Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great joy that my electorate is home to the Sydney Youth Musical Theatre, founded 40 years ago by Jan Thomas OAM. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend their production of Mel Brooks' The Producers. The Producers is a brilliant piece of satirical theatre which causes the audience to laugh while dealing with some serious themes. It did this famously after September 11 2001 in New York, defying those horrific attacks by showing on Broadway only 48 hours after the terrorists sought to silence and destroy the American spirit.

The SYMT production was directed by the talented Kaleigh Wilkie-Smith and produced by the inimitable Chrissy Stimson. The musical director was Matt Herne and the choreographer was Belinda Escott. This was a superb and funny production, with a great cast of 38 performers. The lead roles were performed by Alec Green, Josh Brown, Brianna Sykes-Spencer, Rob Hartley, Eamon Moses and Dominic Lee-Lindsay.

Sydney Youth Musical Theatre draws in young people from right across the Sydney region, from Hornsby to Camden. Auditions are always competitive, and half the cast of any given show will be performing for the first time. Performers see their skills advance and their confidence grow as they perform to big audiences. Many go on to work in professional theatre.

The company is steered by a hard-working committee of volunteers, led by Chrissy Stimson, Bruce Bartle, and Sarah Dolan, with Belinda Escott, Paul Harmon, Adam Haynes, Evan Jones, Grant Leslie, Craig Pinkerton, Karen Smith and Jeremy Zalewski. I wish the company every success, and commend them for the outstanding opportunities to participate in the performing arts that they offer young people right across Sydney.

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