Hayley Westenra

by Hayley Westenra

  Around this time, I also developed a novel sideline as a singing telegram. It all came about through a family friend, Gavin Becker, who went by the professional name of Sunshine the Clown. We met him because Isaac had become fascinated with his balloon-making skills at the local mall. One of his business interests was running a singing-telegram service and, when he heard me sing, he invited me to work with him when the occasion demanded someone with a voice like mine. It was a bizarre experience for everyone involved. Gavin would turn up at some poor, unsuspecting victim's home dressed in a gorilla suit, with me standing next to him. The general idea was that he would scare them and I would sing to them. Often, I would sing personalised lyrics that Gavin had written to the tunes of well-known songs.

  Not all of our singing telegrams were quite like this, though: some of them could be quite touching. On one occasion, Gavin sent me to see one of his best friends, who was celebrating her birthday. I presented her with a huge bunch of her favourite flowers and then sang 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'. She was blown away by his thought-fulness and became very emotional, bursting into tears.

  Although the busking was taking up a lot of my spare time at weekends, it didn't stop me from broadening my horizons into the world of musical theatre. The first hurdle was always getting through the audition process. The whole family would keep an eye out for the audition notices in the local newspaper. After applying, I would usually find myself being called in as part of a group of ten or twelve youngsters and we would each have a go at some of the singing for the specific role.

  My first straight acting role came in The Darling Buds of May. It was not something I would usually have considered, because there were no singing roles, but I was good friends with our neighbours, Emma Ritchie, who is a couple of years older than me, and her sister, Nicola, who is a year younger than me. I knew Nicola particularly well because we often shared the same roles. In professional productions, child actors tend to work for only half the productions, and so Nicola and I were often picked for the same role in alternate performances. We shared the role of Marta in The Sound of Music and also of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol. The two girls were both also in Canterbury Opera Youth. Nicola and I look so similar that on one occasion her grandmother mistakenly thought a photograph of me in the local paper in full costume was actually her granddaughter.

  The auditions took place one evening after Canterbury Opera Youth and, as the Ritchies often gave me a lift home, I had to wait around for them. I was already there so there was no point in just being a bystander and I decided to give it a go. Without really meaning to, I got the part.

  As Sophie and Isaac became older, we quite often found all three of us in the same productions. When we were in Rush, a gold-mining-themed musical, our parents' stamina was tested to the limit. Sophie and I were in one cast, but Isaac was put in the alternate cast. This meant that Mum and Dad had to spend every night of the run ferrying us to and from the theatre without a single day's break.

  I loved being in the musicals because not only did I get the chance to sing but there was also an opportunity to act and dance. It's easy to forget, but it gave us a tremendous social life outside school as well. During rehearsals, I would always take along a pack of cards in my bag and would sit playing Fish or Uno with my friends at the back of the hall when we were not needed on stage. We tended to bump into the same people at each new production, so, instead of spending the evenings and weekends hanging out at friends' houses, I would meet my friends at rehearsals and during performances.

  There was a great attraction in having that easy way of socialising. I had decided not to audition for a part in The King and I so that I could concentrate on my schoolwork. Then, I went along to one of the auditions and saw so many of my friends whom I had met in other musicals that I instantly changed my mind and went for a part.

  I loved getting dressed up before each performance and, when the curtain went up, I felt a huge adrenalin rush; it's a mixture of apprehension, nerves and excitement. Every time you perform on a live stage, you are laying yourself open to things going wrong – that is the scary bit. But, when things go right and you leave the audience happy, or you even move them to their feet, then that is one of the most fantastic feelings in the world.

  There was a spell when, much to my consternation, I seemed to be offered only boys' roles. I never imagined that I would get a male role in a run of The Nutcracker by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. After all, this surely would be an opportunity for me to wear a beautiful sparkly pink dress and dance around the stage looking every inch the ballet queen. The problem was that there were scores of girls and very few boys auditioning for the child roles and ultimately the five girl parts and the five boy parts were shared out among ten girls. You've guessed it already: I was chosen as one of the five who had to wear a horrible itchy wig and a suit. All we could do was look on enviously at the other five girls, who wore shiny dresses completely covered in jewels. We were all very jealous. To add insult to injury, when I was not dressed up as a boy, I had to play the part of a rat. This was not the result I had imagined when I went along to the audition.

  I had only recently played Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, where I spent the whole time dressed in a boy's suit and leaning on a crutch. It happened again with a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Don't ask me why – and please excuse the pun – but the only reason I was even considered for a role was because they were one dwarf short.

  It was a production by a professional Australian touring company and, for some reason that escapes me now, they were missing one of the little guys. The first I knew of it was when Mum arrived in school to explain the situation. My ballet teacher had some dancers performing in the show and suggested that Sophie and I alternate in the part of one of the dwarfs, as an emergency replacement.

  The reason why Mum had to come to pick us up early from school was that the first performance was that very evening. I had the opportunity to join a rehearsal that afternoon, which Sophie watched. The following night, she had to go on stage without any rehearsal. It was all a bit of a blur for both of us, as you can imagine. Luckily, they gave us the role of Sleepy, so that we could fall fast asleep if we forgot our lines.

