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[0:01] Sophie Salvesani: Duan, who's one of our producers, um walked behind him and she had this huge smirk on her face. And I just knew, no, we're not doing any of that tomorrow. We're gonna be flying to Perth, and that is exactly what it was. She was coming up to tell us that we were flying to Perth the next day at 12:25. So um we're very lucky that um the company made that decision because then um we flew on Friday and we were back rehearsing on Saturday, and it was Saturday that Western Australia um essentially shut their borders to New South Wales.

[0:53] Joe Rosko: Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast. This is Joe Rosko, founder and host of Built for the Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform. If you want to try a free trial, go to the website, BuiltForTheStage.com, or click the link in the description of this episode. All right, let's get right to it. We're really excited for our guest, another friend from across the pond. Uh, you'll be seeing her playing Maria in West Side STORY, touring Australia. Please welcome to the pod, Sophie Salvesani.

[1:23] Sophie Salvesani: Hi, Sophie.

[1:25] Joe Rosko: Hello, how are you?

[1:27] Sophie Salvesani: Doing so well. Uh, I hope you're having a good start to your day. It's 10:20 over here in New York City. So uh it's a pleasure to cap off my night uh with a nice chat with you.

[1:39] Sophie Salvesani: Excellent. No, it's so good to be here. It's a good start to my day.

[1:44] Joe Rosko: Yeah, so everyone listening, uh Sophie is a uh very well-acclaimed opera singer, actress uh in Australia, and this is not her first go-around with Maria in West Side STORY. Um coming back to the show now, you've already had some hurdles and pivots to be made. Tell us a little bit about the past like week or so as you all have been trying to tech or get this show uh up and going.

[2:15] Sophie Salvesani: Yeah, so like from day one, it's been really different to last time. Um director Joey is actually from America. So um when we started rehearsals, he had actually just started his two-week quarantine here in Australia. So he only got to join us week three of rehearsals. So that was you know a really interesting process. Luckily enough, you know, we were able to have Brendan, who was our um resident director last time he came in and um really led us all through the process again. Um and then Joey joined us. And in the middle of that week, that's when New South Wales started to have their outbreak, and um the company was starting to get a bit worried that Western Australia would shut their borders.

[3:01] Sophie Salvesani: And so we finished rehearsals on Thursday, as usual, five o'clock, and we'd sort of heard whispers that maybe we would be flying to Perth. Um, and anyway, it was the funniest thing. Uh Joey was just wrapping up the day and telling us, you know, we're doing such a great job. And he was telling us everything that he wanted to focus on the next day. And as he was speaking, um Duane, who's one of our producers, um, walked behind him and she had this huge smirk on her face. And I just knew, no, we're not doing any of that tomorrow. We're gonna be flying to Perth. And that is exactly what it was. She was coming up to tell us that we were flying to Perth the next day at 12:25.

[3:45] Sophie Salvesani: So we were very lucky that the company made that decision because then we flew on Friday and we were back rehearsing on Saturday, and it was Saturday that Western Australia um essentially shut their borders to New South Wales. So we were very lucky um to get in when we did, but um uh unfortunately we didn't escape it though. Um Western Australia got a few cases. Um I think it was on Sunday and Monday. So we're actually in a four-day lockdown at the moment, but it's going well. So fingers crossed we'll be out and ready to do our first show on Saturday.

[4:26] Joe Rosko: Wow. I'm glad that all those uh great, you know, on-the-spot decisions were made by the team. So uh fingers crossed for you.

[4:40] Joe Rosko: I read that you'll be touring to your hometown as well. What does that mean for you that you'll be able to bring this show to you know where you grew up?

[4:48] Sophie Salvesani: Oh, honestly, I'm just so excited. Like when we were doing the show in 2019 and we were touring, you know, I had so many friends and family asking me, when is it coming to Brisbane? Is it coming to Brisbane? And unfortunately, all I could say was no, sorry, we're not. Um, but oh I'm just I'm so excited because this tour was actually meant to happen last year. We were meant to do Perth and Brisbane last year, but obviously with COVID, everything was shut down. So I actually thought that I would never get the opportunity to bring the show to Brisbane because I wasn't actually meant to be coming back as Maria this year.

[5:28] Sophie Salvesani: Um, I was meant to be doing another opera with Opera Australia. Um, and it was it was postponed in January, and um they had asked me which one I wanted to do, and I had picked um this other opera. But fortunately, when they postponed, they re-offered Maria in West Side STORY to me again. So I I was honestly just so happy that I could come back. Um I didn't realise at the time just how important um and special playing Maria in West Side STORY was to me. So I'm just so excited that the rest of my family is going to be able to see me on the stage now.

[6:12] Joe Rosko: Yeah.

[6:15] Joe Rosko: Oh, that's awesome. Um I'm glad I'm sure your family and friends are as well. Um, this isn't your first go-around with playing also just like the classical soprano roles like Christine in Phantom. When did you start your singing career? What got you into opera specifically?

