Ms King will be taking on the soprano role of Mrs Gleaton in the 1955 adaptation which is also reportedly one of the most performed American operas in history.

The 23-year-old former PLC student, who now lives and studies in Sydney, will return to her hometown in January for one of the first-ever Australian productions.

“I’m playing the wife of Elder Gleaton,” Ms King said.

“It’s a very small town and I’m one of the women in the gaggle that’s sort of painting Susannah, the lead, to be quite a scandalous character.

“All the men think Susannah is very attractive but it’s a very conservative town and all the women gossip about her.

“There’s lots of lies and rumours about her brother being an alcoholic.

“She’s caught bathing naked and the Reverend and the whole town turns on her.”

Ms King said she had participated in various productions for many years.

“I was in a lot of Armidale Drama and Musical Society stuff when I was in highschool and then I got into the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney,” Ms King said.

“I am still studying but I have just finished my undergraduate degree which was four years and I just scored a place in the graduate diploma of opera.

“I think that it’s really good that we have these productions because in undergraduate degrees we don’t actually get to be involved in the operas, it’s only postgraduate people that get to do operas so these kind of productions give us a chance to act on stage instead of singing in a recital situation to an audience,” she said.

Ms King said the rehearsal process was slightly unusual, only coming together just before opening night.

“We get assigned a role and learn it by yourself and then we all come together in January and do two intense weeks of rehearsals so we stage the whole opera in a week,” Ms King said.

“We will just be doing all the blocking and acting side of it and then the next week we perform it.”