Winton Brangman has the special ability of being able to smile through any number of flubbed notes and botched lyrics.

Jelani Veney will fill in for missing actors at the last minute and suffers through every missed step, especially when it is his own.

They are two of the unsung heroes of the annual pantomime by the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society. This year the show is Treasure Island, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.

Directing the music in a Christmas pantomime would be easy, if only the adult actors would behave.

“It’s a bit like improv,” Mr Brangman said. “Sometimes the actors really get into character and change the lines.

“For example, while rehearsing the song Bon Voyage, one of the actors changed lyrics from ‘now I feel like a sailor’ to ‘now I’m going to have me a sailor’. Except it was a bit ruder than that. I said, ‘There are going to be children present!’.”

At 24, he is younger than most of the adult cast, but believes they listen to his suggestions.

“Now that I am at a stage where I feel more comfortable with what I am doing, age means nothing,” he said.

“As long as you know what you are talking about, people listen.”

His first pantomime was in 2008, when he was part of the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk. Recently though he hasn’t had much time for theatre.

He graduated from Mount Allison University’s music programme two years ago and got a job at Elbow Beach Hotel.

“I didn’t have a lot of time for shows because I was working the night shift,” he said. “I’m a manager now though and don’t have to work the night shift.

“I’ll definitely be directing a lot of guests towards the pantomime.”

Being music director in a pantomime is fun because music is such an integral part of the show, he added.

“The relationships you develop from these shows last a long time,” he said.

He fell in love with music at the age of 5.

“My mother, Angela Brangman, signed me up for lessons and said, ‘If you like it you can keep going and if you don’t like it you can stop’. Music came really easily to me. Music must be in my blood.”

He studied tuba and cello in high school.

“They weren’t very good instruments for bringing home at the end of the day,” he said. “Nonetheless, I made it happen.”

At 14, he won a scholarship to study the organ with the late music teacher Ruth Henderson. She became a guiding force in his life.

“She was a very powerful lady,” he said. “She could scare the pants off you, but, man, she got results.

“There were a number of times you could hear her voice ringing throughout the Cathedral as she shouted for me to play a G-sharp, not a G. I could never figure out where on Earth the G-sharp was that I was about to miss.

“It could be in my right hand, my left hand or my feet. Spoiler alert: it was always in my feet.

“She was determined that I would be able to play the organ at any church in Bermuda, and I can. I am the fill-in organist in several churches.”

Jelani Veney thought he knew everything about dance, until he jumped into the children’s chorus one day.

“I was filling in for a cast member who was missing,” he said. “Suddenly, I was dancing one way, and all the children were dancing the other way.

“As I swung a broom around, in the wrong direction, I realised it was me that was wrong.

“I was very red-faced and everyone laughed. That was probably my funniest moment with the cast.”

The 30-year-old, who assisted Sophia Cannonier as she choreographed Treasure Island, said the challenge was the large number of people involved.

“The cast is capable, but most don’t take dance lessons,” he said. “You have to make sure everyone knows what they are doing. Just timetabling rehearsals can be challenging.”

Despite that stress, he enjoys being involved.

“The cast is great,” he said. “They are full of ideas themselves and we collaborate. In terms of the music, it’s pretty straightforward.”

Mr Veney graduated from Ryerson University in 2009 and spent the next six years touring Europe with various dance companies, including Dance In Art in Haarlem, Netherlands.

He now helps out in the family wedding and event-planning business.

He said in the years he worked as a professional dancer, the hardest thing was the uncertainty.

“You adjust if it is something you want to do, but it is the uncertainty of waiting for the next paycheque.

“You always wonder, where is the next job coming from. The longest I’ve gone from paycheque to paycheque is probably six months. You have to learn how to budget properly.”

Despite that, dancing is the only thing that has ever made sense to him.

“Dance is a constant for me,” he said. “I like the connection you have with people. I like performing, and I like having the ability to be private in public. You can do certain things on stage that you might have a hard time expressing even to your closest friends.

“You don’t have the luxury of privacy on stage if you want your audience to connect with you.”

• Treasure Island opens on Thursday at 7pm and runs until December 12 at the Earl Cameron Theatre. There are matinees on December 5, 6 and 12 at 2.30pm. Tickets cost $35 and are available from www.ptix.bm or at the box office one hour before showtime. Call 292-2313