[6:31] Sophie Salvesani: Um, yeah. So I have like I have a really strange path. Um so I started singing, I think I was about 11 or 12. Um, but I guess my music journey started um like in the primary school that I went to in Brisbane, um, the school had a music program. So when you got to year four, uh you were allowed to like trial instruments, and I was very much a big follower of my sister, and two years prior to me, my sister did that program and got the trumpet. And so when it was my turn, I was like, Yep, I'm definitely gonna do this, you know. You know, I want to be just like my sister. So I trialed the program and I got the flute.

[7:17] Sophie Salvesani: And um, by that stage, my sister was too advanced for like the lessons that we were having at school. So both of us had actually already started private music lessons outside of school. And so I was doing a program outside of school where I'd take a different instrument home every week, which was awesome. Um, and then when I got the flute, the lessons then turned into extra flute lessons. And it was about maybe a year or two later, I was in my first flute exam, and there's always a singing component. And um, my teacher was listening in through the door, and she heard me singing and just turned around to my mum and said, Can I give her singing lessons? And of course, my mum just went, Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah. If Sophie wants to, you know, go for it. And I did.

[8:08] Sophie Salvesani: Um, and yeah, it sort of went from there. So I was doing modern pop singing. Um, and honestly, I wouldn't, I wouldn't change it. I think for young singers, I really think that's a great way to get them interested in the music and you know, get them passionate. So I was singing all the way up until I went to high school in Ipswich, and I got to year 12, and a lot of stuff was happening, you know, obviously the academic side. I was really busy, there were things going on, and um I nearly gave up singing. I I did, I went home and said to my mum, I think that's it. I think I'll I'll stop there.

[8:48] Sophie Salvesani: Um, but then I met my current teacher, Douglas McRae, who ended up coming to do singing lessons at the school for about three months, and um honestly, he was a blessing in disguise. I I sort of just said to mom, look, I'll try, I'll do one lesson, I'll see how it goes. And it was like instant connection. And he was the one that swapped me over to um opera singing, classical singing, yeah. And I went from there. I then graduated high school, decided that I wouldn't go to the conservatorium and that I would become a primary school teacher.

[9:23] Sophie Salvesani: So I went to university at Springfield in Ipswich. Um, and while I did that, I got involved with the Ipswich Musical Theatre Company, which is like the local amateur theatre company, and yeah, I ended up playing Christine for them in Phantom of the Opera and then Cosette in Les Misérables, and then um I ended up going to Toowoomba and doing uh The Pirates of Penzance, which was pro M and played Mabel. So yeah, it was um it all sort of went from there, and then I I made my break in Sydney. I became a young artist with the Pacific Opera Company, and it was actually during a dress rehearsal with Pacific Opera was when I found out that I got Maria in West Side STORY. I just got an email and I was eating pizza.

[10:11] Sophie Salvesani: Yeah. And then yeah, that's how everything started for me.

[10:18] Joe Rosko: So for us listening here in the States, basically when primary school was done, which is I believe what we call high school, you went to just study to be a teacher and became a teacher, correct?

[10:32] Sophie Salvesani: Yeah.

[10:33] Sophie Salvesani: So I've actually been teaching for six years now.

[10:36] Sophie Salvesani: Yeah. Okay, so you uh you booked these shows, not having really like any you had formal singing training, but not any formal, like extensive training after primary school, correct? Um, so yeah, at that stage I didn't have a tertiary degree in music, and I really didn't have that much professional experience on the stage either. So when Joey picked me as Maria, it was definitely a leap of faith.

[11:09] Joe Rosko: Yeah. I know I just brought it up because it is that's a great story. It's very cool to, you know, I don't know, be a student and maybe your teacher. Oh, my teacher is uh Maria in West Side STORY touring the country. It's actually really funny. Um, because there's I I teach m like solely in Ipswich um back home. Um I've never really needed to teach in Brisbane because there's just so much work in Ipswich. And there's a particular school that when I graduated from university, um, within a week they hired me as a prep teacher. And it was the most stressful year of my life, but um honestly I go back there all the time, and the teachers are so supportive, and like all the admin staff and the principal, and honestly, I think they're more excited than I am that the show is coming to Brisbane. I I think uh probably half the teachers at that school are going to come see the show already.

[12:11] Joe Rosko: Sure, sure. So what what's it like you're already young, you know, as it is, and then you're you're coming into a cast or a group of people that uh you know might have gone to uh a conservatory or some type of further education to be a professional performer. How does that affect you going into the room? Like, how do you shake that off and and know that you are you know worthy per se to be in that room?

[12:42] Sophie Salvesani: Yeah, that's that's definitely a great question because I do you know sometimes you just feel like you don't really belong. And and West Side was interesting. Like when I stepped into that room in 2019, I am probably except for Tony, one of the only singers, um, because they're all dancers first, because West Side is such a dance-heavy show. And so it was a really interesting dynamic because I was very much an outsider. Um, and and a lot of them knew each other from like going to dance schools together, or you know, even some of them like went to primary school together, you know. It's it was sort of crazy. But in saying that, in a way, that sort of made me fit in because it turned into me looking to them for help with dancing, and they were sort of looking up to me with the singing, and so it sort of created a really interesting dynamic with West Side, which actually turned out to be really lovely, and many of them are now, you know, friends, not just colleagues.

