toms River Teen Lands Role In 'Annie Live'

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Jadaya Bivins almost didn't take up acting.

The 15-year-old from Toms River, who is set to perform as one of the orphans in the ensemble cast of "Annie Live" on national television Thursday night, was focused on singing when she and her sisters started attending the Society Performers Academy two years ago.

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"She told the owner she only wanted to sing," said Michelle Bivins, Jadaya's mother. But the owner of the studio urged her to reconsider: "Maybe you should learn acting as well."

Jadaya had loved to sing since she was little.

"She was the kind of kid who was just singing or humming all the time, since she was 3 years old," Michelle said, "until it drove us crazy."

"I feel guilty saying that now," she said with a laugh during an interview Sunday, as Jadaya and the rest of the cast were making the final preparations for the performance that airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time Thursday on NBC.

That love of singing manifested itself in Jadaya performing the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" as a first grader in the Calvary Academy school talent show, Michelle said. It progressed to lessons at The Music Academy in Toms River that brought Jadaya opportunities to perform. She has sung at a variety of places, including at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park as part of a charity event with The Music Academy. She also took the stage at the Apollo Theatre in New York when she was 13.

"She did a cover of Whitney Houston," Michelle said. More recently, Jadaya has started writing her own music and even wrote and filmed a music video. (You can see it on her YouTube channel.)

It also led her to audition for the Toms River Intermediate Southschool musical, "Into The Woods," based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood, when she was a sixth grader at Intermediate South.

"Her sister told her not to get her hopes up, 'They don't give lead roles to sixth graders,' " Michelle said, and added that she, too, urged Jadaya to keep her hopes in check.

Michelle was stunned when the Intermediate South play director called her.

"I answered the phone and said, 'Why are you calling me from school,' " Michelle said, thinking she was talking to Jadaya. The voice on the other end was the play director:

"I just wanted to let you know she got the role of Little Red," the play director told Michelle excitedly.

Jadaya, who now is a freshman at the Ocean County Vocational Technical Schools' Grunin Performing Arts Academy, won the lead roles in the Intermediate South musicals in seventh and eighth grade as well.

"I thought, 'Wow, she can act. She is like a natural," Michelle said. "She’s got a lot of talent, she can just turn it on" when she gets on stage.

So when the owner of Society Performers Academy in Point Pleasant Beach urged Jadaya to take acting lessons as well as vocal classes, Michelle supported the idea. In addition to classes, the studio offers the opportunity for students to audition for various talent agencies. Jadaya connected with a talent agency. The agency set her up audition for "Annie Live."

The first audition was in July, and Jadaya received an invitation to callbacks in August, Michelle said. The casting director told the aspiring actors that they had been selected for callbacks from among thousands of auditions, she said.

When Jadaya was cast for the show, "her agent called me because she was so excited," Michelle said, and wanted to share the news rather than simply email it.

Rehearsals began in October and Michelle and Jadaya have been in staying in New York. The children who are part of the show have had tutoring and have been receiving schoolwork from their teachers back home while they prepare for the show. Rehearsals have been five days a week because there is a limit on how many days per week the children can work, Michelle said.

While the cast has rehearsed, Michelle and other parents and guardians have been at the studio and been able to watch the goings-on behind the scenes. They will be backstage in the dressing room on Thursday while the cast performs before a live audience at Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage, New York. Michelle said they will get the opportunity to watch the performance from the seats Tuesday during one of the final dress rehearsals, and her husband, Alonzo, and Jadaya's sisters, Sequoia, 17, and Aaliya, 13, will be able to watch it in person Wednesday during a "friends and family" performance.

On Thursday, however, none of the family will be watching live on TV, Michelle said. While she is in New York with Jadaya, Alonzo, Sequoia and Aaliya will be attending Sequoia's Toms River South field hockey banquet.

"I told one of the moms I will enjoy watching this on TV. I’d rather watch it on TV," Michelle said. "When you’re in person you’re seeing everything going on in the room. On TV, you only see what's happening on stage. "

The DVR is set to record it, she said.

As for Jadaya, Michelle said there's still a sense of disbelief that she will be performing for a television audience expected to be in the millions.

"She’s very, very excited," Michelle said. "She keeps saying, 'I just can't believe I'm doing this.' "

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