When the notices went up, literally thousands of young girls around Australia put up their hands to audition for the musical Annie on stage next year in Sydney. Melbourne and Brisbane auditions follow next year. While they may dream of stardom, is scoring a lead role at a young age good for them? David Spicer spoke to former child stars to find out what happens when the applause dies down.
in 1978 Gabi Schornegg auditioned for the role of Annie in the first production ever staged in Sydney. She had the opposite of traditional stage parents. “My mother did not have a clue what was going on. My father told me I did not have a hope in hell and was not really interested in me being involved in theatre,” she recalls.
As other parents looked more confident, it made Gabi more determined. With a dancing background and unproven as a singer, her expectations were low. “A voice” which she didn’t know about emerged at the audition.
She scored the coveted role and performed up to four times a week for nine months. “Many children were more talented than I was, but when I got that lucky break, I followed instructions and was a good team player,” she said.
After Annie, roles in music theatre and TV commercials came thick and fast. She said the key to staying well grounded was not wanting to be a star, but just loving the art form. “My parents put a strong emphasis on a good education, just in case it didn’t work out.”
But she only needed to hang up her dancing shoes when it came time to raise a family. Several decades later Gabi (now) Thompson took her four daughters to audition for Annie for its 2012 season. They competed against 1000 other hopefuls. “I was not going to push them, but being in Annie intrigued them.”
She started to panic when they made it into the last 50. What would happen if one got in and the others didn’t? “I was very impressed at how well they did, as they did not start dance training until a few years ago.” They missed out in Sydney, which Gabi thinks may have been a blessing in disguise, but they will try again for Melbourne.
“You’ve got to audition for the experience and not take it personally. You can miss out on a job because you have the wrong hair colour.”
Not all child stars have such success and good experiences. “It ends in tears a lot. Parents boost children up to go on to theatre careers. When they get older the competition is unbelievable. You hear tales of rejection after rejection and you are in your 20s or 30s, not married, working as a waitress in a job rather than career. It is a tough business.”
Hollywood is littered with examples of show business youngsters who don’t cope. Look at Macaulay Culkin. He became an international star in the hit Home Alone movies series. But his adolescence was plagued by family disputes and a brief time in jail on a minor drug possession charge.
But there is no shortage of those wanting to taste the fame game. Queenie van de Zandt ran a series of workshops preparing youngsters for the 2012 Annie auditions. Hundreds took part. She counsels those at her workshops to focus on the artist side. “It is tough when one of the most exciting things in your life happens when you are young. If you have a great run as a child, you start expecting everything to be like that,” she said.
“Fame is transient and you see the disastrous affect on people who try to hold on to that level of fame. I am not saying that the girl who does Annie will turn into an alcoholic. They have to say this is a fantastic experience rather than this is the beginning of a fabulous career.”
At her workshops she sees plenty of classic stage mothers and fathers. “I don’t think they are in the majority. Most parents are really lovely, but part of my workshop is to make them understand what’s involved.”
One girl who was overwhelmed by the fame which followed a big ‘show’ was Nikki Webster. In the year 2000 she auditioned for a role in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. “There were six months of auditions. We didn’t know what we were auditioning for. Then we heard it was about a little girl flying linked together with a storyline,” she told Stage Whispers.
A worldwide audience of more than one billion people watched her sing, act and fly around Stadium Australia. “It was difficult to cope with the overnight fame. No-one expected to have the media camped out on our door for days.” Enrollments at her school – The McDonald College of Performing Arts – tripled.
Before the opening ceremony Nikki already had years of experience under her belts, having scored professional gigs in Les Miserables and The Sound of Music. While her parents took her from one audition to another she says the “drive to perform and passion” came from within.
More success followed the Olympics. A lead role in The Wizard of Oz, her own clothing label and a number one record, Strawberry Kisses. “It became my life. I worked with the most incredible artists and fulfilled a dream at the age of 13.” The let down came when she turned 18 and was not the cute little girl anymore. “I finished a record deal and did not want to re-sign after completing four albums. So I went to Los Angeles for a period of self discovery… to find out who I wanted Nikki to be.”
Nikki says she became a victim of the tall poppy syndrome. “If I was a swimmer I would have been supported more. There were tough times – people had to accept I was not going to stay 13 years old.”
To break the mold Nikki Webster did a photo spread in lingerie for Zoo magazine in 2006. It received a hostile reception in online chat rooms. Some of the milder responses included: “Posing for a lad’s mag is possibly the dumbest way ever to prove to the world how mature and adult you are.” “I agree!! I was shocked when I saw the cover… it is just sad… to see her like that!”
When I asked Nikki about this there was silence at the other end of the phone line. She says it was a ‘fun and glamorous fashion shoot’. Since then however Nikki Webster’s career has taken a turn out of the spotlight.
Now 24, she’s engaged to be married and the next phase of her performing arts career is training and mentoring. In Sydney, with her brother and business partner, she’s opened the Nikki Webster Modelling and Talent Agency. She has 32 clients including a cast member of Mary Poppins and Annie.
“I am guiding and mentoring when they need it. It is so exciting working with up-and-coming talent. I am still writing music and will never give up performing.”
Once child stars leave the limelight it is difficult to return. Martin Portus scored the role of Oliver in JC Williamson’s first production of the musical in Adelaide in 1966. His sister took him to audition and he got the part because he had the right look and sweetly sang a Benjamin Britten song.
He says stardom did not go to his head, but recalls the excitement of people asking for autographs and being picked up in a car at school to attend a performance. “It made me obsessed about acting. I went to NIDA. All through my 20s I had good work, including an appearance as a priest in the Young Doctors, who had a naughty affair with a nurse.”
He left acting in the 1980s to commence a very successful career as a journalist and theatre critic. He’s best known as a former broadcaster of Arts programs on Radio National. Now after 30 years off the stage he’s returning in a one-man show in November. He says learning lines again is a prospect he finds ‘terrifying’, but years as a critic have helped him develop a better appreciation of good acting.
However Martin Portus says people often waste a lot of time striving to become a star. “They are seduced as children… into the illusion of celebrity, but there is often too much competition. If only more could skip the acting phase and to straight to becoming a director, sound person or a theatre critic.
“There is a greater need to help build creative industries… rather than everyone demanding attention under a spotlight.”
You can see Martin Portus under the spotlight in The Giraffe’s Uncle: The Les Robinson Story from November 16 – 27, 2011 at King Street Theatre, Netwown (02) 95195081
Auditions for Annie will be held in Brisbane and Melbourne in early 2012
www.anniethemusical.com.au/auditions.html
Nikki Webster’s dance school is in Sydney
www.dancenikkiwebster.com.au
Booking details for Annie are on the back cover.
Source: Stage Whispers
Click here to view scans of this article