May Session: Rock Night v3.0

26 Sunday May 2019
When: 6:30pm Where: Norwood Live, Norwood Hotel Tickets: $15-20

About this Session

This month the Broadway Sessions band welcomes back Max Garcia-Underwood (on guitar) and Martin Cheney (on keys) to help us rock out, Broadway-style. Choose your favourite rock musical (or rock-style song, from any musical) and let’s amp up the volume! As we don’t normally have a guitarist, this is the perfect month for any song that features a guitar (both electric and acoustic), so consider this when making your song choices.

Rock Night at Broadway Sessions is always a fan favourite, so get in quick to secure your spot and ensure you don’t miss out!

Session Setlist

Act 1
I'd Rather Be Me (Mean Girls) – Cailene Kilcoyne
Superboy And The Invisible Girl (Next To Normal) – Mim Sarre
I'm Alive (Next To Normal) – Nick Mitchell
Growing Up Unstable (Next To Normal (2008 Off-Broadway)) – Cory Ferguson
Dentist! (Little Shop Of Horrors) – Dylan Rufus
There Are Worse Things I Could Do (Grease) – Carmine Clarke
Out Tonight (RENT) – Grace Denney
What You Own (Rent) – Christopher Searle, Joseph Giblin
Take What You Got (Kinky Boots) – Ron Abelita, Shane Huang
Lost In The Wilderness (Children Of Eden) – Oliver John
This Is Not Love (Lizzie) – Kristin Stefanoff
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Rock Of Ages) – Warren Logan
Act 2
Time After Time (Strictly Ballroom)* – Kate Harrison, Kurt Benton
Heaven On Their Minds (Jesus Christ Superstar) – Robyn Brookes
Holiday (American Idiot) – Blake Ascione, Simon Barnett
Mustang Sally (The Committments) – Jen Bais
Time Warp (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) – Aimee Crathern
Pretty Lies (Boy George's Taboo) – Karen Muller
Seven Seas Of Rhye (We Will Rock You) – Gus Smith
No One But You (We Will Rock You) – Danielle Greaves
Good For You (Dear Evan Hansen) – Nikki Long
Goodbye (Catch Me If You Can) – Lindsay Prodea
* promoting an upcoming show

Session Host

Lindsay Prodea (he/him)

Lindsay has performed over the past decade in both musical theatre and cabaret, having enjoyed success in various genres: classical roles such as John Brooke in Little Women (The Musical) (Therry Dramatic Society 2013) and Cinderella's Prince in Into the Woods (Northern Light Theatre Company 2012); to contemporary roles such as Abraham in the Adelaide premiere of Altar Boyz (Davine Interventionz 2013), Sonny Malone in Xanadu (The Musical) (Davine Interventionz 2014), George in The Drowsy Chaperone (Hills Musical Company 2013), Kyle the UPS Delivery guy in Legally Blonde (HMC 2014) and most recently Elliott Garfield in The Goodbye Girl (Therry 2015). Lindsay has also appeared in countless other shows, favourites including Urinetown, 42nd Street, Crazy for You & Les Misérables. Most recently he premiered in Adelaide the role of Fabrizio for Davine Interventionz's 2016 Adelaide Fringe Show, The Light In The Piazza.

Aside from musical theatre, Lindsay has a keen passion for cabaret, having written, co-produced and performed at numerous cabaret events over the years. Stepping out side his usual genre, Lindsay played the role of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (old sport), produced by Independent Theatre.

Session Performers

Aimee Crathern

Aimee is an avid music lover . She currently attends Tutti Arts and participates in their music program three days a week. Aimee loves performing and will take each opportunity to do so, participating in the performing arts group, singing with the Tutti Choir and Poco Choir, and is also a member of the worlds first all girl disability music group The Sisters of Invention. The Sisters of Invention, have seen Aimee perform at numerous events such as The Special Olympics Closing Ceremony, Womad and The Fringe Festival. Aimee and her music group The Sisters of Invention just released their second album.

Blake Ascione

Blake has been performing in the South Australian musical theatre scene since his debut in Therry society's production of Big Fish in 2016. Since then he has worked with HMC on the two productions and three State Opera of South Australia and Elder Conservatorium collaborations being Die Fledermaus, Don Pasquale and Dido and Aeneas. In 2020 Blake took part in Shane Warne the Musical, presented by Segue Productions at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Recently Blake performed as Cinderella's Prince and the Wolf in Into the Woods.

