It has been a while but Candace Furbert is back and offering a one-day workshop, Bermuda to Broadway.

She is doing it for Troika, the performing arts group she last took the stage for in 2016 as Celie, the lead character in The Color Purple.

She has performed in the West End of London in The Book of Mormon;Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and Dreamgirls. She was also part of the UK tour of Shrek The Musical and was a cast member of the British musical comedy, Six, on-board the Norwegian Bliss.

Ms Furbert will share that experience on Saturday when she hosts four workshops for performers of various ages.

The last class of the day, a vocal workshop, offers teenagers and adults lessons in “every area of musical theatre performance including song interpretation, vocal coaching and performance technique”.

“I want to work on breathing. I want to work on different exercises that can help you to sustain your vocals to help you get through if you're unwell, and also rehabilitation,” Ms Furbert said.

The techniques are ones she learnt in 2017 after two polyps were removed from her vocal chords.

“I hadn't even finished Dreamgirls at the time. I left a few weeks early to have this procedure done and when I came back, it was like my voice was completely different. I had to learn how to sing with this new voice. It felt different, it was a bit shaky; like a child just learning to walk for the first time.

“But then, as with any other muscle, you keep exercising. I learnt these short exercises while in rehabilitation that were actually good for warm-up and I’m excited to actually show everyone these techniques.”

Her youngest class, of four to seven-year-olds, will “explore musical theatre through music from the hit Disney movie Encanto”.

“I know a couple who have registered and they probably are Broadway-ready but not everyone who might sign up will already have that. And so I have to be able to adapt and cater to those people who are actually doing it for the first time.”

Although she was singing from the age of three, Ms Furbert did not consider a career in entertainment until she was a teenager.

“It wasn't until I travelled with Up With People, after I graduated from Berkeley [Institute] in 2009. That's when I realised I wanted to do musical theatre.”

In 2011 she flew to London, England for a year of intensive training at the American Musical Theatre Academy.

At the end of the programme she started auditioning for shows and was accepted into Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, a drama school in the UK.

“At the same time I landed a job in the original cast of The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London and it was that decision – whether or not I'm going to go to school for three years and come out and compete with everyone else to get this exact type of job, or I take this opportunity right now and when I’m ready come back.”

She went for the job. Shrek, Dreamgirls, The Color Purple, Tina and Six followed.

When her cousin Jason Lee died in April, she decided to come home.

“I then lost someone else dear to me, Jennifer Seymour. She was my nursery schoolteacher and had continued as my teacher my entire life. Every time I’d come from England, I’d always go to her restaurant see her. And every time I went she would pass me something and say, ‘I’m investing in you. This is for your future.’”

With the pandemic and her 20-month-old son Jensen in mind, Ms Furbert made the decision to reapply to Mountview Academy and was once again accepted.

“My whole time in the industry, I felt like there was something missing. There was information that either I didn't have ways of just asking for, or a type of training I was missing.

“With the pandemic happening, everything is a bit unsure with the West End and Broadway. You have some musicals in the UK that were started and within a few months they’re closing down because of ticket sales; everyone keeps getting Covid in the cast so we have to cancel the show … it's just a lot going on.”

She continued: “So while they’re figuring it out I decided I would raise my son and go to school while he's small. I’m used to coming home at about midnight every night from shows. I don't want to do that to my child.”

Being at home for a while allowed Ms Furbert to reconnect with Troika.

“I was a part of Ammunition, the first showcase Troika did. And since then, I’ve just had a connection with Troika but it’s always been a timing thing. Sometimes I come home but I’m not home long enough. This time [Seldon Woolridge, one of Troika’s founders] was able to catch me.”

On August 4 she leaves for England to prepare for her first term at Mountview. Ms Furbert is hoping that her time in the industry will help her through the academic side.

“I struggle with comprehension. And for this school, the majority of it is a performance grade, which is very good for me. I struggle with reading and obviously understanding what I read.

“Because I struggle with my comprehension I used to find it really hard to get into a specific character. If I'm not understanding what I’m reading, how am I supposed to understand who am I supposed to be, what am I supposed to be doing, what I am feeling as this person, this character? I don't know how I've done it, but I've obviously done something right.”

She has been told that dyslexia is not the issue but what the actual problem is remains unclear.

“I've struggled with it for years, even in high school. I'm very fortunate and blessed to have the talent that I have.”

Eventually, she wants to come back home and teach.

“Within the last five years I believe musical theatre has actually picked up on the island. So many different dance schools offer musical theatre, which is absolutely brilliant. I didn't have that option when I was a kid.”

Troika’s performing arts master class workshop series, Bermuda to Broadway, takes place on Saturday in the United Dance Productions studio on Court Street. Admission is $25 in advance. To register, and for more information: www.bdatix.bm