|
|
Talking to the Stars: Hayden
Tee
October 19: Hayden Tee has returned from London to star in the
Australian production of the Maury Yeston musical Titanic. AussieTheatre.com's Troy Dodds
caught up with Hayden on the eve of the show's opening in Sydney....
 TD: Hayden, we're very close to the opening of Titanic. How's
rehearsals going?
HT: Rehearsals are going great. We've just come out of tech week and I
have to say that the set Dale Ferguson has designed is beautiful and serves the production
very well.
TD: Some of the cast have told me it's quite a mammoth production, even
bigger than they expected. Would you agree?
HT: Yes, the production is of 'Titanic' proportions. The subject matter is
amazing, if someone wrote the story as fiction you would not find it believable and the
fact that it actually happened makes it so much more amazing. The musical captures the
true life stories so well, every character in the musical was a real person on the ship.
TD: Tell me a little bit about your role in the show.
HT: I play Thomas Andrews, who was in charge of designing and building the
Titanic and her sister ships the Olympic and Brittanic. Unfortunately Andrews was partly
to blame for the disaster but remained a hero and went down with the ship.
TD: You grabbed high acclaim for your work in Les Miserables on the West
End recently. It must have been a great experience?
HT: I had the most amazing year in London working on Les Miserables
and especially the 20th anniversary show, which was very special. Auditions were held all
over the UK for a junior cast of Les Mis and after our full show the junior cast
came out and performed a 15 minute medley version of the show and we then performed 'One
Day More', with them singing 'One DECADE More'. Some of the original cast members came on
stage and together we represented the past, present and future of Les Miserables.
It was amazing.
TD: Are you essentially London based now or will we continue to see you
here in Australia?
HT: I would ideally like to have a career that continued to travel between
Australia, the UK and America. At the moment I am only in town for Titanic but I
am sure I can't stay away from Australia too long.
TD: Your cabaret work was quite extensive a few years ago - how do you see
the scene at the moment?
HT: I think Australia should be
very proud of its cabaret scene with a number of shows on at any given time at places such
as Statement, Slide and Woodfire in Sydney alone. Australians are also getting a
reputation for having our own unique style of cabaret abroad which is fantastic.
TD: Having experienced musical theatre extensively on the West End and in
Australia, how do you compare the two scenes?
TD: The West End has the advantage of having many more shows on at any given time
due largely to such a larger population but in terms of quality and inventiveness
Australia is right up there. With new Australian conceived musicals emerging all the time
(Dusty, Priscilla, Dirty Dancing) we are keeping ourselves on the international
theatre map.
TD: What have you got planned for after Titanic?
HT: The universe will provide. Fingers crossed - I just have to remember to get
out of its way. |
