May Session: Performer’s Choice

Amelia is a dedicated 16-year-old performer and avid musical theatre fan. Musical theatre has been part of her last for the past 9 years, working with Adelaide Theatre Academy and more recently Pelican Productions.

Amelia has been a part of Adelaide Theatre Academy since 2015, taking weekly theatre and dance classes. She has been taking vocal lessons since the age of six, and for the past few years has been learning from Nikki Long.

Amelia has performed with Adelaide Theatre Academy in Little Shop of Horrors, Oliver!, Peter Pan, and Mary Poppins (all in the Adelaide Fringe Festival), as well as Ms Hannigan in Annie Jr, and Ariel in The Little Mermaid Jr. She has recently played Goran in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and is now in the rehearsal process for The SpongeBob Musical (as Pearl), and will soon begin rehearsing for Newsies Jr as Katherine with Pelican Productions. Amelia wishes to share her passion and love for musical theatre through performing, making her debut at Broadway Sessions!

Amelie Peters is an award winning, classically trained vocalist, international performer, songwriter and BAST accredited vocal coach.

Amelie holds a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice (Performance and Pedagogy) from the Elder Conservatorium of Adelaide. Her professional performance work includes Carmen (2019) and Carmina Burana (2020) with the State Opera of South Australia as well as successful tours in Australia and the US, where Amelie was invited to sing at the Soho Playhouse in New York City. Her credits as a vocal director for youth theatre include High School Musical 2 (2016), Hairspray the Musical (2018) and Mary Poppins the Musical (2019.) Amelie has also produced and performed original music in Cabernet the Cabaret (2019) and Cabernet Refined (2020) at the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

While she specialises in classical voice, Amelie also has a strong background in musical theatre, jazz and contemporary music. She has worked with renowned opera singers, musical theatre composers and Broadway stars from around the world.

Amelie’s ability to inspire, guide and nurture talent has led to consistently outstanding results for her private students and vocal ensembles, making Amelie one of the most sought after young vocal coaches in Adelaide.

Brianna is a 19-year-old musical theatre student. She has been studying music for eight years and has a passion for the Disneyland theatre. Her mentor is her singing teacher, Cindy Macdonald and her inspirations are Elaine Paige and Michael Crawford. Her list of favourite musicals consist of The Phantom of The Opera, Wicked, CATS and Frozen. Brianna would love to pursue her passion by being a performing Disney princess on Disney cruise ships.

Charlee Watt is a young regional creative who is passionate about vocal performance. Charlee is driven to create artistic opportunities for herself and others in order to showcase youth talent. Charlee has been studying music and voice since junior primary school and has achieved First Class Honours in Grade 6 in Modern Singing. In 2021 Charlee was successful in gaining a scholarship through the Open Music Academy allowing her to study with vocal teachers from the Elder Conservatory at The University of Adelaide which has continued this year. In 2021 Charlee was the recipient of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival Class of Cabaret Nathanial O’Brien scholarship and has been invited to perform with legendary Trevor Jones, has been invited to showcase her talents at the Art Gallery of SA Neo Teen event on a number of occasions, created an event for the Umbrella Festival, participated in the Small Halls Festival, and as part of the Catholic School Music Festival she has sung solo on the Entertainment Centre and Festival Theatre stages in both 2021 and 2022. Charlee also has significant Choir and performance experience while being a member of the National Choir School Summer Program, Gondwana in Sydney, for the 5 years 2018-2022 and in 2022 performed at the Sydney Opera House. For the past 3 years Charlee has been participating in Festival Theatre’s programs OnStage focusing on musical theatre, song writing and acting. In 2022 Charlee brought her world premier show Both Sides Now – Joni and Carole – An Interweaving of Blue and Tapestry that in its first season had a total of six shows and all sold out before the opening of the Fringe and winning a Fringe weekly award as an Emerging Artist. In 2023 Charlee created a new show titled Make Your Own Kind Of Music with the music of Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Mama Cass Elliot. Charlee has every intention to make the stage her workplace with new work in development.

Cindy-Anne Macdonald is a singer/songwriter, vocal coach, and choir director with a passion for all things voice and song. She has been performing and teaching for over 30 years.

Dame Granny Smith was born in northern New South Wales in the city of Eastwood to Maria-Anne and Thomas Smith, migrants from East Sussex. She was born from a chance seedling that had grown by a nearby creek after her mother Maria discarded the remains of a crop of French Crabbe Apples grown in Tasmania.

