By Kyra Gillespie
Q&A with recent high school graduate and soon-to-be Paris Disneyland performer Jessica McMahon.
What is something people don’t know about you?
I’m a perfectionist in many aspects of my life but I’m also extremely messy. I didn’t clean my car out for a whole year and my bedroom looked like a bomb had hit it for the whole of VCE. I’m a scruncher, not a folder!
What was your most memorable moment? Why?
When I visited Disneyland California in 2015, watching the paint the night parade, seeing Princess Belle in her light-up ballgown made me emotional. This moment inspired me to pursue my dream of being a character performer at Disneyland.
What would your last meal be?
Gravy, anything with gravy, it’s my life.
If you could perform in any show anywhere in the world, what would it be?
Any classic Broadway musical, with your tap numbers with big dance numbers and trumpets! Such as Newsies, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast.
What event, past, present, or future, would you like to witness?
I’m a history nerd so I would love to travel back to the time of the American/ Russian revolution, or anytime before 1960 so I could meet Walt Disney!
Favourite Disney character?
Princess Belle from beauty and the beast, Tinkerbelle would be a very close second.
Which six guests, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?
Lin Manual Miranda, Zac Efron, Walt Disney, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, Allen Menken.
What has been your most embarrassing moment?
Since we are on the topic of Disneyland, when I first visited the park back in 2009, there was an old man at the traffic lights near the park asking for donations and a sign saying “homeless vet”. Because I am an animal lover I asked my mum for money thinking that he was in fact a veterinarian. As I told my mum how I had thanked him for saving the animals, she explained to me that he was intact a homeless veteran, as in war veteran! Whoopsies!
Hobby other than performing?
I’m very interested in history and enjoy watching documentaries, especially those on Walt Disney and going for walks in the bush with my mum and dogs.
The funniest moment on stage?
A few weeks back I was performing on stage as a zombie in thriller. There was heaps of smoke covering the steps on the stage and while trying to find my way I tripped and face planted and made a huge thump!! But I got up as if it was just a part of the zombie act, but woke to find a few bruises the next day.
