Young passion takes to the stage

GEELONG local Maddie Swan will bring the stage to life later this month with an electrifying performance in Geelong Lyric Theatre Society’s coming production of School of Rock.

Maddie’s love of all things acting, dancing and singing started in the family home where she would sing Naughty from the 1996 movie Matilda.

It was Maddie’s mum who recognised her talent and asked if she wanted to do musical theatre, the young talent’s response was a simple “I’ll give it a go.”

Now enrolled in the Geelong Academy of Performing Arts, she has been doing musical theatre for around two years now and is enjoying each part of it.

“I just enjoy being able to be myself and show my voice and let it all be free,” Maddie said.

 

“I’ve done every single show there Geelong Academy of Performing Arts for the two years that I’ve been doing musical theatre.

“This year they’re doing Peter Pan and then they’re doing Anything Goes for the older kids, which is a huge tap one, which is really fun, so a bunch of learning experiences in dance with that.”

The 11 year-old is now busy working with the Geelong Lyric Theatre Society as they put the final touches on their upcoming performance of School of Rock, where she takes on the role of Tomika, a big soulful singer in the band.

The action-packed performance will rock the stage at the Geelong Arts Centre and is based on the 2003 film starring Jack Black.

Comedy, music and an uplifting message about self-expression will come to life throughout the show, featuring many talented actors, singers and dancers from across the region.

 

School of Rock director Davina Smith said the show was all about collaboration.

“The adults and young performers together will create something magical.

“While we stay true to the essence of the original film and Broadway production, we’re adding our own unique flair to make it a distinctly Lyric production.”

Ms Smith said Maddie stood out from the moment she sang.

“Tomika was one of the trickiest roles to cast – we needed someone with a natural gift and the ability to connect through song.

“Her Maddie voice was raw, authentic quality, and her musical instincts shine in every note.”

While many people would crumble under the pressure and stage fright, performing in front of people is where the young talent thrives, although not without some nerves.

 

“You get really scared, but once you sing that first note or you say your first line, all the nerves just collapse, they all just go away and it flows really easily,” Maddie said.

“Because I started dance and being on stages when I was so young, I just got used to dancing and doing everything on the stage, it’s just kind of another little home space that you get to be on.”

Maddie said juggling her commitments to schooling and the passion she had for musical theatre was hard to balance.

“You just have to persevere, and you will get really stressed out with all this work coming at you and then having to memorise your script and then doing everything else.

“You eventually get past that hard stage and it just kind of all comes together and then you just try and get your own routine of doing everything and then it just all lays out perfectly.”

 

Maddie said since starting musical theatre she feels like she has been able to embrace herself and who she is.

“It was really cool to see the way that I change from being this completely different personality to myself and how I’m this humorous joker person.

“It was really cool to see that, and it was really cool to see when I do specific shows, my voice expands in a way that it just gets bigger and greater each show I do.”

Maddie has been in a number of performances during the past two year’s including Newsies where she took on the role of Jack Kelly, who became one of her favourite characters to play.

As the main in the story, Kelly had a range of different emotions Maddie had to portray, including through different emotional songs.

Maddie has big dreams when it comes to where she would like her musical theatre to go, from wanting to play Sandy in Grease through to being on the big stages.

“My main goal is to get on Broadway, which is a lot of the kids dreams and I just hope that I can chase that dream and actually get on there,” she said.

“Just to be on the big stage and show my passion to everyone.”

School of Rock opens on May 23 at the Play House at the Geelong Arts Centre and runs until June 1.

For tickets and more information, head to geelongartscentre.org.au