Stage Whispers March/April 2017 by Stage Whispers Magazine

2 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

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Subscribe to Stage Whispers print edition for one year or more and receive one of the following double passes, CDs, or DVDs or take your chances in our lucky dip. Please nominate three choices, as supplies of some gifts are limited.  The Bodyguard - 2 double passes on Wednesday 26th April at 8pm at the Sydney Lyric Theatre.

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In this issue

My Fair Ladies........................................................................................ 10 Anna O’Byrne on working with Dame Julie Andrews Dr. Theatre Rescues Actress .................................................................... 14 How Kate Mulvany copes with Richard III

Away Returns ........................................................................................ 18 Michael Gow on his classic play The Play That Goes Wrong ..................................................................... 22 How out of workers created a blockbuster

Does Size Matter On Stage? ................................................................... 26 Actress weighs in on prejudice about appearance School Performing Arts Resource Kit ....................................................... 37 Special feature includes Shows for Schools Sound Advice ........................................................................................ 46 Tips on getting the best audio Musicals For Schools .............................................................................. 52 Not In The Script ................................................................................... 54 An excerpt from a new collection of monologues from Currency Press

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Regular Features Stage Briefs

Stage On Disc

Stage To Page

London Calling

Broadway Buzz

Stage Heritage

On Stage - What’s On

Auditions

Reviews

Musical Spice

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Editorial Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, In my past life as a high school drama teacher, and director of school musicals, I know I would have been very pleased to see this edition of Stage Whispers come across my desk. Our School Performing Arts Resource Kit (SPARK) includes helpful technical advice from a number of our advertisers, and an introduction to a company specialising in the challenge I faced year after year when preparing for the school musical - how to convert a gymnasium, ironically called a Multi Purpose Centre, into a functioning theatre. Another side to SPARK is a look at some of the performances suitable for students, including a couple of interviews which I’m certain will prove useful to teachers and students who attend a performance of either Away or The Lighthouse Girl. While most of the numerous theatre trips I organised for my students during 25 years in the classroom were relatively local - indeed they were often visiting performances in the school hall or library - on one occasion I was lucky enough to travel to London’s West End with a group of Drama students. We’re pleased to introduce Doppelgaenger Travel, a company who specialise in organising student trips to the world’s theatre capitals. If you enjoy the SPARK supplement in the magazine, keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages around the middle of March for an expanded electronic version of this resource for Performing Arts teachers and students. Yours in Theatre,

Neil Litchfield Editor

CONNECT

Cover image: Anna O’Byrne as Eliza Doolittle in the John Frost and Opera Australia co-production of My Fair Lady. See our feature story on page 10. Photo: Jeff Busby. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 7

Stage Briefs

Online extras! Watch Paulini sing “I Will Always Love You” by scanning the QR code or visiting https://youtu.be/I64UiZUmKxw 8 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

 Kip Gamblin and Paulini will star in the Australian tour of the musical The Bodyguard, which commences at the Sydney Lyric Theatre on 21 April, before playing at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane from 19 July and the Regent Theatre, Melbourne from August. Read more on our website: http://bit.ly/2lZ3nuJ Photo: Peter Brew Bevan.

 Virginia Gay (All Saints, Winners and Losers) stars as the legendary frontierswoman in the title role of Calamity Jane at the Hayes Theatre Co from March 8 to April 1. Find out more at: http://bit.ly/2llinzX

 Multi-award winning musical theatre star Esther Hannaford will play the legendary singer / songwriter Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which begins its Australian premiere season at Sydney Lyric Theatre in September 2017. Read more on our website: http://bit.ly/2lZ1jmk Photo: Nathan Johnson.

Online extras! Check out the trailer for Beautiful by scanning the QR code or visiting https://youtu.be/j-MJHz7yrOw www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 9

A World Of Fair Ladies

world that was changing in a way that had been unthinkable before the 20th Century. Women were asserting themselves, demanding the vote, standing up for their rights and finding their voices. Eliza Doolittle, the “guttersnipe” flower seller, is arguably the first feminist character to appear on any stage - and pre-empts Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinem by half a century. For most of us in the 21st Century, the idea of a world where women were chattels and always subservient to their husbands is ridiculous and comical, but this was a time when women were seen and not heard, and didn’t answer back. In the first production of the play, a somewhat rotund Mrs Patrick Campbell, at least 25 years too old for With My Fair Lady set to open in Brisbane, then Melbourne, prior to a Eliza, reduced the audience to hysterics return to Sydney, Coral Drouyn talks to star Anna O’Byrne and looks at with the line “Not Bloody Likely”, and the history of “The World’s Best Loved Musical”. in the 1930s film, the wonderful Wendy Hiller showed us that Eliza was My Fair Lady is back - some would When George Bernard Shaw wrote her own woman and didn’t need say it never went away. Now a whole Pygmalion over a century ago now, it’s anyone to take care of her. And though Shaw was way ahead of his new generation is discovering the joys doubtful that he could ever have of “The Perfect Musical”. But the imagined we would still be in love with time in sending Eliza off with confidence to make a life without a show’s origins are not so well known. Eliza and Henry Higgins. GBS saw a

