It started with a tiny pink piano and kitchen dance parties.
Communication sophomore Gabby Gutierrez grew up around music. At age three, her aunt bought her a small pink keyboard piano. By age four, she was singing Adele and The Beatles in the car.
Finding the right notes
Gabby Gutierrez’s mother, Sisley Gutierrez, knew Gabby Gutierrez needed a teacher after watching her fixation on the piano grow. But at the age of three, her fingers were too small to reach the keys. A year later, one piano teacher measured her fingers and found they were just long enough to start playing.
After just a year of practice, her piano teacher submitted a clip of her playing to the Little Mozarts International Competition. She won the competition and with it came the chance to play at Carnegie Hall, Gabby Gutierrez said.
So at age five, Gabby Gutierrez was flown to New York to play in one of the most prestigious concert halls in the world.
Shortly after, her piano teacher noticed that she would sing to memorize the music and keys she played, Gabby Gutierrez said. Her teacher began doubling as her voice instructor, which kickstarted her musical theatre career, she said.
Taking it to the next level
Gabby Gutierrez’s mom took her daughter at age seven to an audition at the Paper Mill Playhouse, one of the first theaters to begin the regional theatre movement in the United States, which featured the musical “South Pacific” at the time.
Sisley Gutierrez said she was surprised by how many kids were there to audition, and even more surprised as Gabby Gutierrez kept getting called back as the numbers dwindled.
“We didn’t expect it because it all happened so fast,” she said.
Gabby Gutierrez was cast as Ngana, the daughter of the lead character, in “South Pacific.” Yet, during one performance, Gabby Gutierrez said a casting manager was sitting in the audience and approached Sisley Gutierrez with an offer to represent her daughter as her new manager.
With help from the representation she now had, she was cast in 2014 in the Madison Square Garden musical production of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” as Annie Who, her first tour.
Stepping into the industry
As the Christmas show wrapped up, Gabby Gutierrez then booked the lead role in the national tour of “Matilda The Musical” with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Sisley Gutierrez said she was one of three Matildas in the company and performed in 42 states from May 2015 to January 2017.
Though the rehearsals were intense — sometimes reaching 10-hour working days — Gabby Guttierrez said she looks back on the experience fondly.
“I wasn’t perceived as being part of a larger industry because all these casts included other children who are my age,” Gabby Gutierrez said. “It’s kind of like you’re part of this abnormal classroom of kids, and you’re traveling the country together.”
The cast of kids would take classes while traveling together, Gabby Gutierrez said. While her mom was able to accompany her on tour, Gabby Gutierrez would sometimes go months without seeing her dad and older sister, she said.
Because the cast was composed mainly of kids, they all became close friends and still keep in touch, Gabby Gutierrez said.
Jacob Anderson, a trainee at the Joffrey Ballet, said the two instantly clicked when working on the musical. To this day, they are still close friends and meet up in Chicago, Anderson said.
“I think it just felt like we were a group of friends, performing, doing what we loved. It didn’t feel like work to us,” Anderson said. “I don’t think any of us understood the gravity of what we were doing.”
After 10 months with “Matilda,” Gabby booked a Broadway gig to play Sophie, a roadie, in the musical “School of Rock.”
Communication freshman Ellie Kim worked on “School of Rock” with Gabby Gutierrez. Though Gabby Gutierrez was leaving the musical as Kim was cast, Kim said Gabby was very welcoming to her and the two kept in touch as they navigated the child industry.
“All of us growing up in the industry together and having each other to talk to and get advice from and share experiences, has been really nice,” Kim said. “I am extremely grateful for it. And I recognize how lucky I am that I got the chance to do that when I was little.”
A darkside to the industry
After “School of Rock” on Broadway, Gabby Gutierrez returned to “Matilda” for six months. After which, she said she decided to take a break from the industry.
Though her experience in the industry was rewarding, Gabby Gutierrez said it was also incredibly intense. She wanted to experience a “normal childhood” again, she said.
Specifically, Gabby Gutierrez said there were many times in which the casting directors would say explicitly “racist” things to the children.
“Casting directors would say weird things to children regarding their appearance and (would) typecast and (had) biases and you just had to sit down and take it,” Gabby Gutierrez said.
Gabby Gutierrez was the first person of color to ever play Matilda. She received little recognition for this accomplishment and instead remembers receiving Instagram comments questioning why this was a big deal, she said.
While working with cast members who were mostly white and appeared to hold higher socioeconomic status, Gabby Gutierrez said she often felt “alienated” while on tour.
“My parents, who immigrated here from the Philippines, experienced a lot of racism from the production teams and the parents of my fellow cast members as we were traveling on tour,” Gabby Gutierrez said.
Gabby Gutierrez said she was called “too brown” by casting directors to play certain roles. She added that she would often be sent audition packets for characters that were Black or Hispanic, saying this happened just because she was not white.
Communication sophomore Sydney Chan, who met Gabby Gutierrez through the industry at the age of eight, said she experienced similar typecasting experiences.
The roles Chan played in musicals, specifically in “A Christmas Story” and “The King and I,” were what Chan referred to as a stereotypical Asian girl.
“At some point, it kind of puts into question how much (getting a role) was about my talent and how much it was about what I looked like,” Chan said. “Of course they needed someone who could sing and act. But I did feel like sometimes I was chosen because I was Asian and I just looked that part.”
Finding the joy again
After taking a break from the industry, Gabby Gutierrez said she tried out for her high school’s musical. She said the experience made her realize why she loved musical theatre.
Gabby Gutierrez said majoring in theatre at Northwestern has helped her learn she has agency as a performer and in the creation of her art.
“(In the industry), I felt more of a cog in a machine of something greater than myself,” Gabby Gutierrez said. “(NU) will teach you how to be a theatre maker and a creator of not only art, but the norms that we accept in our art and the things that we put up with.”
Gabby Gutierrez is a member of THUNK a capella as well as Vertigo Productions, and she said she regularly performs in student productions.
Gabby Gutierrez said she hopes to continue her career in art, exploring directing and visual art in addition to musical theatre. Most of all, she hopes she can be part of the small change the industry needs, she said.
“As an adult entering the industry, we are the people who have the power to change things for the better,” Gabby Gutierrez said. “It’s not something that you just have to observe.”
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