Katherine Brown’s first ambition was to become a teacher in a US military school. She speaks to Alex Vella Gregory about Elvis, musicals and lack of sleep.
Had I given her a chance, she would have sung all the way through her interview. Her sentences all sound like cues to burst into the next big musical number.
The long hours rehearsing, the lack of sleep trying to cope with a day job and theatre, then as soon as the production is over you find yourself getting ready for the next one
As tempting as that was, I refrained from letting that happen. Namely, because a sung interview takes three times as long, but really because I would have probably joined in.
Katherine Brown was born in New York , but by the time she was two she started her incredible journey which would eventually lead her to our shores. Well, I would be lying if I said it was chance that brought her here. She has a Maltese mum, and her family connections here are many.
Both her parents were highly musical, and they regularly sang together in church, earning them the title of the ‘Von Brown Family Singers’. She was also brought up on a healthy diet of musical theatre. It was thus very natural that brown should aspire to become… a teacher.
It seems strange that her first ambition was to become a teacher in one of the US Defence Department’s Military schools, which she herself had attended. Then again, that is Brown, always full of surprises. Unfortunately, when she graduated the US Government had just started downsizing these schools, so she tried her luck in Malta.
Brown was certainly not disheartened. She is after all the Queen of Happy Coincidences. Take for example her first participation at the MADC One Acts Festival.
A director needed a female role and approached her to take part. It was only on the night that she found out that the whole thing was highly competitive, and that the production would be judged. Needless to say, she won Best Actress.
Since then she has worked with every major theatre company on the island, including MADC, Masquerade and Drama Troupe. With the latter she also took part in her first ever Sondheim production, Into the Woods. The word ‘Sondheim’ triggers off a burst of energy.
“Sure, stuff by Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lloyd Webber is great to sing, and attracts audiences, but Sondheim is something else.”
Does she ever get disheartened? She smiles, and quips:
“There are times when it all gets to you, and you swear you will never do it again. The long hours rehearsing, the lack of sleep trying to cope with a day job and theatre, the vocal strain… then as soon as the production is over you find yourself getting ready for the next one.”
Still, her upcoming production is one of her greatest challenges yet. She will be singing the role of the Narrator in Hoi Polloi’s upcoming production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
“The Narrator is not really a character in the normal sense. You have to tell a story without actually being part of it, while at the same time being constantly on stage.”
It is also the only character who has no big musical number, and yet the whole show is really the ‘big musical number’.
Not that Brown minds at all. She is more than pleased to be singing the role, although she does confess that she would have loved to have a go at Potiphar’s song. That I think we can forgive her. After all, “Everyone loves to be Elvis!”
Sounds like a tough nut to crack, but Brown makes it sound so easy, almost natural.
“It’s all great fun at the end of the day, and working with Hoi Polloi has been amazing. There are many scenes with the brothers, and I am absolutely loving every second of my rehearsals with them.”
She later adds: “It is all down to the people you work with, that’s what makes a show memorable.”
Joseph was originally a children’s show, despite the not-so- happy parts of the original Biblical story. But Brown assures me that the focus is on the fun parts, and it will be a family show to be enjoyed by all. The show promises to be a dazzling spectacle of colour and song and is certainly not to be missed.
Of course, if for some reason you do not manage to go and watch it, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to enjoy Brown’s energetic performances on stage.
In fact, last I heard, she was trying on her wand for the role of Fairy God Mother in MADC’s upcoming panto The Princess and the Pea.
Hoi Polloi Theatre Productions’ Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is produced by Marco Calleja and Justine Odom. It will be held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Online booking at www.mcc.com.mt or ticket hotline 2559 5570/2124 6389.