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man, it was unthinkable not to have a romance in a musical. After Shaw’s death in 1950, Lerner and Loewe started work on the musical, which Shaw had always refused to sanction. Shaw’s play was a biting satire about social and class divisions, and much of that was lost by adding not one, but two romances the unspoken love between Higgins and Eliza, and the more obvious romance between Freddie and Eliza. It worked, and when Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison clashed in a battle of the classes when the musical hit Broadway in 1956, it was an instant success. Much of the credit goes to the stars, and the wonderful songs of Lerner and Loewe, but let’s not forget that it was Shaw who broke the mould by giving us a feisty modern woman who changed the face of the musical theatre heroine forever. There have been at least ten professional productions of the show here in Australia, and the original production, starring Bunty Turner and Robin Bailey, set up a second company so that the show could play Sydney and Melbourne at the same time. It was the first time in Australian theatre history that such a thing had happened - two simultaneous identical productions of the same show, in two capital cities, with two sets of everything, including two revolves. The Melbourne production opened on a sweltering January 24th 1958, which was before the West End opening. An announcement was made before the opening that ‘Gentlemen will be permitted to remove their jackets and loosen their ties’, unheard of in theatre etiquette of the time. That original production ran for almost five years in Australia. Over the years there have been Elizas of all kinds, some household names and some unknown, including Jane Martin, Patricia Moore, Patricia Hemingway, Geraldine Morrow, Rona (Continued on page 12)

Cover Story

Anna O’Byrne as Eliza Doolittle in the 2016 John Frost & Opera Australia co-production. Photo: Jeff Busby.

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The cast of the 2016 John Frost & Opera Australia co-production.

Cover Story

Online extras! Check out a performance from My Fair Lady by scanning the QR code or visiting https://youtu.be/NGQae9ndi2M (Continued from page 11)

Anna O’Byrne as Eliza Doolittle and Charles Edwards as Henry Higgins in the 2016 John Frost & Opera Australia co-production. Photo: Jeff Busby.

David Gray as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Bunty Turner as Eliza Doolitttle, Kenneth Laird as Colonel Pickering, Ailsa Grahame as Mrs Higgins and Robin Bailey as Henry Higgins in the 1960 J. C. Williamson production. Photo: National Library of Australia.

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Coleman, Peta Toppano, Helen Buday, Suzanne Johnston and Opera Australia’s Taryn Fiebig, with all of them bringing strong female sensibilities to the role. Fast forward sixty years to 2016, and was there ever a more stunning idea than to have the original My Fair Lady star, Dame Julie Andrews, recreate the very first production for this latest revival? And it is a recreation, using the original set and costume designs, an homage to the original. This very special production needed a very special Eliza, and despite the incredible list of leading ladies that Australia has produced - over 250 auditioned - it was very evident to Dame Julie, as Director, that Anna O’Byrne was the perfect choice. But then O’Byrne is the perfect

Robin Bailey as Henry Higgins and Bunty Turner as Eliza Doolitttle in the 1959 J. C. Williamson production. Photo: National Library of Australia.

choice for almost any leading role. From Christine in Phantom and Love Never Dies to Maria in West Side Story to a feisty Eliza in MFL, Anna has a way of making every character her own. “It’s the acting that’s most important,” she says. “I discovered that very early on. You have to make people believe what you are saying, and singing. It’s harder than just singing the notes, and far more important. I have to become that character. If the audience is thinking about your voice, you’ve got it wrong.” Anna admits that her life now is a far cry from her school days when she wanted to be a librarian. “I suppose people might say we were a privileged family. We went to the theatre, and we travelled, but my parents worked incredibly hard for everything,” she explains. “Mum was a music teacher. I started learning the violin when I was about 8 and it was important to me for 10 years or more. I sang in school choirs and performed in school musicals and the like but, yeah, it was just for fun. I really wanted to be a librarian and it wasn’t until I was about thirteen or fourteen that I actually became aware of theatre as a job.”

Even then, it was a gap year in London and a trip to Europe that sealed her future. “I went to the opera one night and I thought Oh My God…I want to do that,” Anna says. But, with no formal training, one doesn’t just walk into opera. “I managed to get into Victorian College of the Arts for classical voice training, and my first show was as

her. But she was incredibly warm and kind, and she totally understood how nerve-wracking the whole process was.” The two Elizas grew even closer during the rehearsal process. “She has an uncanny sense of when to give advice and when to sit back and see what you are developing,” Anna says. “My Eliza is not her Eliza, and she

understudy in Phantom of The Opera,” Anna tells me. “It was an astonishing way to start. And then Andrew Lloyd Webber became interested in my work, and suggested I go to London and … yeah … I never did get to be a librarian,” she laughs. So what was it like when the first Eliza (Dame Julie) and the latest Eliza met for the first time? “Awesome,” Anna admits. “I mean, we had the original cast recording at home. I’d been hearing her voice for all of my life and suddenly, there she was and yes, I was nervous. I didn’t know if I’d be able to speak, let alone sing, for

never tried to make me reproduce her performance. Every day I discovered something new about this wonderful character and it was such a thrill to be able to discuss it with her. She has, as you’d expect, uncanny instincts about when to pull back, when to reach out. Let’s face it, she’s a star and has been for most of her life. This has been a once in a lifetime experience.” This faithful reproduction of an iconic musical promises to be another once in a lifetime show. Who knows, maybe we’ll be talking about it in another sixty years.

Geraldine Ward as Lady Boxington, Helen Roberts as Mrs Eynsford-Hill, Kenneth Laird as Colonel Pickering, Robin Bailey as Henry Higgins, David Gray as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Bunty Turner as Eliza Doolitttle and Ailsa Grahame as Mrs Higgins in the 1958 J.C. Williamson production. Photo: National Library of Australia.

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Dr. Theatre Rescues Actress Imagine being a prolific actress and a playwright at the same time as managing chronic back pain. That’s the life of Kate Mulvany, who has been cast as the lead in Bell Shakespeare’s Richard III. It was her unique connection to England’s much maligned King that in part inspired her to take on the role. David Spicer reports.

