We all know that American Idol’s hottest star right now got his artistic education through local children’s theater groups. The performing skills Adam Lambert now shows off in America’s most popular show were learned from playing Peter Pan and Huck Finn when he was young. At the age of 9, he began performing with the Children’s Theatre Network – now MET2. A few years later, Adam Lambert started taking voice lessons from Lynne Broyles who later formed the Broadway Bound Youth Theatre Foundation.

The wild singer performed with both groups until he graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 2000 then he headed to Los Angeles where he still lives until now. In San Diego, Adam Lambert started in the ensemble of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and ended up playing lead roles in “Big River,” “The Secret Garden” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” His résumé also includes a European tour of “Hair” and a stint in the Los Angeles production of “Wicked.” Impressed with Adam Lambert so far?

That is definitely an understatement! He isn’t just a “born performer”, he’s a natural performer with a massive stage presence! ^_^ Kathie Urban, one of Adam Lambert’s childhood theater mentors shared: “I think he was always very comfortable in his skin and with who he was. On the stage, he always had great confidence. He was very focused and directed at what he wanted to do and being the best and excelling … I absolutely believe he was born to perform. He had that talent as a young man, and it just grew and grew as he grew up.”

Given the wealth of theater experience Adam Lambert soaked up under the tutelage on the MET2 stage (of which Kathie Urban is a producer), the jump to join “American Idol” was a natural one for the singer. Kathie remembers, “I know in the beginning, there was talk about how he’s too musical theater and too over the top … I think his musical-theater background has helped to make him the incredible performer he is — and have the physicality onstage that’s necessary to engage and audience. Adam Lambert’s ability to draw you in and just everything he does — just exudes performance and entertaining … and that’s what I feel some of the other ones don’t do.”

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! ^_^