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Mindy Smoot Robbins of Alpine poses for a portrait on Monday, October 10, 2011 at her home in Alpine. Robbins has been performing since she was 4 years old. ASHLEY FRANSCELL/Daily Herald

Ashley Franscell

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Mindy Smoot Robbins of Alpine poses for a portrait on Monday, October 10, 2011 at her home in Alpine. Robbins has been performing since she was 4 years old. ASHLEY FRANSCELL/Daily Herald

Ashley Franscell

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Mindy Smoot Robbins, who is the owner and artistic director at On Broadway Academy recently played the part of Maria in the Sound of Music at Tuachan. Courtesy photo

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Mindy Smoot Robbins of Alpine (right) toured with the Broadway Company of Les Miserables, covering the role of Eponine played by Sutton Foster. Robbins in the owner and artistic director of the On Broadway Academy. Courtesy photo

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AMERICAN FORK — Today, Mindy Smoot Robbins is a successful Broadway performer and the owner and artistic director of On Broadway Academy, but she will tell you it has been a dream a lifetime in the making.

“As a young girl I was asked by a teacher to write down my dream. I still have a copy of this and it says, ‘I would love to be in one Broadway show. That would be amazing!’ I honestly can’t remember a time it wasn’t a dream of mine,” Robbins said.

“I started performing when I was 4 and taking private lessons at 6, and from my earliest memories I was passionate about music and the performing arts and knew it is what I wanted to do in my life.”

Robbins has enjoyed many opportunities to share what she loves, starting at age 16 when she would drive from Provo to Farmington to perform in the now discontinued Music USA shows at Lagoon Amusement Park.

Robbins went on to receive a scholarship in Brigham Young University’s musical theater program, where she eventually taught vocal lessons and performed throughout the world with the Young Ambassadors, a song and dance group that performs for dignitaries and at events to promote BYU and the Latter-day Saint faith.

After graduation, Robbins was cast as Sutton Foster’s understudy in the “Les Miserables” touring company. She went on to perform at Walt Disney World, a relationship that eventually resulted in opportunities for voice work with Disney. She has spent many different seasons at the prestigious Tuacahn Theater near St. George, playing a wide range of strong female leads from Liesl in “The Sound of Music” to Annie in “Annie Get Your Gun” to Eliza in “My Fair Lady” to Maria in “The Sound of Music.”

She met her husband, Connor Robbins, while living in St. George. Together they have traveled the world supporting both of their careers, even spending time in Japan, where Connor had previously served an LDS mission, so Mindy could perform at Tokyo Disney.

A desire to settle down in Utah and raise their two children led Robbins to turn back to teaching voice lessons out of her home in Alpine, but once again, her talent and expertise preceded her.

“Eventually my wait list got so long I decided to start teaching group lessons, but I really wanted to make sure each student got the individual time they needed,” she said.

Four years later, her business has grown to become On Broadway Academy with a faculty of 11 celebrated and influential theater performers and vocal coaches.

“Some of our teachers were my teachers as I was coming up,” Robbins said. “They are really the very best of the best. I think that is why we have been able to grow, because of our unique curriculum and excellent faculty.”

OBA is about to move into a new 14,000-square-foot space in American Fork with a ribbon cutting and open house planned for Nov. 5.

The new Utah Conservatory of Performing Arts building will house not only OBA, but also The Dance Conservatory, Caleb Chapman Music and Alisia Packard Photography, who will all work together to provide the best experience for their students and clients.

“Our space houses three dance studios, three voice rooms, one control room for recording, one black box, one photography studio, offices and reception areas. When we are at full capacity, OBA could have over 1,000 students,” Robbins said.

The facility also makes use of iPads and flat-screen televisions connecting the 235 current students at OBA to the vast world of musical theater.

“We can pull up footage of Sutton Foster in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ and they can see a great performance on the spot,” Robbins said. “My experiences in the performing arts helped build my confidence as a young girl. I was able to stand and sing in front of large audiences without hesitation. I have found that this confidence bleeds into all other areas of my life and I have seen the same in my students. I have seen music become an outlet for children to express themselves, and we work very hard to create a safe environment for this to occur.”

Her passion for the arts now extends to her 5-year-old daughter, who is enrolled in her mother’s music theater class at OBA. Mindy Robbins serves as OBA’s artistic director and a faculty member while Connor Robbins handles the financial and administrative side of the business.