SEBASTIAN Coe wants to go to Hollywood. He says as such, though I’m not sure if he’s pulling my leg or not.
The 11-year-old Mount Pleasant joker is worlds away from the uptight Friedrich von Trapp he’ll play on stage when old favourite The Sound of Music opens at Crown Theatre in September.
From 400 eager WA kids Sebastian, along with 13-year-old Willagee resident Sebastian Cruze, was cast to play the eldest von Trapp boy, the pair sharing the role to spare them the gruelling regime of nightly performance.
Based on the hit 2006 London revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s classic musical, the Australian tour has been enjoying rave reviews since opening in December last year.
“I’m really excited,” he says.
• Sebastian Coe will hit the stage as Freidrich Von Trapp for the Perth production of The Sound of Music.
In a roller-coaster interview he chats about his favourite new book (a script, of course, of the new West-End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) to gleefully plugging his Instagram account in a pitch-perfect imitation of a reality TV star.
“I told you he didn’t need any help with interviews,” his mum Wendy laughs in the background.
Acting coach Aly Roberts calls Sebastian a ‘natural talent,’ though the youngster works extremely hard to hone his skills.
Just like his idol Hugh Jackman, Sebastian wants to do everything. Trained in singing, dancing and acting he practises daily, between going to school and bombarding friends with selfies on Snapchat.
“I had to download it to find out what he was doing. I still can’t figure out what it’s for,” says Wendy.
Sebastian says the workload is always fun and never tiring, but there were trying times after appearing on The Voice Kids talent show in 2014, where he was the youngest contestant.
“I used to get bullied. After the Voice I got really hated on but now that’s all changed.
“It was just jealousy,” he says.
As for life beyond The Sound of Music, Sebastian is keen on returning to Japan, Universal Studios, and the United States.
“I just really want to go to Hollywood because that’s where they make stars,” he says, before bursting into laughter.
by SOPHIE MOORE
