‘This showbusiness thing is hard’: Aussies chase Broadway

Hanne Larsen, who is by chance Dean’s cousin, was also celebrated at the Australian Theatre Festival gala. She established Downtown Dance Factory – “ostensibly as a way to get me a visa” – which has grown from 100 students in the basement of a gym to a dance school that teaches 1500 children a week. Her success story was also one of struggle. Two years after moving to New York, she found herself divorced and raising four kids under the age of eight, with no

visa or income in one of the world’s most expensive cities. “But we’re Australians,” she said. “There’s something very Australian that kicks in during moments like that. We’re pretty good at getting on with things, and we’re pretty good at making things happen when we have to. The good thing is New York is a city that rewards that kind of spirit.” Finally, the room honoured Ainsley Melham, a 34-year-old musical theatre star from Bathurst who journeyed all the way from Hi-5 to Broadway, where

he has played Dwayne in Boop! The Musical and the title role in Aladdin. He said his dad still asks him: “How’s the boy from Bathurst?”

Australian Theatre Festival gala, Hanne Larsen, Downtown Dance Factory, visa, New York, divorce, Ainsley Melham, Bathurst, Hi-5, Broadway, Boop! The Musical, Aladdin