Snow White Begins (Excerpt 4.) By Tracey Vale

(The following is an excerpt from the beginning of this chapter.)

The dwarfs were already assembled and waiting when I walked on to the stage of Sydney’s Her Majesty’s Theatre. Having already rehearsed and performed the show in Adelaide, with an Australian actor as Snow White, they were not impressed at having to start over with a new lead. Prior to this, they had worked in the London production of Snow White and had already started over with the Australian production. It meant they had to start rehearsals again despite knowing the show back to front. When they saw me, blonde and a petite five feet, they were even less impressed.

The dwarf playing the part of Happy looked anything but his namesake. Looking from me to Tibor, he said, “She doesn’t look like Snow White.” It was clear that the others felt the same way. Even the director said “Oh, terrific—I’ve got eight dwarfs!”

“Vait,” said Tibor, nodding assuredly. “You vill see.”

An appointment was made with a hairdresser to dye my hair black. It was then cut and styled in the tradition of Disney’s famed character. Finished off with a ribbon headband, it was an amazing transformation. The next time I walked across the stage, complete with heels, the dwarfs were satisfied but were still yet to be convinced.

“See,” Tibor had said, as I walked in. “Make very good Snow White!”

The next hurdle to overcome was the music. I couldn’t reach the incredibly high notes of ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ and requested that it be transposed in a lower key.

“Oh no. Not possible,” said Tibor. “It has to be in the same key as it is a Disney production. Cannot be changed. You vill have to sing it zat high.”