THE second and final episode of the two-part mini-series Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door aired on channel 7 on Sunday night, and was viewed by more than 1.8 million people.
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It was an insight into the famous entertainer’s life, including his childhood in Armidale.
Fourteen-year-old Ky Baldwin has strong ties to Inverell and was cast in the role of the young Peter Allen. Ky’s father Rick grew up in town, and while he and his wife Sally and Ky now live in Sydney, great aunties Rhonda Dawson, Tilly Willoughby and great grandmother Jean Baldwin remain.
Ky rose to prominence as a 10-year-old in 2011, when he auditioned for Australia’s Got Talent and tap danced his way through to the semi-finals.
Sally said since then, Ky concentrated on his singing and acting until his agency arranged the audition for this role.
“When we went to the audition there was a whole range of different boys. The age range was quite massive,” Sally said.
“It was just the normal audition process. Two scenes, I think one of them was you had to make up your own little dance and show a bit of pizzazz. The other scene was after the father had died.
“I think they did a bit of research in terms of the singing and dancing, it’s all online. He’s been out there doing it for a while.”
Sally said the happy parts of the role, the song and dance routines, were a perfect match for Ky, however, he had no experience to draw upon when it came to the darker side of the script, Peter Allen’s relationship with his father and his eventual suicide.
“That was all new and very dark. So that was really just relying on the good actors around him to kind of pull him into the story, and pull out the emotions of what you think that would be like,” Sally said.
“He didn’t put a lot of effort into preparing for the darker side, he just did it.”
Sally said Ky was unlike Peter Allen, who could listen to a song once and play it.
“However, if you give Ky a good teacher and he is a quick learner,” Sally said.
Sally said Ky’s ultimate aim is to get to America and live among the music.
“He’s very much into the music. He loves acting and welcomes another role, but in terms of what he’s aiming for in the long run, he wants to be a touring musician.”
Sally said work visas had been applied for and hopefully the family would make the move to the USA in January next year.
