Ridgewood Girl, 11, Wraps Up Off-Broadway Debut

The audition was on a whim; a friend was going, and Miranda McKeon tagged along to Manhattan. She wanted to practice.

But the producers of “Little Miss Sunshine” liked what they saw in the 11-year-old actress, and she wrapped up two months in the cast Sunday, though the show may be the first step in a budding professional career.

“When I read the description of what they were looking for, I thought she could totally do this – she’d be awesome in this part,” said her mother, Jill McKeon. “But I still thought it was a total long-shot.”

“This is all new to us, we kind of fell into it.”

"Little Miss Sunshine," which debuted Off-Broadway in October, is a musical adapted from the 2006 movie about a little girl's road trip with her family to compete in a beauty pageant.

McKeon played a pageant competitor in the musical as well as another role antagonizing the main character as part of a taunting chorus of "mean girls."

When they arrived at the audition, her mother remembered hundreds of girls reading for a handful of parts, many of them represented by Broadway agents.

Now Miranda might fit in better, having found an agent through her work on the cast and working alongside seasoned actors.

“It was a lot different,” the BF sixth grader said, comparing it to her roles in school and local theater productions. “I think it was a lot more fun actually, just to be working with real directors and performers. I think I learned a lot because of it.”

“It won’t change much but I think I’ll take [acting] a little more seriously. I might study my lines more,” she laughs.

McKeon has worked with Sally Ann Tumas-Skoric, her vocal coach, and has now taken up dance lessons in preparation for her next role.

But after eights shows and six work days a week, on top of tutoring in between rehearsals, she’s – maybe reluctantly – taking a break from the stage to focus on school. Only a break though, she says.

“I thought it might happen when I was older. But I definitely didn’t think as a kid I would make it on an off Broadway anything. It was kind of crazy.”