Dreaming to be Nikki Webster singing the national anthem at the Sydney Olympic Games or Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music were some of the early drivers for Nyssa Milligan. Having a mother prone to bursting into full operatic outbursts of Brahms, Handel or Wagner steered her to make the big leap from singing to cows on the family dairy farm to studying opera in Sydney. However the distractions of Kings Cross karaoke bars, pop music and inner city jazz venues threw her dreams into disarray.

Nyssa Milligan tells her story and sings selections from these diverse genres in her entertaining show, TIMES ARE HARD FOR DREAMERS , at The Newsagency in Annandale, as part of The Sydney Fringe Festival. Songs performed include the title song ‘Times Are Hard for Dreamers’ (from Amélie the musical by Daniel Messé and Nathan Tysen), John Fogerty’s ‘Proud Mary’ and Melody Gardot’s ‘Your Heart Is as Black as Night’. Her operatic renditions of various pop songs were very amusing. Nyssa’s great voice wonderfully covers all these styles plus classical opera and especially cabaret, the style she eventually realised was her true calling. Nyssa is excellently accompanied by pianist Robert Bertram.

The songs are connected with humorous banter and stories of small rural farms and towns. There is some audience participation to help us connect with our inner cow and to allow Nyssa to relax. The story about how ambitions developed over her life to date and including her fabulous failures and massive mistakes is well told and gives Nyssa an opportunity to display her versatile voice and perform a well-chosen collection of songs.

TIMES ARE HARD FOR DREAMERS  took place was at the cosy and friendly The Newsagency in Annandale on Wednesday, September 25th, 2019.