This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:04] Tori Bullard: Hello everyone and welcome back to Stage Door Podcast. Today we are coming at you with another exciting interview, but before we get into that, Libby, take it away with the bulletin.

[0:17] Libby Gunther: The Sydney Cabaret Showcase is still planned to go ahead this year, and they've actually extended the entry date till the first of July, so make sure you get writing and get those entries in before applications close for 2020. You can find out more info and how to enter at ArcheryProductions.com.

[0:34] Libby Gunther: In other news, after the success of the initial concert, Joshua Robson Productions will return to shining that light on the Australian music theatre industry with Lights Up on the Arts Not Done Yet. Tomorrow, the 19th of June at 7pm. You can head over and buy a ticket at a price you can afford at GoFundMe.com slash L-U-O-T-A 2. We'll see you there.

[0:59] Libby Gunther: And last but not least, we'd like to shine a light on an awesome Aussie theatre blog, Overture, run and written by the amazing Indy. Head over and check it out at OvertureBlog.com to read some amazing interviews with artists such as Rachel Ward, a QA with the cast of Ragtime, and unpopular theatre opinions and so much more. Thank you for all the support, Indy, and keep killing it. That's all for now, Tori. Back over to you.

[1:25] Tori Bullard: We are more than excited to have our youngest guest to date on the podcast, Oliver Alkhair. At just 12 years old, Oliver has an impressive resume full of iconic roles for young performers. In 2016, he made his professional debut in the Australian company of Kinky Boots, playing Young Charlie. Most recently, Oliver has finished his run with School of Rock playing the artistic costume designer Billy. In 2019, he was picked out of hundreds of kids to play the title role of Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and was set to return to the role for the Brisbane season, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. Despite the virus, it hasn't stopped this pocket rocket from producing his first musical, The Big One O online edition, with performances starting from the 25th to the 27th of June. Please welcome Oliver.

[2:16] Oliver Alkhair: Hi!

[2:17] Tori Bullard: So great to have you on today.

[2:19] Oliver Alkhair: Yes. I'm so excited to be here.

[2:21] Tori Bullard: That's amazing. Thank you so much for coming and getting up so early today to chat with us. We are very excited.

[2:27] Oliver Alkhair: It is way too early in the morning, but we've had hot chocolates. We're good.

[2:32] Tori Bullard: Alright, well, we're gonna jump straight into it. How did you get into theatre?

[2:37] Oliver Alkhair: Well, I've always loved theatre, and I always have seen like the Wiggles when I was little and baby prompts at the Opera House. And then the first musical that I saw was Mary Poppins. And I just loved that, and then I really wanted to do musicals after that. Yeah, I started with dance classes, and then I did drama and singing classes, and then I started doing community theatre.

[3:01] Tori Bullard: Awesome. What was your first community theatre show?

[3:03] Oliver Alkhair: It was my son Pinocchio with Ingadine Musical Society.

[3:06] Tori Bullard: That's amazing. And like you have done a lot of community theatre, but you've also done professional shows. And what was your first professional show like?

[3:12] Oliver Alkhair: Getting to do Kinky Boots.

[3:16] Tori Bullard: That's an awesome fun show. So what was that like?

[3:18] Oliver Alkhair: Well, because I didn't have a huge role, it was a really good introduction to professional theatre because I still learnt about professional theatre and it was a great learning experience, but I didn't have to be on stage the whole time.

[3:31] Tori Bullard: That's so good. Were you a bit scared when you first got it? Or were you excited?

[3:34] Oliver Alkhair: I was really nervous, but I was also definitely very excited.

[3:39] Tori Bullard: What was your reaction when, I assume, Mum told you that you got the part?

[3:43] Oliver Alkhair: I was just, I think really excited and surprised.

[3:46] Tori Bullard: Yeah. Oh, it would have been so exciting. What was rehearsal like for that one?

