An eighth-grader at Bret Harte Middle School, Crisol is very active with Children's Musical Theater San Jose (CMT for short). The company will be opening Guys and Dolls Feb. 26 in downtown San Jose, with Crisol as the high-rolling Masterson, one of the principal roles.

The 13-year-old Almaden resident has been performing ever since he was 5 years old. When his family moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area, Crisol didn't participate in theater for a couple of years, but his interest was revived after CMT brought a theater-outreach program to his elementary school when he was in fifth grade. Crisol has been performing with the company ever since. "They did this show at my school called Around the World, it was a medley of a whole bunch of other plays," Crisol recalls, "and I was the bad guy in the play."

In Guys and Dolls, on the other hand, Crisol's character may be a wiseguy, but as the romantic lead, he's definitely not the bad guy. The classic musical comedy based on Damon Runyan's underworld characters of 1920s' and '30s' Manhattan "is about a guy who makes a bet if he can take a girl to Havana or not," says Crisol, "and slowly—but he doesn't realize it at first—he falls for her. In the end, they get married and live happily ever after." Crisol's character, Sky Masterson, is the guy who makes the bet and tries to woo the angelic Salvation Army Sister, Sarah Brown, but becomes smitten instead. "Sky falls for her because she's just so nice and innocent, and she's not exposed to all the gambling stuff in the notorious underworld gangs," he says.

Crisol says he likes playing Sky because the character is so unlike him. "You have to act really arrogant and cocky and that's totally different from me in real life. It's fun to be different." There are also a few challenges. "There's this one scene where we have to kiss," he says. "There's several times where we have to kiss and it's kind of funny. It's kind of hard not to laugh after we kiss."

The theater bug has bitten hard, and Crisol says he is planning to pursue a professional acting career. In addition to his work with CMT, he has performed with other local companies, including the Tabard Theatre Company and Saratoga Drama Group, where he is currently performing in that company's production of Gypsy. He has also appeared with the professional company American Musical Theatre of San Jose.

Crisol's mother, Loree Balis, says that at one point, when he was in sixth grade, he was appearing in three shows simultaneously.

He says he plans to continue performing through school, concentrating on musical theater. "And then I'm going to move on to New York. I want to go to NYU or UCLA and pursue an acting career. I'd like to get into the movies, or TV or commercials," he says. If a film career is in the cards, Crisol says he would like to star in "action movies with lots of comedy, like action/comedy. Sort of like Jackie Chan's movies."

Guys and Dolls is a Children's Musical Theater Rising Stars production featuring young people ages 6­13. Other Almaden residents performing in Guys and Dolls include Unnar Eggertsdottir, Alyssa Jepsky, Erik Johnson, Nicole Zambito, Kyle Bajtos, Brooke Beytin, Jennifer Clift, Adam Fulton, Megan Haley, Shannon Haley, Julia Johnson, Eric Ortegon, Melissa Tenorio and Catherine Walker.

'Guys and Dolls' plays Feb. 26­29 at the Montgomery Theatre, Market and San Carlos streets, San Jose. Tickets are $11­$15. For more information, call 408.288.5437 or visit http://www.cmtsj.org.