Showbiz veteran shares her knowledge:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Children's Auditions Preparation Workshop. Monday, October 6, Legs Dance Studio. Enrolments close on October 3. Bookings: queenievandezandt.org
A Surprise Morning with Queenie van de Zandt, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, October 21, 10.30am. Tickets $25. Bookings: theq.net.au
Canberra's own Queenie van de Zandt has been having a busy time of late. She starred for a year in the world premiere of King Kong: The Musical, was recently in a production of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods and is preparing for the release of an album.
Next month, she will be coming home not once, but twice to share her quarter-century of show business experience – which encompasses film, television, musicals and cabaret – in two very different ways.
On October 6, she will conduct a one-day Children's Audition Preparation Workshop focusing on the upcoming Australian premiere of the musical Matilda. The workshop is aimed at boys and girls aged between seven and 14 who are intent on pursuing professional roles in musical theatre. The children work with professional choreographers and musical directors and get an idea of what to expect in an audition and how to prepare.
While participating in the workshop cannot guarantee a successful audition, van de Zandt says many of the children who have completed the workshop have gone on to be cast in professional productions. And with the recent spate of TV talent shows, interest in performing has risen among young people so it's more competitive than ever.
"I've been running these workshops for about 14 years," she says. One of her aims in presenting them is to help up-and-coming performers avoid repeating the mistakes she made as a young performer going up to Sydney to audition for roles.
"I did everything wrong you could possibly do – the wrong song, no sheet music, all those things."
But it's intended to be enjoyable as well as useful and will benefit children auditioning for roles in amateur theatre as well, she says.
Her album, Queenie van de Zandt: Live in Cabaret, featuring songs such as Over the Rainbow, was recorded in Brisbane a couple of years ago. But, she says, "life gets in the way" – including a long association with King Kong from the first workshops – and it's only in recent times she's been able to put the final touches on it for release.
She will be singing some of the songs from it when she performs in the final Morning Melodies concert for 2014 at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. But she doesn't want to give away too much about that show – it is, as the title says, intended to be a surprise.