CAST TWO: THURSDAY 20TH FEBRUARY
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ALYSSA YEOHAlyssa Yeoh was born in 2008 with a pre-existing love of music, honed from a very young age into a passion for singing. Her mother is ever grateful that she could always hold a tune, and while some of the music may have been painful, particularly the lyrics, the singing never was. Alyssa is a member of the South Australian Public Primary Schools (SAPPS) Choir, has previously been a vocalist in a rock band, and plays a little guitar.
Outside of music, Alyssa has a love for words, writing, problem solving, animals, gaming (board and computers), books, environmental conservation, and is quite the culinary master. She shares her home with a menagerie of cats, a dog, birds, and a lizard. This will be Alyssa’s first performance with Promise Adelaide, and she is very excited to share her passion for singing with everyone. |
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CHARLIE MILLERCharlie Miller is 17 years old and has been performing since the age of 4. She is currently entering Year 12 at Scotch College where she is heavily involved in their performing arts program and is the Performing Arts Captain for 2020. She takes all dance classes available (Jazz, Hip-Hop, Tap, Classical Ballet and Contemporary), is involved in the schools auditioned choirs and plays Jazz Trombone for their Stage Band 1. Charlie has been involved in many productions from companies such as Adelaide Youth Theatre, Shane Davidson Presents, Scotch College and Pelican Productions. Charlie has recently played Madame Thenardier in Scotch Colleges outstanding production of Les Misérables
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CHLOE SEABROOKChloe is a 13 year old Barossa girl with a love for singing, musical theatre and piano. Chloe’s love for singing developed into a love for musical theatre after being taken to her first professional show Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! when she was just six. Following this, Chloe performed in her first musical The Little Mermaid with Adelaide Youth Theatre (AYT) and was instantly hooked! Another 10 musicals have since followed! Her most recent shows include Seussical The Musical (Bird Girl); Hairspray (Velma Von Tussle); Wicked (ensemble); Shrek (Wicked Witch) with AYT, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Truly Scrumptious) and The Sound of Music (Liesl von Trapp) with NOW Productions. Chloe has also performed with Broadway Sessions, Promise Adelaide and at the Junior Theatre Celebration in Newcastle with AYT. Chloe is a dance student at TIDC and a vocal student at The Studio & Star Factory where she takes voice lessons with Amelie Peters and is a member of the junior Musical Theatre ensemble with Peter Johns.
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EMILY BENNETTEmily began singing with Lakeside Studios when she was 8 years old. During her time with Lakeside Studios she performed many solo and group numbers at venues such as The Gov and Mama Jambo. Emily has been training with Theatre Bugs and Adelaide Theatre Academy since 2017 in dancing, acting, and singing. Emily has performed several songs in Japanese on the main stage at the Kodomo no Hi Japan Festival. Emily is passionate about musical theatre and has utilised her vocal training as part of the ensemble for The Little Mermaid Jr, presented by Pelican Productions, Hairspray Jr, presented by Adelaide Youth Theatre, and in numerous Theatre Bugs and Adelaide Theatre Academy performances. Emily’s musical theatre talents were also on display when she played Drizella in Adelaide Youth Theatre’s Cinderella Kids. In her spare time, Emily likes to attend musical theatre performances, sing karaoke, practice her Japanese, and learn all she can about Japanese culture. It is Emily’s dream to travel to New York City, see as many musicals as she can, and eventually perform on Broadway. This is Emily’s second year performing at Musical Moments and she is very excited to be part of the show again in 2020.
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HANNAH POLLARDTwelve-year-old Hannah Pollard is very passionate about the arts; music, dance, and acting. Since she was eight years old, she has been participating in various musical theatre companies, performing shows such as Aladdin, High School Musical, four Musical Theatre Camps and many more. She has been tutored in vocal for five years and is currently a student of David Gauci.
This is her first Musical Moments, and she is looking forward to it. |
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HANNAH SMITHOriginally from Murray Bridge Hannah Smith moved to Adelaide to pursue her love of technical theatre and is now studying a Certificate IV in lighting and sound. Hannah has previously performed in multiple musicals and plays with Murray Bridge Players and Singers such as Calamity Jane, James and the giant Peach, Chicago, Wizard of Oz and The festivals of one act plays. For the past 5 years directing her own shows Hannah has raised $7000 for local charities and encourages young people who haven’t been involved in theatre to get out of the comfort zone and gain all the personal skills being on stage gives you.
This is her 3rd Musical Moments show with Promise Adelaide and she also enjoyed being apart of Diva Series in 2018 doing a tribute to 1940s-1960s female vocalists. |
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ISSIE MENNILLOIssie attends Scotch College on a Performing Arts Scholarship, where she is heavily involved in music, drama, dance and various vocal ensembles. She trained at Barbra Jayne Dance Centre for 10 years and now focuses on commercial jazz and contemporary at Precizion Dance under the direction of Lauren Pisaniello. She is currently taking singing lessons at the Studio and Star Factory with Cate Dyer, where she is focusing on musical theatre and contemporary singing. Her credits include: Pelican Production’s The Little Mermaid (Scuttle), Adelaide Youth Theatre’s 13 The Musical (Cheerleader), Pelican Production’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Susan), TB Art’s Little Shop of Horrors (Ronette), Shane Davidson’s Beauty and the Beast (Belle), Adelaide Youth Theatre’s Wicked (Nessarose) and solo performances in Pelican Production’s Musical Theatre Camp (2015, 2016, 2018). She has starred in Scotch College’s Musicals, 42nd Street (Lorraine), The Addams Family (Wednesday Addams), Legally Blonde (Brooke Wyndham) and Les Miserables (Eponiné). She also sung the national anthem at the Pacific School Games in 2017. Issie is very excited to be involved in her second season of Musical Moments.
