An actor, singer and dancer who made his name on the national stage is returning to his origins by performing at Concert For a Cause in Orange.
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Jarrod Draper grew up in Orange and has just finished a two-and-a-half-year stint performing as Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge! The Musical and is preparing for his next show, Sunset Boulevard.
However, first he will perform at the fundraising concert on March 23 that will tell the story of his rising career from his early years performing in Orange through to his experiences on the professional stage.
"I'm singing a few songs from The Boy from Oz and The Sound of Music as well as Sweeney Todd," he said.
"It's a night of music with some nice story telling in it as well."
This will be his first time performing in Orange since he was a teenager.
"Mum and Dad still live there so I've been back in dribs and drabs," he said.
"I probably get back maybe once or twice a year but my last show I did there was the Sound of Music with the Orange Theatre Company when I was either 13 or 14."
Who the concert is helping
The Concert for a Cause is part of an annual fundraising campaign by the Curves women's gym in Orange, which is co-owned by Mr Draper's mother Kim Draper.
Funds raised from the concert will go to towards the campaign against Huntington's Disease, a debilitating inherited disorder causes nerve cells in parts of the brain to gradually break down and die.
Although Mr Draper does not have a connection disease to himself he is connected to Orange 2024 citizen of the year and Huntington's Disease advocate Rachael Brooking, who was his first music teacher.
"It's always nice to give back to where you started from, Rachael's always been an important part of my life," Mr Draper said.
"She actually lives next door to my grandparents so every time I'm home I still see her because she's just over the fence.
"She really cultivated my love of singing. I actually started playing piano with her and we did singing as a hobby and I happened to enjoy singing more and found that I had my own voice in that world.
"The inspiration is being able to come back and give back to a cause that's so close to her."
No turning back after 'The Boy from Oz'
Mr Draper was about nine or 10 when he started the music lessons but learned that Huntington's Disease affected Mrs Brooking's immediate family years later.
Mr Draper started his musical career when he played a young Peter Allen in the Orange Theatre Company's production of The Boy from Oz.
"It was my first big entering into the world of performing as an actor," he said.
"I think as soon as I jumped into it there was no turning back but it was a bit of a surprise because I come from a very big sporting family."
His brother Rhys Draper plays for CYMS rugby league, father Brad played footy around the region as a Hawkes trainer and his mother Kim is a co-owner of Curves gym.
"At the time I had friends auditioning for the show and competitive me wanted to go along and I ended up getting the part," Mr Draper said.
"My mum and dad tell the story all the time that when they first saw me in that show that they turned to each other and went 'well we can never let him stop doing this'.
"Everything that they've done has been to further me along in my career and I guess now it's for me to give back to them."
First Indigenous graduate
Since performing in the Boy from Oz, Mr Draper also performed in other shows in Orange including Oliver and Sweeney Todd before attending school in Sydney.
The Orange show will track that Sydney boarding school experience and how that cultivated his journey to the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
Mr Draper is a proud Wiradjuri man and was the first Aboriginal student to graduate from music theatre at WAAPA.
"Still the first and only but I'm just kind of waving that flag, bearing that flag as well in this industry," he said.
"It's an honour to be the person to say that but hopefully we get more Indigenous people through there."
Professional musical career
Mr Draper graduated from WAAPA in 2018 and performed in Catch Me If You Can in 2019 and was gearing up to perform in a play when COVID hit.
"At the end of 2022 I did my own cabaret show and I went into Rent at the opera house and from there I went straight onto Moulin Rouge and now I'm only Sunset Boulevard.
With Moulin Rouge, Mr Draper performed in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane as well as a further Melbourne season.
He will start work on Sunset Boulevard in about three weeks.
"It's been nice to have some downtime," Mr Draper said.
Why Curves is involved
The concert is part of an ongoing annual fundraiser for Curves and Kim Draper said they've also been raising money with A Bling Date with a Book initiative.
"We've been doing a lot for Huntington's," Mrs Draper said.
"A lot of women in [the gym] didn't know what it was."
Co-owner Bambi Romanow said the disease is rare "but the impact on families is huge".
"It can go through every family member so it kind of resonated with us," she said.
"It's rare but it's powerful in so many ways, it's a horrendous disease really. There's no nice outcomes.
"We just feel we are part of the Orange community in a big way and we just want to do what we can.
"We are just lucky that Jarrod is able to squeeze us in as well with his very busy schedule and it's lovely to have local talent come back and do it for a cause."
Curves Concert for a Cause will be held at James Sheahan Catholic High School at 6pm on Saturday, March 23, 2024.
A few other local people will perform with Mr Draper and there will be a workshop from 10.30am to 1.30pm the same day.
Tickets can be purchased at Curves in Kite Street, Orange or online at 123 Tix