Musical beauty meets her prince on stage: Disney’s real-life fairytale story for Queensland star
It was a real-life love story when Beauty and the Beast star Hayley Martin met her ‘prince’ Thomas McGuane on a theatre stage.
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Once upon a time a beautiful dancer met a well-cast prince during rehearsals for a stage musical. Over the next 10 months a friendship blossomed between them as they worked side-by-side performing shows in the theatrical lands of Sydney and Melbourne.
One day, a deadly pandemic spreading across the world forced them into lockdown. It was only meant to last five days but soon turned into weeks – then months.
Lonely in their apartments and in need of some fresh air, exercise and company, the dancer and the prince agreed to meet and go for a walk around Melbourne’s enchanted Botanic Gardens. As they strolled among the sweet roses, blushing camellias and blooming flora, the dancer and the prince talked, laughed and fell in love.
The real-life story of how Hayley Martin, 37, and Thomas McGuane, 27, met is nothing short of a fairytale.
A Hollywood make-up mirror framed in lights illuminates Martin’s dressing room at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, but that’s not the reason the couple are positively glowing when we meet.
All loved up and buzzing from their wedding in February when they tied the knot in front of 80 family members and friends in the very place they opened their hearts to one another – Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens – the couple are enjoying their limited time together in Brisbane where Martin is starring as Babette in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast before McGuane heads off on tour with The Tap Pack.
After spending three years together touring with Disney’s Frozen, when McGuane played the dashing but ultimately villainous Prince Hans and Martin was in the ensemble and understudied Queen Iduna, they now savour their time together between living and working on shows in different cities.
“We had the joys of touring and being able to wake up to each other, have a morning coffee and explore the cities we got to go to,” Martin says.
“Inevitably in this industry you have to deal with long distance but our support for each other never wavers.”
McGuane agrees, adding it would be a lot harder if they didn’t both work in show business.
“That’s how our world works, so there is always that understanding … long distance is hard but it’s worth it. When we’ve been away from each other, coming back together is so special,” he says.
Working in musical theatre is a dream come true for Martin who grew up in the small country town of Proserpine in the Whitsundays. She started dance lessons when she was three years old, gradually learning ballet, jazz and tap before competing in eisteddfods.
“I had three solos, then five, then eight, then 16. I was in every session I could be in, I just love, love, loved it,” she says.
When she saw a large touring production of Cats under the big top in Mackay, she decided then and there to pursue a career in musical theatre. At 18, she jumped on a plane to Melbourne to do exactly that.
Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen
“I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted to go after year 10 but my parents encouraged me to finish high school, which I’m grateful for,” she says.
“I’m so lucky I’ve got the family I’ve got and they’ve always been so incredibly supportive of what I’ve chosen to do.”
After completing a diploma in musical theatre, Martin got her first role in a stage show as a swing in Monty Python’s Spamalot. Roles in Hairspray, Anything Goes, Singin’ in the Rain and Chicago followed.
“That was definitely a career highlight and I understudied (the principal role) Velma Kelly. Working on Frozen was another one and now of course Beauty and the Beast. The quality and calibre of Disney is second to none,” she says.
Beauty and the Beast is the first musical in which Martin has been cast in a supporting role.
“I saw the original film when it came out at the cinema with my mum, grandma and little brother and it was one of my all-time favourite Disney films. It was one of those ones I always came back to,” she says.
Martin brings her technical dance talents to the role of Babette, a maid who is turned into a feather duster when the castle is put under a spell. She takes centre stage for an elegant solo in the show’s spectacular song and dance number, Be Our Guest.
It was the first time Martin had auditioned for a supporting role after a long and happy career playing ensemble parts. Needless to say, she was over the moon when she got it.
“When this particular show came around and I knew that this character was part of this world I was very much like, ‘This feels like it’s right in my wheelhouse.’ It was probably the first time I really went into an audition like, ‘I’m going for the role’ whereas a lot of other times (for ensemble parts) I was like, ‘Whatever happens, happens’,” she says.
One day soon, Martin and McGuane, from Colac in regional Victoria, hope to buy a home together and base themselves in Melbourne with their miniature dachshund Audrey, the ring bearer at their wedding.
“At the moment we’ve got a storage unit that may as well have a ‘home sweet home’ sign on it,” Martin laughs.
Until then, this fairytale couple will make Airbnbs and company accommodation in serviced apartments their castle.
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