She is sixteen going on seventeen – well just for a day anyway.
Vocalist Belinda Collings will be turning back time when she treads the boards to reprise the role of Julie Andrews as the singing nun for the latest Blue Mountains Orchestra concert on May 7.
The 43-year-old mezzo soprano will sing popular songs from The Sound of Music including Do-Re-Mi, My Favourite Things, Climb Every Mountain, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, Edelweiss, Maria, The Lonely Goatherd, Sound of Music Reprise among others. And she will be encouraging the audience to sing along.
But it’s been an unusual homecoming to the stage for Ms Collings of Faulconbridge – lately the most she has sung has been karaoke at The Royal Hotel in Springwood.
But a few months ago, she ran into “Uncle Mal” Hewitt at Faulconbridge Public – where they both have children – and realised he was the same teacher who had set her on a path of a career as a singer.
“Belinda suddenly realised that I was the same Uncle Mal who ran the DET [Department of Education and Training] Arts Unit programs in the 1980s,” he said.
“She was a student at Strathfield South High School, who loved to sing. She came in to Chippendale to the Sydney Schools Singers, sang in massed choirs under my direction in the Opera House, and was set on the path of a career as a singer when she left school.”
Some 15 years of singing followed – Australian Opera chorus, jazz, pop, many styles. Then came marriage, children, divorce – she didn’t sing at all for the last 10 years, other than the Thursday night karaoke in the Springwood pub.
“It’s fun there, it’s been my only musical outlet,” she said.
Mr Hewitt asked her if she would consider a comeback – to sing with the orchestra – a medley of all those favourite songs from Sound of Music.
“I had throat surgery and that changed my voice, which is funny because that’s what happened to Julie,” Ms Collings said.
“She has rediscovered her voice – it’s still there – and is singing again,” Mr Hewitt added proudly.
Ms Collings, who runs a cleaning contracting business, helps out on the kids’ P and C’s and runs 4WD charity events, said she hoped to be able to concentrate more on her singing now and inspire her daughter Hayley, 12, on her own singing path.
Mr Hewitt said an outstanding young trumpeter from Blaxland High, Matthew Carter, will be another highlight, performing Haydn’s concerto for trumpet and orchestra. The event is called Musical Fireworks and also features Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks. It is on at 2pm at the Hub in Springwood. Tickets $15. Call 4723 5050.
