Reaching The Rob Guest Endowment Finals

Angela Scundi and Ben Bennett are amongst the six fine young Australian musical theatre performers who will line up as finalists on stage at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre for the 2014 Rob Guest Endowment Concert on Monday 13 October, vying for a life-changing first prize of $20,000. They spoke to Neil Litchfield about reaching the finals of the prestigious event.

Neil Litchfield: How important is the Rob Guest Endowment for young musical theatre performers like yourselves?

Angela Scundi: For a musical theatre performer the opportunities are quite rare to put yourself out there within a platform like the Rob Guest Endowment. This year the $20,000 cash prize is pretty extraordinary. We all have dreams of writing our own show, or doing classes and extra courses, and it always comes back to money. So we’re not short of dreams, but we’re short of cash, usually.

The endowment is just a terrific opportunity for any performer to get the opportunity to perform with a full orchestra, singing a solo. I’ve been lucky enough with the shows I’ve been in to have the privilege of performing with an orchestra, but the idea of doing a concert with a full orchestra, at the Capitol Theatre, is pretty exciting. Those opportunities don’t come around very often.

Ben Bennett: You get the opportunity to showcase yourself to everyone in the musical theatre industry, which is the biggest life-changing thing which could happen because people know what you are like, how you deal with pressure, how you work, and you just show what you can do. That’s pretty much the biggest life change that can happen in your world.

NL: And the chance to sing with a full orchestra?

BB: That’s going to be really exceptional. I don’t think I’ve ever sung with an orchestra in my life. I’ve sung with live bands, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a full orchestra. It’s going to be unbelievable.

NL: How was the process of making it through to the final?

AS: They run a very smooth operation at the Endowment. There’s so many people working behind the scenes, so it makes our time and what we have to invest really easy. We just have to work on remembering the words and hitting the right notes.

I auditioned in Melbourne. I’m Melbourne-based and grew up there, so I got to audition at the beautiful Her Maj. I was performing in a show at the time and rehearsing another one. They were very accommodating and organized a time that I could do in between things, so I sort of ran from one rehearsal, sang my song, and ran back to rehearsal, but they were really supportive within that. Then coming up to Sydney (for the semi finals) was a lot of fun, just being surrounded by 29 other really wonderful, fun … colleagues … I’ll say, because I’m lucky enough to call some of them my good friends, and also I’ve worked with them before.

But also meeting new people too. We all just had a good time. The room was really warm and welcoming. They create a lovely environment. We sang our song, and had the beautiful Michael Tyack on the piano, which is always a joy, then we did the dance call, which was a bit tricky, but it was really just cruizy and fun, which is the best sort of audition you can ever hope for. They set up a lovely environment, and you get the feeling that they want you to do really well, which is always a really nice thing to feel as a performer.

BB:It’s been wonderful. It’s an audition process unlike any other. They’re supportive, and they give up their time, and the whole selection process is really, really about the artists, and getting the best out of us and improving us. Last year I was in it and got the Future International Prospect award, and through that they guided me so much, and this year they’ve guided me even more. It’s a phenomenal experience, and I’d really recommend anyone up-and-coming or currently in the industry to give it a shot.

NL: With thirty of you, eventually cbeing narrowed down to six, what’s it like as you’re waiting to hear that announcement, and what’s the spirit like from the people who don’t make the final six?

AS:Working in the industry, because so many of us see each other at auditions all the time, you have relationships built on the fact that you know that you’re going to be up for the same show together.

Everyone was very supportive of each other, even at the announcement.

I believe it’s the first time that they’ve ever announced the six finalists on the same day as the top 30 callback, so we were all just pretty thrilled to get through the dance call alive, then we had about 15 minutes to compose ourselves before we went back. By that time I think we were all just excited to go out and have a drink and a bowl of hot chips together. Everyone was pretty overwhelmed and didn’t know what to expect.

It really is just one of those things where you just don’t know. Sometimes it’s different when you’re going for a specific role. You can get an idea of whether you’re suited to the role, whereas with this it’s a different beast altogether – you just don’t know what they’re looking for, and you just hope that you did the best you can.

When they announced the finalists, everyone just hugged and congratulated each other. It was lovely. Then we all did go out afterwards, which was very nice as well.

BB:It was a huge day; it was exhausting; it was a very long day, but it was a worthwhile day.

The announcement was unbelievable. I was the sixth name called, so everyone else had been called and there were 25 of us waiting for that last name. It was wonderful.

I didn’t move. Everyone else, when they had their name called, walked over and shook their hands, but I just sort of stood in the crowd. I wasn’t expecting my name to be called at all. It took about 10 or 15 seconds to register.

Everyone wanted to make it to the finals, but it was a very supportive environment. Everyone was working hard, and I think it was more of a case of showcasing ourselves to, and working with, these phenomenal judges. I think that’s what was driving everyone. It wasn’t so much a competition as a day of learning, and workshops, and showing what we can do.

NL: We’re so used to competitive TV shows like The Voice and X-Factor, but this seems like a very different sort of competition.

AS: I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a competitive edge and drive to it. We all want it, but we’re really lucky in our industry that there’s a real sense of community. I was lucky enough to be involved in the big photo that was taken in Melbourne on the steps of Parliament House. I was doing Rocky Horror at the time, and that was a really defining moment for me of saying, ‘Wow, we really are a community,’ because of these five different casts and crews getting together, all in costume, and you saw friends that you’d worked with before, like friends from Wicked who I did a 14 month tour with six years ago, so they’re almost family as well. When we were all standing there, we went ‘Wow, we’re just a group of friends and a community, and that we all get our turn at one time or another.’ That’s certainly what it feels like.

The best thing that I can hope for is to be someone that’s good to work with, be professional and just keep working at delivering a high standard of what I do, and trust that my turn will come as well. That’s how I feel about it.

NL: If you win, how will you use the prize money?

AS: I’ve been throwing ideas around for a show with my friend Nick Christo, and I’d really love to travel to Paris and Berlin, and work with certain schools over there, and also some composers. I want to commission some artists to write some music to go into this cabaret show. It’s something I’ve never done before, and it’s a daunting prospect – the idea of producing your own show. That sum of money is like two years of saving to try and do that.

BB: If I won I would use the money to continue growing, learning and advancing. I would probably take a study tour over to New York and London, doing a show tour, workshops and all that kind of stuff. But my main goal is really to cement myself, whether I win or not, within the theatre industry.

ROB GUEST ENDOWMENT GALA CONCERT

Venue: Capitol Theatre, Sydney

Date: 13 October 2014

Performance Time: 7:30pm

Price: $59.00 - $120.00

Bookings: www.ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 558 878

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Group image: Ben Bennett (2013 Rob Guest Endowment Semi-finals Encouragement Award), Karla Tonkich (Grease), Andrew Cook (Strictly Ballroom), Joshua Robson (Les Miserables) and Angela Scundi (The Rocky Horror Show). Missing finalist Monica Swayne (Wicked).