00:00:10
Speaker 1: From Newstalk ZB.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Keila Settle, good morning.
00:00:14
Speaker 1: Good morning, Atamanie.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Oh, so lovely to have you on the show. I'm wondering how excited you are about returning to New Zealand to lead this show. You've performed in New Zealand before in 2019 with Hugh Jackman's The Man, the Music and the Show. But how significant is this return?
00:00:33
Speaker 1: Oh, this, this, not that 2019 didn't count because it did. but this one really, really counts on so many levels. It's the 10-year anniversary of Witch Theatre, which is the company that I'm going to be performing for. It is the brand-new, rebuilt Wellington Town Hall, and it is the first time that Sunset Boulevard will be done in New Zealand. It's also going to be an all-Maori company, so it will be very heavily focused on a lot of cultural issues moments within the show, if not all of the show, as is the creative team. And I get to reclaim the bits of me that I have never been able to claim because I was not born in Aotearoa, which doesn't matter. And so I get to hold on to that and not only share it with my whānau, And take my tupinu with me. My mother will be on stage with me. Obviously, I can't get rid of her. I love her. Bless you, mum. I love you. She'll always be there. But also to inspire other people in the audiences and other people who come to see the show.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: How did the opportunity come about? Because I'm sure that you were at the top of their hit list when it came to putting this production on.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: You know what? I asked them, the first thing I said when I went into, we did a photo shoot set up here in London. They were so lovely. They came over. And that was the first thing I said after I'd met them and we said hello. And I said, why me? And they said, what? We just basically went to the top and was like, Let's just see. Let's just see if she'll do it. And I said, it scared me so much that I knew I had to go. And I'm petrified to do it. I don't even I mean, I'm just I'm just excited to go back and then just forgot that there's this actual job that I had to do. So, yeah, it's it's it's it could be overwhelming if I let it be. But I'm going to try and just keep my wits about me as much as I can and lean on everyone that's around me.
00:02:47
Speaker 2: So why is it scary? Am I right in saying that you haven't performed Sunset Boulevard before?
00:02:52
Speaker 1: No. No. I've never done any Andrew Lloyd Webber before.
00:02:58
Speaker 2: Ever.
00:02:59
Speaker 1: No. That's kind of why. I just, I'm like, oh. And then there's also the thing of when you look behind you and you see you have this whole, what the kids are calling a career. And then you kind of look ahead of you and you see where you are in this present moment. And you have this lovely company of people from which theatre saying we'd love to have you. And you kind of go, really? OK. I mean, of course I want to do it, but can I do it? You know, I have no idea, but I want to at least have the chance. And I've been given the chance and be able to try and, you know, have a go at it because it's massive. It's massive. And it's horrifying to sort of, as an actor, let yourself go there because this is not a happy-go-lucky character. I think she thinks she is, but, yeah, there's a lot going on.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: I get the feeling, Keela, that there's a possibility you could have talked yourself out of doing this. I'm pleased you didn't.
00:04:02
Speaker 1: Oh, easily. I can do it now, love. I can absolutely do it now. But I'm not going to. Oh, my God, I'm not going to at all.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: No, no. I mean, a lot of people would say, look, you have had incredible experiences on Broadway and the West End, you know, that this should be.
00:04:17
Speaker 1: A walk in the park for you. Yeah, but that's the thing. This time it's personal. Yes. It's personal in a sense that it is literally on the whenua. It is on the whenua. So all of the awa that I can call mine, the muana that I can call mine in my own whakapapa, I am surrounded by. That's leveled up. that's uh that's this is it this is this is personal and and that's that's why I jumped at it when they said will you do I said yes and because it's so personal I will have to go there to find and by go there I mean what you were talking about earlier on when we were speaking about all of the things of you know going through the motions of it was it was a very like um heartfelt experience for me coming back to NZ when I did with Hugh and that's just times 10 now because I don't have anything to hide behind it is literally just me putting forth what I can to create this character with everyone else with me and it's so personal this time and I just want to not only do my best but help to inspire other people to carry it pay it forward carry.
00:05:37
Speaker 2: It on You were speaking about your family and, of course, you were born to a Maori mother and a British father in Hawaii. You also spent a lot of time living in the U.S. That is quite a contrast of cultures, isn't it? Yes, yes. Did that have an impact on you growing up?
