8 minute read
DREAMS DO COME TRUE
I first started Penrhos College in Pre-Primary and went on to spend my entire schooling life at the College. In Year 1, I had my first taste of music when I began learning the violin. After that there wasn’t a moment that I didn’t spend in the Music or Drama Department.
Throughout school I always participated in the annual production, sung in both choir and chorale, and eventually became the Junior School Vice-Captain of Music and the Middle School Drama Captain.
In Year 6 I began my professional acting career, starring in Les Misérables at the Perth Entertainment Centre. For the entire run of the show and rehearsals, I would go to school every day, be picked up early by my mum and then head straight to the theatre at night. From there it snowballed and I went on to appear in the Sound of Music in Year 7 and Annie in Year 8, with seasons at WA Opera in between.
Eventually Penrhos College supported me as I took 6 months off in Year 11 to film the TV series Parallax, before I returned ready to finish Secondary School.
After graduation I realised that the entertainment industry and performance opportunities weren’t peaking in Perth, so I went to law school. I completed my degree and practiced as a lawyer for two years until, at the age of 24, I realised how much I missed performing and singing each day. After this realisation I packed my bags and headed to London.
While I was living in London, I was lucky enough study my Masters at the Royal Academy of Music, perform in musicals, film my first ever feature film with Mila Kunis and record multiple seasons of Thomas the Tank Engine. When COVID hit I made the decision to return to Perth before things got any worse.
During 2020, when Perth was in and out of lockdown, my good friend and fellow performer Amy Manford and I saw the opportunity to put on a concert. Perth was one of the few cities in the world with open concert halls, and we knew we needed to make the most of that opportunity. In December, we launched The Magical Music of Animation at the Perth Concert Hall with the West Coast Philharmonic. It took almost 6 months of reaching out to Disney in California before we were given the green light to feature Disney music in our show.
Fresh off the success of our first show, and still in the depths of COVID lockdowns, Amy and I formed our theatrical production company MM Creative Productions. I had always wanted to become a producer, and COVID expedited that career path for me. In October 2021, we opened Disney in Concert: A Dream is a Wish which featured a cast of Broadway, West End and Australian Music Theatre stars alongside the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
A Dream is a Wish was our first official collaboration with Disney and Amy and I adored every second, selling out three shows at the Riverside Theatre. After the season wrapped, Disney gave us the opportunity to spearhead their upcoming 100th Anniversary celebrations in Australia. After months of creative collaboration, and multiple midnight Zoom calls, we launched Disney 100: The Concert.
Disney 100 was a huge step forward for MM Creative, being our first national tour and the first time we had a launched a Disney show outside of Perth.
We shouldn’t have worried though, we sold out three shows at Sydney Opera House in 72 hours and launched an extra date. Definitely a career highlight!
Stepping onto the Opera House stage is something that I have always dreamed of, so stepping out to a sold-out audience knowing I was the Executive Producer for the show was a dream
The tour is now wrapped and we are in the beginning stages of putting our 2024 and 2025 season together, which will hopefully feature MM Creative’s first international production… and of course some more Disney magic!
If I have one message to give to younger Penrhos girls who are looking to get into the performing arts, it’s to not give up. I know that it sounds cheesy but when I graduated Year 12, I knew I wanted to be an actor but that career path just felt so unattainable from Perth, and so I didn’t follow my heart. I truly believe if you work hard enough and take those risks, you can make anything happen.
For those that would like to hear more, or even support our upcoming shows, feel free to subscribe to our mailing list on www.mmcreativeproductions.com
