June Session: Broadway Sessions Goes To The Tonys

Amy Neumann returns for her Broadway Sessions swan song before returning to her home in America in August. She recently closed a successful run as Olive in The Odd Couple – Female Version for Blackwood Players. Before moving to Australia, Amy worked across the US as a performer and director. She has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Round House Theatre, and the American Century Theatre, as well touring the US and Canada in both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Becky Thatcher) and Annie (July). Favorite roles include Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods, and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Amy spent 17 years as a company member of Now This, Washinton DC's only totally improvised musical comedy troupe. She currently teaches for ArtStream, Inc., where she specializes in teaching actors with disabilities. Ms. Neumann holds a BFA in acting from Syracuse University and a Masters of Social Work from the Catholic University of America. Her favorite role is being wife to Jonathan and mum to Micah, 7, and Becca, 5.

Casmira is an experienced performer and teacher with a great passion for storytelling. Highlights have included performing the role of ‘Violet’ in Davine Productions’ Violet (for which she won the TASA award for Best Female Performance 2017) and 'Fantine' in the G&S Society's production of Les Misérables (for which she was nominated for a Curtain Call: Best Female Performance 2018).

In 2018 she performed in Edges with Irregular Productions for the Adelaide Fringe, ‘Shelby’ in Steel Magnolias with IpSkip,'The Lady of the Lake' in Spamalot with Marie Clark (winner of Best Ensemble Curtain Call 2018), and the ‘Sour Kangaroo’ in Seussical with Northern Light. In 2019 Casmira played nine characters in Judge Jackie: Disorder in the Court with Davine Productions (which won Best Ensemble and Best Musical at the 2019 Curtain Call Awards, as well as the TASA for Best Musical) and Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme in Assassins for Hills Musical Company.

Professionally, Casmira has acted and provided voices for several short films and children’s productions. She also spent many years directing and music directing musicals for Adelaide Theatre Academy, including Snow White and Alice in Wonderland for the Festival Centre’s ‘Something on Saturday’ program. Her fondest memories are working with Peter Combe in directing and choreographing his Adelaide Fringe shows from 2013-2015.

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.

Growing up performing in the Scouts’ Gang Show: Comedy Capers, David developed a love for musical theatre from a young age. Trained at the Centre for the Performing Arts; David has enjoyed performing Shakespeare with the State Theatre, Lightning Strike and Chopt Logic Theatre Companies and has toured in the past with Splash Theatre Company. Turning from professional acting to focus his energy on his family and work for the Anglican Church as a priest, David chooses to do shows that he loves.

It was in Marie Clark's production of Paris in the titular role that David hit the Adelaide scene in musical theatre. David has since performed with Marie Clark Musical Theatre in Miss Saigon (John) and as Carl Hanratty in the 2016 production of Catch Me if You Can. He has worked with Northern Light Theatre Company as Frederick in Pirates of Penzance and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. David also performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2015 with Lazy Saturday Productions' Australian premiere of Darkle. 2017 was a big year of theatre for David starting with Pale Ale Tales, a new work by local writer, Jason Hendy in the 2017 Adelaide Fringe, Jekyll and Hyde with Marie Clark and finishing with Les Misérables as Enjolras with G&S Society. Most recently David performed with the Hills Musical Company in Assassins as John Wilkes Booth.

David is thankful to his wife for her love and support, and for letting him play.

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).

Elle Nichelle is a private vocal coach, singer, choir director and songwriter in Adelaide. She graduated the Elder Conservatorium of Music in 2009 with a Diploma in Jazz Voice. Elle has performed as a lead vocalist with Gospo since their first show in the Adelaide Fringe Festival: GospoCentric & GospoTivity (2009), GospoAzz (2010-2011), Gospolicious (2014), Gospolation in both the Adelaide & Melbourne Fringe Festivals (2017) and Jackson vs Jackson (2018 & 2019).

Elle loves being involved in theatre: her roles thus far include being a lead vocalist in Smokey Joe’s Café - Hills Musical Company (2016), Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors - Blackwood Players (2017) & Fortune Teller in Side Show - Hills Musical Company (2018). Most recently, Elle toured Buffy Kills Edward with Emma Knights Productions playing the role of Buffy for the 2018 Melbourne Fringe Festival & again at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2019. Elle has a keen interest in voice therapy and currently studies Speech Pathology at Flinders University.