Blake has just completed his debut cabaret season in the 2021 Adelaide Fringe Festival with great success.

Cailene Kilcoyne

Cailene Kilcoyne came to Adelaide from San Diego, California. She has performed regionally around the United States as well as internationally. Cailene keeps busy singing these days with a wedding band as well as singing in the shower. She's super excited to be performing at Broadway Sessions :)

Carmine Clarke

Carmine is a work in progress, as is her bio. Maintaining the mystery.

Christopher Searle

Christopher's inclination toward the performing arts became apparent during his high school career, appearing in an abundance of school shows, such as The Wizard of Oz, Pippin, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Upon graduation, Christopher ventured further into the amateur theatre scene, with notable appearances in The Producers, Hairspray, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and most recently the South Coast Choral and Arts Society's 2018 production of Les Misérables.

Cory Ferguson (she/they)

Cory has always been passionate about the arts, dancing and singing from the age of 5. Some of their stage highlights include Jenny Lind in Barnum (2019, March Productions), Cosette in Les Miserables (2020, Now Productions) and Teen Fiona in Shrek The Musical (2022, Hills Musical Company). After falling in love with theatre, they branched out into working backstage and behind the scenes with companies such as Pelican Productions, Northern Lights Theatre Company, Broadway Sessions, and most recently Davine Productions sell out seasons of Beautiful. These backstage experiences led Cory to study sound production, and then a degree in Film and TV at MAPS film school in 2019. Cory currently works as a barista, and is moving to Melbourne in April.

Danielle Greaves (she/her)

Danielle started performing at age 5 within her school and also in the Australian Girls Choir. She landed her first lead role in a musical at age 6 starring as Henny Penny in the year 1 & 2 production of The Sky is Falling, where she was seen pulling actors into their correct spots and mouthing everyone's lines. Nothing much has changed... You may have seen Danielle recently, since returning to theatre after havinga child, in Northern Lights Les Misérables playing a crazy lady of the night who quite partial to a porcelan doll, asleep throughout G&S's Into the Woods as Sleeping Beauty, or in Northern Lights Catch Me If You Can in the Ensemble. You will next be able to see her belting out some pop bangers as a Diva in G&S's Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in September 2023.

Dylan Rufus (He/him)

24-year-old Dylan Rufus has been part of the South Australian theatre community since 2011, assuming various roles onstage, offstage, and within production teams. Dylan’s onstage work has seen him in productions of Grease, West Side Story, Oklahoma, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sweeney Todd, and Spring Awakening, amongst other plays and pantomimes. Previous personal standout roles include Orin Scrivello D.D.S. in Little Shop of Horrors (2018, Adelaide Theatre Academy), Principal Gowan/Veronica’s Dad/Kurt’s Dad in Heathers (2019, Segue Productions), and John Hinkley, Jr. in Assassins (2019, Hills Musical Company). Lately, Dylan has been contributing to the musician side of musical theatre, playing guitar for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2020/2021, Davine Productions) and Mamma Mia! (2021, Northern Light Theatre Company).

Outside of theatre, Dylan has recently completed his Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in English (University of Adelaide), as well as a Masters in Teaching (Secondary) (University of South Australia).

Grace Denney

A Tasmanian ex-pat, Grace has been treading the boards of the theatre since the tender age of two. Originally trained in classical ballet at the Tasmanian Academy of Dance, Grace naturally fell into musical theatre through the vocal tutelage of Patrice Sargison. A triple threat, Grace has performed as a member of the ensemble for CATS and Fiddler on the Roof, also taking on the roles of “Kate” in Annie (which she revisited as an adult as a Boylan Sister/Featured Vocalist & Dancer) for Encore Theatre, “Ronette” in Little Shop of Horrors, “Natalie Haller” in All Shook Up, “Tiffany” in Back to the 80s and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest for Scotch Oakburn College. Whilst studying, she performed annually in the Little Theatre for the Uni of Adelaide’s infamous Law Revue. Now a graduate lawyer, Grace is looking forward to utilising her love of theatre (read: ability to curb crippling nerves in front of an audience) in the courtroom!

Gus Smith

Gus has been performing theatre in Adelaide with several companies continually since 2003, but did his first show in 2001. That one took him two years to recover !!! During these crazy current Covid times we have been so fortunate to have Broadway Sessions for both performers & audience alike. Whilst he loves performing onstage, cabaret performance is not as common for him so performing at Broadway Sessions will be an enjoyable experience...hopefully for everyone 😉

Jen Bais

Jen has been in a few theatre shows, her last gig in the ensemble of Dusty the Musical. Her fave music is soul, funk and jazz. Jen is usually an active audience appreciation member at Broadway Sessions but occasionally gets up in front of the mic!

