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The plot is simple enough. Naive wannabe actress, Peggy Sawyer (Sophie Highmore), arrives in New York to find fame and fortune. Watch out for Highmore in future – with the grace of Cyd Charisse, the innocence of Leslie Caron and the ebullience of Debbie Reynolds, Highmore is destined for a bright future. She is in excellent company with stand-out professional Sam Ward as Peggy’s admiring male lead, Billy Lawlor, Jarrad West as Julian Marsh, the fraught producer of Pretty Lady, his make-or-break Broadway musical, and the wonderfully talented Louiza Blomfield as the diva, Dorothy Brock, who breaks her ankle, creating an opportunity for newcomer Peggy to take on the star role.

The Canberra Times report that “Every aspect of this production pays joyful homage to the original musicals of the era. Set designers Martin Searles and Steve and Susie Walsh use projections to indicate place and period and the 15 members of the orchestra recreate a sense of the big bands of America in the ’30s. It all adds to the nostalgia and the charm of a show in the old Broadway tradition that will have you tapping your feet, humming along and forgetting your troubles as you hear the beat of dancing feet at 42nd Street.

City News have said it “is packed with recognisable songs, big dance numbers, and a captivatingly corny storyline.  Free-Rain Theatre does it proud with a lavish production, under the experienced direction of Chris Baldock, which manages to capture a great deal of the spectacle and excitement expected of a Broadway show”.

Canberra Critic Circle report the show to be a “spectacular and highly entertaining production” and comment that Louiza “plays the temperamental diva, Dorothy Brock, without resorting to cliché and gives us a rich characterization that is very human”.

We caught up with Louiza to ask her a few questions.

Louiza’s love affair with musical theatre started over 20 years ago with Old Time Music Hall at the ANU Arts Center. Louiza has been honored to play many strong and feisty yet vulnerable characters. Mary Magdeline in Jesus Christ Superstar, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Sheila in Hair, Joanne in Rent, The Lady of the Lake in Spamalot and Karen, one of Peter Allen’s trio in The Boy from Oz to name a few. Big band, choir and many varied solo performances are among her musical exploits including her own Cabaret show Louiza with a Z.

Louiza spends a lot of time on the other side of the foot lights these days doing theatre marketing but she found her way back to the stage most recently in Free-Rain Theatre’s The Little Mermaid as Ursula, a role for which she won a Canberra Area Theatre Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She is delighted to have to opportunity to bring Dorothy Brock to life,in true diva style.

Strangely Louiza says that she did drama but not music at school.

She recalls that the drama room was located in the last room of the year nine block at that time and that was pretty much it. They built the TB Miller Hall when she was in year 9 (1987).

So she noted that that was when students had somewhere to perform. Louiza has fond memories of singing solos in a show called Musical Moment in year 11 or 12.

Louiza said that the two Nick’s (both collegians from the class of 2001, Nick Brightham and Nick Johnson)  have helped to bring this production to life. She told us there are a number of Radford collegians involved in the theatre scene in Canberra. “We are everywhere”.

When asked what her favourite scene in the show was, she said “They are all my favourite. But every show there is always one scene you think “gee I like how I played that”.

Louiza is also a graphic designer and holds a full time job. She organises days off here and there for when she knows the pressure and fatigue will be at its peak. But generally she does it all!

You can buy tickets here.