January Session: Welcome to the 20s

26 Sunday January 2020
When: 6:30pm Where: Norwood Live, Norwood Hotel Tickets: $15-20

About this Session

It’s a Roaring 20s Broadway Sessions.

It’s a brand new decade, and what better way to Charleston into the 20s than with a roaring 20s theme for Broadway Sessions in January! The 1920s was all about jazz, bootleg gin, excess and celebrating being alive in a period between two world wars and one Great Depression. While many of us are finding it difficult to celebrate this new year at the moment, perhaps being together and sharing the joy of music is just what we need! And by golly, what a sockdollager!

Want to register? We’re looking for songs from 1920s musicals or musicals written in the style of the 20s. Think Chicago, The Wild Party, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Boyfriend, The Grand Hotel, Nice Work If You Can Get It (or anything else by Gershwin), or Thoroughly Modern Millie, just to name a few. Broadway is lousy with options! Head to www.broadwaysessions.com.au/register now!  Registrations close at midday on Thursday 16 January.

Want to come along as an audience member and be part of the fun? We’d still love you to embrace the theme! Rock up to your local speakeasy (Norwood Live) slip us a 20 to gain access, grab a giggle water and channel your best flapper/gangster/flagpole dancer/Art Deco building. Want to ensure you have exclusive access to the hotsiest-totsiest party in town? Book a table or tickets on the website instead: www.broadwaysessions.com.au/tickets.

Don’t be a bluenose – we’re all one year closer to the big sleep; so let’s blouse! It’ll be the bees knees!

Doors open at 5:45pm. Food and beverages are available from the bar.

Pre-purchase single tickets and tables today to secure your spot. Tickets remain available online until 15 minutes before doors. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door.

Session Setlist

Act 1
As We Stumble Along (The Drowsy Chaperone) – Mark Oates
Fascinating Rhythm (Lady, Be Good!) – Eloise Quinn-Valentine
Someone To Watch Over Me (Oh Kay!) – John Mondelo
Nice Work If You Can Get It (Nice Work If You Can Get It) – Adam Schultz
Adelaide’s Lament (Guys and Dolls) – Caroline Stanley-Smith
Where Do I Go From Here (Fiorello!) – Cory Ferguson
All That Jazz (Chicago) – Cais Nitschke
When You’re Good to Mama (Chicago) – Aimee Crathern
Razzle Dazzle (Chicago) – Zachary Baseby
Mister Cellophane (Chicago) – David MacGillivray
What About That Shane? (Shane Warne: The Musical)* – Kristin Stefanoff
Act 2
He’s Sure The Boy I Love (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical)* – Josh Kerr, Maya Miller
Ol’ Man River (Showboat) – Blake Ascione
Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man (Showboat) – Karen Muller
Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) (Paris) – Amy Hammond
I Wanna Be Loved By You (Good Boy) – Nicole Rammesh
You Took Advantage Of Me (Present Arms) – Jemma Allen
Almost There (The Princess and the Frog) – Georgia Cosercas
Maybe I Like It This Way (The Wild Party) – Amelie Peters
I Want To Go To Hollywood (Grand Hotel) – Jemma McCulloch
Gimme Gimme (Thoroughly Modern Millie) – Mim Sarre
* promoting an upcoming show

Session Host

Mark Oates (he/him)

Mark is an award winning South Australian performer whose credits include the Adelaide and Brisbane Festivals, State Opera South Australia, SINGular Productions, Co Opera, Various People, Aerial Artists Australia, and MOatesArt Productions.

In 2022 Mark was nominated for an Adelaide Critic's Circle Award for his body of work. He premiered the dual roles of Ian Duncan and Don Dunstan in Neil Armfield's Ruby Award-winning Watershed: The Death Of Dr Duncan for the Adelaide Festival – while for State Opera South Australia he performed Lt Tom in Voss and Gastone in La Traviata, as well as embarking on a national tour of Love Burns, completing the first orchestration workshop of When The Rain Stops Falling and appearing in Bright Lights, Big Dreams.

Previous Adelaide Festival appearances are Mozart Requiem (2020), Bernstein Mass – featured Street Singer (2012) and Le Grande Macabre - Ruffiak (2010).

In State Opera of South Australia's 2023 season Mark will be appearing as the Defendant in Trial by Jury and in Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore, as well as hosting the Tra La La Bar for the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, with further exciting projects to be announced. In 2021, Mark appeared as Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd and Jack in Love Burns, and opened the year in Carousel. Further highlights with the company include Njegus in The Merry Widow, Arjuna in Satyagraha, John Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld, The Cantor in Maria de Buenos Aires (co production with Leigh Warren Dancers – Adelaide Festival Centre Playhouse and Brisbane Festival). Mark is a proud and long-standing State Opera South Australia artist, both as a chorister and a principal performer.