Joseph Giblin

Joseph has been doing theatre since childhood, though not properly hitting the Adelaide scene until Marie Clark's Jekyll and Hyde in 2017 as a member of the ensemble. Since then, he has played roles such as Mitch Mahoney in Spelling Bee, Marius in Les Misérables, Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid, and is currently in Marie Clark's Anything Goes. When not singing, dancing, or delivering a dramatic monologue, he's usually pouring something alcoholic (whether for a customer or himself remains to be seen).

Karen Muller (she/her)

Karen has been involved with a number of theatre companies in Adelaide over the last 15 years. Some of her stage highlights include Oliver, Into the Woods, Beauty and the Beast, Avenue Q and Spamalot. Although she had a seven year run off stage in the role of "Mother of two", she recently made the return to the theatre by playing Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid, and in the ensemble of Les Misérables with Northern Light Theatre Company and Granny/Cinderella's Mother/Giant in Into the Woods with the G&S Society of South Australia.  You will also be able to see Karen in the upcoming production of Urinetown at the Hills Musical Company in the role of Old Ma Strong.

Kate Harrison

Kate is known by her friends and family as a jack-of-all-trades. She is a qualified Science teacher, who also teaches English, Drama, Music, Visual Arts and Physical Education and is currently the Director of Basketball and Head Coach at Mercedes College. In her ‘spare time’ she indulges in the arts by performing or painting, and is currently building a profile as a singer/songwriter and working on an EP. Stage credits include Gigi in Miss Saigon with MCMT in 2011, Les Misérables with Shane Davidson in 2012 and MCMT’s RENT in 2016. She is excited to return to the stage with Matt Byrne’s Strictly Ballroom playing the ingenious, Fran.

Kristin Stefanoff (she/her)

Kristin is a music teacher, musician, and performer based in the Adelaide Hills. Favourite musical theatre roles include: Ms Gardner/Female Authority Voice (Carrie The Musical - Hills Musical Company 2023); Muriel (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Hills Musical Company 2022); Laura (High Fidelity - Hills Musical Company 2021); Vivienne (Legally Blonde - The MET 2021); Simone (Shane Warne The Musical - Segue Productions 2020); Elizabeth (If/Then - Segue Productions 2018); Cathy (The Last Five Years - Segue Productions 2017); Clara (The Light In The Piazza - Davine Productions 2016); Inga (Young Frankenstein - Marie Clark Musical Theatre 2014); Smitty (How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying - Marie Clark Musical Theatre 2013); and Ensemble/Lady of The Lake Understudy (Spamalot - Marie Clark Musical Theatre 2018).

Kristin holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the Elder Conservatorium, majoring in Classical Piano, and has extensive accompanying and pit experience. Music Direction credits include: Heathers: The Musical (Segue Productions 2019); Calamity Jane (Marie Clark Musical Theatre 2014); Poor Expectations (Investigator College 2014); Mulan Jr (Investigator College 2013); and Honk! (Investigator College 2011).

Kristin teaches piano, voice, violin and music theory, and loves seeing students grow in confidence as they develop their skills in music.

Kurt Benton

Kurt debuted in the Adelaide musical theatre scene in 2017, where he played in the ensemble and Cesar Rodriguez in Saturday Night Fever with MBM, Hugo Peabody in Bye Bye Birdie with the Met, as well as ensemble and the Pied Piper in Shrek the Musical with AYT in January of 2018. Taking a small hiatus after Shrek to work on his newly developing singing and acting skills, as well as continuing work on his dance training of many years, Kurt has made a return to the theatre scene – playing the role of Scott Hastings in MBM's Strictly Ballroom in 2019.

Mim Sarre (she/her)

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.

Nick Mitchell

Since diving into his passion for drama and musical theatre in high school, Nick hasn't stopped! He's performed in a number of plays and through he enjoys traditional theatre, his heart rests with singing. He will never forget his first musical Legally Blonde and has since performed twice at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. He never lets his studies get in the way of strengthening his skills and he enjoys pushing his limits. His 2019 highlights include a radio play of It's a Wonderful Life with Wings2Fly Theatre where he performed several roles, and Heathers The Musical with Segue Productions in the ensemble role of Preppy Stud.