Kate Mulvany will appear in Bell Shakespeare’s Richard III. Photo: Pierre Toussaint. 14 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

When the skeletal remains of Richard III were exhumed in 2012, more than 500 years after he was killed in battle, Kate Mulvany felt awful for him. “Not because he was killed in a battle and ended up (buried) in a carpark. I felt awful because I empathised with how much pain he must have spent his life in, because I have the same spine,” she said. The remains of Richard III showed he suffered from a curvature of the spine. “It was very confronting to see it but I kind of had his back, in a metaphorical and literal way. Part of me was relieved that the way he was represented - in terms of physicality was true. It kind of upped him in my eyes. He must have been an extraordinary man to get through life with that disability. “At the time if someone had a terrible deformity they were seen as a victim of witchcraft or an evil figure. He would have also had to deal with that. “I feel sorry for him. He does not deserve the terrible names he was called. He doesn’t deserve to be known as the most evil king in history. You can see from the procession at his funeral (in 2015) when his bones were re-buried, that a lot of other people don’t believe that either.” Kate knows first hand the challenges Richard III faced. Radiation treatment for childhood cancer left her with a spinal malformation. Only half her back muscle remained and the right side of her vertebrae did not grow beyond three years of age. To play Richard she “imagines (what it would be like) if I had not had operations and therapy all my life to help keep me straight.” Kate doesn’t have to imagine what it’s like to live with pain. Playing the role exacerbates her discomfort as she slips back into the ‘bad habits’. “That is how Richard got through life. When I am performing as Richard I break all of my own rules.”

Yet remarkably there is no discomfort for her during the performance. “When I walk off stage it is as bad as ever, but on stage it is a beautiful gift not to focus on pain. Stepping on stage is better than any painkiller or therapy. They call it ‘Dr Theatre’, and the pain dissipates. I have been in contact with medical professionals looking at the psychology of teaching patients to take on another persona to ease chronic pain.” The differences between Richard III and Kate are more obvious. “Even though I am playing a man, I am obviously a woman physically.

“It is a throwaway line the audience might (normally) chuckle at and think, ‘oh what a cheeky man’. When it comes from a woman it just has a different taste to it.” Kate says she is “loving the fact” that more women are getting the opportunity to play male leads. In recent times Robyn Nevin was cast as Queen Lear with the Melbourne Theatre Company and Pamela Rabe was also cast as Richard III in the Sydney Theatre Company’s War of the Roses. “It happens all the time in my plays. I don’t mind cross casting.” In the recent revival of Kate’s

Kate Mulvany in the Bell Shakespeare / Griffin Theatre Company production of The Literati. Photo: Daniel Boud.

What is going to be interesting is seeing the different reaction to some of (Shakespeare’s dialogue).” “I don’t do it differently to a man. It is not about gender, it is about agenda. I think that Richard is a misogynist, but women can be misogynists too. Some lines normally get a chuckle from the audience, but how will they feel hearing that misogyny coming out of a woman’s mouth?” Kate gives an example of Richard’s line, ‘Whatever woman here be wooed, I’ll have her but I won’t keep her long.’

Jasper Jones, a woman played Warwick, the bully, who delivered the lines and deliveries in a game of cricket. “For me the most important thing is that whoever is playing the role has a damn good time doing it. I don’t believe an audience needs to see a man as a man, or a woman as a woman. They have enough intellect to enjoy a theatrical risk.” Whilst Kate is on stage with the Bell Shakespeare Company for its Sydney season, across town another of her plays, The Rasputin Affair, will (Continued on page 16)

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Online extras! Kate Mulvany discusses Jasper Jones. Watch now by scanning or visiting https://youtu.be/_63e3gCy38A

Tom Conroy and Kate Mulvany in Jasper Jones. Photo: Lisa Tomasetti.

(Continued from page 15)

have its World Premiere at the Ensemble Theatre. The Rasputin Affair is set in St Petersburg in 1917, where a group of like-minded individuals gather with a plate of pink poisoned cupcakes and a shared aim: to rid the world of the mad monk. “I have always been fascinated by Rasputin. He is like Richard - a revolting charmer, a man who very sneakily uses his charm and oddity to make his way to the top of the Russian royal family, and was part of (the reason for) their annihilation.” I asked Kate if she considers Rasputin and Richard brilliant or evil? “Both, but I am more inclined to think that Rasputin was evil.” At the other end of the spectrum is the musical Kate co-wrote, Masquerade, based on the book by Kit Williams. It premiered in 2015 and will

be performed this year for the first time by schools and amateur theatres. “The overriding theme of Masquerade is love. Sometimes when I say it in professional rounds, people roll their eyes. “What a joy to rehearse a play that is all about love and the universe.” Kate read Masquerade when she was in hospital as a child. She was later thrilled to meet Kit Williams, the iconic author of the picture book. Clues in the publication about the location of a jewelled golden hare led to a search across Britain. She still keeps in touch with Kit, even though it is not always easy as he spends much of the year hidden away “inventing things” with his wife.

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“Every now and then he writes something for his own enjoyment. The latest book had only 200 copies released, which he gives to people who might like it. He paints and invents the most extraordinary bits of art. “Once a year he’ll have an open house to sell his wares, then the rest of the time he leads a reclusive life. If I could live like that I would.” But at the moment Kate’s life is at the opposite end of the spectrum, as she moves from one acting or writing gig to another. “I am never going to complain about being busy. But every actor or artist who doesn’t have a commission or contract are still working their asses off. That is what we have to do.” Kate says she is learning to “say no sometimes”, but she couldn’t say no to Richard III.

