ADCG - Scene It? Sing It!

Biographies

Caroline Kelly:

Besides being the current Chairlady and Music director of ADCG, Caroline is a Music and Drama teacher at Raha International School with a passion for musical theatre. This is her sixth year living in Abu Dhabi, hailing originally from Great Britain. Over the years she has been the Musical Director of several large-scale amateur productions both here in Abu Dhabi and in her hometown of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Some of her favourite shows to conduct have been Footloose, (with ADCG, which was produced at NYUAD in 2019), The Witches of Eastwick and Sister Act. She also enjoys treading the boards herself with some of her favourite roles in the past being Ado Annie in Oklahoma! Roz in 9 to 5, and Nicci in Sweet Charity. One of her biggest achievements was conducting the band for ADCG’s production of Anything Goes with her right foot whilst playing the flute, clarinet, and saxophone!

Sacha Kilgour:

A newcomer to ADCG for this show, but no stranger to musical theatre, Sacha’s love of music theatre started incredibly young, and her first role in Music Theatre was as Annie in her town’s production of the same name (New Zealand). She went on to train in classical singing at university, becoming part of the Wellington City Opera Chorus, sung the role of Papagena in their production of The Magic Flute and sang as part of the Opera in school’s programme. She completed a postgraduate teaching diploma in the performing arts, but Music Theatre never left her soul. She ended up studying Music Theatre at Sydney’s prestigious NIDA and continued to work professionally as a singer in Music Theatre, Children’s Theatre, Jazz, Opera and TV. She had a little dabble in TV talent shows in NZ as a soloist: (Showcase Nz, Young Entertainers, and Christmas in the Park), and Australia, as part of a 1940’s trio in Australia’s Got Talent 2010. One of the highlights of her performing life was LAGO (Live Ambient Graphic Opera), a production for the NZ Festival of the Arts. Two children and a husband later… she finally found the time to come join the very welcoming talents of ADCG – and she is having a ball! Sacha helped the music director for all the soprano recordings and has a great solo in the show that will make everyone smile!

Cat Downing:

When she arrived in Abu Dhabi 13 years ago and attended ADCG rehearsal on her 2nd night with her new roommate, Cat Downing had no idea that the venture would lead to her being the current longest standing member of the choir! With a background in nursing and the beat of South Africa in her veins, Cat has been an avid singer from the age of five, when she “performed” weekly with her Dad’s church “Folk Group.” She plays guitar and worked more behind the scenes during her childhood and teenage years for school productions. This changed when she joined ADCG and for the 12 or so years she has been part of the group (she took one gap year), she has mostly served on the board as well, in various capacities, including secretary, venue co-ordinator and treasurer. Cat can mostly be found in the alto section but has always enjoyed stealing the limelight with smaller roles productions. Her highlight was playing Enid in Legally Blonde, in 2015, but she has also played the Wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast (2010) and Lurch in the Addams Family (2016) Cat has also served as the producer or co-producer on all ADCG shows for the past 4 years. This past year, when ADCG moved to virtual performances, Cat took it on herself to learn the art of video editing and many of the numbers you see in the virtual concert are put together by her. Cat cannot wait to get back to live performances but is grateful that the pandemic led to the acquisition of an additional skill set!