Ellis Dolan toured as Eddie/Dr. Scott in The Rocky Horror Show, and with the company of School of Rock as an Understudy for Dewey Finn and as a Swing – travelling all over Australia, China, and New Zealand.

He spent 2017 studying Musical Theatre at NIDA; appearing in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Chimerica as part of the NIDA Ensemble.

He has appeared in several productions around Adelaide, including Evita (The Met) in which he portrayed Che; The Producers (HMC) as the Stormtrooper; Oliver! (Shane Davidson Presents) as Bill Sykes; as well as ensemble roles in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (HMC) and Jesus Christ Superstar (G&S Society). Off-stage, he acted as Assistant Director for You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Smokey Joe's Cafe (HMC).

He also toured across Australia, portraying the role of Peter Dutton, as part of Abbott: The Musical (George Glass Productions), performing as part of the Canberra Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as a sell-out run in the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Outside of performing, Ellis is a writer – having completed his Honours in Creative Arts: Creative Writing at Flinders University. He’s currently struggling through the third draft of a novel and is constantly side-tracked by wanting to write reviews and film analysis; because of this, nothing seems to get done, but he has a lot of fun doing it.

He made his directorial debut with Edges as part of the 2018 Adelaide Fringe Festival and loved every second of working with such fine people.

Eloise Quinn-Valentine loves to tell stories on stage, and has performed in a variety of musicals, plays, cabarets, and choirs from a young age. Recent highlights include Othello and Seagull (Independent Theatre, 2022), The Hello Girls (Therry Theatre, 2021), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Davine Productions, 2020), Jerusalem (University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, 2019), It’s Only Life (Davine Productions, 2018), Violet: a musical (Davine Productions, 2017), and The Crucible (Royal Holloway University of London Drama Society, 2017). Eloise works and volunteers as an educator across a variety of disciplines and contexts, and particularly loves teaching others about faith, storytelling, compassion, and justice.

Emilene has always loved singing from an early age. She found her love for music theatre when at the age of 11 she was cast as Ida in her primary school musical Honk! Jr. Since then Emilene began vocal tuition with Rosanne Hosking who has helped her further develop a wide range of vocal skills. Emilene was part of the G&S Society of South Australia’s 2013 and 2014 productions of Oliver! as a member of Fagin’s Gang. As a student at Concordia College she had lead roles in their productions of The Sound of Music (2014), Godspell (2015) and most notably played Tracy in their production of Hairspray (2016). Emilene played the role of Anne Egerman in the G&S Society of South Australia’s production of A Little Night Music (2018) and most recently she played the role of Bridget in Pelican Productions' production of Bring It On (2018). Emilene also enjoyed doing Pelican Productions Music Theatre Camps between the years of 2015-2018.

Emilene has taken a short break from performing due to university commitments but is excited to begin performing again when possible. She is grateful for opportunities like Broadway sessions where she gets a chance to perform!

Georgie Raft is a 16 year old contemporary/pop singer-songwriter from Adelaide. She currently studies jazz and classical voice as well as audio production at The Studio And Star Factory.
Georgie has performed a number of lead roles in musicals including Fantine in Scotch College's Les Misérables, Rosemary in March Productions How to Succeed in Business Without really Trying and Jenny Lind in Barnum, She was a lead vocalist with the Australian Youth Performing Arts Team travelling to the US and gained a solo role in iTheatrics Broadway workshops in 2019. A highly versatile performer, in 2019 Georgie was awarded the Joan Lyons Scholarship for State Opera SA's Winter School, and performed in State Opera SA's season of Boojum!

Georgie has been songwriting since she was young and has a number of professionally produced songs In 2016 and 2017, three of her songs made the semi-finalist category of the International Songwriting Competition and in 2018, four of her songs were selected for the finals of the Australian Songwriting Awards with her latest single Better Off featuring in a number of Spotify's international playlists.

Her debut EP of original songs Breathing To Prove That I Can has received fabulous reviews and is currently receiving airplay on a number of Australian radio stations.

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!

Harry is 17 years old and has loved performing from a young age. He made his professional debut in 2012 for State Opera SA’s La Boheme, as well as State Opera SA and Slingsby’s Ode To Nonsense. Harry has also performed with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of SA, playing Friedrich in The Sound of Music, Oliver in Oliver! and Colin in The Secret Garden.