[3:50] Oliver Alkhair: It was different to anything else I've done because it was in Melbourne when I did it. When I rehearsed, we just did short rehearsals with all the kids. Yeah. And then we mainly rehearsed for four hours, so it wasn't very long, and then I think it was only over three weeks and then we started performances.

[4:09] Tori Bullard: That's awesome, but yeah, like you said, it would have been this really nice gentle introduction to the professional world 'cause obviously it is gonna be quite a decent amount more intense than what community theatre, especially at the beginning, would be like. But you've also recently performed in School of Rock and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What was it like taking on such iconic roles such as Billy and of course, if you don't recognise the name straight away, it's the kid that says, "You're tacky and I hate you" in School of Rock. Of course, and of course Charlie Bucket as well. What was that like?

[4:40] Oliver Alkhair: Well, in School of Rock, because of his amazing lines, he's such a memorable child and it was just amazing getting to play that role. I remember the first time that I found out that I was in, I watched the movie straight away, and he has some of the best lines in the whole movie and the musical as well. And then Charlie, because he's been famous like the book, then the movie, and then the remake of the movie, and then the musical came out, so many different generations know about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So getting to perform that role, like at Stage Door, so many different people came with their grandchildren or their children, like lots of different people came to see Charlie because it's such an amazing movie, musical, book.

[5:26] Tori Bullard: Did you have any great interactions with people who came and saw it and that were like young kids who were inspired by you getting up there and being obviously incredible? What do you have any good stories?

[5:36] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, I think lots of people came and saw it, like I said, but great stories. People came to Stage Door, I guess, and were amazed by the whole show, and lots of my friends, I went to school with them, and then that night they would come and see me, and they were absolutely amazed that I could go to school every day and then perform at night.

[5:56] Tori Bullard: Of course. Like that must be also really hard having to do, like how many performances did you have to do a week of the five years?

[6:02] Oliver Alkhair: I did two performances and then two standbys.

[6:05] Tori Bullard: Oh wow, so you were there quite a bit.

[6:06] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah.

[6:07] Tori Bullard: And still doing school at the same time. That must have been quite intense for you.

[6:11] Oliver Alkhair: We did a bit of schoolwork at the theatre sometimes when we needed to catch up, but it was quite intense.

[6:17] Tori Bullard: And do you find that you got to put like your own kind of personality into the roles as well?

[6:23] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, so then when I showed up to the first day of rehearsals, Billy was already a character and Charlie was already a character, but then the director told us that we need to make Billy our own interpretation of Billy and same as Charlie. So it's really fun being able to put me into that role.

[6:41] Tori Bullard: Yeah, because it also means that people that go and see, and especially with things like Charlie where it's a character that I think everybody, I don't know of anyone that probably wouldn't know Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And it means that every time you see it, whether it's you or one of the other Charlies, you're gonna get a different experience every time 'cause it's you and we're getting to see if you were Charlie, who would you be? Which I think is really awesome and that they actually really prompted you to be like, "This is gonna be your interpretation of it." What was your favourite song to sing in Charlie? Like did you have a favourite number that you would do?

[7:17] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, I loved being in the Great Glass Elevator and singing "The View from Here" because it's a very fun song, but it's quite emotional and how he's just got the factory for himself when Charlie starts singing. It's really nice to be singing with Willy Wonka at that point.

[7:35] Tori Bullard: And I guess also 'cause the whole show is very, I guess, magical in a way. Were there like the costumes and everything? Were you amazed when you got in there for the first time?

[7:40] Oliver Alkhair: The first day that we got into the theatre, we had a big introduction about how all the magic works because in rehearsals we didn't work with the magic as much, and it was amazing to see how magical it can be backstage and on stage.

[8:00] Tori Bullard: It's cool to see the behind the scenes of how all the magic works.

[8:05] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, and you're like, "Now I'm a magician."

