Fiona Stephenson told her friends she would do anything to get the part of Roxie in the musical Chicago but, unlike the ruthless character, she was only joking.
The Queenstown Primary School teacher and resort resident of six years has risen through the ranks of annual Showbiz Queenstown productions to gain the coveted role of Roxie, a wannabe vaudevillian who becomes a tabloid sensation when she murders her lover and is sent to jail.
''She's desperate, she's calculating, conniving and does anything to achieve her dream of being a showgirl,'' Miss Stephenson said yesterday.
''But you still like her because she's got humour and is quite sweet and naive in some ways.''
The 33-year-old Englishwoman, who impressed Wakatipu audiences as Nancy in Oliver! in 2010, started out on the road to Roxie months before the auditions in mid-February.
Mentored for years by Queenstown live entertainment authority Margaret O'Hanlon, Miss Stephenson signed up for dance lessons from Anna Stuart, of the Queenstown School of Dance, and singing lessons from private tutor Sue Patterson.
She also began teaching drama at the Kate Moetaua School of Drama, with Ms Moetaua and Lisa Moore.
She watched the Hollywood adaptation of Chicago, clips of past performances online and researched the jazz and prohibition era of the original 1926 play.
The most well-attended and hotly contested audition in Showbiz Queenstown's 38-year history was a ''full-on ordeal with a lot of talented girls and boys'', Miss Stephenson said.
She chose to sing Maybe This Time by Liza Minnelli and was asked to act in a scene from Chicago between Roxie and her super-smooth lawyer, Billy Flynn, and dance to the musical's signature song All That Jazz.
The call to say she had won the role came after a long weekend of auditions.
''I was gobsmacked. It was amazing - lots of screaming,'' Miss Stephenson said.
''It was a dream come true. I'm looking forward to seeing all the ensemble dance pieces and to being a puppet,'' she said, in reference to the scene in which Flynn literally pulls Roxie's strings while singing We Both Reached for the Gun.
The cast is now rehearsing, and veteran Christchurch director Bryan Aitken is on deck to develop the characters.
Asked about the mood in the Chicago camp, Miss Stephenson had one word to describe it - ''excitement''.
''Everyone really wants to be in it and everyone's really supportive of each other. It's witty, dark and satirical and really relevant to now, and the characters are great.''