Nikki Long (she/her)

Nikki is an Adelaide raised performer. Last year she graduated from the Bachelor of Music Theatre degree at Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre. Before ECMT she completed her Certificate IV in Dance at Australian Company of Performing Arts. In 2019 she played Heather Chandler in Segue Productions Heathers. In 2021 she made her Adelaide Fringe Festival debut in Friendly Feminism for The Mild Mannered and was also part of the choir in Chess: The Musical (dir. Tyran Parke). Nikki appeared in the second year production of Urinetown (dir. George Torbay) as Mrs Millennium. She was also the Josephine “Old Ma” Strong and Soupy Sue cover, and performed as Josephine “Old Ma” Strong for two performances. While at ECMT she performed in the third year production of In Pieces (dir. George Torbay). Nikki performed in the ensemble of ECMT’s third year production of Les Miserables (dir. Erin James) and she performed as Kate/Ensemble in the graduation production of Legally Blonde (dir. Nikki Snelson) Nikki has just finished a tour with Echelon Productions performing Way Too Cool for children’s book week in schools and will be moving to Sydney in January.

Oliver John (he/him)

Oliver is 22 years old and a current second year student at the Elder Conservatorium’s Bachelor of Music Theatre. He has been performing in musical theatre since 2008 and has worked as a music director, performing arts teacher and private singing teacher. At ECMT, Oliver has performed as Ensemble/Beadle Bamford (U/S) in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (dir. James Millar), a featured soloist in the first year showcase Magic, Myths and Monsters (dir. Joseph Simons), and will perform in November as Pig (Bricks)/Lord Farquaad (U/S) in Shrek The Musical (dir. Erin James). Before university, he played Dewey Finn in School of Rock (Pelican Productions, dir. Jen Frith), Seymour Krelborn in Little Shop of Horrors in the Adelaide Fringe Festival (Adelaide Theatre Academy, dir. Michelle Davy) and performed as Marty the Zebra in Madagascar: A Musical Adventure in the U.S. Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta (Adelaide Youth Theatre). Earlier this year, Oliver travelled interstate to perform as a backing vocalist in HELLO: Erin Jae’s Tribute to Adele as a part of the Under The Stars Festival (Australian Shakespeare Company).

Robyn Brookes

Robyn has been performing and teaching for over 20 years in various guises. After completing her Bachelor of Music, the stage wooed her and she has since performed with the Hills Musical Company, Northern Light Theatre and Matt Byrne Media. Her favourite performances have included; Rita in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with Matt Byrne Media; Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers and Vera in Stepping Out, for the Hills Musical Company; Sukie in The Witches of Eastwick and Kathy in Singing in the Rain with Northern Light theatre company. Robyn also won the Best Female Performance for her role as Dusty in Northern Light Theatre's Dusty: The Original Pop Diva.

Over the past three years, she has been the lead vocalist for the 60’s band, The Highlights, performed in the 60s Down Under matinee series, and worked as a backing vocalist for the 2017 Adelaide Fringe show, A Tribute to George Harrison. With a background in jazz music, she was also given the opportunity to sing with the Lindy Hip Big Band for two years, and features on their CD.

Robyn has just performed in Northern Light Theatre's season of Mamma Mia, playing the lead role of Donna.

Ron Abelita

Music has always been part of Ron’s life. As part of Novo Concertante Manila, an international award-winning chamber choir in the Philippines, Ron travelled to Europe and Asia performing a wide range of A Cappella music of various genres in competitions and concerts. Since moving to Adelaide in 2010, he found his passion for music theatre in both amateur and professional productions. Ron has done shows including Miss Saigon (MCMT 2011 & MMTC 2019), Bernstein Mass & Ennio Morriconne Live (ASO 2012), Forbidden Broadway (MCMT 2012), The Cross (ACTS 2013 & 2014), Chorus for Andrea Bocelli (ASO 2014), Rent (MCMT 2016), Godspell (IP & LP 2018).

Ron had a fabulous time with G&S' Kinky Boots in his first lead role as Lola in September 2019. Weeks after KB, Ron is covered up from head to toe as Sr Mary Amnesia in MBM’s production of Nunsense A-Men! Ron secretly wishes that like Hamilton, more shows and production outfits will now start to be inclusive and recognise talent over race and culture, to play roles not usually given to people of colour. In February 2016, Ron first took part in Broadway Sessions and is again thrilled to take part in this month's session.