  One of the first things that I noticed as I stood in line with my six new best friends was that I was by far the tallest of all of the dwarfs. The other six were very welcoming but very laid back about the whole thing. I, on the other hand, was very scared. I was always a skinny child, so, to make me look more like the other six, the costume people stuffed padding up the front of my shirt because I needed to develop a beer belly fast. It was certainly one of the more bizarre situations that I've found myself in.

  There are a variety of talent agencies in Christchurch who are always looking for new people to put on their books. In 1996, when I was still only nine years old, I signed up to the Spotlight Modelling Agency. I thought that the idea of having my photograph in a clothing catalogue was wildly exciting at the time and this was my goal.

  Soon, I found myself starring in a commercial for the New World supermarket chain. Well, when I say 'starring', I might just be stretching the truth a little. My job was to splash around in a swimming pool with a boy of about my age. It had to look to the television viewers as if we were both having an amazing amount of fun in the summer sunshine. The trouble was that, to have a commercial ready for broadcast at the beginning of summer, you need to film it in the depths of winter. The pool was unheated and the water was absolutely freezing. The director kept encouraging us to look as if we were having the time of our lives, as we flailed about in the icy water, desperately hoping that he would get the shot he needed in as short a time as possible.

  There were bright lights and reflectors all around the pool and on television it certainly looked as if we were enjoying ourselves in the summer sunshine, but the reality was very different. We stood huddled together wrapped in towels while the crew got everything together, before plunging into the water at the l
ast possible moment and pretending to be happy. I could feel my body starting to go numb by the end. It taught me the lesson that not every job in show business is necessarily the right job for every individual. I've never been the strongest swimmer and, as I was being filmed, I kept on wondering how they were possibly going to make us look as if we were having fun. There must have been dozens of other kids who would have been better at the job than I was. Some of them may even have been used to swimming in cold water. I know that it makes me a bit of a wimp, but, in my defence, I was resolute enough to carry on with the job until the bitter end.

  Working for New World has become a bit of a family tradition for the Westenras. Isaac was chosen to be 'the New World Boy', which meant that he appeared in all of their advertising for a couple of years. He was everywhere you looked: in the corners of leaflets that fell out of the newspaper, on the covers of coupon books that were dropped into mailboxes and on posters all around the stores. Sophie never actually did any work for New World, but she too was successful in doing some modelling work and she also appeared in a television commercial, although it was nowhere near as chilly an experience as mine.

  I very nearly won a role in an Australian film called Amy. Had I got the part, life might have turned out very differently for me. They had auditioned for the lead across Australia and New Zealand, as well as in England. I went along to the auditions in Christchurch, but they had also seen girls in Wellington and Auckland, so it was a tough competition. In the end, it came down to me, a girl from Sydney and a girl from Auckland, who were still in contention for the role. The producers took a long time to decide and I spent a whole summer waiting on tenterhooks. It was horrible to be left dangling. It was all the more frustrating because it was something that I really wanted to do: the lead role in a big film that involved a mixture of singing and acting – and that really appealed. I was still in my phase of wanting to be an actor, so, when they finally told me that I had not been given the part, I was really upset. When you're left waiting for so long, expectation builds and you start to imagine how the future might turn out in a particular way. Looking back on it now, though, I'm proud that everything didn't automatically go my way when I was younger. It's definitely good to make mistakes and have some knock-backs. I'm a firm believer that it's beneficial to be shaken up a bit because, if you have a really smooth ride all of the time, there's a danger that, when it really does matter, you might mess up.

  I've always learned from the little mistakes I've made and setbacks I've faced along the way. For example, I was taught a valuable lesson when I was at the Talent Quest, where the music was so quiet that I couldn't hear it at the start of my song. Ever since, I've always insisted on a soundcheck first when I'm performing, just so that I can be sure of what's going on. I guess the whole journey taken by anyone who performs as a career is one big learning curve. Having knock-backs or being turned down for something you want is good for you. It builds your determination and it gives you an insight into how tough the real world can be.

  My first experience of being on a television programme came on the very popular kids' show What Now? It was way before I had made my CDs and I just happened to be one of the kids sitting in the crowd. I was thrilled to be chosen to take part in one of the on-screen competitions. Using only my mouth, I had to grab as many apples out of a bowl of water as I possibly could within a time limit. I was up against a boy of around my age and, frankly, competitive Hayley kicked in. I was a girl on a mission. There was no way on earth that I was going to allow him to beat me. The highlight of the show for me was sitting in the gunge tank and being covered from head to toe in brightly coloured sticky liquid. Crazily enough, this was my prize for winning the silly apple competition. The show is still as popular now as it ever was and Sophie can often be seen working in the background on the show as a telephone operator, answering the phones.

