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Performers like Joey Haenen and Jazz Garcia who sought opportunities on the east coast are returning to Adelaide in Full Circle's debut production of SA's first musical theatre company.
Joey Haenen will play the lead role in Catch Me If You Can, the debut production of SA musical theatre company Full Circle.
When Joey Haenen graduated with a music theatre degree in Adelaide, he knew he had to move states.
"There is no work here and so you've got to move over east, that's where most of the agents are," he said. Haenen moved to Melbourne, like Jazz Garcia who spent a year getting her name known while paying for her passion through a day job in speech pathology.
"There's just a lot more musical theatre opportunities in Melbourne, we don't really have anything in Adelaide," she said. The exodus from South Australia to the east coast has been happening for decades, a talent drain Jo Casson was determined to stop. SuppliedThe arts veteran joined forces with others to form Full Circle, the state's first-ever professional music theatre company.
"I discovered in the middle of last year that every other major city has a professional local theatre company and Adelaide didn't. " Ironically, it's a full circle moment for the company's choreographer Zoe Komazec-Kermond, who returned from the east coast after a career performing in shows including Cats, Matilda and Mary Poppins.
"There is so much talent in South Australia, so much talent and we do sometimes feel like we have to go away in order to achieve what we want to achieve," she said. )It has the backing of well-known arts lover and philanthropist Pamela Wall AO, but the company is seeking more support, as well as applying for grant funding.
Full Circle will stage the musical Catch Me If You Can as its opening number, a stage version of the story that Leonardo DiCaprio took to the big screen and earned rave reviews. Haenen was working and had to push his case with an audition video he sent to producers.
The 21-year-old rising star's absence from the auditions did not stop him from landing the lead role of Frank Abagnale Jr. "What I love is just being able to get little bits of Joey in each of the characters every time and that's such a great joy," Haenen said. Garcia, who earned a contract among the show's ensemble, said the three-day auditions were exhausting.
"The dance call was extremely strenuous, I'd say that was one of the longest kind of dance audition processes I've ever been in," she said. SuppliedMore than 30 creatives and technical crew have been hired with the final cast a mix of South Australians and others returning to the state.
"Everyone could sing, everyone could dance and everyone could act, so it made our job really hard to pick our final cast," Komazec-Kermond said. Beetlejuice, Waitress, Back to the Future and Dear Evan Hansen were major musicals which cancelled shows recently, with one producerFull Circle said it was different because it would not have the high costs of touring a show nationally, like many others.
"Take a little show out into the regional areas if we can, but we won't be going beyond South Australia, it's designed to be a local professional theatre company,"Full Circle wants to stage two musicals a year for the next two years, before increasing to three after that. Jazz Garcia believes more performers will build careers in South Australia after a new musical theatre company was formed.
Those both on and off the stage realised the importance of pulling off the show and demonstrating the company should be here to stay.
"It's a huge responsibility and I think we're going to do a really good job," Garcia confidently predicted. "There's so much buzz in Adelaide at the moment around Full Circle, so it's really up to us to produce the very best version of this show that we can," she said.
Musical Theatre Jobs Adelaide Performing Paradise Joey Haenen Jo Casson Jazz Garcia Zoe Komazec-Kermond Arts Musical Theatre Company Full Circle Arts Industry Pressure Cost Of Living Local Productions
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