UPPER TWP. – Alanna Palombo doesn't need a heat wave to feel hot; starring in a soon-to-be released major motion picture- she's sizzling.
In a part written specially for her, the 10-year-old Seaville resident is making her motion picture debut in “Standing Ovation,” an action-packed musical set to premier in Hollywood next week. Filmed in Philadelphia, New York, Atlantic City, Cape May and Ocean City, the movie highlights the beauty of the Jersey Shore and opens to a national audience on July 16.
Alanna electrifies the screen as Alanna Wannabe in the upbeat, family film musical that producers hope will rival “High School Musical,” one of Disney’s most successful movies.
The movie could make stars of several Upper Township residents beyond Alanna. Her sister, Alicia, plays the host – think, “Dancing with the Stars” - a role that includes 25 lines.
Not to be left out, in a scene filmed at the Marmora firehouse, three of her uncles, Richard – the mayor of Upper Township - Aldo and Mike Palombo and her father, Dan Palombo, are in the movie, in addition to a number of volunteer firefighters.  
“It’s very, very exciting,” said Dan Palombo. “We’re very proud, we have not just one daughter, but two in the movie.”
The movie features two singing groups – one rich, one poor - competing for the $1 million top prize in a national music video contest.
The story depicts a talented 11-year-old girl named Brittany who rises from the despair of poverty, fighting her way to fame and fortune in a classic “rags to riches” story. Alanna, younger than the rival dancers, battles her way to get into one of the groups.
Using street-smarts and raw talent, the Standing Ovations rally together and succeed against all odds. The real-life journey of ordinary kids with extraordinary dreams features 20 original songs and 12 original toe-tapping dance numbers.
“Standing Ovation” gives everybody a chance to be somebody, and if you’re somebody than “you’re gonnabe.”  
Anything is possible as long as you believe in yourself. Got it?
Aimed at the middle school/teen set, director Stewart Raffill called it a movie “made for the children by the children.”
Filmed by Kenilworth Productions, the movie features talented actors, singers, songwriters, dancers, gymnasts and musicians from across the Delaware Valley. Some, like Alanna, had never performed in front of the camera but rose to the challenge of learning many intricate song and dance numbers.  
Many of the more than 100 cast members, including Alanna, are students of vocal coach Sal Dupree, who operates a studio in Linwood. There are only 15 major parts. Alanna is the youngest.
Alanna said she never dreamed she’d appear - let alone star – in a major film in her lifetime, let alone at the age of ten. She’d been taking singing lessons from Dupree for a few years. Knowing producers were looking for regional talent in the film, he suggested to Alanna’s mother Aileen that she try out.
“When the audition came up, he said there was not a part for her in this movie, but she should try out anyway,” Dan said. “He told Aileen that he’d like these people from California to see her, plus it would be good experience.”
“They loved her, but told her that there was no part for her,” he said. Brushed off with a “good luck” ending, Alanna went back to school. A week later, the family got “the call.”
“Could you bring her to the Merion Country Club?”
“Wow, I thought, I’d always wanted to see that, I’m a big golfer,” Dan said. “We were excited, seriously. She gave a heck of a performance at that audition. So we went to the Merion Country Club and she auditioned again.”
Turns out the producers loved her; so much, in fact, that they wrote a part into the film just for her.  
They were so impressed, that in due time, her part went from a few lines to a major role.
“We were in the right place at the right time, and she seized the opportunity,” said Dan. “It turned into a big part. They tell me she’s very talented, that she’s a natural. She really loves it.”
Alanna started dancing at the age of three, and immediately fell in love with the stage. She auditioned for Annie at the Gateway Playhouse. Instead, she landed the role of Molly.  
“Sal Dupree was in the audience,” he said. “He found Aileen afterwards and told her that Alanna should take singing lessons.”
So Alanna added singing to her repertoire.
“She started taking singing lessons, by the time she was six she had a real nice voice,” he said.