Harry is a long time Pelican Productions Performer; participating in 7 Music Theatre Camps and earning him the 2019 Outstanding Performer Award. Harry is currently a Year 12 student at Scotch College, and has participated in the school musical each year; most recently as Emmett in Legally Blonde. He is privileged to assume the role of Jean Valjean in Scotch’s Les Misérables this year; a dream role since he was Gavroche in a 2012 production.

Issie attends Scotch College where she is heavily involved in music, drama, dance and various vocal ensembles. She has been performing for over 10 years and is extremely excited to be playing the role of Éponine in Scotch College’s production of Les Misérables.

Jack has studied piano, guitar, dance and voice for many years and has been performing in musicals and operas since the age of 9, enjoying such roles as Colin in G&S Society’s The Secret Garden, Oliver Twist in both seasons of the G&S Society’s Oliver!, JoJo in Shane Davidson’s Suessical, Kurt in G&S' The Sound of Music, LeFou in AYT’s Beauty and the Beast, Flounder in Swell Productions' The Little Mermaid, Young Josh in Northern Light Society’s Big and Aladdin in AYT’s Aladdin Jr. Jack also played Prince Eric in Pelican Productions The Little Mermaid Jnr for which they won two ATG Awards including best ensemble, and Cinderella’s Prince in the ATG nominated Fringe production of Into The Woods. More recently Jack has performed as Prince Chululongkorn with the Metropolitan Theatre Company's The King and I, Eddie in 13 The Musical for AYT's Adelaide Fringe Festival season, and Lucas in Scotch College's The Addams Family.

Professional credits include the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, State Opera SA's La Boheme; the Singular/State Opera workshop of Innocence and State Opera SA's Tosca (Shepherd Boy solosit) (2016). This year Jack played the role of Gilbert Blythe in Emma Knights Productions' Anne of Green Gables and was also lucky enough to be selected to perform as part of the 'Class of Cabaret' at the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, mentored by Michael Griffiths and Amelia Ryan.

Jack performs with his sister Georgie as duo 'Ignite' and has featured in several music videos including Parra for Cuva's world-wide hit 'Wicked Games'. A highlight for Ignite! was winning the People's Choice award for 'Talent On Show' at the Royal Adelaide Show. Jack is currently rehearsing for Ignite's upcoming Cabaret at the Star Theatre and the role of Enjolras in Scotch College's Les Misérables while trying to hold down a career as a school boy.

Jay has been performing since childhood, on stage in musical theatre and as a solo artist. He has performed in Grease, played the lead in Marie Clark’s The Music Man, the ‘club owner’ in The Met's production of Miss Saigon, “Professor Callahan” in Met's Legally Blonde, “Ian” in HMC’s High Fidelity, and is playing Shrek in the upcoming HMC production of Shrek.

Jemma is chuffed that Broadway Sessions is finally back!! She is here for a good time and can't wait to jam with the band and see all of her lovely theatre friends again!! Yay!!!

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.

Kyle has been involved backstage in local theatre for the last 18 months, starting with assistant directing Edges in the 2018 Fringe. He followed that up by doing lights and sound for the Motherf**ker with the Hat and stage managing Macbeth, both for the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild's student productions. In 2019 he was a co-producer for After Life: Conversations from a Hospital Waiting Room, an original play in the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Since 2017, Kyle has been involved with Radio Adelaide, presenting and producing numerous shows, as well as doing regular movie reviews.

He recently finished his Bachelor of Media (Journalism) and will soon be heading to Edinburgh to start a Masters in Film.

Louisa is a singer and actor from Singapore. Having performed as a concubine, peasant, and various unnamed chorus girls in musicals and operas, she is now continuing her musical theatre training in the University of Adelaide in hopes that she could play lovable Asian sidekick roles on the big stage one day.

Although technically studying a Bachelor of Computer Science, Matt’s true passions lie in theater. A prolific performer, Matt has performed at many exciting venues, including Matt’s Kitchen, Matt’s Shower, and Matt’s Crappy Mazda 121. The highlight of Matt’s career so far was when his fresh interpretation of nuanced character “Man on Bench” was met with standing ovations from the entire audience of his compulsory Year 8 drama class. Always looking to further hone his craft, Matt has studied diligently under renowned Estill teacher Zak Vasiliou, while attending the prestigious musical arts school Zak’s Apartment. Tired of always being the Beauty in life, Matt longs to play the role of Disney’s Beast on stage.