The eldest of 8 children, the affectionately named Rosie Smith was put to work young, when her father noticed a beautiful soprano singing voice near the creek where she was born.

She started performing at the nearby Duke of York theatre, opening for touring acts, eventually establishing herself as a headliner. She toured Australia and the world, eventually becoming a household name after staring in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She is regarded as one of Australia's biggest and most beloved exports, and can be seen in her one woman show in Adelaide this May.

Holly George is a Vocal/Piano Tutor and has been singing for 16 years under multiple classical vocal teachers. Holly has participated in many opportunities to challenge her vocal abilities such as the Adelaide Eisteddfods, Balaklava Eisteddfods, and Classical Examinations under the care and guidance of her current singing teacher, Norma Knight. At the age of seven, Holly started singing for leisure exams through the Australian Music Examination Board and worked through all the grades – achieving a high distinction in the Grade 7 AMEB Singing for Leisure exam and the Grade 6 AMEB Classical Singing exam. Last year, she was awarded first place in the Open Solo-Classical Section and won the Adelaide Plains Male Voice Choir Vocal Scholarship at the Balaklava Eisteddfod. Additionally, Holly also placed second in the English Arts Song Prize and third in the Italian Language Solo prize at the Adelaide Eisteddfod. Recently, Holly was a featured vocalist at the State Opera South Australia masterclass with Cathy-Di Zhang as master teacher. Although Holly has yet to venture into amateur theatre she has landed leading roles in the Saint Aloysius College School Musicals and was grateful for the opportunity to play Oliver in Oliver!, Elphaba in Wicked, and Grace Farrell in Annie. Holly's gratitude for these opportunities reflects her deep appreciation for the art of musical theatre and the chance to embody diverse characters on stage. Her experience in these iconic roles has undoubtedly shaped her aspirations to further explore and excel as a vocal performer.

Ivana is currently studying a Bachelor of Secondary Education (Honours) specialising in Performing Arts. It is Ivana’s first time on our stage and she is incredibly excited!

Jenna is a passionate 17 year old musical theatre performer. She thoroughly enjoys acting, singing, dancing and generally just being on the stage. Jenna has been participating in musicals since she was six years old with theatre companies in QLD, ACT and SA including Adelaide Theatre Academy, Pelican Productions and the children's chorus of Opera Australia in 2015. Some of her recent highlights have been the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz (Adelaide Theatre Academy), Pabbie in Frozen (Pelican Productions), Skylar in Bring It On (Adelaide High School), and Goran in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Adelaide Theatre Academy). She enjoyed attending the Junior Theatre Festival in Newcastle last year with Pelican Productions and is heavily involved in the performing arts program at Adelaide High School, including singing in her rock band, Jenna and the Saints.

Joe is a 20 year old singer, member of budding choir EnHarmonics. He has experience in school theatre and performed as Fiyero in Wicked and Miss Trunchbull in Matilda. Since focusing on his choir, Joe has sang in countless sold out shows, including a sold out debut Fringe season. Between shows, Joe is rekindling his love of solo performance.

Josh Belperio is a musical theatre writer and cabaret artist. During the Equal Marriage Vote, they gained a reputation as a rainbow-flag-parading polemicist for their fantasy speech to Malcolm Turnbull. The song went viral, accruing a quarter of a million views on social media, and became an anthem for the queer community. Since then, Josh created and performed four original cabaret shows, won the Adelaide Theatre Guide Best Cabaret Award (2019), four Adelaide Fringe Awards, and received five stars from Glam Adelaide, Scenestr and The Advertiser. They are a winner of the Helpmann Academy Stay at Home Film Festival People's Choice Award and a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts Master of Theatre (Writing), and the Elder Conservatorium of Music (Composition) with a Director’s Award.

Katie has played such roles in Adelaide as Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore, Lady Thiang in The King & I, Antonia in Man of La Mancha as well as Footnote in Pratchett Pieces for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. After moving to Melbourne in 2005 she played The Narrator in Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Lt. Janice Fury in M*A*S*H, Pamela Lukowski in The Full Monty and received Lyrebird Award nominations for playing Sister Amnesia in Nunsense & Nunsense 2. She also played one of her dream roles, The Witch in Into The Woods as well as the wonderful Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in The Music Man. Since moving back to Adelaide in 2015, Katie has portrayed Margaret Johnson in The Light In The Piazza for the 2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival and Jen in John & Jen. She had the opportunity to work with composer John Bucchino on his show It’s Only Life for the 2018 Adelaide Fringe Festival, to be a part of the small ensemble cast of Godspell, and portrayed Judge Jackie Justice in Judge Jackie: Disorder in the Court for the 2019 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Most recently she portrayed Alice Tinker in The Vicar of Dibley.

