The show must go on! TAYLA'S LIVING HER DREAM

From opera to operations, the young Kiwi performer is unstoppable

- Hayley McLarin

Wanting to be an international W opera star is a huge goal that will take tenacity and resilience, knowing you're competing with other talented performers from around the globe.

To strive for that in your early twenties may seem unattainable yet Tayla Alexander has already proven she has the determination, and the physical and mental staying power, to achieve her dream.

Even years of crippling pain brought on by ovarian cysts that resulted in emergency surgery hasn't stopped her performing.

"I managed to do a lot despite where I was at," the 23-year-old Aucklander says, little more than two months since she underwent surgery to have seven cysts removed.

"I performed 18 shows as Christine in Phantom of the Opera this January in Tokyo in a week and a half, with no day offin two months, all while needing surgery.

"Often I would be okay during the beginning of the first act, but then by the end of act one, I was in a significant amount of pain. But I was doing the thing I've dreamed of my entire life, so I was not going to stop. It's also a great insight into how my career's going to look because I know that I can get through a lot and keep working."

Back in New Zealand following that season, Tayla kept advocating for her health and eventually a specialist agreed with her pleas for a scan.

"That instantly found the problem, but the pain got a lot worse after the scan and I was heading towards ovarian torsion, where I was in danger of my ovaries twisting and bursting," she explains.

Weeks after the operation to remove 14 centimetres of growth, Tayla started rehearsals for her role as Alice in Le comte Ory (The Count Ory), a contemporary NZ Opera production of a Rossini comedy that tours Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, starting later this month.