Audience Member Makes Unlikely Stage Debut in the UK When Actress Falls Ill
The American woman volunteered to fill in for the sick actress in the U.K.
— -- A young American actress recently made an unlikely stage debut at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, U.K.
During a production of "Into The Woods," a musical inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Gillian Bevan, the actress playing the role of the witch, fell ill.
One audience member, Melissa Bayern, 29, had studied the role of the witch at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and volunteered to fill in.
"I left my information at the stage door and I contacted the director and next thing you know I was on stage doing the role myself," Bayern told ABC News. After a sleepless night and only five hours of rehearsal, the young woman took the stage.
"I initially thought it was both enterprising and presumptuous," Matthew Xia, associate artistic director at the Royal Exchange, told ABC News. "Ultimately, however, it was the perfect solution to a rather tricky situation."
"I think I was in such a state of focus and had so much adrenaline," Bayern said. "My mantra throughout the whole thing was just 'live minute by minute.'"
The native New Yorker, who currently lives in London, said she hopes the experience will lead her to a successful career on the West End, London's theater district.
"I can’t believe it. I mean it's complete fate, it's miraculous, it’s a fairy tale," Bayern said. "I’m still having people pinch me because I can’t believe it’s real."
Bayern performed in the role for five nights, from Jan. 6 to Jan. 10.
