Dreams Achieved!

On the 22nd June 2014 a 13 year old girl sat in her room bored while experiencing the first post show blues she got from a musical and decided to voice her thoughts to the internet in the form of a blog and nearly five years on I'm here having just performing my first leading lady role in an operetta! I was thinking back to what I wrote when I was 13 (cringey as it is now) and I'm so proud of how far I've come over the years.

I have a background in ballet but had no singing experience what so ever when I auditioned for High School Musical: On Stage as a dancer, a show I just couldn't resist! However I soon developed a love for singing which inspired me to take lessons and now I've not only achieved my grade 8 in singing but also started teaching lessons in singing and even am currently at university studying classical music as a singer! If it wasn't for 13 year old me figuring she had absolutely nothing to lose by auditioning for a musical I really wouldn't be where I am today.

If singing was out of my comfort zone then acting was just alien to me! I got my first acting role in Fame and then from this my first big role was to play Miss Hannigan in Annie with my youth company KMPAC who I love so much and I'm so thankful for everything everyone taught me there and everyone who helped me feel more confident in my performing abilities.

At University I auditioned for my universities Gilbert and Sullivan society (The Savoy Opera Society) who perform mostly G&S operettas, something I've wanted to try for years but never had the opportunity to. With my Savoy family I've just finished performing my first 'leading lady' role as Yum-Yum in The Mikado!

Here are some rehearsal pictures:

It's truly been an incredible experience and if you'd told the little girl in her room dreaming of being able to do another musical someday and having an okay singing voice that she'd have played such an amazing role as Yum-Yum in an operetta she'd have laughed.

I'm proud of my 13 year old self for being brave enough to audition for a scary musical even though she only really wanted to dance because it really did set the path my life is on right now <3

Also who'd have thought that I'd still be using this blog (even if it is infrequently) and have had 3000 views in countries I hadn't even heard of before!?

Don't give up on your dreams - crazy things really do happen!

Keely x

Here's what I wrote at 13: https://cheesecakeinator.blogspot.com/2014/06/achieving-dreams.html its truly cringey to read now and I wish I could delete it but I refuse to because it shows how far I've come so please excuse my 13 year old selves language!