{"id":4589,"date":"2017-11-13T02:34:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T18:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wr\/born-to-be-w-ld-aria-zhang\/"},"modified":"2019-12-09T15:48:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T07:48:11","slug":"born-to-be-w-ld-aria-zhang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/born-to-be-w-ld-aria-zhang\/","title":{"rendered":"Born To Be W!LD – Aria Zhang"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aria Zhang may be all of nine years old, but she\u2019s already landed a starring role in a hit musical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just last month, she performed in the role of \u2018John\u2019 in Pangdemonium\u2019s Fun Home \u2013 acting, singing and dancing her way into audiences\u2019 hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to see why Aria shines so brightly on stage. Bubbly and cheerful in person, she\u2019s loved performing as long as she can remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started talking when I was 11 months,\u201d she confides. \u201cAnd even then, I would be singing random songs and doing little dances on the bath-mat after taking a shower!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of two, she discovered her love of the limelight. She was in the audience for a Christmas show, when volunteers were asked to join the performers on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went straight to centre stage!\u201d she laughs. \u201cSomebody had to bring me behind the dancers, where I was actually supposed to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hitting the Main Stage<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Aria.jpg\"
Aria as ‘John’ in Fun Home<\/em>
(Image courtesy of Pangedemonium)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Starring in school plays was the natural next step. After wowing her teacher with her singing voice, Aria was cast in her first lead role: one of the Mice in a school production of The Woodlanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before long, Aria started auditioning for bigger shows \u2013 although a creepy staircase did get in the way at first!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI auditioned for The Emperor\u2019s New Clothes<\/em> when I was six,\u201d she reveals. But she was so spooked by the staircase leading to the audition room that nerves got the better of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determined to try again the following year, she sang \u2018Tomorrow\u2019 from Annie for her audition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest is history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aria made her professional debut in last year\u2019s critically acclaimed revival of Monkey Goes West<\/em>. Since then, she\u2019s also snagged her first lead role in a Tony-winning musical \u2013 Fun Home<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was pretty scared to perform in Fun Home!\u201d she confesses. \u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of other kids in the cast, like in the pantomime. If you don\u2019t get the blocking just right, everything messes up!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recalls a mishap that challenged her to keep her cool on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lost my shoe in the very first show!\u201d she says. \u201cThe person behind me gave me a flat tire. But I just pretended it was meant to happen, and kept going the way I was supposed to.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kidding Around<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Going on the Record<\/em>! Aria (fifth from left) and the FIRST STAGE Kids
in Pavane Recording Studio for Mama White Snake<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Aria is thrilled to be back for Mama White Snake,<\/em> a brand-new musical blockbuster that will entertain audiences throughout the holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, she\u2019s one of 22 FIRST STAGE Kids \u2013 all of whom have spent weeks working hard on learning their lines, songs and choreography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s evident that the camaraderie among the kids is one of Aria\u2019s favourite things about being a part of W!LD RICE\u2019s annual pantomime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a pantomime, you\u2019re never alone, and you can rely on the people around you,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou have your friends to comfort you, and it\u2019s so nice to meet new people and reunite with old friends!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also appreciates the opportunities she gets to learn from the adult actors in the cast \u2013 professional theatre-makers like Glen Goei and Siti Khalijah Zainal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so fun to see them play different characters, with different emotions,\u201d she observes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, Mama White Snake<\/em> is the perfect way for Aria to end off a great year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love to be in shows and I really like Mama White Snake<\/em>!\u201d she declares. \u201cIt\u2019s funny and has really good songs. And it\u2019s just a really big, amazing, great show!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A star in the making, Aria Zhang has been in the limelight since the age of two. Find out what this adorable triple threat loves about performing in Mama White Snake!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[126,125],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}