[8:06] Tori Bullard: Exactly, and I guess School of Rock was such a high-energy show, and I don't know if anyone is listening who saw the show. It was absolutely incredible but very high energy, and everyone looked like they were sweating buckets on stage. Did you have to, you know, how'd you prepare for that really?

[8:25] Oliver Alkhair: So I guess in rehearsals we did lots of dance because it was the biggest dance show that I'd done, and I guess in rehearsals we just did lots of preparation of how to control our energy throughout the show. During intermission, we were very pumped up and had to get energetic as well. All throughout the show we learnt where we have to be extra energetic and where we bring the energy down a bit so we didn't waste all our energy on the first song and then not be able to perform the rest of the show.

[8:55] Tori Bullard: Well, the funniest thing was the biggest, like the most high-energy song was at the very end of the show, and the biggest dance number that I did was pretty much at the end of the show. There was one in the middle of the show, but then we had intermission to rest, but then this one was we didn't go off stage for a while, and then we had to do a big dance number. So that was quite hard, but it was so fun. And then at the very end, you pretty much get a standing ovation every night after we finish that dance, so it was really amazing. The energy in that room was incredible.

[9:28] Tori Bullard: Like when you guys, 'cause you, the kids, you play the instruments, and did you learn from any of the other kids like any cool instruments?

[9:35] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, and it was definitely a great learning experience because it was the first show that I'd done with lots of kids, so we all learnt from each other because there were some really good dancers, some really good singers, and some really good people who played instruments. So we all learnt different things from each other, and it was really good.

[9:52] Tori Bullard: Yeah. I mean, I didn't personally get to see Charlie when it was in Sydney. How many kids are, 'cause I know that like Veruca and the other kids in the show are played by adults.

[10:02] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah.

[10:02] Tori Bullard: How many other kids are there actually in the cast?

[10:05] Oliver Alkhair: So there was only four who all played Charlie.

[10:07] Tori Bullard: So there was one just the Charlies and everybody else is an adult.

[10:09] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah.

[10:10] Tori Bullard: How was that? Like it's purely working with adults in that situation then.

[10:15] Oliver Alkhair: Well, it was really fun, and we really got to talk to all of the adults, and because when I was on standby, I would go around backstage with my chaperone.

[10:25] Tori Bullard: Right.

[10:25] Oliver Alkhair: So I would always talk to the adults and do that sort of backstage fun.

[10:30] Tori Bullard: Oh, that would be so exciting. I was listening to the songs last night and I was just like, "Mmm, what I would give to play Veruca Salt." What was the rehearsals like for Charlie? 'Cause it would have been really different to Kinky Boots. So what was that like getting to work with four other kids?

[10:45] Oliver Alkhair: I mean, we were saying before, you aren't an understudy because like with understudies, you watch another person play it, you take notes, and then you kind of, it's like you, you kind of not copy, but you need to have the same sort of movement so that you're really, the audience can't tell the difference. What was it like with Charlie? Did you each have your own individual time or how did that work?

[11:08] Oliver Alkhair: So for the first bit of it, because the show had never been done in Australia, all the adults and the whole cast came in on the first day not knowing the show, but we all learnt our lines before. And then I think we started off a week before rehearsal started properly with a vocal coach because Charlie was such a big belter, he sings a lot. We had to learn how to belt properly without damaging our voice. And then on the first day of rehearsals, oh, and the full rehearsal period, we did four Charlies, the same rehearsal, and we pretty much did vocal calls together, but everything else we sat down and watched the others and then we all got a go doing it. And because, as I said before, it was the first time it had been performed in Australia, no one knew like their roles, so we did lots of character building with the whole cast, so everyone got to know the show together, and then for all the scenes that we set and all the dance numbers that we choreographed together, all the co, like we got taught, we did it one by one pretty much, and then we sometimes did it all together.

[12:14] Tori Bullard: Yeah.