00:05:54
Speaker 1: Of course it did. Of course it did. And it still does. I mean, it's a thing of I still, you know, in places I can go back to Hawaii and put on a pigeon accent. I can go back to the U.S. when I have to. And whatever section of the US I'm in, whatever dialect they're speaking, I will go into that, which I've always done, but didn't really recognize until I got older for survival. And I'm not the only one that does that.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: So it's, it's a very.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I mean, it's it's your brain's gonna protect you no matter what. And that happened to be one of the ways that My brain did that for me and continues to do that for me. But also, it also helps me to, again, because there are so many people going, you're just this person. Now you're here. You can't be this. You can't be that. And I'm like, who? What? Sorry. I mean, I am here because of all of those things. And we'll also go back to those things because of what I am here now. So... it's, I see the questions in people's faces when I meet them, but also I kind of just have to giggle because I can only imagine how bizarre it must be to come into contact with someone who has had such a lush, it has been a lush life. It's been hard, but life is hard. It's going to be hard, but it's been so lush to be able to meet as many people as I've met and be intertwined with all of the cultures that I've been intertwined with. I mean, even in Hawaii alone, you know, Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, Tahitians, you know, as you well know, it's the South Pacific, you know. And then going from that to the continental United States and then going even farther across to go to the pond there. And then whipping it back around to come back to Aotearoa. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, sure. Of course. Yeah. Next. We're going to Mars. You know what I mean? What's next?
00:08:04
Speaker 2: Your mother was, she exposed you to Maori culture though, didn't she? She sang to you.
00:08:10
Speaker 1: My mother didn't watch. I mean, she had to. I mean, she was in a, She was also in a culture that she had no idea about with no Māoris around at all. So bless her, we took newspapers and we took magazines and rolled them up and taped them up and she taught us titi tōrea and we did it. You know, we did the stick game with it and we learned how to make poi, cutting off the circulation on our toes, trying to hold the thing down and we're trying to, you know, And we sat there like four or five years of age going, you're going to finish that long boy. And then you're going to do the other side. You know what I mean? That's, you know, and we, that's, but she, she didn't have it either. And so in order for us, in order for her to be able to sort, as much as she left it, she still wanted to be the person as well. That was like, I'm going into this other culture, going into this other world, but I, I'm taking who I am from there into it, knowing that I'm going to integrate and do all of these things, but also reminding myself that these are also a massive part of my roots. And then we would have my father's mum, my nan, mailing us packets of all sorts in the post and Enid Blyton books. Meanwhile, we're just stepping outside to just go to an American school. So that was a daily occurrence for us. And coming back is why it's so important for me to reclaim all of that because it is so much a part of who I am. And I was never really able to connect to it because I never felt safe enough to do it. And I do now.
00:10:02
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so pleased to hear that. Can we talk a little bit about, The Greatest Showman because the movie was massive but it was your performance of This Is Me that I think most people remember And it is now, my gosh, it is, the song has been so widely used. I've seen it performed in today. I've seen choirs have sung it. Schools are singing it in their school assembly and things. What was that sudden fame after that movie like for you?
00:10:34
Speaker 1: It was horrible. And I'm not embarrassed to say that. And it wasn't horrible because it was like, oh, it was, I was not prepared for the onslaught of, and I don't know if there's another word for it that might be nicer. Um, cause it was just for lack of a better term, it was just me. And I went in to do the job and I did it to the best of my ability. Uh, my mom had passed away. I'm sure I've, I've told this story before, but I'll, I'll repeat it here. My mother had passed away and I actually just didn't want to do anything anymore. And this came up. And I think with everything that was happening within the film, the actual work of the film, because that was incredible. And I'll never have that experience again. It was beautiful. It was everything that happened afterwards that I just wasn't prepared for and didn't have a foundation strong enough to sort of accept it in because I was playing a character that took bits and pieces of myself that didn't know who she was or who I was and throwing it into you know this number this song and this film and then take it right back out and just you know go home cut to all of this and it's taken me It's taken me 11 years to actually be where everyone else was 11 years ago. Does that make sense?
00:12:12
Speaker 2: Yes, because I think the song and the performance means just as it was personal for you, it becomes personal for other people too, doesn't it?