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Michael Gow’s Away Returns Weather not unlike Sydney’s recent heat wave prevailed in January 1986, when Away opened at Sydney’s Stables Theatre - 37 degrees on opening night, and no air conditioning. “But it still worked, which was gratifying,” playwright Michael Gow told Neil Litchfield. Three decades after the initial theatrical success of Away, so long a hot property on high school syllabi around the country, the play is having another of its many revivals thanks to a new Malthouse / Sydney Theatre Company co-production. I began my chat with Michael Gow by asking: Do you ever marvel at the fact that Away has become such a core text in school studies? I don’t actually. I call it a Trojan Horse for teachers, because they have to study the script, but then they get to drag in Shakespeare, Australian history, social history, and intergenerational themes. So on one level I’m not surprised at all, but at the same time I’m amazed that generations of school kids are tormented by this thing I wrote 30 years ago. Do you really think the process of studying a play script (not specifically your own) does have that potential to spoil it for students? From what I hear, Away is slightly different. The teachers that I’ve spoken to over the years said they love teaching it because the kids enjoy reading and studying it. Many of them actually cross the line from just reading it to doing scenes from it, or, indeed, making it the end-of-year show. So, I think it has a performance element built into it. My memories of sitting in 18 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

a hot classroom, slogging through Antony and Cleopatra are different from the way they’re taught these days, and I think something that’s at least vaguely about the tortures of young people going through adolescence resonates with them anyway, so hopefully it’s not so damaging.

What sort of involvement do you have in the current production? I went to the first few days rehearsal in Mebourne, then I went back and watched their first few stumble-throughs. The script, in it’s published form, was a bit rushed after it opened at Griffin, then it was on very shortly after at what was Playbox, now Malthouse, so there’s a few little anomalies which you don’t really notice. But when actors sit down for weeks and weeks and analyse plays, they go, ‘This doesn’t really make sense,’ and I say, ‘No, actually, it should be this.’ So we’ve done that, and we’ve been throwing around a few ideas, just in terms of making things a bit clearer. You have a lot more stage space with this production. What’s the main difference between presenting the play

on a larger stage, as against its more intimate origins? It’s nice to think you’ve written something that can be that varied that it can go down to a corner of a room, but it can also have a lot of space around it. That’s what attracts me to theatre - that there’s no definitive version, just this constant reassessment and playing with things, and trying new things. It’s very gratifying that people are still interested in something I wrote 31 years ago, and think it’s worth revisiting. How has being a prescribed text on the HSC affected the play’s success? It’s been a large part of its success. Because it’s on, and kids are studying it, they therefore go to see it. It’s very popular on the schools end-of-year show list, and it’s also very popular with amateur groups all over the country because it provides lots of roles for people, and the cast can scale up or

down according to how many people you want to put in it. When they find out who I am, people will come up to me and say, ‘I was in that play in 1994, when I was at school.’ I think it enters a consciousness if people have had to do it at school, and hopefully had a good time. It went on to the HSC and the Victorian system very early, then it’s gone on and off ever since. Some books come on, and they go again, but the teachers that I’ve spoken to keep saying that they get so much out of teaching it, and the kids seem to enjoy it. So, as soon as it’s time for it to come back, it does. The play is set in the 1960s (written in the 80s) but it has universal themes. Could it be reset today or is the 1960s setting crucial?

In a sense it has to stay set in the 60s, because the Vietnam War hangs over the whole thing, but that doesn’t matter. The boy could have died in Afghanistan. I think it’s dangerous to get too into the kind of 60s retro extravaganza, because that can obscure it a bit, so this production goes very gentle on that. The themes are very universal, so it could be set today. When Richard Wherrett first did it, I remember after the production opened, the men’s cutter in the wardrobe department at the Sydney Theatre Company said to me, ‘You’ve written this fantastic AIDS play.’ Of course ‘86 was the middle of the epidemic in Australia, especially in the Arts - the loss was enormous everywhere, and I hadn’t even thought of that. But as soon as he said that, I thought, of course it is. It’s about parents burying their children, and that’s such an awful thing. I think when you know things are definitely going wrong, is where children die first, whether it’s war or anything. So that certainly has an undercurrent of an era that’s not the 60s already going in it. What inspired the idea of the play’s Shakespearean references? I started as an actor a long time ago, and I was in a production of King Lear at what was Nimrod. I had a little role and a few walk-ons - I played a character called Oswald, a kind of messenger, who carries letters. It had a great cast - Judy Davis was in it, and Colin Friels, and John Howard and Robert Menzies and Aubrey Mellor directed it. We played it for a long time 10 weeks - some of it in the Western Suburbs of Sydney. I sat and listened to this play over and over again, thinking how amazing it was, and wondering how does my little Australian suburban life mesh with this incredible play? (Continued on page 20)

Liam Nunan and Naomi Rukavina will perform in STC’s 2017 production of Away. Photo: James Green.

Online extras! Check out Michael Gow’s 30 years work at the STC. Scan the QR code or visit http://bit.ly/2lvjpLM www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 19

Photo: James Green.

(Continued from page 19)

Of course it’s about families, and I sort of started from there. The notion of going on holidays in Australia for the Summer and Christmas is a bit like all those pastoral comedies like As You Like It, Twelfth Night and The Dream, where people leave the city, go into the countryside and go through stuff. That became interesting to me, and I think that’s really where it was born. It’s also a kind of homage to Patrick White’s play Season at Sarsparilla, which is also about three families, and it’s like those three families from that play go on holiday, and what happens to them. He was such a fore-runner for so many of us playwrights. That whole idea of the title, of going away for the holidays, is very Australian. So is the play ‘largely autobiographical’, as the Wikipedia entry suggests? It’s hard to use that word because it tends to mean it’s about your actual literal life, but it’s as much about other people who I knew at the time, or who I now know, who went through things at the time. So it’s not strictly speaking my life on stage, but it’s a kind of compendium of a whole lot of people’s lives of that period. Away is a text in a HSC topic titled ‘Discovery’. How do you feel it fits into that theme? The play is largely about denial, so I suppose the process of the play is people discovering what they’ve been suppressing, or ignoring, or refusing to accept. You’ve actually had a diverse career, so what sparks you to write? Something that won’t let go I suppose. Writers have ideas all the time, and scribble down things, and

