The inspiration
the challenges!
Something clicked within me whilst talking to the wonderful accomplished actress and friend Jennifer Ward-Lealand. She asked me about what I wanted to do with my singing? It was something I hadn't really thought about properly before. So she continued her probing and finally came out with, "Well then, it's time for you to do your one woman show!".
Up until then it had only ever just been a fleeting thought in my mind as my role as mother and teacher had taken over my life and any thoughts of performing just seemed fanciful far off dreams "over" for me and unrealistic.
Jennifer looked straight into me and with a total look of "I believe in you" and I just couldn't not take this moment seriously and so the creative process started.
After that I found that I couldn't stop thinking about creating a show. Concepts and ideas constantly changed over the following months and the only thing I was sure of was that I had to finish it. Get it done!
Early on the biggest hurdle I had was finding the right person to collaborate with me on piano. This worried me so much. Everyone I spoke to about it would say "the right person will come along you'll see" and actually that is just what happened.
This is where internet and Facebook come in so handy, it was a friend on the other side of the world who came up with the "perfect" collaborator.
And then there was Julian!
He has turned out to be the perfect collaborator, friend and supporter of my every whim and idea. He allowed me to be myself as an artist, warts and all. This has resulted in a strong bond and unique chemistry onstage. True joy!
Then, there was another enormous problem...I had already decided that the show had to have two characters Giada and Maria. It was my decision to put Giada on film that made things a little complicated for me as I had to find the right people to film this...having this element was crucial to creating the show and being an actress on camera made me feel very nervous as I'd never done it before.
Another twist of fate had me call Julie Lewis and Joe Nucifora from The Performing Arts Conservatory. From the first moments we spoke about the show it was clear they were interested in my ideas and also invested in helping create the scenes in just the way I was imagining...they were wonderful people to work with. Their involvement similar to Julian allowed me to explore that creative side of myself in front of the camera. Need I say I found two life long friends in the process.
The show El Vito! was created by my need for something that fits me as a performer and singer. All I've really ever wanted to do is sing and sing songs that I love. I wanted to find a way to capture people's interest and hold their attention with art song even if it wasn't something they would normally listen to. Introducing people to art song in a new way with no constrictions or barriers using everything available in our new age of media technology to communicate the pure emotions in music making the classical genre of singing totally accessible to anybody.
With my show El Vito! The music and poetry I am so passionate about gets to be heard in a new context and the messages in the songs are conveyed in a natural and honest way taking people on a journey introducing them to new sounds and also new languages. I am so excited by this!
In these amazing songs from Brazil, Spain and France there are stories to be told, the stories of humanity, of broken hearts, joys of love, solitude, stories that are timeless...these stories are OUR stories.
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” ― Plato