Is there a pianist in the house? Audience member steps up to perform in La La Land in Sydney

1:04 Audience member takes over from ill keyboardist at Sydney La La Land concert – video Is there a pianist in the house? Audience member steps up to perform in La La Land in Sydney Sterling Nasa had tickets to see Justin Hurwitz’s La La Land in Concert. When the keyboardist suddenly fell ill, he found himself on stage performing Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast La La Land is a much adored homage to Hollywood , where dreamers take chances and seize unexpected moments. On Saturday night at the ICC’s Darling Harbour theatre, that idea became a reality for a 21-year-old university student who was thrust into the spotlight at a live performance of the movie’s score – and saved a concert from derailment. Sterling Nasa was in the audience at La La Land in Concert, a touring production where the movie – which features Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone – is projected on to a screen while a live orchestra plays the musical score in synchronisation with the film. Vivid Sydney cancels all drone shows after 83 drones plunged into Darling Harbour Read more The performance proceeded normally until the interval, which stretched out to 40 minutes. Then the film’s Oscar-winning composer and conductor, Justin Hurwitz, walked out alone to address the audience. The orchestra’s keyboardist had suddenly fallen ill. Was there by any chance a pianist in the house? And one with exceptional sight-reading skills? Speaking to Guardian Australia on Monday, Hurwitz revealed that behind the scenes, quiet panic had set in during that extended interval. “Our first thought was, is there a string player who also knows keyboard? The answer was no.” As the orchestra’s musicians frantically phoned local contacts, offers started rolling in of backup players who were 15 to 20 minutes away. But Hurwitz knew time had run out. “I figured nobody’s as close as they say they are … so I just thought, well, we have 2,500 people in here … “Yes, it was a gamble. “That’s why I asked a few times. I wanted to make sure that somebody wasn’t just overly confident. I asked a couple of follow-up questions like, ‘Are you sure? Can you really sight-read? Can you play key signatures you’ve never played before?’” Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Nasa, who plays piano and organ and is the bagpipes tutor at his old school, Scots College, hesitated when the call went out. “I was a little bit tentative,” the University of Sydney politics and international studies student told ABC Radio on Monday morning. “I do owe a lot of the experience to my friend, Scarlett, who sort of … put my hand up for me. But I did end up finding the confidence and it was a very good decision to go down and volunteer myself.” A longtime admirer of Hurwitz’s work, Nasa suddenly found himself sitting at an electric keyboard, staring at a complex score he had never rehearsed. The ultimate test came during the performance of the John Legend piece Start a Fire, which features an intricate synthesiser sol