00:12:20
Speaker 1: Right.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:21
Speaker 1: But what happened was is that they took that and they can because that's the way the world works. I've heard Jessie J talk about this, another incredible, incredible musician. Yeah. What that song has done for people is not because of me. It's because of them. It's because of you. I just happened to be lucky enough to be the soundtrack for what you were doing for you. Yeah.
00:12:52
Speaker 2: The messenger.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: That's what it is. And understanding that. And that's what I've spent all this time since all of that. post-Sherman stuff, understanding for myself and also being very proud of and being really grateful for.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: I'm so pleased that you are proud of it. And I'm so pleased that you've found some peace with it because you are, right? And we see it over and over again, people talking about, I thought I was kind of prepared for what was coming my way, but it's almost, it is something which happens to so few people and is so unique. It is quite hard to be prepared for it, isn't it?
00:13:26
Speaker 1: And to be fair, I remember when my uncle was, who is no longer with us, my uncle Jimmy, when he was getting into the industry, it was a lot, it was too much for him. And I think because of the way we are, as Tongatawhinwa, the way that the westernization of the industry works, they don't go hand in hand. So there has to be a way for us to, as the artist, to try and somehow not make peace with it, but have to live with it side by side, which is very hard to do. Some people have it. I don't. I'm trying to learn. And this particular piece is aiding me in that journey as well. But it's a lot. It's a lot. It is a lot. It's great. If you can Play the game. It's great. And keep yourself as much as you can. It's a beautiful thing. It really, really is.
00:14:39
Speaker 2: Keela, we're so excited that you're returning to New Zealand for Sunset Boulevard. Enjoy it. I will.
00:14:46
Speaker 1: I will. I can't wait for everyone else to enjoy it.
00:14:49
Speaker 2: Embrace it and enjoy it. And it's just been an absolute delight to talk to you. Thank you so much.
00:14:54
Speaker 1: Oh, bless you. Thank you.
00:14:55
Speaker 2: That was Tony-nominated actress Keela Settle. She'll be part of the cast of Sunset Boulevard next April at the newly restored Wellington Town Hall. Tickets are on sale now.
Speaker 1: From Newstalk ZB.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Keila Settle, good morning.
00:00:14
Speaker 1: Good morning, Atamanie.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Oh, so lovely to have you on the show. I'm wondering how excited you are about returning to New Zealand to lead this show. You've performed in New Zealand before in 2019 with Hugh Jackman's The Man, the Music and the Show. But how significant is this return?
00:00:33
Speaker 1: Oh, this, this, not that 2019 didn't count because it did. but this one really, really counts on so many levels. It's the 10-year anniversary of Witch Theatre, which is the company that I'm going to be performing for. It is the brand-new, rebuilt Wellington Town Hall, and it is the first time that Sunset Boulevard will be done in New Zealand. It's also going to be an all-Maori company, so it will be very heavily focused on a lot of cultural issues moments within the show, if not all of the show, as is the creative team. And I get to reclaim the bits of me that I have never been able to claim because I was not born in Aotearoa, which doesn't matter. And so I get to hold on to that and not only share it with my whānau, And take my tupinu with me. My mother will be on stage with me. Obviously, I can't get rid of her. I love her. Bless you, mum. I love you. She'll always be there. But also to inspire other people in the audiences and other people who come to see the show.
00:01:49
Speaker 2: How did the opportunity come about? Because I'm sure that you were at the top of their hit list when it came to putting this production on.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: You know what? I asked them, the first thing I said when I went into, we did a photo shoot set up here in London. They were so lovely. They came over. And that was the first thing I said after I'd met them and we said hello. And I said, why me? And they said, what? We just basically went to the top and was like, Let's just see. Let's just see if she'll do it. And I said, it scared me so much that I knew I had to go. And I'm petrified to do it. I don't even I mean, I'm just I'm just excited to go back and then just forgot that there's this actual job that I had to do. So, yeah, it's it's it's it could be overwhelming if I let it be. But I'm going to try and just keep my wits about me as much as I can and lean on everyone that's around me.
00:02:47
Speaker 2: So why is it scary? Am I right in saying that you haven't performed Sunset Boulevard before?
00:02:52
Speaker 1: No. No. I've never done any Andrew Lloyd Webber before.
00:02:58
Speaker 2: Ever.