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MILLIE BRAKEMillie is a relative ‘newbie’ to Adelaide, arriving with her family in mid-2018 from the UK to settle here permanently. However, her passion for performing arts stretches back much further and for most of her 17 years, Millie has been active in stage, dance and choral performance. As a member of the internationally renowned Farnham Youth Choir, she won a gold medal at the European Choir Games in Germany and sang Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome during a tour to Italy. Millie was a regular participant in National Youth Theatre of Great Britain productions including ‘Tess of the D’Ubervilles’ and ‘Not the end of the World’ at the Edinburgh Fringe. She played Tracy in the musical ‘Hairspray’, Nancy in ‘Oliver’ and, most recently, Cosette in Scotch College’s production of ‘Les Miserables’. Millie enjoys all genres of dance, particularly tap, and TV adverts provided her with many fun challenges over the years. However, operatic singing is Millie’s forté and she loves the challenge of mastering French, German and Italian text. Millie aspires to train professionally next year but musical theatre remains a huge draw and it will be a big decision deciding which avenue of performing arts to choose!
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OLIVER LAWESDespite being only 14, Oliver has performed in many concerts and musical productions. He travelled to the USA early in 2019, performing as Sponge Bob in Disneyland with the Australian Youth Performing Arts Team. He took part in the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta and took vocal masterclasses in New York. This is his second year of performing with Promise Adelaide in Musical Moments. He had had a busy year in 2019 with Musical Theatre Performances being cast as General Tom Thumb in the March Productions production of Barnum, Simple Simon in the Theatrebugs production of Porridge, and Gavroche in the Scotch College production of Les Miserables and Richie in The Adelaide Theatre Academy production of 13 in October. He enjoys performing at Broadway Sessions. His most recent performance was in an Australian Bushfire Benefit Concert. Oliver studies singing with Kirsty Roberts at The Studio and Star Factory and jazz singing with Anita Wardell.
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REO GERHARDYMy name is Reo Gerhardy I am 13 years old from the Barossa Valley. I have been hooked on performing since age 9 when in my home town I did my first show Oliver! This was followed by a few local shows including a role as Tiny Tim in Scrooge the Musical. In 2018 I began performing with Pelican Productions in Musical Theatre Camps as Bert (Mary Poppins) and P.T. Barnum (The Greatest Showman). In 2018 I also performed as Rooster Hannigan in Annie JR (Pelican Productions), and was fortunate enough to represent Pelican at Junior Theatre Celebration in Newcastle, where I was selected to perform in the Sister Act JR pilot program working with industry professionals. In 2019 I performed in The Little Mermaid JR (Pelican Productions) and my first Musical Moments show earning an Outstanding Performer award. Later in 2019 I performed as Junior Bear in Porridge (Theatre Bugs) at the Dunstan Playhouse. I finished 2019 being awarded the Performing Arts Award for my primary school and start 2020 looking forward to performing as Timon in The Lion King JR (Pelican Productions).
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SIENNA VACCAHey! I’m Sienna Vacca, I’m 13 years old and I am so privileged and excited to be a performer in this year’s production of Musical Moments. I have loved performing from a very young age, and have performed in various productions with the Adelaide Youth Theatre and Harvest Rain, as well as small performances within my school and community. Recently, I competed in the Balaklava Eisteddfod, and had my contemporary entry piece mentioned in the local paper. Some of my passions as a performer include singing and playing the piano, having done it for as long as I can remember. Being quite of an introverted person, music has helped me express myself and my personality to others and allows me to convey my emotions to a wider audience. I am looking forward to performing in the show, and I absolutely cannot wait to see Musical Moments come to life.
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ZARA CHESSELLZara Chessell is a musical theatre lover, she experienced her first taste of theatre at the young age of five, in a Theatre Bugs holiday program, followed by many more over the seven years following that small production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Zara fell in love with musicals in 2017 while performing in the ensemble of her year five production of The Lion King Jr. In April 2018 she performed as one of the Nicest Kids in Town in Hairspray Jr., an experience that she really enjoyed. She began singing lessons at VoiceStyle Studio in 2019. Zara’s love for musicals was ignited again at the discovery of Heathers the Musical, her ultimate dream role is to play Veronica Sawyer in Heathers. Zara hopes to perform more musical theatre over the next few years and is extremely grateful to Promise Adelaide for being selected to perform in the Musical Moments 2020 show in the Adelaide Fringe.
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ZOE THOMASZoe Thomas has always held a love for musical theatre, and has thoroughly enjoyed the chance to bring some of her favourite pieces to life in Musical Moments over the past three years. During her time in high school, she was involved in three auditioned choirs, which performed at various competitions and school events, including the biennial Cabaret. These ranged from era-specific themes, such as Back to the 80s, to pop-culture driven themes, like Disney Through the Ages. Through her drama studies, Zoe has also performed in many plays and musicals, with roles including Isabella Pantalone in The Duchess Mislaid, and Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors. She also choreographed a production of the musical High School Spoofical, in addition to her onstage role as Candy. She has also taken Contemporary and Jazz dance for the past two years. Zoe looks forward to continuing her passion for performance in the following years.
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