[12:15] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah. I don't know about for you, but when I personally play a role that I've seen loads of other people do, it's really hard to not watch them and go, "Oh, and they did this, and that got a laugh," and you got to completely from the ground up be do the character work and be like, "Make it," and really like obviously as much as Billy you got to make him your own, Charlie would have been, "Well, this is my interpretation because we don't know anything else." With rehearsals, how it really worked was because we saw each other do it, we all learnt off each other. So if someone did do something really well, then we usually did that. And sometimes the director would even say, "I really like that. Can everyone do that?" So we did get to learn off each other.

[12:55] Tori Bullard: Yeah, which is good 'cause sometimes you'll get stuck and be like, "I don't know how, like I could do it like this, I could do it like that," and you might see somebody else and be like, "Oh, okay," and it can help you then go, "Great, I'm gonna do that, but I'm gonna do this slightly differently." And how did that work? Were you doing school at the same time as doing the rehearsals or how long were the rehearsals?

[13:13] Oliver Alkhair: Well, during the rehearsals for Charlie, we wouldn't really do school, but we would do school I think two days a week usually and then rehearse three days a week and sometimes on a Saturday.

[13:24] Oliver Alkhair: So we did do school a bit, but then any work that we had to catch up on, we got an opportunity at rehearsals to quickly do some work.

[13:31] Libby Gunther: Oh, that's good, that's good.

[13:32] Oliver Alkhair: So you still got had to go to school, unfortunately.

[13:34] Libby Gunther: But you seem like disciplined, so I feel like you probably wouldn't have had like obviously it's still like you're not in the classroom every day, but I feel like was it hard to stay on top of your work?

[13:44] Oliver Alkhair: Well, I guess I got given less work because I was exempt from school, so I wouldn't have to do as much and I was only in year five then, so it wasn't that hard. And because I think all of us were in primary school except one, we didn't really have to do much work, so it was good like that.

[14:02] Oliver Alkhair: Well, I guess also taking on such a big role, learning lines, um a lot of the English text of being in a show and getting to learn the text, it's almost like it's better than school in a way.

[14:13] Oliver Alkhair: Definitely I found with every single rehearsal or show that I've done I've learnt more than I would at school otherwise about what I want to do because I really want to be a performer. So I've learned more about performing than I would at school.

[14:26] Libby Gunther: Yeah definitely it's a better, you know, straight to professional, you know literally you're already a professional which is insane. But what do you think your favorite moment has been so far?

[14:39] Oliver Alkhair: Out of all shows I think my favourite moment has probably been in Charlie where because he's such a big role and he has so many good songs it's magical every time that I got to perform that role and step out on stage for the first song which was really energetic. I think that's the best moment singing that first song.

[14:58] Oliver Alkhair: Realising your dream and being living that dream that's you know very powerful.

[15:03] Libby Gunther: Yeah and I think actually the best moment was I have two the first performance of Charlie and the last performance of Charlie it's definitely the best two moments. They're big and they're scary and they're exciting and whilst at the last performance it's always that little bit sad. It's still like it's the end of such an amazing chapter.

[15:22] Oliver Alkhair: Definitely and I think because it was my last performance I probably did one of the best performance I've ever done.

[15:28] Libby Gunther: That's satisfying when your last one you go out with a bang and you're like yes I nailed that well we're gonna switch things up a little bit. We're gonna play a game and to anyone listening at home will know the lyric challenge that we do.

[15:47] Oliver Alkhair: So, pretty much how this is gonna work, Libby's gonna go first so she can kind of demonstrate the rules. Pretty much, I'm gonna give you like the first like sentence or two of a lyric. Then you have to finish the lyric.

[15:56] Libby Gunther: Oh, yeah. And you it's a we work on a two-point system, so if you can name the show, you get a point. And then if you finish the lyric, you get a point as well.

[16:08] Oliver Alkhair: Okay. If you need me to sing it, because I'll just say it. If you need me to sing it, let me know. I will try my best.