00:02:59
Speaker 1: No. That's kind of why. I just, I'm like, oh. And then there's also the thing of when you look behind you and you see you have this whole, what the kids are calling a career. And then you kind of look ahead of you and you see where you are in this present moment. And you have this lovely company of people from which theatre saying we'd love to have you. And you kind of go, really? OK. I mean, of course I want to do it, but can I do it? You know, I have no idea, but I want to at least have the chance. And I've been given the chance and be able to try and, you know, have a go at it because it's massive. It's massive. And it's horrifying to sort of, as an actor, let yourself go there because this is not a happy-go-lucky character. I think she thinks she is, but, yeah, there's a lot going on.
00:03:55
Speaker 2: I get the feeling, Keela, that there's a possibility you could have talked yourself out of doing this. I'm pleased you didn't.
00:04:02
Speaker 1: Oh, easily. I can do it now, love. I can absolutely do it now. But I'm not going to. Oh, my God, I'm not going to at all.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: No, no. I mean, a lot of people would say, look, you have had incredible experiences on Broadway and the West End, you know, that this should be.
00:04:17
Speaker 1: A walk in the park for you. Yeah, but that's the thing. This time it's personal. Yes. It's personal in a sense that it is literally on the whenua. It is on the whenua. So all of the awa that I can call mine, the muana that I can call mine in my own whakapapa, I am surrounded by. That's leveled up. that's uh that's this is it this is this is personal and and that's that's why I jumped at it when they said will you do I said yes and because it's so personal I will have to go there to find and by go there I mean what you were talking about earlier on when we were speaking about all of the things of you know going through the motions of it was it was a very like um heartfelt experience for me coming back to NZ when I did with Hugh and that's just times 10 now because I don't have anything to hide behind it is literally just me putting forth what I can to create this character with everyone else with me and it's so personal this time and I just want to not only do my best but help to inspire other people to carry it pay it forward carry.
00:05:37
Speaker 2: It on You were speaking about your family and, of course, you were born to a Maori mother and a British father in Hawaii. You also spent a lot of time living in the U.S. That is quite a contrast of cultures, isn't it? Yes, yes. Did that have an impact on you growing up?
00:05:54
Speaker 1: Of course it did. Of course it did. And it still does. I mean, it's a thing of I still, you know, in places I can go back to Hawaii and put on a pigeon accent. I can go back to the U.S. when I have to. And whatever section of the US I'm in, whatever dialect they're speaking, I will go into that, which I've always done, but didn't really recognize until I got older for survival. And I'm not the only one that does that.
00:06:24
Speaker 2: So it's, it's a very.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I mean, it's it's your brain's gonna protect you no matter what. And that happened to be one of the ways that My brain did that for me and continues to do that for me. But also, it also helps me to, again, because there are so many people going, you're just this person. Now you're here. You can't be this. You can't be that. And I'm like, who? What? Sorry. I mean, I am here because of all of those things. And we'll also go back to those things because of what I am here now. So... it's, I see the questions in people's faces when I meet them, but also I kind of just have to giggle because I can only imagine how bizarre it must be to come into contact with someone who has had such a lush, it has been a lush life. It's been hard, but life is hard. It's going to be hard, but it's been so lush to be able to meet as many people as I've met and be intertwined with all of the cultures that I've been intertwined with. I mean, even in Hawaii alone, you know, Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, Tahitians, you know, as you well know, it's the South Pacific, you know. And then going from that to the continental United States and then going even farther across to go to the pond there. And then whipping it back around to come back to Aotearoa. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, sure. Of course. Yeah. Next. We're going to Mars. You know what I mean? What's next?
00:08:04
Speaker 2: Your mother was, she exposed you to Maori culture though, didn't she? She sang to you.
