Sarah Victoria Blair Irwin was born April 6th 1983 in Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada. Her household was always very much alive with music. As
an infant her father would sing to her while holding her and dancing.
This was the beginning of her love affair with musical theatre.
In the car, music was always played: usually Bette Midler at her
request. When she was 4 years old she used to say, "Mummy. Daddy when I
grow up I am going to be Bette Midler." Her parents were initially
unsure whether she would indeed grow to pursue this dream, but by the
age of nine it was clear that she was determined to act, sing and dance
in front of audiences. Her first show was, "The Music Man", where
technically she played the part of Marion's younger brother Winthrop,
although the director changed the character to Winnie Paroo so that
Sarah-Blair could be a little girl and Marian's sister. Then came four
shows with the Nova Scotia Drama League where she performed in "Annie"
(Tessie), "The King and I" (Princess), "The Wizard of Oz" (Tough Guy
Munchkin) and "The Sound of Music" (Brigitta) at the Rebecca Cohn
Auditorium in Halifax.
In Grade Eight, Sarah-Blair changed schools and immediately became a
member of her new school's choir and its distinctive musicals. She was
cast as Meg Brockie in "Brigadoon" before her classes even began, and
within days she was known throughout the school as the girl with the
huge voice. The next year, she landed a spot in Halifax's regional
theatre's Youth Performance Company where she went on to play John
Darling in "Peter Pan" and Tweedledum in "Alice Through the Looking
Glass"
Throughout Junior and Senior High School, Sarah-Blair always played a
principle role in the musicals. When she was in Grade 12, she had a
dream come true when her beloved choir director managed to get the
rights to "Annie Get Your Gun", and she was cast as Annie Oakley at the
same time that one of her idols, Bernadette Peters, was playing the
role on Broadway. The show was a smash success and many theatergoers
likened her performance to that of a professional performer on the New
York stage. The same year, she also made her debut at Halifax's
regional theatre, Neptune Theatre, in "Scrooge" which starred Nigel
Bennett and Jeremy Webb and was directed by Jean Morpurgo. Later in the
year she worked as a Stand-In for Patricia Heaton on the film "A Town
Without Christmas".
After graduation, Sarah-Blair left Halifax to attend Sheridan College
in Oakville, Ontario for their prestigious Music Theatre: Performance
Program. While at Sheridan, she played Piaf in "Piaf: A Life in Song"
and Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's musical "Into the Woods". For two
consecutive summers between semesters, she played the much coveted role
of Anne Shirley in the Stirling Festival Theatre's production of "Anne
of Green Gables".
After graduating from Sheridan College in 2004, Sarah-Blair toured a
children's show across the country, played Lady Rosabella in Stirling
Festival Theatre's "Sleeping Beauty", played Laurie in Jonathan
Randall's Productions of "The Brighton Beach Memoirs" and then headed
east once again, to Newfoundland to perform in "Chicago" and "A
Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Stephenville Festival.
Upon returning to Ontario, she was cast as Emily in the Mainland Debut
of the Marek Norman and Richard Ouzounian musical "Emily", based on
Lucy Maud Montgomery's Emily of New Moon series. Once again, her
reviews were extremely favorable. As Emily came to a close, Sarah-Blair
left Canada for New York where she studied in NYU's Cap21 program for
Musical Theatre. While she was there, amid seeing as much theatre as
one possibly can, and working diligently on her craft - she
participated in one of New York's most celebrated up-and-coming
composer, Scott Alan's, concert "Monday Night's New Voices".
Sarah-Blair was picked by Scott as just one of five performers to sing
in front of a New York audience, Broadway star Shoshana Bean and a
series of agents, and other theatrical dignitaries. She was also the
youngest of those chosen and the only Canadian. She sang Joe Iconis'
song "Blue Hair" and the classic ballad "My Romance". Sarah-Blair
currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