[16:14] Libby Gunther: But we will start with Libby.

[16:16] Oliver Alkhair: Alright, give it to me.

[16:17] Libby Gunther: Alright, let's do this. So your first one is.

[16:20] Libby Gunther: I mean she sleeps in all, but still she's afraid of darkness.

[16:25] Oliver Alkhair: Oh, it's really familiar. It's I can't even pick the musical, but it's like right on the tip of my tongue. Do you know what it is?

[16:31] Libby Gunther: No.

[16:31] Oliver Alkhair: No, I'm like, what is it? Okay, she sleeps in darkness. I mean she sleeps in all, but still she's afraid of darkness.

[16:39] Libby Gunther: Do you want me to sing it?

[16:40] Oliver Alkhair: Um, I mean she sleeps in all, but still, she's afraid of darkness.

[16:45] Libby Gunther: Darkness!

[16:46] Oliver Alkhair: Songs for a new world. Um, um, oh, I'm not afraid of anything. But the lyric.

[16:54] Libby Gunther: Okay, well, I don't know. I mean, she sleeps in all but still, she's afraid of darkness.

[16:58] Oliver Alkhair: Darkness.

[16:59] Libby Gunther: Oh, guys, I've lost it, I lost it. I'll Yeah, yeah, I haven't got it.

[17:03] Libby Gunther: And when the lights go out, she has to hold my hand.

[17:06] Oliver Alkhair: I don't understand.

[17:07] Libby Gunther: Of course.

[17:08] Oliver Alkhair: Oh well, that's alright. Well, now you've seen how the game works. Don't worry, I feel like you've got this.

[17:13] Libby Gunther: Yeah, hopefully. There's been one solution since the world began.

[17:18] Oliver Alkhair: Oh, which verse is it? It's School of Rock.

[17:21] Libby Gunther: Is it don't just sit and take it, stick it to the man?

[17:23] Oliver Alkhair: Yes!

[17:26] Libby Gunther: I was like, if you don't know this, I will feel like a really bad person.

[17:31] Oliver Alkhair: Alright. I hate Regina's guts, but here's what you don't comprehend.

[17:36] Libby Gunther: Oh, I hate Regina's guts.

[17:38] Oliver Alkhair: You comprehend.

[17:40] Libby Gunther: Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, it's right in the side of my tongue.

[17:43] Oliver Alkhair: It's mean girls. Um.

[17:47] Libby Gunther: Oh, it's the one sentence I'm like. You know that one sentence that you always murmur over when you sing a song and you're like, No, I don't got it.

[17:50] Oliver Alkhair: I don't got it.

[17:58] Libby Gunther: Okay. I hate Regina's guts, but here's what you don't comprehend. At least she has the guts to not pretend to be my friend.

[18:05] Oliver Alkhair: Okay, so we're on two two now. Listen up. Let me tell you a story. A story that you think you've heard before.

[18:12] Libby Gunther: Oh my gosh, this is like the line that I always stumble on. Is it the one that you're like saying?

[18:18] Oliver Alkhair: Well, it's definitely from six, and the song is X Wives.

[18:21] Libby Gunther: Yep. Does it start with we know or something?

[18:24] Oliver Alkhair: We know you know our names and our fame.

[18:35] Libby Gunther: And our one word that I don't know.

[18:39] Oliver Alkhair: Also starts with an F.

[18:41] Libby Gunther: Faces.

[18:42] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah.

[18:42] Libby Gunther: You're right. Yeah. We know you know our names and our fame and our faces. And when I was writing it, I was like, we know you know our names and our face. And I was like, no, no, there's something. It's like it keeps repeating itself. Oh my gosh, you're so good at this.

[18:58] Oliver Alkhair: Okay. Daddy said to be home by sundown. Daddy doesn't need to know.

[19:03] Libby Gunther: Oh, is this Hamilton?

[19:05] Oliver Alkhair: Oh. Oh my gosh, could you sing it?