Alanna is the youngest of Dan and Aileen’s four children. Alicia is a senior at Ocean City High School, brothers Daniel and Sam are a junior and freshman at St. Augustine Prep.
“She’s headed out to Los Angeles to do promotional work,” said Dan. “Everyone is happy. It’s a very exciting time for our family.”
The movie took six months to film and the crew spent three months prior to that rehearsing. Hours of filming turned into a few minutes worth of tape. Scenes were filmed over and over to perfection.
The movie was filmed at the Marmora firehouse and also included a scene at the Tuckahoe firehouse where a call out for a Dalmatian summoned Chief William Chatten’s pup, Flash, and the firehouse’s antique truck.
Dan said the Marmora firehouse scene was something that he, his brothers and the volunteers involved would never forget.
“It was exciting to be in a little scene,” said Mayor Richard Palombo. “I’m very excited for my nieces, it was a lot of fun getting involved.”
“We had a few lines,” Dan said. “The director would say ‘action!’ and (Alanna) spins and go right into character. They had to retake it so many times because we kept messing it up. She’s very comfortable in front of a camera. The rest of us were not.”
Could Alanna become the next Miley Cyrus?
“You never know, she’s enjoying it, and having fun,” he said. “It takes a lot of talent and a little bit of luck. If the movie does well she may have another shot, she may get more opportunities.
“She’s very excited about all of this, but she’s very young and I’m not sure she realizes what a big deal this is. She’s having fun with all the kids and she loves performing, but does she realize how unusual it is to have a role in a major motion picture? I’m not sure.”
Alanna’s character is bossy, brassy and domineering in the film, quite a contrast to the sweet, gentle youngster her father said lurks underneath the Hollywood facade. In the film, she slaps the firefighters – background dancers – with a stick to “loosen them up.”
“She performed for 80,000 people with the cast in Dallas,” said Dan. “I asked her before hand, ‘are you nervous?’ And she said to me, ‘why would I be nervous?’ It really is nothing to her to perform.”
Dan said producers have nothing but compliments for Alanna.
“Sal Dupree has always said she was very talented,” he said. “When she tried out, he said, ‘You need to understand, she is very talented.’ I was taken back a little. I never imagined it meant something like this. I knew she had a good voice.”
Executive director James Brolin – the actor, of “Amityville Horror” and Marcus Welby, MD fame – told the Current’s Suzanne Marino in February that he was more excited about this film than he had about any in a very long time. “Standing Ovation,” he said, is different.
“To have a bunch of non-show business parents supporting their kid’s dreams, it’s very exciting,” he said. “These kids do not have to be here, they are here because they choose to be. They are not 20-year-olds playing teenagers like in High School Musical, these are grade school and middle school kids playing themselves.”
While some may never see another film, Brolin said some may have bright futures.
“I would not be surprised if someone emerged from this movie as a new star,” he said. “There is some incredible talent here and I am hearing these kids – and some of them just pop right out, they are so good.”
Dan, a pharmacist, said the bulk of the effort in making Alanna’s role come to fruition fell to Aileen.
“I had to work, she did most of the legwork for this,” he said. “Some things we took turns on, but Alanna had to be in many different locales and it was up to Aileen to get her there. She put in a lot of long hours. Our friends and family helped out, too.”
Dan said there is no sibling rivalry of jealousy. With Alicia involved too, it’s a girl project in the Palombo household and that’s just fine with their brothers.
“They want nothing to do with this,” he said. “They’re happy for their sisters and happy not to be involved.”
The family is hosting a private boardwalk premier and party for Alanna and Alicia at the Moorlyn Theater on July 16, followed by a reception at the historic Ocean City Music Pier. There will also be big happenings in Philadelphia as the show premiers on July 13.
Alanna, Dan said, will enjoy the summer, jetting from coast to coast. Sudden stardom will be loads of fun. In September, however, she will come back to Earth and the elementary school in Marmora, where like all the other fifth graders, she will be a student, not a star.

Ann Richardson can be e-mailed at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 223.