Yandrick Agius and Martina Cuschieri have just been accepted to two musical theatre academies in the UK. Ahead of flying up in September, they’ll be holding a one-off farewell concert entitled Side by Side to raise money for their education. Iggy Fenech chats to the duo to find out what they have planned.
Yandrick and Martina have grown up in the theatre industry, so their names and faces will certainly ring a bell to any avid theatregoer. Indeed, you may remember them from FM Theatre Productions’ My Fair Lady, which was directed by Denise Mulholland, or in Studio 18’s production, System, which had original music by The New Victorians. Yandrick, meanwhile, has long helped out at DLS Productions, including on Ghosts of Christmas Past and Belliegħa; and Martina was in Studio 18’s Dear Pete.
Over the past few months, however, the duo has been hitting numerous auditions at various UK theatre academies to secure the tertiary education of their dreams. Just a few months ago, both got the golden buzzer: Martina will be reading for a three-year professional diploma in Musical Theatre at the Performance Preparation Academy in Guildford, while Yandrick will be following a BA (Hons) Musical Theatre course at Arts Educational Schools London.
“I’ve been dreaming of doing this for over three years now,” 19-year-old Martina tells me. “As soon as I started getting a glimpse of what the industry was like through participation in local productions and watching shows in the West End, I was sure that I wanted to take my hobby to a professional level.”
Individuals who are really fortunate to be doing what we love
The sentiment is shared by 22-year-old Yandrick, who adds that, “while my love for musical theatre got sidelined when I entered university, I quickly realised what I was missing out on and I immersed myself in as many training and performing opportunities as possible”.
Now, the duo is working on a one-off performance accompanied by pianist John Cutajar that will see them give an even more polished reinterpretation of many famous numbers from musicals – many of which they practised for their UK auditions.
“We had to prepare so much material for our auditions that we essentially had enough material for a concert! All we added were just a couple of new duets,” Yandrick explains. “Each of us has performed these songs numerous times for our tutors and for panels of strangers in auditions, but we’ve never actually sung any of them for family, friends and the public. Before we head off, we wanted to make that happen!”
The repertoire for Side by Side includes songs from popular musicals such as Waitress, Dear Evan Hansen, Carousel, Company, The Band’s Visit, Honeymoon in Vegas and Ordinary Days. Oh, and crowd-pleasers from movie musicals, including those from Moulin Rouge and A Star Is Born, are also on the programme, so you can get ready to sing along.
Of course, part of the reason behind Side by Side is to help the duo raise funds. Indeed, while the two young hopefuls have done their bit to achieve the first part of their dream, studying in the UK comes with a hefty price tag. Through this concert, which will take place later this week at Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta, they are hoping to bring some joy to audiences while putting together some money to help them with their expenses.
“The cost of studying abroad is always considerable, but given the large amount of contact hours involved in musical theatre training, the costs are twice as high,” says Yandrick.
“But money isn’t the only reason we’re doing it,” continues Martina. “We’re two young individuals who are really fortunate to be doing what we love, so this is also a way for us to share our love for musical theatre and our own stories.”
Anyone who would like to attend Side by Side to sing along to the fun musical numbers and help these two young hopefuls out, can do so by sending an e-mail to sidebysideconcert@gmail.com.
Side by Side is on at Palazzo de La Salle on Saturday, August 17. It starts at 8.30pm and runs for approximately 90 minutes.