[19:07] Libby Gunther: Um. Oh.

[19:09] Oliver Alkhair: Daddy said to be home by sundown. Daddy doesn't need to know.

[19:12] Libby Gunther: Oh no!

[19:15] Oliver Alkhair: Oh my gosh! You know what? Oh god, and I'm really struggling today, guys. It's too early for this.

[19:21] Libby Gunther: Daddy said not to go downtown. Like I said, you're free to go.

[19:25] Oliver Alkhair: Oh right. Well, it's okay. Ollie, you have one more. Got this. I believe in you.

[19:29] Oliver Alkhair: Okay. I'd like to say a thing or two about this song I sing for you.

[19:34] Libby Gunther: Can you sing that?

[19:35] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, so it's I'd like to say a thing or two about this song I sing for you.

[19:41] Libby Gunther: I feel like I've never heard that, but I might have. It's from one of your favourite musicals. And it was sung by someone who was in school of rock in the Australian cast.

[19:53] Oliver Alkhair: Is it from Beautiful?

[19:55] Libby Gunther: Okay. So it's I'd like to say a thing or two about this song I sing for you. These are not the words you thought you knew to happy days are here again. I think it'd be if you and I went against each other, I think it would be a struggle.

[20:05] Libby Gunther: Well, congrats, Ollie. You are the winner of this week's lyric challenge. So at just 12 years old, you are producing your own show, The Big One O online edition. What inspired you to produce your first show?

[20:17] Oliver Alkhair: Well, I guess I've always wanted to produce a show, especially after I did the professional shows that I've been in. And after coronavirus hit and I got sent home from Brisbane, I've wanted to help the arts industry in a way, and then I found the big one oh nine edition, and I thought, wow, this could be really good. And then I saw that it wasn't too expensive, so then I thought, okay, I'll apply for the rights, and then I got it.

[20:47] Libby Gunther: That's incredible. I mean it's good that it's not too expensive because rides are really expensive. When I heard you were producing it, I was like, oh my gosh, it is quite, you know, it's a lot to take on such a huge role. And you're also in it as well.

[21:00] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah.

[21:00] Libby Gunther: You're the lead role in it, aren't you?

[21:02] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, Charlie.

[21:03] Libby Gunther: Yeah. Another Charlie.

[21:04] Oliver Alkhair: Another Charlie.

[21:06] Libby Gunther: That's why I saw the role, and I'm like, I can't not play Charlie.

[21:09] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have been in it, but I just can't not play Charlie.

[21:13] Libby Gunther: You're like, of course, needs to be Charlie.

[21:15] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, the time is the charm.

[21:17] Libby Gunther: Exactly. I mean. Um but I obviously when we spoke initially about it and you said that you were producing this show, I was like, it sounds super familiar, but I don't personally know loads about the show. Could you tell us just a little bit more about like what the show is about and a little bit about the story, obviously with not spoiling anything?

[21:35] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah. Okay, so it's based on a novel by uh best selling book author Dean Pitchford, and it started off as a show off Broadway and I didn't really know anything about it, and it's actually about a boy's tenth birthday party and he's turning ten and he has imaginary monster friends and he doesn't have any real friends to invite to his party, so it's about him trying to find friends to invite to his birthday party.

[22:03] Libby Gunther: Oh, that's so beautiful. I love that though, but do you get to see the monsters in the show?

[22:09] Oliver Alkhair: Yes.

[22:10] Libby Gunther: That's really cool. I was like when you said that I was like, do they play like a large part in the show?

[22:16] Oliver Alkhair: Kind of, but definitely look out for the monsters, they're amazing.

[22:19] Libby Gunther: I'm so excited. We are really excited to watch it. We can't wait. And it must be a challenge doing it online as well because rehearsing and everything.