Katie has Musically Directed The Outsiders, All The New Stuff, Kids On Broadway, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Godspell, Little Shop Of Horrors, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, The Wedding Singer, Seussical The Musical, The Wizard Of Oz, Annie, Once Upon A Mattress and most recently Betty Blue Eyes. She also had the opportunity to co-direct for the first time with Avenue Q in 2014.

Kirstie is from the UK but is currently in Australia for a year to work and travel! Kirstie trained in professional musical theatre back home and has gone on to perform around the UK and Europe with various companies since graduating. Whilst she can’t pursue her performing career here in Oz, she has joined Adelaide’s Musical Theatre Choir to keep her voice warm and meet some amazing, like minded people!

Lauren started her musical career after following in her parents’ footsteps and performing in her high school musicals, then with the Riverland Musical Society. She has been involved in various choirs and has 21 years of calisthenics and two state team competitions behind her. She also worked at Pelican Productions Music Theatre Camp SA for 7 years as a choreographer and supervisor from its inception.

Lauren has an extensive background in Adelaide productions as a performer, choreographer, director and production manager. Her onstage highlights include Jolene Oakes in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with OPUS Performing Arts, Elsa Schraeder in The Sound of Music with Northern Light Theatre Company and Linda Mason in Holiday Inn with Therry Dramatic Society.  Lauren also directed Northern Light Theatre Company's version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Once Upon a Mattress for Marie Clark Music Theatre Company and Aida and Shrek for the Hills Musical Company. By day she teaches at Adelaide Botanic High School where she directed their first school musical in 2023.

A highlight of Mia's performing journey so far would be attending Kristin Chenoweth's Broadway Bootcamp this year in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. She worked with so many incredible mentors including Kristin Chenoweth, Kenny Ortega, Kevin Chamberlin, and Elizabeth Teeter. Mia was also a part of the 2022 Class of Cabaret Program as a part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and is currently studying a Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance) at the Elder Conservatorium.

Mia has had a passion for performing from a young age. She has enjoyed playing Lisa in the Pembroke Middle School Musical Mamma Mia! in 2022 and being apart of Adelaide Theatre Academy's Fringe performances from Oliver! in 2019 to The Wizard Of Oz in 2024. Mia currently sings with Sharyn Ladanza and is involved with music at Pembroke and wants to study Musical Theatre to become a teacher in the Performing Arts.

Millicent Sarre (Mim) is a cabaret artist, singer-songwriter, vocal coach, and musical theatre performer, brought up and working on Kaurna Land. She has toured her original cabaret works Australia-wide; her most recent show Millicent Sarre is Opinionated won ‘Best Cabaret’ of the Adelaide Fringe 2023, and the album of the original songs from the show was released in February 2023. Previous musical theatre roles include Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd (ECMT, dir. James Millar), Hildy in On the Town (ECMT, dir. Erin James), Rona Lisa Peretti in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (ECMT, dir. Joseph Simons), and Ivy in the Australian premiere of Ivy + Bean: The Musical (The Gemini Collective, dir. Sarah Williams). Mim will graduate with a Bachelor of Music Theatre from the Elder Conservatorium in 2023.

Monique Monti is a local music theatre lover and performer. She is currently working in retail and enjoys singing and writing songs in her spare time. Monique previously studied music and drama in high school, she performed in the Wedding Singer and was given the lead role in Mary Poppins throughout her highschool career. Monique is hoping to write and release music in the near future.

Natalie Sóares is a South American performer, currently studying at the Elder Conservatorium of Music Theatre. Some previous credits include: Jane (Tarzan, LHP), Crystal (Little Shop of Horrors MTC), Belle (Beauty and the Beast, PCA), Cosette (Les Miserables, PCA) and The Witch (Into the Woods, PCA). Natalie is set to play the role of Simon Zealots in ECMT’s graduation musical Jesus Christ Superstar in September this year.

Born in Ireland and having lived in England Natasha has seen her fair share of musical talent. Natasha was lucky enough to preform at the West End in London for an Andrew Loyde Webber Christmas show along with 15 other child performers. She also preformed in many other musical theatre shows across the UK as well as competing nationally in Ballroom.

After moving to Australia it took a while to get settled. In the last 3 years Natasha has produced and preformed in multiple Fringe shows, small theatre shows, and joined the ensemble in RENT the musical. She is very excited to be taking this next step and preforming for you all tonight.

