LEAD songstress Gabriela McDonald has been practising to fly for the past few days – on her own and with a harness that completes her latest high-flying theatrical production.
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The Tamworth singer plays the lead role in the latest musical production at the Capitol Theatre – Mary Poppins – and she’s also the leading lady when it comes to the staged rigging.
Director-producer Peter Ross says she’s never been on a circus trapeze and isn’t scared of heights – but the latest gig on the rig is another magic step along Gabriela’s career – and she’s really winging it.
For the Tamworth Musical Society and the Capitol, now in its eighth year of modern productions, this latest show is the biggest so far.
“It’s probably the biggest budget of all our productions and probably the biggest show in the theatre since we opened,” Ross, who is also the manager for council venues like the theatre, town hall and TRECC, said.
And the rig is pretty impressive too, launching Mary Poppins and her sidekick star, Bert – played by Aaron Jones – up and down a number of times for the show.
A Sydney engineering company was brought in to get what Ross describes as a “huge thing”.
They’ve also flown in pieces of scenery, including the nursery, because the Capitol’s own rigging couldn’t handle that big a job. “It’s all quite tricky. We go right up into the roof and move at angles to land,” he said.
The two leads have done a number of trial runs now – and, no pun intended, have risen to the challenge, according to Ross.
All up, he says, there are about 20 minutes of this production where there are stars flying in the theatre heavens.
A number of set pieces have been borrowed from the recent Canberra show, and this time around there’s an eight-by-five-metre big LED screen involved.
Ross says the local society is taking great pleasure “in the most delightful way” in bringing the 1964 film to the local stage.
It’s the story of the magical nanny with her umbrella and bag of tricks and includes some of everyone’s most favourite sweet songs, like Chim Chim Cher-ee, A Spoonful of Sugar, Let’s Go Fly a Kite and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
The cast numbers 40 this time around, with another 28 in the orchestra.
The Tamworth show premieres on Friday at 8pm and will have 14 performances until May 22.
