sBillingham performing arts student Kate Smiddy beat 600 other hopefuls to a singing tour contract and took the gamble of quitting her studies. On the eve of the show's arrival in her home town, she talks to Viv Hardwick.

KATE Smiddy isn't that typical "danced as soon as I could walk"

story of performing arts. The 19-year-old from Billingham admits that her interest in showbiz began during senior school concerts at around 16 and she opted to take higher education at the Sage Academy of Performing Arts in Byker, Newcastle - no relation to Gateshead's Sage concert hall.

Yet, a few months ago, she quit her studies at the academy after beating 600 other young hopefuls to land a contract with the Mad About The Musicals tour which plays her home town theatre at the end of the month.

Kate's audition and approach has earned her the description "pure raw talent, a singing sensation" from the show's production team.

How does she react to all this?

"Basically I was in my third year at college and I thought I'm about to leave soon' and I needed a bit of experience by going to London to audition. My sister came with me for a bit of moral support and I got through to the second phase, which was a bit shocking for me and eventually got down to the final six and had an interview.

"Then I went home and went back to college and then I got a phone call saying I'd got the job. I then thought oh God, I've got to leave college. Now that wasn't an easy decision because I left without getting my diploma or degree. It's not every day that anyone walks out of college before graduation with a job, so I had to take that opportunity," she explains.

Kate admits she was frightened about making the decision but her parents were supportive and backed her decision to join Mad About The Musicals.

The Sage College opened five years ago with the aim of training North-East youngsters in stagecraft without them having to move to London. Kate's decision to study there was helped by being able to stay with her aunt in Newcastle during the week.

So how did the college respond to her decision? "I think they were really pleased for me. I know I left early, but I going to go back in July and do the graduation show with the other girls. It did tear me in half because do you finish your training off or do you go off and experience the real thing for yourself. The opportunity may never come along again, I'd like to think it will, so I had to take it," she explains.

K ATE recalls older sister, Helen, sitting with her from 9am until 7pm during the selection process. She had to learn 15 bars of a song and impress the judges enough to be put forward for the dance audition.

"I wasn't pure raw talent' to be honest. There was a girl who was actually in the cast and went in before me and I heard her sing and I thought she's amazing' and I saw a lot of talent there. I actually thought I was out of my depth at first, but I must have done something to impress them," she says.

Fortunately, Helen works for the sisters' dad, who is a managing director of a shop-fitting company on Teesside. The proud Smiddy family had to work overtime again to catch Kate in the show on the eve of Helen's wedding.

"My sister got married on April 7 and we had a show the night before, so my parents had to travel to Congleton to see the show and bring me back the next day," says Kate, who sang Songbird, a big hit for Eva Cassidy, at the civil ceremony at Chapters Hotel in Stokesley.

She's looking forward to the whole Smiddy family attending the Billingham performances and jokes: "I think we've booked the place out with just my fans."

For the tour she's had to learn 20 routines and she admits: "Yes it was a bit daunting and we had two solid nights to rehearse and then it was opening night. I'm enjoying the Bob Fosse routines at the moment."

Ambitions-wise she just wants to keep working. "I didn't dance a step until I went to (performing arts) college and then I got a big shock and I worked really hard for the last three years to get my dancing to a standard where I could pass an audition and it's worked out for me.

"I didn't do any amateur dramatics, I didn't really perform much as a kid, to be honest, although I had a singing teacher. I basically decided that school and learning wasn't for me and I just wanted to go and sing and do something I loved and. Luckily, it's worked out.

"Hopefully when the tour finishes (in November) I'm looking to do panto somewhere and then it will be auditioning again."

Until then, Kate's performing the show-stoppers from top West End shows alongside Michael Courtney, the man behind Mad About The Musicals, Catrina Sandison, Paul Daniel Cloeter and Jessica Negus.

* Mad About The Musicals, Billingham Forum Theatre, May 25-26. Box office: 01642-552663