Luka Bridges prepares for Take the Mic grand final at Chapel Off Chapel

A YOUNG local performer will soon reach full voice when she returns to the Chapel Off Chapel stage in Melbourne to take part in the grand final of Take the Mic Australia’s annual singing competition.

Singer, Luka Bridges has been hard at work preparing for the event after she took the top spot in the junior musical theatre division in the previous competition early last month.

“I started crying when I found out I got first place,” she said. “Chapel Off Chapel is the first major thing I’ve ever done in Melbourne.”

Luka has been taking singing lessons for about five years as a student with the Ballarat Centre of Music and the Arts.

Outside of BCMA productions, she’s been involved in shows with local companies such as BLOC Music Theatre and Ballarat Lyric Theatre, sharing the lead role in the latter’s recent production of Annie.

For her performance in the upcoming grand final, she’ll be singing her rendition of the song “Tomorrow”, which she performed as part of Lyric’s show.

“That song was definitely a highlight,” she said. “It was one of my bits to show the audience who my version of Annie is.

“I hope it’s good and I’m proud of myself for doing it because I’ve done that song for so long. I couldn’t get it for a while so I loved it when I first nailed that note.”

Luka is also about to undertake a musical theatre program with Melbourne’s RISE performing arts school.

She credits her father, a local musician, as a major influence on her performing. “He taught himself to play guitar and has been singing for 20 years,” she said.

“When I heard him, I thought I want to do that. I really look up to him. He’s my shadow.”

Her mother Kylie said performing in Melbourne is one of Luka’s main ambitions.

“It’s definitely a key goal for her, getting into musical theatre productions in Melbourne, or even on the West End,” she said. “We try to give her every opportunity.

“Her dad and I, and her brother and sister, we get really into the performance and get really nervous. We’re so, so proud of her to see how far she’s come.”

Take the Mic’s musical theatre competition begins on July 13 at 4pm, and tickets are available via the Chapel Off Chapel website.