A Sydney university student replaced a sick musician on stage during the opening night of La La Land in Concert in Sydney on Saturday night.
During the interval, Oscar-winning composer and conductor Justin Hurwitz informed the audience at the ICC’s Darling Harbour theatre that the production’s keyboard player was ill and unable to continue, and asked whether anyone in the crowd could sight-read.
A 21-year-old student named Sterling Nasa volunteered, and was invited up on the stage for the second half of the performance, local media reported.
La La Land in Concert is a touring production in which the film, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, is screened while a live orchestra performs the score in sync with the movie.
After a brief introduction, Mr Nasa learned he would be playing the celesta, an instrument similar to an upright piano that he had never performed on before.
Within minutes, he was seated with the orchestra and following the score in real time.
Later, Mr Hurwitz told The Guardian Australia that there was a sense of panic when the orchestra’s musician fell sick. “Our first thought was, is there a string player who also knows keyboard? The answer was no.”
When the sick musician tried to call local musicians, most of them said they would take 15-20 minutes to reach the venue.
Mr Hurwitz added: “I figured nobody’s as close as they say they are … so I just thought, well, we have 2,500 people in here …