Sedona-Sky Duffy loves everything about being on stage: the nervous excitement, the lights, the clapping.

The 13-year-old is singing her first solo in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Magic of the Musicals next month.

Surprisingly, she wasn’t always quite so enthusiastic about being on stage.

“I never wanted to do anything in the performing arts,” she said. “I always liked dancing but I never liked being on stage or being on camera. I was really quiet and never talked. Then one day, I just changed.”

A Christmas play at her school, Saltus, was what did it.

She enjoyed playing Mrs Claus so much, she tried out for the children’s chorus in the BMDS pantomime.

“I signed up for the pantomime myself,” she said.

But her passion for theatre really got going when she won the 2013 Little Miss Paradise Pageant at age 10.

“I really fell in love with the stage,” she said. “I remember loving that.”

According to her parents, Nick and Cathy Duffy, she filled out all the paperwork before telling them she was entering the competition. She won them over with a carefully prepared argument.

“She knew we’d be nervous about her entering a beauty pageant,” Mr Duffy said.

She went on to win the overall competition and two other awards.

“After that, I really wanted to do more on stage,” the teenager said.

She signed on for her first G & S production, South Pacific, not long after the pageant.

“I played Ngana, the daughter of the lead,” she said. “I had to speak and sing in French. I used to live in France, so I knew a few very simple things. My second G & S show was The Pirates of Penzance. That one I didn’t audition for, someone dropped out and they asked me to come and do it.”

The Broadway buff is thrilled to be in Magic of the Musicals. It features songs from many popular musicals such as her favourite, Matilda.

“This production is going to be different from anything seen in Bermuda,” said Sedona-Sky. “It is going to be exciting and people will be surprised with it. Most musicals have a solid storyline, but this takes you through everything — Latin music, traditional Broadway show tunes.”

She said it has opened her eyes to musicals she’d never heard of before.

“We do the opening from Little Shop of Horrors,” she said. “I’d never heard it before, but now I love it. I like the beat in it and it’s fun to sing.”

Her solo comes in Little Shop of Horrors, the song that opens the musical.

“To get the solo I had to audition,” she said. “I was excited when I found out I had a solo. The majority of people in musicals probably want a solo so they’re excited when they get it.”

The hardest thing about being in Magic of the Musicals has been keeping her voice healthy.

“I can’t eat any dairy,” she said. “Dairy clogs up your vocal chords. It’s really hard when friends offer you pizza at school. You have to say no or you might lose your voice. You also have to drink a lot of water. Water is your best friend during things like this. ”

Sedona-Sky also enjoys modelling and took part in the Evolution Fashion Show last year.

“It was really fun, and an opportunity to try new things,” she said.

She’d love to model in New York City or Los Angeles one day but her ultimate dream is to become an actor on Broadway. “I just want to be in the entertainment business in general,” she said. “Maybe I could be on a television show, but Broadway has always been something I wanted. I would love to be in something very upbeat and high energy. Flash, is what I like. I am focused. I have to give up a lot of stuff. But this is what I’ve chosen, no one is forcing me to do it.”

• Magic of the Musicals opens Thursday at the Earl Cameron Theatre and runs until October 15 at 8pm. There are also Saturday and Sunday matinee performances at 3pm.