by Priscilla

Dec.19, 2011, under Cast Blog

A male swing’s job is to know every single boy ensemble track in the show and in my case to know the Farrah/Young Bernadette part, which is my 1st cover. You are then on standby waiting for someone to go off sick, injured or on holiday and you have to be prepared to perform all those roles. It’s always very varied.

Matt Krzan

The initial part of the job as a swing is really tough, because you don’t get to go on, on opening night and you have so much to learn. You are almost rehearsing in front of an audience, because there isn’t time during rehearsal for all the swings to learn every part. The Young Bernadette character has this massive cape and for the first few shows your just trying not to trip on it. But once that is over you never get bored and you don’t always do 8 shows a week, so your body gets a bit of a rest from time to time. I really enjoy it.

I initially went to University, but I knew that I wanted to work in musical theatre, so I’d have go to a professional theatre school. I trained at London Studio Centre for 3 years and worked really hard. My first job was as swing on Cats. Subsequently I’ve worked on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Starlight Express, La Cages Aux Folles, Wicked and then Priscilla.

I auditioned for the original cast of Priscilla in London. I was doing Cats in Italy at the time and I was flying back every weekend to audition, because I really wanted to be in it. It’s the sort of show that suits me and I loved the film. It didn’t work out that time but I am so pleased that I got to do the show in its final year.

Priscilla is just great fun on stage to perform. Colour My World is one of my favourite numbers to watch, but one of the hardest to perform in the heels. The other hard thing is the Young Bernadette make up, because you have less than 15 minutes to do it during the interval. I also love to watch Both Sides Now and perform Downtown.

Priscilla is such a high energy and happy show. A family member who lost her husband came to see the show and she texted me after saying it was the ideal kind of therapy. The joy and enthusiasm is infectious. If you leave the theatre smiling it can’t be a bad thing.