Audience Member Saves the Day At Sydney’s Opening Night of La La Land In Concert

For many, performing unrehearsed in front of a crowd of thousands is the stuff of nightmares, however for one audience member, it was a dream turned into reality.

On the opening night for Justin Hurwitz’s La La Land in Concert Sydney, 21-year-old Sydney University student Sterling Nasa volunteered for the moment of a lifetime to perform alongside a full orchestra and jazz ensemble after the lead pianist left the stage sick.

Attendees at the Darling Harbour Theatre reported that the show began flawlessly as Hurwitz conducted the performance without a hitch. However, after an extended intermission, the audience began to suspect something behind the scenes may be awry.

After an extended break, audience members filmed the moment Hurwitz took to the stage and asked if there was an amazing keyboard player in the audience who could sight-read.

After being coaxed by his friend to volunteer, Nasa raised his hand and in a white shirt and blue jeans, made his way to the stage with abrupt applause filling the 2,500-seat concert hall.

Upon taking to the stage, Nasa was told he was to play the Celeste – otherwise known as the Bell Piano – for the later half of the concert’s run time, and in less than two minutes, the show went on.

 

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Life imitates art at La La Land in Concert

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Nasa recalled the moment he sat on stage and thought, “Just stay focused, try your best, you’re not completely out of your depth.”

Recounting the night before, members of the orchestra on Sunday night sang praises for Nasa’s courage to come on stage and perform without any rehearsal.

“The only one that caught me a little bit off guard was the synth solo in [John Legend song] Start a Fire,” Nasa told the SMH about a song that comes mid-way through the film where jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) improvises in front of a live audience.

“It’s a very technical solo that Ryan Gosling plays … I saw it on the page and I thought, ‘I’m not going to be able to sight-read this’, so I took the liberty and just completely improvised the solo,” continued Nasa, recounting a moment of life imitating art.

Nasa’s initiative and quick thinking was also praised by the Oscar award winning composer.

“I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to do it or, worse case, that you’d just stop playing and there wouldn’t be a synth solo,” Nasa recalled Hurwitz saying to him.

Though well versed in piano, organ and bagpipes, where he teaches at Scots College, the politics and international relations student’s only prior experience of the stage was singing in a 2024 amateur production of Jersey Boys.

At the end of the show, Hurwitz, the orchestra, and the saviour of the night Nasa were rewarded with an overwhelming standing ovation for their performance.

Coming up to a decade since the release of the Oscar award winning Film La La Land, Hurwitz has taken his score on the road for a live experience that brings the audience closer to the characters, themes, and most importantly, the music.

Nominated for a record tying 14 Oscars, and winning six, including both original score and best original song, La La Land in Concert performs its last Sydney show tonight at the Darling Harbour Theatre before continuing in Brisbane, then Melbourne.

“That’s the most important thing. People have paid a lot of money, it’s their Saturday night, they want to go see something good. It would suck if it was tainted,” said Nasa.