The Sydney Theatre Company presents Michael Gow’s Away, directed by Matt Lutton, playing until March 25th, 2017. For details and bookings visit sydneytheatrecompany.com.au they don’t last, or they die, but sometimes there are things that don’t let go, and I suppose that’s what happens. For the last three years I’ve been working for Opera Australia. I’ve been doing tours of Mozart operas, and writing the English libretto for each of those. That was a huge writing task, so in a sense that’s been a huge output for me. But it doesn’t register in the world as being another play from me, but it’s basically writing three whole plays. I’m not Ayckbourn or anyone like that, pushed to pump out one a year or anything. I like to keep my earnings abilities within the industry I work in. Many people will take other jobs, or work, say in writing TV, but I’ve never wanted to go there. Yet, I’ve done other things - I’ve directed plays, I’ve run a theatre company - just to keep myself close to theatre. Sometimes you don’t have the energy to write when you’re doing all these other things. I also like building up pressure, and getting to the point where if I don’t write this play I’ll go mad. Sometimes when it appears you’re doing nothing,

you’re actually carrying something around in your head for a long time. Is it more difficult now for playwrights, particularly with issues like Australia Council cuts? Probably it is. The difficulty with the big companies is the risk-taking on a new work - the pressure to keep it down to three or four actors is enormous, and that’s kind of boring. I think it’s difficult, too, because there’s this cult of the premiere now. Once if you wrote a play that worked, or even semi-worked, and people paid attention, it would get on in other states and cities. So you got to see your work interpreted by other people, which is always a great learning process. That doesn’t happen now. It’s very rare for an Australian play to get a couple of productions. I think Switzerland is the only one recently that’s been done all over the place. What do you hope audiences, and in particular students, will take away from the play? That they come away saying that was great - it’s clear, and fun, and moving, and they were all really good in it - and maybe I’ll go and see something else, if I can afford it.

Judi Farr and Graham Rouse in STC’s 1988 production of Away. Photo: Sandy Edwards.

Nicholas Eadie, Toni Collette, Mariette Rups-Donelly and Duncan Wass in STC’s 1992 production of Away. Photo: Branco Gaica.

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A group of out-of-work actors put on a short play in front of their friends and family in a pub and just a few years later it is a global phenomenon. David Spicer speaks with two of the founders of the Mischief Theatre Company - Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer - ahead of their play’s Australian debut and national tour. Naturally something went wrong when I tried to interview these two men. The telephone hook-up was just after midnight London time, after they had finished a performance in the West End - but there was a mishap. No, I didn’t slip over onto the floor, or fluff my lines, but there was a false start before I got to ask the duo some questions. First off the bat was, have they been in a play where something has actually gone wrong. Immediately they started giggling. “I was a Lost Boy in a production of the original JM Barrie edition of Peter Pan. It has strange stuff that was left out of the Disney version,” said Henry. “The Lost Boys shoot down Wendy because Tinkerbell tells them to. Then she is lying on the ground with an arrow in her and they decide to build a ‘Wendy house’ around her. “We had this flat pack ‘Wendy house’ which we had to construct. On the opening night it was the first time we had seen this set. We had to put it together around her and build it. Unfortunately it did not easily slot together. It had many wing nuts and other fiddly bits. It was not at all obvious how it was put together. “So while this song was going on we had to build it, but we just couldn’t do it. We were meant to build it, then escape through the trap door. What happened is that we left through the trap door carrying bits of it off stage with us.” Jonathan Sayers said, “I have heard the story four times and I still laugh.” “My most embarrassing moment was when I was at drama school. We were performing Medea. The director did not rate me that highly as he said I always played things for comedy. I said that was unfair, as I really wanted to do a straight play. “I was cast as one of the children. All I had to do was skip across the stage, and then be dragged off dead. The 22 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

director wanted the children covered in ‘blood’ that was made from corn syrup and flower. We had not used it until the day of the performance. “All my class mates and teachers were watching. As Medea dragged me across the stage the blood became really sticky and started to catch on my back on the stage. I just stuck completely dead (to the floor). I could feel the girl playing Medea really struggling, trying to drag me across the stage. I kind of slowly, discreetly arched my back (as a dead person) so I could be moved. I left a pool of this sticky blood stuff on the stage. “Unfortunately, as my back managed to leave the stage, the sticky stuff caught my trousers. As she pulled me, like a hand coming out of a glove, I was pulled completely out of my trousers. Then I could feel my underwear coming off. As a dead body I had to slowly pull my pants up. It brought the house down, and the director / teacher was proved right.” The Play That Goes Wrong has now been running for three years in the West End, will open soon on Broadway and has been staged in more than a dozen other countries. It’s about the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society attempting to put on a 1920s murder mystery, but as the title suggests, everything that can go wrong, does. One of the many funny moments is when they have to repeat some dialogue in fast motion, because an actor has spoken a line from earlier in the play. Henry said, “I was a member of an amateur group for years. I had plenty of experience of things going wrong and the whole politics of amateur theatre and why people do it and why it means so much to people. Knowing the pain of when things go wrong is important to what makes it funny.” So what happens when something goes wrong in The Play That Goes Wrong? “If it’s something we can play with we like it. If it plays against a joke that can be awkward, such as if something goes right when it was meant to go wrong.” (Continued on page 24)

The Australian cast of The Play That Goes Wrong. Photo: Jeff Busby.

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Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields and Henry Lewis of Mischief Theatre Company. Photo: Darren Bell.