00:08:10
Speaker 1: My mother didn't watch. I mean, she had to. I mean, she was in a, She was also in a culture that she had no idea about with no Māoris around at all. So bless her, we took newspapers and we took magazines and rolled them up and taped them up and she taught us titi tōrea and we did it. You know, we did the stick game with it and we learned how to make poi, cutting off the circulation on our toes, trying to hold the thing down and we're trying to, you know, And we sat there like four or five years of age going, you're going to finish that long boy. And then you're going to do the other side. You know what I mean? That's, you know, and we, that's, but she, she didn't have it either. And so in order for us, in order for her to be able to sort, as much as she left it, she still wanted to be the person as well. That was like, I'm going into this other culture, going into this other world, but I, I'm taking who I am from there into it, knowing that I'm going to integrate and do all of these things, but also reminding myself that these are also a massive part of my roots. And then we would have my father's mum, my nan, mailing us packets of all sorts in the post and Enid Blyton books. Meanwhile, we're just stepping outside to just go to an American school. So that was a daily occurrence for us. And coming back is why it's so important for me to reclaim all of that because it is so much a part of who I am. And I was never really able to connect to it because I never felt safe enough to do it. And I do now.
00:10:02
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so pleased to hear that. Can we talk a little bit about, The Greatest Showman because the movie was massive but it was your performance of This Is Me that I think most people remember And it is now, my gosh, it is, the song has been so widely used. I've seen it performed in today. I've seen choirs have sung it. Schools are singing it in their school assembly and things. What was that sudden fame after that movie like for you?
00:10:34
Speaker 1: It was horrible. And I'm not embarrassed to say that. And it wasn't horrible because it was like, oh, it was, I was not prepared for the onslaught of, and I don't know if there's another word for it that might be nicer. Um, cause it was just for lack of a better term, it was just me. And I went in to do the job and I did it to the best of my ability. Uh, my mom had passed away. I'm sure I've, I've told this story before, but I'll, I'll repeat it here. My mother had passed away and I actually just didn't want to do anything anymore. And this came up. And I think with everything that was happening within the film, the actual work of the film, because that was incredible. And I'll never have that experience again. It was beautiful. It was everything that happened afterwards that I just wasn't prepared for and didn't have a foundation strong enough to sort of accept it in because I was playing a character that took bits and pieces of myself that didn't know who she was or who I was and throwing it into you know this number this song and this film and then take it right back out and just you know go home cut to all of this and it's taken me It's taken me 11 years to actually be where everyone else was 11 years ago. Does that make sense?
00:12:12
Speaker 2: Yes, because I think the song and the performance means just as it was personal for you, it becomes personal for other people too, doesn't it?
00:12:20
Speaker 1: Right.
00:12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:21
Speaker 1: But what happened was is that they took that and they can because that's the way the world works. I've heard Jessie J talk about this, another incredible, incredible musician. Yeah. What that song has done for people is not because of me. It's because of them. It's because of you. I just happened to be lucky enough to be the soundtrack for what you were doing for you. Yeah.
00:12:52
Speaker 2: The messenger.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: That's what it is. And understanding that. And that's what I've spent all this time since all of that. post-Sherman stuff, understanding for myself and also being very proud of and being really grateful for.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: I'm so pleased that you are proud of it. And I'm so pleased that you've found some peace with it because you are, right? And we see it over and over again, people talking about, I thought I was kind of prepared for what was coming my way, but it's almost, it is something which happens to so few people and is so unique. It is quite hard to be prepared for it, isn't it?
00:13:26
Speaker 1: And to be fair, I remember when my uncle was, who is no longer with us, my uncle Jimmy, when he was getting into the industry, it was a lot, it was too much for him. And I think because of the way we are, as Tongatawhinwa, the way that the westernization of the industry works, they don't go hand in hand. So there has to be a way for us to, as the artist, to try and somehow not make peace with it, but have to live with it side by side, which is very hard to do. Some people have it. I don't. I'm trying to learn. And this particular piece is aiding me in that journey as well. But it's a lot. It's a lot. It is a lot. It's great. If you can Play the game. It's great. And keep yourself as much as you can. It's a beautiful thing. It really, really is.
00:14:39
Speaker 2: Keela, we're so excited that you're returning to New Zealand for Sunset Boulevard. Enjoy it. I will.
00:14:46
Speaker 1: I will. I can't wait for everyone else to enjoy it.
00:14:49
Speaker 2: Embrace it and enjoy it. And it's just been an absolute delight to talk to you. Thank you so much.
00:14:54
Speaker 1: Oh, bless you. Thank you.
00:14:55
Speaker 2: That was Tony-nominated actress Keela Settle. She'll be part of the cast of Sunset Boulevard next April at the newly restored Wellington Town Hall. Tickets are on sale now.
