Phoebe Hits the Right Notes after SERC

Life is hitting an exciting musical high note for SERC alumna,  Phoebe McFadden.   The talented young woman is part of the line-up of professional singers performing show stoppers in Bank Holiday Broadway at Studio 1A in Bangor on Friday 2 May at 7.30pm.

Phoebe (21), from Killough, completed the Level 3 Performing Arts at SERC’s Bangor Campus.   Bursting with energy, she said, "I am living my best life at the minute and am really looking forward to Bank Holiday Broadway, devised and hosted by my singing teacher Eve Williams.  It is set to be a magical evening and if you love musicals, you are in for a real treat!   I will be performing some of my favourite numbers from Sunset Boulevard, Little Shop of Horrors, Chicago and my favourite musical Hadestown – currently the hottest ticket in London’s West End."

Phoebe has just returned to Northern Ireland this week following her performance in The Naughty Carriage on the Orphan Train, an original show by Luke Saydon and Carl Miller, with British Youth Musical Theatre at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Speaking about the show she said, "It is an amazing new musical, and I was delighted to be the first person to perform in the role as Fidget alongside my character’s twin Bridget.  A review of the musical penned me as ‘gloriously over the top,’ much to my delight.

"It is all about poor and homeless children trying to survive in the United States in the 1920s. Devised by the Children’s Aid Society in the days before federal child protection and welfare, the orphan train moved around 250,000 children to the rural American West to be adopted.   Many of the children were placed with families who loved them, while others were not so lucky.   The children who were not selected from the orphan train were destined to endure several rounds of train journeys – it is their stories that provide the basis of the show."

Part of the Irish Video Games Orchestra since 2023, Phoebe is a vocalist on their soundtracks and performed at World Con in Glasgow last year.

Keen to offer advice to others interested in moving into performance, Phoebe said, "I come from a highly creative family, and I wanted to be on stage since I was no age.   I got all the encouragement and support I needed to pursue my dreams, including moving from school to do the Level 3 Performing Arts course at SERC.   When I started, I was only interested in theatre, but the course really broadened my horizons, and my skillset. I gained so much, from dancing, to performing for screen, to voice acting.  I got the opportunity to write and perform in plays and a short film, and I even wrote a one-woman cabaret – something I would not have thought about doing before I went to SERC.   My class worked with students from other disciplines on a musical variety show which allowed a lot of freedom to design and produce the show, including the costumes.   There was guidance and support from the lecturers but there was always input from students - the Level 3 is designed to play on your strengths.   If you are interested in any kind of stage or screen performance, I would encourage you to consider the course."

Speaking about her plans, Phoebe said, "At the minute, I am applying to agencies for roles.   I am also considering further study in England and Scotland.   I have my Grade 8 singing, my Level 3 Performing Arts qualification and have been in the original cast for The Naughty Carriage on the Orphan Train, so I am on the right trajectory for where I want to be."

Tickets for Bank Holiday Broadway are available from Bangor Visitor Centre.  But you better be quick!