Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - Page 99
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Observer Showbiz Every Week in the Melbourne Observer
Radio: In search of Harry Wilde .................... Page 100 Showbiz: Jennifer’s one-night show ................... Page 101 The Spoiler: Advance plotlines for TV soapies .......... Page 101 Jim and Aaron: Top 10, best movies and DVDs ............ Page 102 Cheryl Threadgold: Local theatre shows, auditions ........... Page 103 PLUS THE LOVATT”S MEGA CROSSWORD
TUNE IN TOMORROW Night of music, singing at MRC
By JULIE HOUGHTON
● Rinat Shaham ■ Tasmania is known for its apples, beer and rich history. But it also happens to have a fine symphony orchestra that is crossing Bass Strait for a concert at Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday August 3 at 7.30 pm. Joining the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, under its maestro, conductor Marko Letonja, is mezzo soprano Rinat Shaham, who is as easy on the ear as she is on the eye. Rinat came to prominence earlier in the year for an acclaimed performance in the title role in Bizet's opera Carmen for Opera Australia's Handa Opera On Sydney Harbour. Rinat is known for her multi-lingual skill as a singer as well as her dramatic voice, and those skills will be well used in a program of music drawn from Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, America and Azerbaijan. Beethoven's famous Symphony No 7 is the large work on the program, but Hungarian composer Kodaly's Dances Of Galanta and Berio's folk song cycle will provide a musical trip around the world in one night without leaving the comfort of Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. Conductor Marko Letonja will be familiar to Melbourne concertgoers, having been Principal Guest Conductor with Orchestra Victoria in 2008-09, and this will be his first Melbourne appearance with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, of which he is Chief Conductor and Artistic Director. Rinat Shaham has sung with the world's leading companies, including Glyndebourne, Berlin State Opera, New York City Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. The programming of a Beethoven symphony with a dance work and a folk song cycle is a deliberate choice, according to Marko Letonya. "Our concert has a specific dramaturgical shape - we link Beethoven with Kodaly and Berio through the concept of 'the dance'. Beethoven's Symphony No 7 was described by Wagner as 'the apotheosis of the dance', so we are taking up and extending this theme, " he explained. To book your seat for what sounds like an exciting night of symphonic music and fine singing, go to www.melbournerecital.com.au - Julie Houghton
● Francis Greenslade, Anne Phelan. Joel Parnis ■ Anne Phelan has been a star in my eyes ever since I saw her in a clever farce at the old St Martin's Theatre in South Yarra in the 1970s. Since then she has graced our theatre stages and TV screens in innumerable shows, the latest of which is the popular Channel 7 drama Winners And Losers, in which she plays Nana Dot. But theatre is in Anne's blood, and you can see her in the flesh in Don McKay's production of a radio nostalgia show, which is touring around Victoria's regions and Melbourne's suburbs over the next few weeks. Anne is joined by fellow thespian and Winners And Losers star Francis Greenslade, her television son Brian; and talented young music theatre performer, Joel Parnis, who has just finished a season of Flower Children, The Mamas And The Papas Story at the Comedy Theatre. The three performers present songs, commercials and extracts from vintage radio series like Blue Hills, When A Girl Marries, Dad And Dave, Lux Radio Theatre and Superman. A highlight is the mind-reading routine which was performed on radio by Sidney Piddington and his wife Lesley Pope. There is also the unlikely act from Australia's Amateur Hour in which a Russian migrant tap dances to Yes, Sir, That's My Baby . Anne Phelan is delighted to be playing a mature-aged character on our small screen, and has been thrilled that people approach her in the street because they all want a 'Nana Dot' in their lives - she had made a big impact on watchers of the popular TV series, despite not being blonde nor under 30. Tunje In Tomorrow has previously played a season at Capers Cabaret and been seen at the Brisbane Festival. It follows the successful series of recreations of The Lux Radio Theatre, which have toured extensively, and there is nobody better than director Don Mackay to bring the past to life in such a fun way. Tune In Tomorrow is at the Whitehorse Centre on August 7; in Colac on Friday, August 9; Mildura on Sunday, August 11; Ballarat on Tuesday, August 13; Bendigo on Thursday, August 15; and it finishes in Frankston on Friday, August 16.
3AW advertiser looks to swap $400,000 spend to FM radio: see ‘Radio Confidential’, P100
Ted Hamilton on Golden Days Radio
● Golden Days Radio station manager Alex Hehr pictured this week with Ted Hamilton. ■ Golden Days Radio 95.7FM station manager Alex Hehr has recorded an interview with Australian showbiz icon Ted Hamilton. The interview has been scheduled for broadcast, in two parts, at 9am on Saturday August 17and 24 Ted’s life has included time as an entertainer, performing in the early days of In Melbourne Tonight, as a key member of the Division 4 cast, and as a businessman in Australia and the United States. He was earlier this year awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “for service to the performing arts, and to the community”.
Audience numbers grow for Joy FM
■ Melbourne’s gay-lesbian community radio station, Joy 94.9, is increasing its audience numbers, according to latest McNair research quoted by station officials. The station says it is attracting about 100,000 listeners weekly, with the monthly total of 329,000 across Melbourne. The ‘snapshot survey’ is said to indicate an audience increase of more than 50 per cent, up from 216,000 a month as reported in the previous survey from 2008. “On average, the Joy listener tunes in to the station for 1.8 hours per day, Mondays to Fridays. More than 17,000 Joy website visits are registered a month, there are more than 5,000 Joy followers on Twitter, there are 5000 Joy likes on Facebook, and more than 119,000 Joy podcast downloads.