Harrison Riley is riding high on circus success
Harrison Riley has played a ‘tapestry of weird parts’ in musical theatre including a Hogwarts student in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and ‘a bratty child’ in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His latest role of Tex the Cowboy in Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular was like nothing he’s ever done.
“Never before have I been so involved in a circus environment, I’m usually in theatres,” Harrison tells PL. “Nothing compares to what this show has been, which is this magnificent spectacle all inside a giant tent.”
Getting into character has been a lot of fun for the Dee Why local, including putting on a Texan drawl and slipping on silver teeth for every performance.
“So much goes into making Harrison Reilly this wild, bitey, cruel but fun cowboy,” says Harrison. “(The teeth) took some getting used to. I had to do a couple of practices to be able to speak without a lisp, because my tongue was trying to push these silver teeth out as I was trying to sing.”
The silver teeth are moulded to Harrison’s teeth, and slip right in, like a retainer you might get from a dentist, and are ‘light as air.’
It takes Harrison about 25 minutes to apply all the temporary tattoos before each show, and although he hasn’t got any real tattoos, he’s considering one now.
Harrison didn’t professionally train; he began studying screen acting after school before dropping out of university after he got a part in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory aged 18, and his ‘life was changed forever.’
He grew up in Dee Why, attended Cromer Campus and then Freshwater Senior Campus, but says he didn’t have any real passions in high school, until he listened to the Wicked, and was ‘completely enamoured’ by the music.
“Hearing that album completely changed my life forever because I listened to Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel and said, ‘I want to do that,’” recalls Harrison. “I’ve been in the professional industry for nine years and still going strong. I love musical theatre to no end.”
His dream is to play Boq in Wicked. “Getting to be this pathetic little Munchkin boy, what’s not to love,” Harrison says.
Harrison remembers his stage debut on the Beaches in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Stage Artz.
“It was this big number where we were all facing the back (of the stage). And I remember looking at the back of the stage and knowing that was exactly where I belonged.”
Having down time is vital for Harrison and he loves body surfing at Freshwater Beach, playing board games and video games and is a big Magic: The Gathering (trading card game) fan.
“I find the biggest struggle with a big contract like this is mental health,” Harrison says. “According to unpopular belief, you have to maintain yourself, don’t go out or see friends and preserve your voice to make sure you do the utmost best performance.”
“However, that melts your brain and suddenly, your life at the theatre is your only life. My rituals involve seeing friends, going out and doing fun things. Because that way your brain is not this worked machine that only exists inside a big circus tent.”
Harrison says when Tex hangs up his hat it will be back to auditioning.
“I’ll just be doing exactly what I was doing before this show and before the previous show and before the show before that, which is going in, singing your heart out, acting your heart out, dancing your heart out and, you know, hoping you book the next job.”
Come Alive! is playing in Sydney until 8 August.