It’s also important that things go right. “We work quite hard; some things go perfectly while others don’t. That contrast is very funny. If everything is awash then it is chaotic.” The stage directions are very detailed, like an old silent movie script. The pages are very specific. They need to be, as the play is on the dangerous side. “We have had a broken bone. I have had a few concussions and general bruises. There have been three dislocated shoulders. It is a contact sport, “ said Jonathan. Online extras! “Anyone who does that Get a taste of The Play That Goes Wrong type of work does incredible by scanning the QR code or visiting things to be safe. But injuries https://youtu.be/USger0TP238 are par for the course. Buster Keaton broke his neck. Jackie Chan had so many different injuries.” genre. The idea of completely subverting theatre, turning There are also copious stage directions for the star of theatre on its head and playing with the audience. It is the the play - the set. genre of comedy that has the most immediacy. People tap “Watch out for the set,” said Jonathan. “The set is a into so quickly.” character as much as the performers. The set keeps the Jonathan was on the same page. “I have always been audiences as much on their toes as the text does.” obsessed with the amazing gags of Keaton and Chaplin. Big Henry Lewis first became interested in the genre of high visual gags make you laugh but always make you scream. farce when he read a book by Michael Green called The Art The danger genuinely makes you cling to your seat. You of Coarse Acting, which was all about his experience in can’t have a big laugh in first few minutes of a regular play. several amateur theatres. In this genre, within one or two minutes you can have a big A coarse actor was defined as: hysterical moment.” They first tried out their work in a small pub attended by  One who can remember their lines but not the order in forty or so people - mainly their relatives. which they come. “It started as a fringe show where we did everything  One whose eyebrows are attached to their feet (so every ourselves from marketing to building the set,” said Henry. facial expression involves the whole body as well). “We are big advocates of people making their own  One who limps on both legs simultaneously. work. There is no other way of getting opportunities as  One who knows everybody else’s lines better than their good as that.” own. Everything seems to be going right for the company “He wrote short plays and I got to work with him on a behind the play. The Mischief Theatre Company was sketch that I had written. I thought this was such a fun formed in 2008. At one gig in 2009 the cast outnumbered the audience, but awards at Fringe Festivals over the next few years kept up their enthusiasm. Where to see it: In 2014 The Play That Goes Wrong opened in the West Melbourne - Comedy Theatre from 22 February; End, where it is still going 1000 performances later. Other Adelaide - Her Majesty’s Theatre from 28 March; plays they have written, Peter Pan Goes Wrong and The Sydney - Roslyn Packer Theatre from 5 April; Comedy About a Bank Robbery, have also had West End Canberra Theatre from 25 April; outings. Brisbane - Concert Hall, QPAC from 4 May and Jonathan said, “We are just doing what we enjoy doing, Perth - His Majesty’s Theatre from 31 May. making people laugh. We are just trying to have fun.”

www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com.au

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Chloe Angel first felt the sting of missing out on an audition because of her weight at the age of ten. She opens her soul to discuss how to manage perceptions of being overweight with a career in performing arts.

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I remember the second it happened. It was a Friday afternoon in 1997 in the assembly hall and we were told to pair up with someone our size. I reached out to Sandy, who pulled away her hand horrified, screamed, “we’re not the same size” and stomped away. That is the moment I realised I was fat. Skip past all the awful pubescent and cut to today. Here I sit, a relatively successful 29-year-old

was the catalyst for my meltdown. Fifteen years of disapproving looks, unsolicited comments and rejection came flowing back and hit me like a tonne of bricks. A little about me. I try my best to treat others the way I want to be treated. I cry at romantic comedies, I love cute animal videos, I love escape rooms and every year I go bowling for my birthday. And I am also a

running her own business, who has lived and worked in a handful of countries as a professional performer, with an audition success rate of about 50%, yet I feel completely destroyed, crying onto my keyboard and filled to the brim with this insane, bottomless ache to be thin. I got a snapchat today. A simple, seemingly blithe snapchat of a person I used to know in a cute little Santa’s helper dress and beige fishnet tights. That

great singer. That sounds conceited, but it is true. In High School I spent my lunchtimes practicing in the music room, I skipped Schoolies in favour of more practice, I went to Uni and studied opera, practicing between three and four hours every day for four years. When I was in London I spent six months doing La Boheme - which won the Olivier Award for Best New Opera. I performed at a fundraising concert in

means mustn’t-look-a-dayover-12 and ‘Energetic’ means fatties-need-notapply. ‘Clean look’ means young-republican-vibe and ‘Plus-Sized’ means 6-footsvelt-amazonian-princess (and, yes they are as intimidatingly stunning as they sound). My brief keywords are ‘homely’, ‘attainable’, ‘funny’, ‘quirky’. Covent Garden and I worked company with a “she has an Why can’t people see backstage in the West End. amazing voice, but she’s just me? This question has been When I wasn’t in paid too big to be a convincing bubbling away at my core employment I was busking in child”. for the past couple of the streets of Covent Garden I understand the need to decades. Is my subcutaneous and going to every course, cast certain body types for tissue really the sum of my workshop and audition I specific roles, e.g. starving parts? could get to. orphan, but this nameless People lovingly try to The first time I was person delivered the ‘help’. They link me to turned away from an feedback directly to my articles on weight loss audition with what, mother - while I was products or systems, to diet unfortunately, has become standing right there. companies, dieticians, the obligatory “she has an Remember I was fat - not cleanses. They tell me I have amazing voice, but…” was deaf. a beautiful face. That’s the at 10 years old at a I have become more one that kills me. I’m very children’s chorus audition discerning of labels. I now lucky to have been blessed with a professional Opera know that ‘Fresh Faced’ with a symmetrical face. I Chloe Angel in Packemin’s Wicked.

