I had always thought that the 28-year old American Idol sensation started his theater career during his adult life. Who would have thought that Adam Lambert actually started early — at the age of eight! According to MTV, he started at the Children’s Theatre Network (now known as the Metropolitan Educational Theatre, or MET2) in his hometown of San Diego when he was just 8-years-old. Kathie Urban, the non-profit theater’s executive producer whose late husband was the first to spot and nurture AdamLambert’s budding talents, shared:

“He came in as a little squirt, maybe a third-grader and stayed with us through his teens. My husband was good at recognizing young talent and when he did he poured more of himself into those kids. There’s a sparkle and a passion you see in the young people [like Lambert] that’s in their eyes and body language, where you can tell they want to please you, and you can see they get a joy and excitement from doing it.”

Adam Lambert started out over an eight-year stint at the children’s theater in the chorus of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Then he became the lead in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” He starred as Huckleberry Finn in “Big River” and played both male leads in “The Secret Garden.” Though “Garden” was vocally challenging, Kathie said her husband was confident Adam Lambert could handle it. And once he hit the stage, she recalled, the reaction was, “Oh my God, we had tears in our eyes.” Way to go young Adam! ^_^