  My first big performance on television came a little later, as part of the McDonald's Young Entertainers contest. I had a secret yearning to be part of the Super Troupe – a group of kids who were on the show each week performing song-and-dance routines. In fact, it was more than a yearning. To be honest, I was desperate to be one of them, as would any kid be who loved to perform. As I sat at home watching, it always looked as if they were having so much fun. It was my ultimate ambition at the time: as a Super Troupe member, I would be on television each week; I would perform songs to the nation each week; and I would get to dress up for the cameras each week. To my mind, it was the height of cool. But there was one big problem: I lived in Christchurch on the South Island and the show came from Auckland on the North Island. Unfortunately for me, most of the television companies and the biggest shows were based in the wrong part of New Zealand. It was simply too far for me to travel.

  But there was a way that I could appear on the show. The Super Troupe might be on the show each week, but in reality, they were only the warm-up act to the main event: the televised talent competition. When the auditions for the show came to Christchurch, I leaped at the chance to give it a go. The first round of auditions was held in a village hall. It was not a particularly special venue and it didn't feel particularly 'showbiz', but there were a couple of cameras there filming everything we did.

  I was chosen to move on to the heats. This was where things started to take a distinctly more glitzy turn. Mum was determined that I would look my best. Sophie and I were friends with two sisters from ballet, Emma and Lucy Carter, who were each the same age as we were. Mum became good friends with their mother, Martine, and it was to her that Mum turned for help in designing the dress for me to wear on my big television appearance.

  As usual, Mum put a lot of effort into my costume. It was based on a light-blue ballet skirt with a handkerchief hemline. My top was covered in sequins. In the process of deciding on the final design, Mum had spent days bringing home different samples of cloth for me to look at. I was going to be on national television and it was a big deal. Thanks to Mum's hard work, I ended up with a fairy costume that was every little girl's dream. After the show was broadcast, one mother came up to me and said, 'My daughter loved watching you on TV. She kept on pointing at you and calling you a fairy.'

  I felt like a princess in my sparkly costume and the final fitting helped add to the sense of anticipation ahead of the big performance, which was to take place at the Palms Shopping Centre. When I turned up at the mall, I was rushed away to have my hair done in ringlets by the hair and makeup people. I discovered for the first time what this process was like. Initially, the idea of having a professional make you look beautiful is exciting, but I found that for someone like me, who always wants to be in control, it can quickly turn into a bit of a nightmare. I've discovered since that this is particularly the case when I work with a hair or makeup artist for the first time. I'm never quite sure how it's going to end up. On this occasion, I was quite concerned about the amount of product they slapped into my hair. I realised that I was completely in their hands and, if it turned out in a way that I didn't like, then I was going to be able to do absolutely nothing about it.

  While I waited to go on stage, everyone fussed around me. This was the first time I had been made to feel like a star. A lot of time and effort had been put into how I looked. I felt very special as I was escorted from the mall offices to the stage, which was surrounded by great big cameras. They even had one on a crane. I sang 'Walking in the Air' and I worked in a short ballet influenced dance. I was very proud that I had choreographed the entire thing all by myself. I was even more proud when my performance went down a storm, propelling me on to the semifinals.

  As usual, my performance in the heats was a big Westenra family outing and quite a few friends came along too. I'm very lucky that Mum, Dad, Sophie and Isaac are so supportive of what I do. They come along to everything. As my brother and sister have become older and started performing themselves, the same rule holds true. When I go back home, I'm always there with Mum and Dad, cheering them on. We are a close bu
nch and the thought of the family splitting up for big events such as Christmas would be crazy. I automatically go home for the holidays even now.

  My performance was well received by the judges, one of whom was our local wizard, a Merlin-type figure, who regularly performed in the square by Christchurch Cathedral. He has become very well known over the years, and, even now, tourists who have been to Christchurch still ask me, 'Is the wizard still in the square?'

  I must have cast something of a spell on him, because he gave me a really high score, saying that my performance reminded him of 'fairies and elves'. It propelled me through to the next round and I felt as if I was now well and truly on a big show-business adventure.

  One of the people who saw the broadcast of the heat was Alan Traill, who was to become an enormous influence on my career. He is a very successful Christchurch businessman, who owns the franchises for around half a dozen McDonald's restaurants in the city. He invited the whole Westenra family out to dinner at one of his restaurants because there were only a few people from Christchurch who had made it into the main part of the competition.

  From the start, Alan and his wife Nettie were as supportive as it was possible to be. We arrived at the restaurant to find a big yellow balloon with the words 'Good Luck Hayley' on it. Alan is a very well-spoken man and thoughtful in the truest sense of the word, in that he's careful and measured in everything he says. I was very touched when he turned to me at the end of the meal and said, 'Even if you get no further than this, you should be so proud of coming this far.'

  After having known me for a couple of years, Alan gave me a VIP card, which was a big hit with my friends.

  'Not many people have this card,' he said as he handed it over.

  The card read, 'This card entitles Hayley Westenra and a friend to a free meal of their choice at McDonald's.'

  From then on, if we were hanging out in the mall, one of my friends would say to me, 'Hey, Hayley, let's grab something to eat at the food court. And what about that card you have?' We would then share out the food between us.