A star is born! Cloakroom girl stands in for sick soprano and wins rave reviews
WHEN the soprano fell ill shortly before a performance at London’s Wigmore Hall, the director knew just where to look for a replacement – the cloakroom.
And so it was that usher Milly Forrest, 23, went from taking coats at the world-famous venue to taking a bow on stage after thrilling the audience with her ‘breathtaking’ performance.
Miss Forrest, who is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, had auditioned for director John Gilhooly six months ago, and he turned to her when Welsh soprano Ruby Hughes was too sick to perform in the recital of work by Schubert, Purcell and Vaughan Williams.
Miss Forrest, from Chiswick in West London, said some of the venue’s regulars who recognised her were ‘willing her on’ during her solo of Purcell’s If Music Be The Food Of Love.
‘Because I work there it felt oddly comforting being on stage,’ she told The Times.
‘It was performing with the other singers – people who are my massive idols – that was the terrifying part, the feeling that I didn’t deserve to be there.’
But the part almost wasn’t hers as Mr Gilhooly had not been able to get in touch with her initially.
He said he was ten minutes away from giving the spot to someone else when she called back, adding: ‘She has a voice of great beauty. She is level-headed and knows there is work to do but there is real promise there.
‘There were 17 other singers and it was only one song and I had said to her if there was an opportunity I would bear her in mind. The thing is you must always be ready and she was ready. I always say to young artists you never know when the phone is going to ring and you must be ready.’
She had just 36 hours to prepare for the recital on July 29, but one national newspaper critic described Miss Forrest as ‘breathtaking at the close as her voice floated heavenwards’.
And an audience member wrote afterwards: ‘Milly Forrest did a splendid job, and I don’t just mean a splendid job under the circumstances.’
Miss Forrest, who is planning to begin a masters in September, has performed from a young age, including in productions of Oliver! and The Wizard of Oz.
She said she has had extra bookings since her performance, but insisted that she was not ‘getting carried away’.
‘Her voice floated heavenwards’