Shane Huang

Shane has been doing amateur theatre for the last few years. Being in the ensemble all the time, he has always been searching for opportunities to sing and perform. Recently just got his very first chance to sing in The Met's production Miss Saigon, playing the role of Thuy. He now is more confident to sing and looking forward to sharing more stories with the audience.

Simon Barnett (he/him)

Simon has been a regular on Adelaide amateur stages since appearing in the ensemble of HMC's Sideshow (2018), appearing in both plays and musicals. Highlights include Kurt in Heathers (Segue Productions, 2019), Charlie Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer (Blue Sky Theatre, 2020), Warner in Legally Blonde (The Met, 2021) and Boland in Dogfight (St Judes Players, 2022). Simon will next be appearing as Tommy in Carrie with HMC. Simon tries to balance theatre with his other hobbies of cycling and running, usually without success.

Warren Logan

Warren Logan is a Music Theatre graduate of the University of Ballarat Arts Academy. Highlights from drama school include Oklahoma! (Jud Fry), Rhinoceros (Jean), and his self-devised cabaret Fat Boys Don't Cry performed at Melbourne's renowned cabaret venue, The Butterfly Club. Since graduating, Warren has acted in music videos for Australian artists Something for Kate, Simon Imrei and Michael Waugh. Other stage highlights include A Streetcar Named Desire (Stanley Kowalski), When the Rain Stops Falling (Gabriel Law/Andrew Price), The Glass Menagerie (The Gentleman Caller), The Plow and the Stars (The Covey), The Shape of Things (Adam Sorenson), The Producers (Franz Liebkind) and Footloose (Willard Hewitt) - the latter two performances earning him Music Theatre Guild of Victoria and Lyrebird award nominations.

As a newcomer to Adelaide, Warren made his South Australian theatre debut in 2018 performing the role of Jud Fry in Oklahoma! On a Farm for Emma Knights Productions. He also recently performed the role of Nicky in Hills Musical Company's award winning production of Avenue Q.

Warren is the Artistic Director of Not The Worst Productions.

Session Band

Max Ziliotto (Drums/Percussion/Musical Director)

Max Ziliotto has been performing since 2004, from concert bands, drumline and big band, to orchestral works and musical theatre. Prior to his acceptance as a Casual Percussionist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, he completed his Bachelor of Music in 2013 at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music under the tutelage of Amanda Grigg.

Born in Adelaide, Max began his musical journey under the guidance of Peter Matzick. Attending Marryatville High School, Max gained a wealth of performance opportunities including the Generations in Jazz festival in Mount Gambier. During his Undergraduate studies, Max won first place in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Snare Drum Award in 2011.

Max has been performing with the Elder Conservatorium's Music Theatre students' productions since 2021, most notably playing the drum score for Legally Blonde, directed by Broadway's Nikki Snelson in 2022.

Max was also an active member of the Raiders Drum Corps from 2006-2019, performing numerous times in the city's Christmas Pageant, and on stage with them at Australian Ultimate Drummers Weekend in Melbourne 2015. He has tutored at South Australian Music Camp multiple times, and has been in the house band of Broadway Sessions since its inception in 2015.

Louis Cann (Bass)

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.

Martin Cheney (Piano)

Martin is an accompanist, repertoire coach and music director for the Bachelor of Music Theatre at the Elder Conservatorium and a secondary school music teacher, accompanist and repetiteur at Concordia College. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Composition and is a co-founder of the Adelaide Wind Orchestra.
As the founder and director of Lydian Productions, Martin has produced and music-directed critically-acclaimed seasons of john & jen and Godspell (with Irregular Productions) since its debut in 2016, as well as curating a new music theatre song cycle, Bitter. Sweet., in 2019. Professionally, Martin has performed with Il Divo, Marina Prior and John Foreman, as well as being keyboard deputy for the touring Australian productions of The Wizard of Oz, Mamma Mia! and Aladdin. He has had the good fortune to work with the best of Australia’s theatre music directors, including Laura Tipoki, Michael Azzopardi, Chris King and Kohan van Sambeeck.
Martin has also worked as a rehearsal pianist for the State Opera Company of South Australia and is regularly engaged as an audition pianist for many of Adelaide’s theatre companies (when there is not an ongoing global pandemic).

Max Garcia-Underwood (Guitar)

Guitar extraordinaire. 'Nuff said.