[22:28] Oliver Alkhair: With all rehearsals over Zoom, it definitely is a challenge. But how we like to do it is how the music director set it up is she kind of teaches us over Zoom, but then we have to regularly record our singing to send it to her because of the lag. We can't really sing over Zoom at once.

[22:45] Oliver Alkhair: And then during the rehearsal process, we discovered that if she's playing piano while we sing, she can only hear her side because on Zoom, for some reason, too many people can't talk at once.

[22:57] Libby Gunther: Yeah.

[22:58] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah. How are you planning on doing the actual show itself?

[23:00] Oliver Alkhair: Are you pre-recording it?

[23:02] Oliver Alkhair: Yep. So we're pre-recording it and then we'll put it on a private YouTube link and then the ticket goes to the private, like we send the link for the private YouTube link.

[23:11] Libby Gunther: Well, and of course, guys, make sure you do um check it out. You can find a link at the Big One O Australia on Instagram and the ticket link is through there as well. So make sure you do buy tickets to this, because I think it's gonna be I know I know Libby and I have actually planning on buying tickets.

[23:26] Libby Gunther: We are we are um but it's really inspirational to see people and especially someone of such a young age being taking that step and being like, you know what? I'm gonna do this, and this is the perfect time to do it.

[23:36] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, and I think the main reason why I really wanted to do it is because I was planning to perform in Brisbane and to see heaps of shows while I was there, and then even come back and see some shows. I had a whole list of shows that I wanted to see, just as Sydney was getting so many good shows and then theatre kind of cut out. So then I wanna give a theatre production but online while we still can.

[23:59] Libby Gunther: It's really cool to see the new innovation happening, especially within theatre during this time because it's actually forced us to create a lot more and think outside the box, which is really exciting.

[24:09] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, and I love how everyone's like adapting to this when we need to, so people can still enjoy theatre.

[24:16] Libby Gunther: Exactly. Obviously, this is your first time producing a musical. How are you feeling leading up to the show?

[24:21] Oliver Alkhair: I'm really excited because I can't wait to just see it all come together as a good show.

[24:27] Libby Gunther: It's amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. But before we leave, we do actually want to get your bedtime story. So our bedtime story section is really just some funny stories you've had, on stage mishaps, anything that's gone wrong. Have you got one for us?

[24:43] Oliver Alkhair: Yeah, so when I was on a show, I was in the middle of a dance number and my pants split. And luckily it was like halfway through act two, but they split, and then after that, I had to pretty much change everything to make sure that they didn't split anymore. Or like you could see it. So I had to sit down quite a bit after that. So I sat down really awkwardly, and then I couldn't sit properly. And then they split again when I was stepping up onto something, and then all that you could hear was a big rip. And then the guy playing on stage with me was like, I could hear that. And then probably the front row would hear that. It was so loud. It was so funny though. And hopefully no one saw anything as well.

[25:29] Libby Gunther: That is such a great story.

[25:31] Oliver Alkhair: No, but thank you so much for taking the time and coming and chatting with us, and of course, sharing your wisdom because you do like you wouldn't necessarily think it straight away, but you have so much knowledge about theatre and the theatre industry, both from you know your experience, but also you choosing to do your research into shows and such. So thank you so much for taking the time and coming on and sharing that with us. It's been so exciting to get to meet you and you know someone so young that's already had just so much success.

[26:01] Oliver Alkhair: Thanks so much for having me.

[26:02] Libby Gunther: So guys, make sure you guys check out the big one OH A US on their Instagram and on their Facebook to get all the tickets, and that will be playing from the 25th to the 27th of June. So make sure you check it out.

[26:17] Libby Gunther: Yeah, we'll link that all on our social media so that if you can't find it, don't worry, we've got your back. We will post the link on our Instagram and on our Facebook account.

[26:26] Libby Gunther: But of course, guys, thank you so much for listening. We'll be back in we'll be back with another episode in two weeks, most likely. Um, but stay happy and healthy, and we love you guys so so much. Bye.