This time last year, Holly was in the final rehearsals for Oliver the musical. This was the 4th show she had been involved in but this time she had quite a big part as she was playing Nancy.
She had mastered the cockney accent, had been rehearsing her songs at every opportunity and was using me to help her remember her lines. On top of that she was studying like crazy for her exams. It was a totally mental time and stress levels were running high.
I hadn't really seen much of her acting of the part as we just talked through the lines so I really didn't know what to expect. She was sharing the part with another girl, Jasmine. Holly played Nancy on the Wed (opening night) and the Fri and Jasmine did the other nights.
I was so nervous for her on opening night but by the time I nipped through to the dressing rooms to wish her luck, she was so so calm.
It was close to the end of the first act when she finally came on and she totally blew me away. She commanded the stage and she
totally was Nancy. I was mesmerised. The moment she came on and Jack heard her voice, he sat up straighter and started waving his arms in the air as if trying to attract his sister's attention.
He didn't have any seizures throughout the performance and he thoroughly enjoyed it.
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| Nancy and Dodger |
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| Holly and her mate Amanda |
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| Oooh Errr! |
The whole cast of 10-18 yr olds were outstanding. The songs were beautifully sung. Fagan was brilliant and Bill Sykes I would definitely not have messed with! When Bill Sykes killed Nancy I was crying. I'd to resist the urge to clamber up onto the stage and batter him myself!
At the end, my hands were sore with clapping and when Nancy walked centre stage to take her bow I was on my feet whooping and hollering like the embarrassing but very proud mum I am. She was sensational.
I could hardly believe that it was the same girl who 4 years ago, I had to take kicking and screaming to this theatre group, encouraging and persuading all the way there. Every week there was an excuse: she was tired, didn't have any friends, didn't like it, blah blah blah but I persisted cos I knew she wanted to do this.She was just shy and nervous.
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| Holly and Kristy as soldier in Jesus Christ Superstar |
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| Holly and Adam in costume for JC Superstar |
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| dressed as a man for Anything Goes |
My mum had died just a few months before she started going to the theatre group, of Motor Neurone Disease and it seemed that everywhere we turned we were faced with disability. I wanted her to have something that was totally out with disability, that was just for her and I
knew this was it. Finally she started getting excited about going, was singing all the songs from the show, Les Misérables and I got a blow by blow account of it, so much so, that I knew the story like the back of my hand, by the time I watched it!
Since then she has starred in numerous others, with small parts but she wouldn't sing at the auditions so they didn't know she could sing. When they were auditioning for Oliver, I told her that the only way she would get a bigger part, is to let them hear her sing. She wasn't keen so I told her that she couldn't complain about not getting a bigger part if she didn't try! She took me at my word.
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| As a Bohemian in We Will Rock You |
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| the artist at work |
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| Holz and her pals |
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| Holly's hair courtesy of Moi! |
Tomorrow, it is opening night for Fiddler on the Roof. Holly plays the ghost of Grandma Tzeitel. The show runs for 4 nights. I am expecting it to be, once again, superb. There are about 120 kids in total and the standard and quality of the performances they put on could give the West End in London a run for their money.
Roll on tomorrow.
