Spotlight on Christina O'Dell - Renata in Nine, The Musical

Hi Christina, who are you playing in this show? In this production I play the role of Renata, one of the many, many women who populate Guido Contini's world, both onscreen and off.

Have you always been involved in theatre? I grew up surrounded by theatre, having spent 6 happy years at Victoria School here in Edmonton. After graduation, I took a 6 year hiatus from theatre to focus on University (where I dabbled in everything from Archaeology to Psychology), and just recently received my Masters in Speech Language Pathology, my main interest in the field being vocal rehabilitation techniques. Nine marks my second production since graduating, and my first production for Walterdale Theatre.

Will we be seeing more of you onstage in the future? Though at the moment I am simply basking in the euphoric joy that comes along with returning to a long lost passion, I eventually hope to integrate my love of theatre and my study of vocal pathology and rehabilitation...I plan to be living proof that the arts and sciences are not as mutually exclusive as they sometimes seem...

What is your favorite thing about this production so far? I think that one of my favorite things about the process to far is simply the music; Maury Yeston has provided us with a supremely rich, multi-faceted, and challenging score to work with! For me, the hallmark of a truly amazing score is if it causes me to run the full gamut of emotional responses over the course of each rehearsal, from frustration to wonderment. It is a real treat as a singer to have such interesting music to explore!