Though Matt’s wit is as sharp as the Gs he belts, let there be no confusion: this is Matt’s first time, and Matt is very scared.

Maya’s love of musical theatre began at an early age, with her journey in performance beginning with Pelican Productions. Since then, Maya’s theatre credits include The Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s Thoroughly Modern Millie (2016) and Les Misérables (2017), Lydian Productions and Irregular Productions’ Godspell (2018) as the ‘By My Side’ soloist, Marie Clark Musical Theatre’s Anything Goes (2019) as Hope Harcourt, Segue Productions’ Heathers (2019) as Heather McNamara, and most recently Davine Productions' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical as Cynthia Weil (2020). Maya is a primary school Dance/Drama teacher, and she finds so much joy in being able to share her love of musical theatre with her students.

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.

Nava is a dedicated, versatile and passionate performer. With Persian and Dutch-Australian heritage, she is truly a multicultural artist. Nava’s most recent credits include performing as a headline artist at Adelaide Oval and on Channel 9 as part of the Adelaide Christmas Pageant, Ali/Sophie cover in Mamma Mia! with The Show Co., Teen Angel and Sandy/Rizzo cover in Grease at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC and touring Queensland as Marley/Team leader in Story Quest with Perform! Education. Nava hopes to work for greater unity in diversity through her career, transforming culture through the power of the arts.

Since first performing on stage at age 12 as Oliver in a school production of Oliver, Sean has performed in many theatre productions. The majority of shows Sean has performed in have been with the SA Light Opera Society (SALOS). Roles he has played with SALOS include Bunthorne in Patience, Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore, Stephen Foster in The Minstrel Man and Luiz in The Gondoliers.

Sean has also performed with Marie Clark, Therry, Galleon Theatre Group and The Henley Drama Group.

Sean has learnt singing with Norma Knight and Mary Branagan.

Serena began performing with the Adelaide Youth Theatre in 2011 and since, has played many roles for the youth theatre such as Tracy in Hairspray, Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast, The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods, Dragon in Shrek the Musical and most recently as Elphaba in their production of Wicked. Serena has also performed in many shows for Emma Knights Productions, including as Ado Annie in Oklahoma: On a Farm!, Buffy in Buffy Kills Edward and as New York Woman in I Love You Because.

Recently, Serena performed the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera for the G&S Society of SA, and has played Elphaba in Wicked and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. Serena has also performed many roles professionally for companies such as The Entertainment Store and Heaps Good Productions, most recently in the successful season of Snowmageddon at the South Australian Maritime Museum. In addition to musical theatre, Serena performs regularly with The Three Little Sisters, an Andrews Sisters tribute show, and performs in and directs The Honey-Bees, a 60s-tribute show.

At 22, Stephanie has been singing, dancing and acting for most of her life. Her love for theatre began in The Fairies when she was 9 and she has since had the opportunity to play some amazing roles, such as 'Calamity' in Calamity Jane (Trinity College), 'Millie' in Thoroughly Modern Millie (Swell Productions) and 'Rizzo' in Grease, 'Ariel' in The Little Mermaid and 'Danielle' in Bring It On (Pelican Productions). Stephanie has been passionate about singing most of her life, performing at many events over the years, including the Elder Park Carols and SANFL grand finals. She now is in her 3rd year of vocal coaching with her certificate in Stage 1 & 2 of Estill Voice Training. Apart from musicals, she is also passionate about leading youth and music at her church. Stephanie is looking forward to getting more involved in musical theatre in the future.

Tielah is a full-time History Honours student at the University of Adelaide who is working towards a Post-Grad degree and also pursues her passion for performing to keep her sane. Her deep-rooted passion for musical theatre has led to roles through many youth theatre productions, and several shows in more recent years. Tielah has featured as an ensemble member for shows such as Sweeney Todd, Cinderella and the Pirates (both 2017, South Coast Coral and Arts Society) and most recently, Assassins (2019, Hills Musical Company). She is currently in rehearsals for High Fidelity with Hills Musical company. Tielah is also involved in many different areas of Hills Musical Company, serving on the committee since 2019 and acting as Front of House Manager on multiple occasions.

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.