have my mother’s eyes and nose, I have clear, healthy skin and straight teeth. But every time I hear someone remark on my ‘beautiful face’ I wait for the ‘if…’ or the ‘but…’ I had a woman walk up to me while I was working as a singer and say “you would be just stunning if you lost some weight”, hand me a card and give me a bear hug, then holding me at shoulder’s length while grinning as though she had just done me a huge favour. My ex used to say ‘soft bodies are attractive’, then spend hours trying to find the most slimming outfit and shoes that were the most flattering. People I have shared dressing rooms with say abhorrent things about their own bodies and ‘jokingly’ fat shame each other. I have to get (Continued on page 28)

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undressed in front of these people. On the rare occasions it has become too much and I have said something I get an “oh but not you, you’re beautiful you hide it well because you’re in proportion - it suits you!” All of these people think they are helping, but it grates. I have to retreat into my studio, sing and sing and watch mindless sitcoms until I build myself back up to the point where I can take it again. I have a self-deprecating sense of humour (many performers do) and was the face of a campaign to do with weight-loss at the same time as a dear friend of mine, Rose, was featured in an advertisement for a fast food company. She is perfect in my eyes but has struggles of her own. I had jokingly remarked to her how ironic it was that she had this advert and I was

‘the new face of fat’ to which she responded, ‘But it’s the most beautiful face!’ My stomach dropped. A week later she comes over and tells me that a different group of mutual friends were talking about seeing both of our adverts and she responded with “yeah and it’s funny because Chloe isn’t on a diet and Rose doesn’t eat” and the group laughed. The number one response I get from people whenever I try to talk about it is “why don’t you do something about it! You’re strong, you can do it!” It’s meant with all the love in the world, this I know for sure. But it hurts. My response - here for everybody to read and judge as they will - is why should I do something about it? Why can’t you value me as I am? Why does the size of my clothes have to directly correlate with the size of my worth?

Chloe Angel in an advertising campagin for Tatts Bet.

I am healthy. I am strong. I have a powerful body that has gotten me through 29 years, that takes me and my dog for two walks every single day, that can cope with three hours of intensive movement, that can sing and dance at the same time.

Chloe’s theatre school is the Sydney Broadway Chorus in Parramatta. The school’s ethos is that “just because a student doesn’t fit a certain mould, does not mean they aren’t good enough or should stop trying and that every single performer and person, has value. SBC’s programs encourage an environment where aspiring performers support each other.” www.sydneybroadwaychorus.com

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I have low cholesterol, good iron, all the markers are where they should be. I have a healthy waist size and clear skin. Why can’t you see past the jiggle, the cellulite, the faded stretch marks left from puberty. It is okay to appreciate parts of me - my face, my voice, my skin, my heart. Why not the whole of me? Chloe Angel will appear next in Chatswood Musical Society’s production of It Shoulda Been You as Jenny.

2016 CAT Awards A school teacher and a community theatre company which raised 1.5 million dollars for charity took out the biggest awards at the 22nd annual CAT awards. Formerly known as The Canberra Area Theatre Awards (now just CAT), the ceremony took place outside the ACT for the first time (Feb 18). The annual celebration of community theatre, dance and high school theatre took place at the Dubbo Civic Centre. Janet Cunningham took out the Gold CAT award for directing, set design, costume design, teaching and inspiring students at Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts. The Molong Players took out the Silver CAT award for raising 1.5 million dollars for charity over many decades. Musical of the year was Wicked, staged by Free Rain Theatre. The Canberra Repertory Society had a huge year, taking out seven awards. Play of the year went to Pigeonhole Productions, Canberra, for their production of Playhouse Creatures. The night was filled with excellent entertainment. Most notable were spectacular solos by Billy Bourchier (This is the Moment), and Kirrah Amoda (Defying Gravity). The new patrons of the CAT Awards, Simon Gallaher and Peter Cupples, also paid a moving tribute the late CAT Awards patron and colleague Jon English.

Awards  Janet Cunningham, winner of the Gold CAT Award.  Molong Players, winners of the Silver CAT Award.  Free Rain Theatre, winner of the Best Musical Award for Wicked.

For our full list of winners visit http://bit.ly/2kVGbsP

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Stage On Disc By Peter Pinne

LA LA LAND (Justin Hurwitz/Benji Pasek/Justin Paul) (Interscope Records B002562002). Listening to the soundtrack of La La Land is almost as good as seeing the movie. Justin Hurwitz’s jazz-based big-band beats are irresistible, making you feel like you want to get up and dance, and Benji Pasek and Justin Paul’s clever lyrics only endorse the feeling. The standout songs are the opening “Another Day of Sun”, the ensemble “Someone in the Crowd” and of course the haunting “City of Stars”. Mia and Sebastian’s solo-piano theme is pretty and very Michel LeGrand. In fact the whole score reminds one of Jacques Demy’s two classic French film musicals of the 60s, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls Of Rochefort. It has a similar joie de vive. On screen Ryan Gosling impressively plays his own piano charts and together he and Emma Stone sing most of the numbers except for a funky rock anthem “Start a Fire” by John Legend. Gosling and Stone don’t have great voices but their sound is right for the characters. “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”, a late in the movie song for Stone, is probably the best in the score. 

Featuring a roster of high-profile pop and hip-hop performers and produced by composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, it reinterprets the score and also includes original demo tracks by Miranda. “My Shot” is given a raw hip-hop feel by The Roots, Miranda joins rap giant Nas for the new song “Wrote My Way Out” while “Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)” has contemporary references to war in the Middle East. Late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon gives a jaunty reading to King George’s break-up ode to the colonies “You’ll Be Back”, the dialogue between Hamilton and Angelica adds theatricality to Sia and Miguel’s rendition of “Satisfied”, while Alicia Keyes makes “That Would Be Enough” into a piano-bar number. There are two versions of “Dear Theodisia”, one by Regina Spektor and Ben Folds, and one by Chance the Rapper and Francis and The Lights. They’re both lovely. John Legend’s “History Has It’s Eyes on You”, with its blues piano and choral accompaniment, is one of the best tracks, as is Andra Day’s soulful vocal on “Burn”. 