Well known and regarded on the concert stage, Mark also mentors Class of Cabaret for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, works extensively with Primary Schools Music Festival and regularly tours with Aerial Artists Australia in Le Aerial, including Perth Fringeworld, Adelaide Fringe, Auckland Fringe, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Arts Centre and Port Douglas. Mark is Associate Producer and regular host of Broadway Sessions, Adelaide's long running monthly music theatre focussed, curated open mic night.

Session Performers

Adam Schultz

Adam began performing in musical theatre in 2017, debuting with the Met in 9 to 5: The Musical. Despite not really knowing what he was doing, Adam enjoyed the process so much that he's hardly stopped performing since, appearing in plays and musicals with a number of Adelaide's great selection of theatre companies including Blackwood Players, Therry and St Judes.

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.

Amelie Peters

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.

Amy Hammond

Amy has been a performer since she was 3 years old. Having danced and sung her way through her teenage years and early 20’s, she gained lead roles in musicals, dance productions and even a couple of TV commercials. More recently Amy has showcased her talents hosting Karaoke Nights on the Eyre Peninsula and performing at various events including the main stage at Tunarama in Port Lincoln!

Although theatre has always been her passion and strength it hasn’t stopped her from branching into the acoustic gig scene music tutoring (voice and piano). Now, working part-time, working towards a psychology degree and wrangling a family of 6 she escapes occasionally to sing something more interesting than The Wiggles!

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.

Caroline Stanley-Smith

Caroline has been involved in Musical theatre since school days, she was a member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA and other amateur companies in Adelaide. For the past nine years, Caroline has been living in the UK, where she studied musical theatre at KSA Academy of Performing arts. Since graduating, she has been performing with Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, which have included roles in Pirates of Penzance, Into The Woods, and The Producers.

Cais Nitschke (they/them)

Cais is a musician, Scout Leader, swimming teacher and audio-visual technician who has been involved in the creative arts for many years. In 2023, Cais was the Musical Director for Big Fish by Tatachilla Lutheran College at the start of May 2023, which has been their absolute favourite show to have done to date. Cais was studying a Bachelor of Music, however has recently swapped into a Cert IV in Live Production and Technical Services (Tech/Stage Management) at TAFE SA, and will pursue theatre fulltime. They are the Stage Manager for Trail's End for Adelaide Fringe 2024, and And Then There Were None for Phoenix Music and Variety Group in 2024. In 2023, they were also the Lighting Operator for Finding Nemo Jr for Adelaide Youth Theatre, as well as the Graduation Dance Show for TAFE SA's third year Bachelor of Creative Arts - Dance Students.

Some of Cais' other theatre credits include playing violin for Marie Clark's seasons of The Producers, and violin/clarinet for SALO's The Gondoliers. They also worked backstage/mic tech for Now Productions Oliver Jr (2021) and The Addams Family (2023), played in the pit for Comedy Capers Gang Show, clarinet in My Fair Lady and violin in the Australian Premiere of Betty Blue Eyes. Cais was also the Musical Director for Scouts Shouts Youth Theatre 2021-2022 and worked backstage with Comedy Capers Gang Show in 2023, alongside other festivals and events and shows. Cais' favourite festival to have worked for was the Illuminate Adelaide Festival in 2023.

Overall, Cais loves working and studying as an audio-visual technician, with Lighting being their favourite department. Cais is also a volunteer crew member for the South Australian State Emergency Service (The ones in orange!).

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.

David MacGillivray

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.

Eloise Quinn-Valentine

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.

Georgia Cosercas

At 23, Georgia is still exploring Adelaide's theatre community with wide eyes. With a later start than some, Georgia began performing with Pelican Productions at 14, and continued to do so for six years. Her most recent feat with the company was in 2017 in Bring it On: The Musical, where she played the part of Bridget, earning her a nomination for best youth perfomer.

Georgia has spread her love of the performing arts overseas, by working as a drama instructor in a summer camp in Arizona. She has just completed her Bachelor of International Tourism at Flinders University and most recently starred in the MET's production of High Society as the precocious Dinah Lord. Up next, Georgia will be performing in Davine Productions Beautiful: The Carole King Musical in the 2020 Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Jemma Allen (She/her)

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!!!

