One got started in the first grade, singing at her school's chapel day; another in the fourth, in a professional boys choir; for the third, it wasn't until high school, in a community theater "Children of Eden."

But for all three, the conviction they were meant to perform led them to one of Pittsburgh's annual elites, the acting-dancing-singing ensemble (formerly the chorus) of Pittsburgh CLO.

Together, in the past two CLO shows, they've showed their talent in a weird bundle of roles. In "Mame," they played a nun, classy lady, Indian princess, tango dancer, fox hunters (two), school girl, school boy, plantation servant, milkman, mobster and a society guy secretly named Rufus Chiptooth.

Then in "Annie Get Your Gun" (running through today), they serve variously as a cowgirl, cowboy (one, Leroy Shoot-em-up; the other, a Native American), society lady, two society guys, Mexican (Jose Santiago Fernando Sanchez Gonzalez) and a standing corpse -- "a bold choice!" one jokes.

In "Peter Pan," it was simpler, mainly just pirates, Indians and mermaids, and in "West Side Story" (Aug. 5-17), it'll be pretty much Sharks or Jets.

But whatever they play, you can't do musicals without them, which is why the Post-Gazette makes it an annual practice to interview a few ensemble members, expecting that some will turn out to be stars in the years ahead.

This year's trio of talented chameleons is Ahmad Simmons, Steffi Garrard and Yurel Echezarreta. Black, white and Latino, the three represent, not coincidentally, the three schools (along with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) that have recently provided the bulk of the CLO ensemble: Point Park and Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan.

Though all three are undergraduates, two have worked at the CLO before, as the ensemble continues getting younger over the years. All three are gorgeous, with smiles that have their own internal wattage. Facing the three around one interview table, sunglasses are essential.

Making his CLO debut is Yurel, now going into his sophomore year at Michigan. Although "always drawn to expressing myself," as a kid in Florida he was nervous about performing, so he played in the band until the "huge U-turn" of that community theater "Children of Eden."

Then he transferred into an arts high school in Winter Haven. He's a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Cuba when young, although the family name suggests Basque ancestry. As the first to go into showbiz, "I'm some sort of mutation in my family," he says.

Back for his second year is Ahmad, the one who made his debut in the boys choir. Going into his junior year at Point Park, he's in the dance program, which offered him a larger scholarship than musical theater, with no time during the year to do musicals.

He traces "the point I turned from disciplined choir boy to flailing around on stage making people laugh" to his freshman year at an arts charter high school in Forth Worth, Texas, where he was cast in "How to Succeed." These days, his only musicals are in the summer at CLO, "my escape from the world of concert dance."

But he's going to start taking voice lessons this year. And alone of these three, he comes from a family of musical performers. A mentor was General McArthur Hambrick, a veteran of Broadway and tours who danced Alonzo in "Cats" -- the same role Ahmad did at CLO last year.

Back for her second CLO year is Steffi Garrard. In spite of that first-grade nervousness, when she stared at the cross at the back of the hall as she sang to keep her nerve up, she says she always knew she was going to perform. There's no showbiz tradition in her family, although her dad is an amateur musician and her brother is in a band. But her parents were "incredibly supportive," driving her to all her lessons, with none of that insistence about getting a more stable career.

That was in southern Oregon, just outside Ashland, where the Shakespeare Festival was an influence. Perhaps that's why, although Steffi's in the CMU musical comedy program, she considers herself an actor, first, with singing and dancing as additional vehicles.

If you look for her on stage, she's the tall blonde with the biggest smile. But she's surprised to be called tall. "I feel I'm a lot taller on the East Coast than on the West -- I never felt tall in Oregon." At CMU, she was in the ensemble of last year's "Guys and Dolls" and this fall, her senior year, she'll be in "Into the Woods."

A lot of the humor in the whirlwind group interview, tucked hurriedly into a rehearsal break, was over the names the three invent for their ensemble characters, along with other details that enrich their portraits.

"It helps us survive," says Yurel. "We all come from places where we were the stars. It's hard to be in the background. So we pretend we're special" -- such as that ambulatory corpse.

In the year ahead, Steffi plans to go wherever the results of the CMU senior showcase direct: "I guess it's whoever wants me." She hopes that's in New York, where her boyfriend is and where it would be easier to stay centered on theater. But in the long run, she wants it all: TV, film, print, voice-overs, Broadway, you name it.

Ahmad predicts "an amazing season" of dance ahead at Point Park, starting with his creating an original work in October. His ultimate goal is to run his own dance academy, perhaps eventually back in Fort Worth.

Only the youngest, Yurel, knows exactly where he's headed: he's leaving school in October for a year, to appear as a Shark in the dual-language Broadway revival of "West Side Story."

They're all on their way.

CLO Ensemble members perform at 10:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at the CLO Cabaret at Theater Square, one night only ($5).

CLO's "Annie Get Your Gun" continues at the Benedum Center through Sunday and "West Side Story" runs Aug. 5-17; 412-456-6666 or www.pittsburghclo.org.