In Defiance Of Stage Fright: How Pauline Inspired My Daughter To Her First Leading Role
Sometimes, all you need is a little inspiration from another person trying to be brave.
It’s January 3, 2026, a lazy end-of-holiday-break Saturday in the Fanelli household, and one day before the theater group we’ve joined holds auditions for this year’s show, The Little Mermaid. For months, my nine-year-old daughter Olivia has said she wants no part of auditioning for what would be her first lead role.
Then, Liv and I are watching The Game Awards’s 2025 Game of the Year orchestra medley, which ends with Jenny Kidd, the voice of Donkey Kong Bananza‘s Pauline, making a surprise appearance to sing “Breaking Through,” the game’s end credits theme.
“We’re breaking through
Down to the core
No stopping us
Not anymore.”
Olivia, unprompted, says to me, “Dad, I think I changed my mind. I want to audition for Flounder.”
When Bananza first launched, the soundtrack quickly became a Fanelli favorite. Routine repeats of each of the Bananza songs would play on TV and iPhone alike, thanks to a YouTube montage of the Bananza songs. We watched that montage periodically for the rest of the year, while also having the occasional discussion about Olivia potentially auditioning for a lead role in the next show.
Up until January 3, the day before the audition, Olivia was steadfastly against auditioning. Now, she’s decided she wants to go for it. Pauline, and by extension Jenny Kidd, has inspired her.
Alongside the copious destruction of Bananza’s main gameplay lies a story of stage fright, and the struggle to overcome.
When DK first finds Pauline and saves her from her purple rock prison, she’s then asked to sing the Kong Bananza song and transform her simian companion. She immediately freaks out.
“No way! I can’t sing! I’m not ready to. The crowd is so big. I won’t do it, I can’t do it!” DK finally convinces her to try, and with a “here goes nothing,” the Kong Bananza song is unlocked. She succeeds.
With every new song, Zebra, Ostrich, and Elephant, Pauline’s confidence grows a bit more. By the time DK and Pauline reach Snake Bananza, the fifth and final song, Pauline is a completely different person. Instead of hiding from the crowd, she embraces it. She snaps her fingers in rhythm before saying, “DK, give me a beat,” and the snake party begins.
That growth eventually leads (spoilers!) to her rescuing DK from a purple rock prison of his own, just as he had done for her, before the final act of the game begins. She broke through, and in turn, helped her best friend break through, too.
Olivia and I work on a piece of Flounder’s main song, She’s In Love, for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday. We then head to auditions, and when her name is called, she goes up and performs the piece we practiced without a second thought. The nervousness and stage fright that fueled Liv’s hesitation throughout the summer and fall was gone, and a confidence not unlike late-game Pauline formed in its place.
Later that night, the callback list is sent to the group, and Olivia is on it.
Excitement soon turns to that all-too-familiar chagrin, and we continue to work for the next few days. Finally, it’s Wednesday, January 7, callback day. We load into the car and head out.
On the way, I ask her what song she wants to use to warm up. She thinks for a moment, and then says, “Can we use the Pauline song, the one from the awards show you went to?” Thanks to the Nintendo Music app, I can load up “Breaking Through,” and she belts it as loud as she can in the car as we drive.
I instantly think of Snake Bananza Pauline. Same energy. Same confidence. She’s ready.
We arrive at callbacks, she goes in and does her thing (I can’t watch this time, which adds to my anxiety), and we leave. We’re told the cast list will be posted on the group’s website “tonight or tomorrow.” Great.
Liv goes to bed, not a care in the world. I turn my F5 key into dust on the group’s website, waiting for a list of names. Eventually, the list of names arrive…and she did it.
She got it.
She’s Flounder, and she’s splitting performances with one of her best friends in the group, so she’ll have three performances instead of a full load of six shows, which will ease her into her first role. Dream scenario.
My wife and I celebrate like the Phillies just won the World Series. We call and text everyone we know. Many tears of parental pride are shed. She sleeps, unaware of the huge surprise we’re going to drop on her tomorrow.
As the season goes on, I watch that girl shine on stage, her little personality pouring out of every spoken world and sung note. The closer we get to the show weekends, the more excited the family becomes.
When Olivia steps onto that stage as Flounder for her first performance on April 18, she makes it look easy. By the closing show, the transformation is complete. This will be the first of many roles for her, I imagine. She’s breaking through, down to her core.
No stopping her. Not anymore.
 | A guest post by
|
This was a delightful read. I love stories that show how video games are helpful to kids (and adults) and not just brainrot.