STEEPED in musical heritage, 25-year-old Hazel Park has chased her dream, and is now living it.
After spending a few years teaching, she left education to go to London for an MA in Musical Theatre Performance and is starting her first professional role this week, playing Tinkerbell in the pantomime Peter Pan at University Concert Hall Limerick.
She told the Clare Champion that Shannon Musical Society has been a big part of her life and her family.
“My grandparents actually founded the society, my family have been in it over the years and I joined when I was 18.”
Hazel has also been involved with Muse Productions and the Ennis Musical Society, while she was nominated for Best Female Singer in the Association of Irish Musical Societies Awards in 2020.
She has always wanted to get into musical theatre as a professional, but didn’t go into it straight after the Leaving Cert.
“It was always in the back of my head that it was something I wanted to do. I would have done it straight out of school but there wasn’t much opportunity in Ireland and I felt I needed to go to London, but I was that bit too young at that stage, I finished school when I was 17. I’m delighted to be doing it now.”
Instead she went to Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, qualified as a primary school teacher and after teaching children with special needs at St Tola’s and St Conaire’s, Hazel eventually decided to go to the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London where she received her MA in Musical Theatre Performance last year. She was also awarded the Lonsdale Scholarship of Vocal Excellence to support her training.
Playing Tinkerbell is her first professional role and Hazel says she is learning from those who have been around the block before.
“We’ve got a couple of brilliant actors with us, Johnny Ward and John Sharpson, you’d know them from Ultimate Hell Week. Then we have Myles Breen who has been in the pantos for years as the Dame. We also have Richie Hayes who has done maybe 30 years of panto, lots of experience!
“Actually most of them have a lot of panto experience and it’s great to watch them in the rehearsal room. It’s my first panto so I’m learning a lot from the others.”
Preparing for the show is draining, but she is loving it.
“I’m really, really enjoying it. It is demanding in that we only have two weeks rehearsal which isn’t what I’m used to. In Shannon Musical Society you’d start rehearsing in September and the show wouldn’t be on until February.
“This is two weeks of intensive rehearsal, but we’re having a blast. The script is hilarious, so we’re always having a laugh, it’s great.”
Rehearsals in Dublin were six days a week, from 10am to 5pm. “It’s hectic but it’ll be worth it,” she says. And when the shows get underway it’ll be just as intense.
“It’s going to be full on, it’s two shows every day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are the only days off, every other day it’s a matinee and an evening. We’ll be wrecked by the end of it definitely.
“We open for schools on December 15 and we open for the public on the evening of the 16th. It runs through then until January 3. We have a sensory performance on the 23rd which is nice and I would have done a lot of special education teaching.”
Working in entertainment can be very uncertain, and as soon as Peter Pan ends Hazel will be looking for the next role.
“I’m going to head back to London. We actually moved into a new flat just before I left, so I’m heading back there and will be starting the auditions again. It’s tough, you’re in one thing but you’re always looking for the next one.”
London is a major centre for musical theatre so Hazel will be staying there for the next while at least and she is enjoying life there.
“I moved over mid pandemic so for a year and a half it was a bit strange, I didn’t get to explore the city or go anywhere or meet anyone, but it’s back to normal now and I love it. There’s always something to be doing and I love it.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.