Jemma McCulloch

Jemma is originally from the UK where she trained professionally in Musical Theatre at The Brit School, The Betty Wivell Academy and Bird College in London. Jemma has Advanced Diploma’s in both Musical Theatre and Music and was also selected by the BBC (in London) for a young performer's bursary for outstanding achievement in Musical Theatre whilst she was studying. Jemma has been fortunate enough to have performed in various Musical Theatre concerts and workshops in London’s West End and even one in Broadway!

Jemma is relatively new to Adelaide - only having moved here last year. She has just finished playing the role of Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical with Davine Productions for the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020. This was the best experience she has ever had on stage - she loved every minute of it!! Jemma also performed in Kinky Boots with The G&S Society in which she played the role of Lauren. Jemma’s other roles in Theatre have included Ellen in Miss Saigon (The Met), Charity in Sweet Charity, Nancy in Oliver!, Mary in Mary Poppins and Ariel in Footloose.

John Mondelo (he/him)

John is a graduate of the Bachelor of Musical Theatre at the Elder Conservatorium, and has previously completed a BA in Classical Voice at the University of Western Australia, the Certificate course at WAAPA in Musical Theatre, and the Music Theatre Intensive at the Stella Adler Studio NYC. John is also executive producer and co-founder of the theatrical collective EXEUNT (Pursued By A Bear) Productions which most recently performed Rodgers & Hammerstein's: A Grand Night for Singing at the Adelaide Fringe.

Josh Kerr

Born in Melbourne, Joshua has been performing since a young age, and followed that passion to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theatre from the University of Ballarat. He appeared in the Australian premiere performance of When Midnight Strikes in the role of Alex, with other roles including Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret, as well as writing his own performance for the Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Doomed. From there, he took his performance career abroad, appearing in premiere performances of Elegy for an Echo at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, as well as working with the Edinburgh International Science Festival, performing across Scotland, before two tours of the United Arab Emirates. Since living in Adelaide, he teamed up with Blackwood Players in The Odd Couple, before touring Emma Knight’s Production of Buffy vs Edward and Sex and the Musical to Melbourne.

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.

Kristin Stefanoff (she/her)

Kristin is a music teacher, musician, and performer based in the Adelaide Hills. Favourite musical theatre roles include: 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 will be playing Ms Gardner/Female Authority Voice in Carrie The Musical with Hills Musical Company in November 2023.

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.

Maya Miller

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.

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.

Nicole Rammesh

Nicole is no stranger to the stage. Her passion began in Singapore; as President and Production Manager in the Drama Club, lead roles in her school's productions and involvement in the Literature Festival and Singapore Youth Festival. Moving to Australia, her love for musical theatre grew with lead roles and as Choreographer (Seussical, The Lion King Jr). She also joined Harvest Rain's Adelaide arena tours (Hairspray, Grease). Recently, Nicole achieved a spot in the semi-finals in the AOC Initiative. Currently, Nicole studies with the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium, studying Music Theatre, as seen in their debut production of Spring Awakening. Nicole is thrilled to perform at Broadway Sessions!

Zachary Baseby (he/him)

Zachary Baseby is 23 years old and has had a burning passion for all things musical theatre related from a very young age, starting from his first performance in 2008 as Humpty Dumpty in Surprising Old King Cole (Stars on Stage). From there on, he has trained with various acting schools such as Actors Ink., Theatrebugs, Mighty Good Productions, and Heesom Casting before performing in his first musical theatre show in 2017 with The Parks Youth Theatre as an ensemble member in Grease.

Some of Zachary’s theatre highlights over the past few years have been: The Grinch in Seussical (NLTC, 2018), Horton the Elephant in Seussical Jr (Shane Davidson Presents, 2020), Javert in Les Misérables (NOW Productions, 2021), The Wolf in Into the Woods (Adelaide Youth Theatre, 2022), Uncle Fester in The Addams Family (Alternative Theatre Company, 2022), Wadsworth in Clue (Phoenix Variety & Music Group, 2023), Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid (Balaklava Community Arts, 2023) and most recently, the titular role in Peter Pan: A Christmas Pantomime (Blackwood Players, 2023).

Other than theatre, Zachary has also appeared in two short films to date created by students of Flinders University: Plastic Aeroplane (2018) and Rock, Paper, Scissors (2019). He has also appeared in two full length film projects with NOW Productions as the role of Bobby Packer in TEN FOUR, Agent Percash: REWIND, and Detective Jamieson in their spin-off adaptation: RED DAWN.

Recently, Zachary has landed his most recent roles as Cretin in Agatha Twisty: A Murder in Pantoland for the Adelaide Fringe 2024 and venturing into his first show with the G&S Society of South Australia in their May 2024 production of Oklahoma!

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.