Carla Ladstaetter is one talented little girl.

The 9-year-old has been selected from 270 applicants to perform the title role in the musical ‘Matilda’ opening in Christchurch in April 2022. 

The daughter of a German-born music teacher and former concert pianist Kerstin Ladstaetter, and Jimmy Calder, owner of the Manapouri Freestone Backpackers and a keen guitarist, Carla has music in her blood. 

Carla Ladstaetter after a concert at the Christchurch Town Hall. Photo: Supplied

Her father describes her as a confident girl who “is not afraid to be in front of an audience”.

Carla was born in Manapouri and went to Te Anau Primary School. In February 2021 she moved to Christchurch with her mother to further Carla’s exceptional talents.

She now goes to the Burnside Primary School, plays violin with the Christchurch Junior Symphony Orchestra, and attends the Original Scripts Theatre School, the Impact Dance and Stage School, and the Christchurch School of Music (CSM). 

She is a busy girl, but her mother says, she doesn’t see it as work. 

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“Carla wanted to be in the orchestra and in a choir. She was selected for the role of Cosette in Les Misérables that was to be performed in Invercargill last year, but Covid interrupted these plans,” Ladstaetter says.

Matilda is being staged by Showbiz Christchurch, a not-for-profit organisation that employs high level professional production team with a volunteer cast and crew.

Showbiz Christchurch was founded in 1938 as the Christchurch Operatic Society Inc, and since then has entertained Christchurch audiences with many of the world’s top musical shows. 

The selection process for Matilda cast was rather rigorous.

“It was the most challenging audition process we have ever done,” says Showbiz Christchurch General Manager Craig Ogilvie.

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Stage one was dance auditions. Then there was a call-back for vocals, where the children had to perform a piece of a song. This was followed by a call-back for speaking, which involved reading a piece of the part the child was auditioning for. On the last day there was another dance audition.

 “This is a very physically demanding dance show for the kids, so if they couldn’t dance well, they wouldn’t be able to cope with the show,” Ogilvie says.

“We were looking for a really positive attitude, but also for height, so Carla was just right. Some really capable kids didn’t go through because they were just too tall for the role of Matilda. She is a very talented little girl and she’s got a really broad experience for such a young age.”

The rehearsals for the show started last Sunday (Oct. 17). The children will rehearse three times a week for two hours from 6 to 8pm.

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According to Ogilvie, this is one of the biggest roles for a child. 

“This has been a massively successful show around the world; in UK, US, Australia. We have three Matildas and two casts of kids – two groups of four girls and four boys to alternate. Every night there will be two Matilda’s, one on stage and one off, as a backup just in case, ready to step in,” he says.

There will be 19 performances of Matilda in Christchurch, opening in April, just before Easter 2022. The “physical show” (costumes, stage props, etc) will then go to other places in New Zealand, including Dunedin, New Plymouth, Napier and Palmerston North. Each place will provide their own cast and production team. 

“All cast and everyone involved backstage are volunteers. We do it for love,” Ogilvie declares.