My Experience in an Australian Premiered Musical

I never thought that at 19-20 years old I would already have been in an Australian Premiered Musical.

I also didn’t know that this could be possible in a community theatre production!

Auditioning for Beaumaris Theatre ‘Anne & Gilbert’ brought that dream to life.

ANNE & GILBERT

‘Anne & Gilbert’ is a musical originally from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada.

It is a musical based on the sequel novels to Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Montgomery.

Following Anne Shirley’s journey to young adulthood, pursuing studies at Redmond College and her romance with high school academic rival, Gilbert Blythe, it is an amazing 1890’s musical to share warmth and laughter to audiences.

ACTOR’S POINT OF VIEW

Copyright

If you have been in any musicals before, I am sure you are aware of copyright.

A company or school usually buys the grand rights to do a show, and minor changes may be made to make it work in the theatre.

As this was the Australian Premiere of the show, we had to wait for our director to contact the original owners in Canada to see whether things could be altered.

Overall, not much was changed apart from a few words here and there.

Things such as changing "like my mother’s black eye” to “like a black eye” in a song.

For obvious reasons of course…

Love from Overseas

The main difference was the overwhelming support that we received from the Canadian cast and crew, who were thrilled at the thought of it going to Australia.

We received emails and letters from the original writers, and lyricists of ‘Anne and Gilbert’.

This was such a lovely memento for us, and really added to the big warm family feeling that the show already had.

Resources

As an actress, I like referencing previous performances of shows I am about to do.

I find it gives me a good grasp of how it has been performed in the past, so I can form my view of the characters.

But there really wasn’t many resources online.

Certainly no full musical bootlegs to watch.

But this was all part of the joys of doing a new musical.

It gave us the opportunity to create ‘Anne and Gilbert’ for ourselves.

No copying.

Just creatives doing what they do best.

Creating.

It was a pleasure to be able to form a part of the ensemble cast.

This experience has inspired me to take more initiative in my jobs.

The reality is, we are hired as creatives.

So why don’t we create more?

BEFORE YOU GO!

Please support me by signing up to my newsletter, or leaving a comment!

Also, check out my YouTube channel, and say hello there! Like, Subscribe, Comment!