The Fame Reporter interviewed prominent Australian musical theatre performer, Iosefa Laga’aia. he is currently starring as a Swing in the Tony Award nominated musical, Anastasia The Musical. Playing at QPAC’s Lyric Theatre in Brisbane from 16 September until 18 October after its successful Australian tour.
Iosefa made his professional debut in the original Australian cast of Hamilton (Michael Cassel), later joining the original Hamilton International Company before returning to Australia for the final Sydney season. Most recently, he appeared in the Australian premiere production of Hadestown with Opera Australia. His screen credits include Wakefield (ABC) and commercial work for Perfect Italiano and KFC. Iosefa is a graduate of Brent Street Academy of Performing Arts with a Diploma of Musical Theatre, and he has been a proud member of MEAA since 2020.
From making his professional debut in the global phenomenon Hamilton to helping bring the Australian premiere of Hadestown to life, Iosefa has built a career filled with revolutionary stories, unforgettable moments and extraordinary theatrical experiences.
Now taking to the stage in Anastasia, he joins us to reflect on his journey across Australian and international productions, the lessons that have shaped him as a performer, and why Brisbane audiences are in for a show that will sweep them off their feet.
Welcome to The Fame Reporter, You’ve now gone from Hamilton to the Australian premiere of Hadestown and into Anastasia. What do you think these three very different musicals have taught you as a performer?
The importance of flexibility and diversity in my craft, yes these shows all have a unifying theme and share similar aspects, but they could not be more different in what they asked of me as a performer.
Each show has in its own way taught me the importance of staying a student, always be willing and ready to learn something new and then master it. There will likely never be a show that has a 100% transferable skill rate to another show so constantly learning and improving even when I’m not performing will never lose its importance for whatever comes next.
Revolutions make for good shows.
You made your professional debut in the original Australian cast of Hamilton. What was it like having such an iconic show be your introduction to the professional theatre world?
Thank you for having me! Oh boy, I could talk about this forever but to try and keep it brief; Hamilton was (in the best way) such a wild and absurd introduction to the industry.
The show itself is already an absolute behemoth to learn and master and then we were also freshly out of the covid restrictions on shows in 2021 and not only were we one of the first shows to come back and help restart the industry, but we had suddenly become the only Hamilton production running in the world and it felt very “all eyes on you”.
It was just crazy having that be my very first experience of what the industry was, but it was such a beautiful chaos and challenge. It really was a crash course on everything I would ever need to know to really survive in this industry and the privilege of it all is not lost on me.
I feel like it set the bar very high and it was quite a shock to the system when Lin Manuel Miranda didn’t video call in to give insights on my next shows.
Going from the original Australian Hamilton company to the international company must have been an incredible journey. What did performing for different audiences teach you?
The international company was also crazy in its own way, not even just performing for different audiences but also performing with cast members from around the world and seeing how different the same show could be on people was a wonderful surprise.
However, the different audiences were also equally eye opening, seeing people in the crowds in Manila and Singapore who knew the words better than you, and knowing some of them could give me a run for my money in the singing department was a good moment for me to be and stay grateful, to realise how lucky I am to be up there and a good reminder that we as performers owe it to everyone out there to always give it your best and never take a second of it for granted.
What was it like being part of the Australian premiere of Hadestown?
Healing, I think is a good word, and not in any traumatic way, but just in a good for the soul way. Hadestown is such a beautiful show and I think the team really couldn’t have picked a better group of people to bring it together.
Everyone on that stage loved that show in the same way and that was a really special feeling. And not only having it resonate with us as a company but to see audiences fall in love (and other less fun emotions) was exactly why I love doing this. That show will always hold a special place in my heart even though it was only here so briefly.
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You’ve worked across stage and screen, including Wakefield. What changes for you when you step
in front of a camera compared with stepping onto a theatre stage?
Simultaneously more and less than you’d think. Everything gets so much smaller for screen acting, because you’re not performing to someone half a mile away in the back row, you just have to make it to the camera guy who’s either across the room or standing on your toes to get the shot. Also a massive mindset shift when it comes to the work because you now aren’t just doing the big emotional scene once through and moving on to the rest of the story, now you’ve gotta get yourself emotionally, physically, and mentally ready to record the big scene 7 times in a row from 3 different angles at 8am in the morning when your morning fuel has consisted of a bad coffee and 3 electrolyte tablets… and then you do the same with the rest of the scenes for the next 8-10 hours…
Your career has taken you from major Australian productions to international theatre and screenwork. When you look back at your journey so far, is there a particular moment that makes you think, “Wow, I’m actually doing this!”?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have had several moments where I’ve either remembered to or made myself stop and “smell the roses” per se. When we finished our first full rehearsal run of Hamilton in the room (where it happens), I, along with many others, just burst into tears. It was a wild moment in time feeling all that energy in the room of truly just a bunch of theatre kids freaking out about where it was they were standing.
A more poignant moment was when I got to debut George Washington in Hamilton with my Dad in the audience, that really did feel like, well, not the passing of a torch, but the definitive lighting of a second one and a moment I feel like I actually “became” a performer for lack of better words.
What is one piece of advice you wish you had been given before making your professional debut?
Breathe out. Your time will come, all you can do is be ready for it when it does and speed up the last quick change in act 2, you’re going to be cutting it fine the first few times…
What do you think Brisbane audiences can expect when coming to see Anastasia?
A wonderful show with a beautiful heart, they’ll be swept up and away by a great story told by phenomenal performers and experience the full spectrum of emotions from heartbreak and despair to hope, love and triumph. And who knows, you might even get to see Georgina Hopson hit me with a burning stick, it might even happen during the show!
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The Fame Reporter Quick-Fire:
Stage or screen?
STAGE!
Rehearsal room or opening night?
Rehearsal Room
Musical theatre or TV?
Musical Theatre every day of the week
Big ensemble number or quiet character moment?
Big Ensemble number, though when both work together, that’s where the good stuff is.
Backstage chaos or backstage calm?
Chaos, if its calm, something is going wrong
International tour or Australian season?
Aussie season, that’s where the good coffee is!
Microphone or camera?
Microphone, I’d like to stay in my pajamas please.
One show you’d love to join next?
Hunchback of Notre Dame. I want that score FOREVER
One fun closing question – You’ve travelled through Hamilton, descended into Hadestown, and now you’re heading
toward Anastasia — if your career so far were its own musical, what would you call it?
“Another Revolution!?”
Thank-you for joining us at The Fame Reporter Iosefa, best of luck with the show.
TICKETS
Anastasia The Musical
Lyric Theatre – Brisbane
Playing from 16 September to 18 October
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