Young stars to shine at GPAC

Audience members could feel a premonition coming on at GSODA Junior Players’ Broadway Here I Come this weekend.
Geelong has long produced performers who have blossomed on national and international stages and more than a few learned their craft treading the boards with GSODA, or Geelong Society of Dramatic Arts.
Which is why GSODA Junior Players’ end-of-year variety show at Geelong Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) today and tomorrow could prove more than a little prophetic.
The production includes some of today’s biggest hits of stage and screen with top young performers from across Geelong, the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula.
Featuring songs from mega Broadway hits including Wicked, Billy Elliot, Pippin, Book of Mormon and Mamma Mia, the production has given emerging musical theatre performers the chance to take on some of theatre’s iconic roles.
The show includes a chorus of revolting children bringing Roald Dahl’s characters to life in songs from Tim Minchin musical Matilda.
A band of merry murderesses does the Cell Block Tango from Chicago, while high-octane Legally Blonde number Whipped Into Shape features a chorus line of skipping ropes.
Screen musicals will be represented with numbers from TV’s Smash, movie musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Frozen’s perennial showstopper, Let it Go.
Bringing it all together is experienced Geelong director Liz Lester who has assembled a young and enthusiastic production team comprising vocal directors Hannah Petrie-Allbutt and Deanne Elliott with choreographers Nikki Lenaghan, Damian Caruso, Meagan Reid and Alana Babic.
The production features GSODA’s successful run of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, which played for sold-out audiences to local critical acclaim June.
The not-for-profit theatre company next year celebrates its 50th anniversary of entertaining audiences while fostering rising talent.
GSODA will stage four performances of Broadway Here I Come in GPAC’s Drama Theatre.