Steph's love for musical theatre started when she was 10, when she was part of Adelaide Theatre Academy's production of Singin' In The Rain, and was Scar in St Peters' Girl's production of The Lion King Jr. Other highlights include Berta in Dr Dolittle Jr (Adelaide Theatre Academy, 2021), Donna u/s in Mamma Mia (Pembroke School, 2022), Saul Greenberg and Capo in Beautiful Words (Pembroke School, 2023), and Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz (Adelaide Theatre Academy, 2024). She has also been a part of Pelican Production's Musical Theatre Camp since 2019, playing roles such as Melman in Madagascar and Terpsichore in Hercules. Steph is heavily involved in drama and the arts at Pembroke School, where she is a key member of their concert, chamber, and jazz choirs and takes voice lessons with Charmaine Jones (GOSPO Collective). She also does jazz, musical theatre, and hip-hop dance at Rachel Symons Dance Studio.

Tahlia Hope is a well-rounded performer with a diverse skill set. an accomplished musician, actor, playwright, Tahlia continues to expand her creative horizons, with two plays already under her belt, Tahlia is currently in the creation process for her debut album Dream-Like State, showcasing her talents from another medium

Zara performed with Windmill Theatre Company in Hans + Gret for the 2023 Adelaide Festival after making her professional stage debut aged seven in Girl Asleep (2014). She has appeared in lead and supporting lead roles in many local theatre productions, most recently as Young Elizabeth in The Audience (Therry Theatre), Mrs Bucket in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory with Adelaide Youth Theatre, and Rachel in One Man, Two Guvnors for Princes Players. Onscreen Zara can be seen in the music videos for Stronger by German DJ producer duo, Claptone, Scars To Your Beautiful x This Girl is on Fire with girl group, Glo and as lead vocalist in I Can Only Imagine, with her award winning senior school jazz choir, Enchante. She was also a featured extra on ABC TVs First Day (Season 2). Zara is set to co-direct/music direct Adelaide Youth Theatre’s production of Alice in Wonderland Jr this coming October.

Peter is a music director, accompanist, repertoire coach, and the founder of Irregular Productions - one half of the brains behind Broadway Sessions.

He has been a theatre music director since 2005, with a number of his shows winning local awards. Theatre Credits include: (as Music Director) Beautiful, Mamma Mia, Les Misérables, Next to Normal, Violet, The Story Of My Life, Songs For A New World, The Light In The Piazza, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Into the Woods, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, [title of show], Edges, Avenue Q, Bring It On, Singing In The Rain, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Chicago, Sweeney Todd, The Sound of Music, Urinetown the Musical, Scrooge, The Witches of Eastwick, Little Shop of Horrors, Seussical the Musical, Grease, Once Upon a Mattress; (as Associate Music Director) Kinky Boots; (as Conductor) City of Angels, The Addams Family; (as Associate Conductor) Rent; (as Assistant Music Director) Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, South Pacific, Copacabana; as well as playing keyboard in over 25 other productions.

Besides co-producing Broadway Sessions, Irregular Productions has also staged the South Australian premieres of Songs for a New World, [title of show] and Edges, as well as a new production of Godspell (with Lydian Productions).

Peter is also the music director for Civic Park Carols, Australia's second-largest candlelight carols event, working with some of Adelaide’s finest musician’s and performers, as well as artists such as Justine Clarke, Guy Sebastian, Rachel Beck, and Jimmy Giggle.

Louis has been playing both double bass and bass guitar as long as he can remember. Beginning with lessons at the age of 7, he quickly developed his skills and decided that music was the career for him. Louis began playing for Musical Theatre shows in 2011, with the Northern Lights Theatre Company’s production of Beauty and the Beast, which coincidentally, was the beginning of a long-standing working relationship with Musical Director, Peter Johns! Since, Louis has played for many theatre companies around Adelaide, including Adelaide Youth Theatre, Lydian Productions, Pelican Productions, Davine Productions, Irregular Productions, Marie Clarke Musical Theatre, The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of South Australia, and Hills Musical Company. Some of his favourite shows to play for have been In the Heights, for Pelican Productions in 2019, and Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, for Davine Productions in 2020. In 2018, Louis had the privilege of playing in the pit for the Gordon Frost Organisation’s touring production of The Wizard of Oz. Louis graduated from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in 2016, with a Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance.) That same year, he began performing as a casual member of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra - some of his favourite performances include Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Concert at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, and Last Night of the Proms at the Adelaide Festival Centre.