Um yeah, like definitely not having that piece of paper to say that I've studied music at a university level is interesting, but in saying that I don't really I don't really feel inferior because I have that experience now, and I have the technique behind me, and I have all those lessons the 10 years of lessons with Doug that have made all the difference. So in saying all that, although sometimes I feel like I'm a little bit of an outsider, I just have to remember that I have I have that same ability, that same technique that's gonna get me through and that's gonna make me do a really good job on the stage.

[14:38] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I brought it up because we've interviewed so many that they went to school to be a lawyer, or they went to business school, or maybe they did go to school for theater, but it wasn't the most accredited one in the country, but yet, you know, here they are, they still quote unquote made it and uh are doing amazing for themselves in their career. So uh also like having that feeling sometimes of that not belonging, I guess you could use that on the stage uh within the story of West Side STORY.

[15:10] Sophie Salvesani: Exactly. That's that's really exactly what Maria is like, you know, in the beginning, there like all she wants to do is be like Anita. That's all she wants. She just she wants to fit in and she wants to be a part of it all. So you're exactly right. That's yeah, I can really use that on the stage as Maria.

[15:32] Joe Rosko: Yeah, this being uh not your first time with the role, is there anything going into this production that you're viewing from a different angle, or you might want to try out, you know, something new with this with this character Maria that you get to play?

[15:49] Sophie Salvesani: Um yeah, I guess although a lot of it does feel familiar, like I've got I've got essentially two different Tonys. So although Nigel Huckle, who's playing Tony, um, although we did get to do some shows together in 2019, um, he actually he was only meant to come in for the Canberra season because we were losing our Tony Alternate. Um, but he ended up doing some shows for our Sydney season. So although I have maybe done about 20 shows with Nigel, going through this beginning process with him, getting to know the characters again has made it feel really different. And I think with every Tony that I've played with, um there's something different, you know. Sometimes it's just the way that it's the way that he looks at me on stage, and you you just get a little bit of a different feeling.

Um see, I guess, although I can't really pinpoint what's different, Maria definitely feels different for me this time around. And I think like every time I'm on stage, sometimes it's I'm not realizing something about my own character, but sometimes it's watching, you know, one of the Jets on stage and seeing something different or hearing them say their line in a different way, and I just understand the the show in a completely different way. So yeah, like every every single night I feel like I discover something new about this show.

[17:21] Joe Rosko: Yeah. Um well Saturday looking to ramp things up again, when when is opening, or what is your schedule looking like if all things go according to plan on Saturday?

[17:34] Sophie Salvesani: Well, we're not 100% sure yet what exactly is going to happen because we've essentially missed out on all of our preview shows. They've all been cancelled, and um, and opening was meant to be on Friday. So at the moment, I think they're going to go ahead with um just starting shows the matinee on Saturdays or the Matinee evening Saturday and then Sunday show. I'm not 100% sure what they're they're doing with opening, but it could potentially be Tuesday. Um we're not 100% sure, and depending on how COVID goes and how many cases Western Australia gets, the lockdown could be extended. But fingers crossed, hopefully not.

[18:20] Joe Rosko: Yeah. So my last question will just be a mindset question that basically I'd like to try to parallel with with life or a career or fitness or whatever. How how are you kind of um going on this journey of the unknown? Like how are you keeping your anxiety down, or how are you just staying grounded in the midst of not knowing? Whether it's this particular circumstance or maybe things of your past that you know you really tend to practice to make sure that you stay within yourself.

[18:54] Sophie Salvesani: Yeah, so um I guess for me, I'm the type of person I always need to be doing something. I'm very organized. I'm I'm someone that needs to be busy. Um, so I guess just during these days while we're locked down, you know, just finding little things to do. So I'm actually studying Italian at the moment. So, you know, I've got I've got two whole textbooks, so I can just go back and review and and do little bits of that. Um, I guess like I've been yesterday, I went back and actually looked at arias that I had learnt maybe eight eight nine years ago. So it's actually nice to just have some time to go back and do some of my own practice and learning. Um so yeah, it's just like little things like that.

And I'm a very um sporty active person. So getting outside for that hour and going for a walk or going for a run, they're the types of things that I try to do. I'm actually I've I've gone back to swimming, but with the lockdown, I can't actually go swimming at the moment. But they're all the things that I I try to do to keep myself busy. And you know, actually had some time. I I got to speak with my sister in Denmark yesterday, so that was really lovely. I don't always have all this time on me, so it's it's actually nice to have a bit to do the things that I don't usually get to do.

[20:21] Joe Rosko: Fabulous. Well, thanks so much for your time, Sophie. It's so nice to meet you and uh wish you the best production coming up. Everyone that's yeah, it's my pleasure. Everyone that's listening, um, by the time this comes out, you can hop on to uh Sophie's Instagram. Her handles uh in the description of this episode, give her a follow, and you can see where the show's at at this point. Um once again, this is Built For The Stage Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. If you like the podcast, read, subscribe, and leave a comment. Till next time, Joe Rosko signing off later.