They say never to work with animals, but that hasn't stopped Melinda Schneider putting a call out to find a dog for her upcoming show.
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The country singer is inviting dogs of all breeds to paw-dition for a starring role in her upcoming show, A Farewell to Doris.
A follow on from her 2011 stage production, Doris Day - So Much More Than The Girl Next Door, the concert will once again bring out Day's classic songs, paying tribute to the late performer, who died at age 97 in 2019.
While Day herself didn't perform a song about dogs, Schneider has also included her original song, Your Eyes Could Never Lie, to pay tribute to Day's charity work in animal welfare.
"Doris was a massive animal activist. She had the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which is still running," Schneider says.
"But it's just a beautiful moment in the show. My two labrador kelpies were usually a part of the show but they're not with me anymore so I hold a paw-dition now everywhere I go, and I get a local dog to come on stage with me and look lovingly into my eyes while I serenade them with a song."
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So what does the winning pooch get?
Well aside from their moment in the spotlight - "They tend to steal the show" - they will also get a packet of Schmackos, as well as two tickets to the performance for their owner. (Who says being a stage mum isn't rewarding?)
Obviously, A Farewell to Doris, isn't Schneider's first foray into the world of Doris Day. There was the 2011 stage production, which Schneider not only co-wrote and starred in, she also personally sent the script to Day to get the tick of approval. Along with that production, Schneider has also released two tribute albums and also celebrated the songs of Day and Frank Sinatra in Young At Heart at the Sydney Opera House.
It's been the better part of a decade that the country singer has dedicated her work to Day but the love affair with the singer started long before that.
Schneider was eight years old when she first came across Day. It was a Saturday afternoon and Day's 1951 film Calamity Jane came on the television.
"I just thought Doris was everything a woman could be. She was very in touch with her masculine side as well as the feminine and I really liked that about her," Schneider says.
"But she was kind of quelled in a lot of ways into appearing to the girl next door, a happy go lucky character all the time. I think, personally in her personal life, she still felt that pressure to have to be perfect.
"That kind of saddens me a little bit about her life, that she couldn't really be herself publicly because she had a lot of sadness behind the scenes. She had four tumultuous marriages and a lot of tragedy in her life. But no one ever knew about it. That was always the secret."
- A Farewell to Doris will be at the Canberra Theatre Centre on April 23. Tickets from canberratheatrecentre.com.au. To enter your dog in for the chance to be in the show email a photo and 25 words or less explaining why they should get the part to management@melindaschneider.com by April 18.