Three hours’ notice, six different roles to know and occasionally just 20 minutes to learn something completely new before stepping onto the stage. For Carramar Class of 2016 Alumni Lucy Fraser, that unpredictability is all part of the job and as it turns out, it’s something she’s very good at. Currently touring Australia as a Swing in Pretty Woman: The Musical, Lucy has built a career around being ready for just about anything when the curtain goes up.
A Swing is one of musical theatre’s ultimate behind-the-scenes multitaskers, learning multiple ensemble roles and stepping in whenever a cast member is unable to perform. Lucy covers six female ensemble tracks in Pretty Woman, but there have been times when even that preparation has been tested. She has performed multiple tracks within the same show and even stepped into male tracks she doesn’t cover, learning what she needed just 20 minutes before hitting the stage. “No rehearsal – just get out there and do it.” It’s a role she first discovered she had a knack for during her professional debut in Hairspray. After making it through her first performance as a Swing, Lucy remembers thinking, “oh maybe I can do this, maybe this is what I’m good at”.
It’s a career that once existed only on the other side of a television screen. Growing up, Lucy loved singing and dancing and would flip between dreams of becoming a singer, actor or ballerina. Musicals where the old MGM films she watched on TV, not knowing Australia had its own professional touring theatre industry until her dad took her to see A Chorus Line at Crown Perth in 2013. Reading the cast biographies in the program changed something; here were people actually making a living doing all the things she loved. That night prompted singing lessons, formal dance training and eventually study at WAAPA. Since then, Lucy’s professional credits have grown to include Hairspray, One Day in September and Grease, where she appeared as Patty Simcox, along with her current role in Pretty Woman. And there’s already another show waiting in the wings, with Lucy recently announced as part of the ensemble cast of Mrs Doubtfire the Musical.
Of course, the reality behind a career on stage isn’t quite as glossy as the curtain call might suggest. Touring can mean being away from family and friends for close to a year and there is discipline involved in keeping her body, voice and mind ready to perform night after night. Then there are the auditions and the inevitable rejections. Lucy journals after each one, using the experience to clear her head, reflect and go into the next audition a little stronger.
A thick skin is necessary, but it also takes time to build, and that’s ok. You can’t build resilience on constant ‘yes’s’, rejection is all part of the journey.
Long before the professional auditions and national tours, Lucy remembers having people at St Stephen’s School who recognised just how much performing meant to her. She recalls Mr Langley and Mrs Williams among the teachers who supported her through performance opportunities, classes and mentorship, but also academically and emotionally as she juggled school with training outside of it. For a student determined to turn something she loved into a career, having people willing to take that ambition seriously mattered.
A decade after graduating from St Stephen’s School, Lucy has now made that once-unimagined career her everyday life, complete with favourite coffee spots, nail salons and restaurants in cities around Australia. Looking back, the advice she would give her younger self isn’t to worry less or have everything figured out. It’s to wholeheartedly pursue the thing that matters to you. “My advice for my younger self is to lean in, invest. It’s ok to feel exceptionally passionate about something and to be willing to give a lot for that passion.” From a teenager discovering that musical theatre could actually be a job, to a performer ready to take on whatever role comes her way, Lucy has certainly done just that.