HALF A SIXPENCE (David Heneker/George Stiles/Anthony Drewe) (First Night CASTCD 121). Cameron Mackintosh has given Tommy Steele’s sixties hit a makeover and added eight additional songs and some changed lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe to David Heneker’s original score. Recorded live, the result is an old-fashioned, toeHAMILTON - MIX TAPE (Lintapping musical comedy. Based on the novel Kipps by H.G. Manuel Mirada) (Atlantic 551092). Wells, about a 1911 Folkestone draper’s assistant who inherits a fortune, the new book has been adapted by With Hamilton’s original cast Downton Abbey’s Julian Fellowes. Some songs have been album recently passing half-adropped from the original (“All in the Cause of Economy” is billion (yes, you read that right Billion) streams on Spotify, making missed), but the new numbers add texture and character. The best is “Pick Out a Simple Tune”, a ragtime number it the most influential, admired and beloved Broadway cast album which is perfect for the period. Also good is “A Little Touch in history, it’s no surprise this Mix of Happiness”. Charlie Stemp is a marvellous Kipps, who Tape studio cast album should capitalise on the success. belts out “Money to Burn” and “If the Rain’s Got to Fall” with cheeky charm, and is romantically tender dueting with Devon-Elise Johnson on “Long Ago”. “Flash, Bang, Wallop”, one of the great British show -stoppers, has been repositioned to the end of the show. Despite being overproduced, it still works a treat. 

Stage Whispers Books

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SALLY (Jerome Kern/P.G. Wodehouse/ B.G. DeSylva/Anne Caldwell/Clifford Grey) (Albany Records TROY 1638). This premiere live recording of Jerome Kern’s rags-to-riches Cinderella 1920 musical Sally comes from a May 2016 performance by Light Opera of New York. An unknown cast headed by Emma Grimsley as Sally deliver assured vocals of Kern’s light-operetta score,

which is filled with sweet, melodic numbers. The score’s most enduring tune is “Look for the Silver Lining”, but “On with the Dance”, “Dear Little Girl” and “Church ‘round the Corner” also please. Accompaniment is by a 16piece orchestra led by Gerald Steichen, playing a restored version of the original orchestrations. The CD suffers from too much introductory dialogue, which is cutesy and tedious. Only for the enthusiast.  HAIRSPRAY LIVE! (Marc Shaiman/ Scott Wittman) (CD Masterworks Broadway 88985395252/DVD Universal). Despite NBC’s recent Hairspray Live! being flawed, it still spawned a terrific cast album (and DVD) of this infectious score and it preserved Harvey Fierstein’s original Edna performance on TV. His voice is little more than a croak these days but his and Martin Short’s performance of “Timeless to Me” hits the bullseye. It also restores one of the best rock ‘n’ roll pastiche songs in the score, “Mama I’m a Big Girl Now”, which was dropped from the movie version. Kristen Chenoweth’s Velma is given extra screen-time with “Velma’s Revenge”. Derek Hough’s Corny Collins, one of the best performances of the role, is great on “The Nicest Kids in Town”, “Ladies Choice” and “Hairspray”. Ariane Grande’s Penny is also a standout. She and Jennifer Hudson (Motormouth) encore “Come So Far” in full diva mode. Most enjoyable! 

DRAKE’S DREAM (Lynn Riley/ Richard Riley) (Stage Door STAGE 9048). Stage Door continue to rescue lost or forgotten British Musicals and this one, a rock musical version of Sir Frances Drake’s voyage of discovery of the New World, played 82 performances in the West End in 1977. The best thing about the album is Paul Jones, former front-man for the pop group Manfred Mann. His vocals as Drake always elevate the material, which is standard issue 70s rock. The piece lacks humour, but the orchestrations, presumably by musical director Peter Martin, are imaginative. 

MARY MARTIN HI-HO AND OTHER RARITIES (Various) (Stage Door STAGE 2370). This limited edition CD, in the retro style of a miniature long-playing vinyl LP, springs from a 1958 studio album of Mary Martin singing favourites from Disney films. They’re early hits from the Disney catalogue and feature songs from Snow White (1937), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Bambi (1942), Cinderella (1950), and Pinocchio (1940), with accompaniment by Tutti Camarata his Trumpets and Orchestra. Martin’s pleasing mezzosoprano voice is joyous on “Whistle While You Work” and “I’m Late”, but it’s the tender ballads “With a Smile and a Song” and “When You Wish Upon a Star” which suit her best. Bonus tracks include “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning” from Annie Get Your Gun (Martin led the first road tour in 1947) and songs adapted from Tchaikovsky for MISS SAIGON LIVE! (Claude-Michel Sleeping Beauty (1959).  Schonberg/Alain Boublil/Richard Rating Maltby Jr) (DH 2456). The 2014  Only for the enthusiast  Borderline live recording of Miss Saigon is  Worth buying  Must have  Kill for it now available on DVD. It features the same cast as the CD Eva Noblezada as Kim, Alistair Brammer as Chris, Hugh Maynard as John and Tamsin Carroll as Ellen, but it’s Jon Jon Briones’ performance as the Engineer that throbs with truth. Special features include the “Gala Finale”, with guest appearances by Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga, and “Behind the Scenes” The Heat is Back On: The Remaking of Miss Saigon. 

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Stage on Page By Peter Pinne

DEFYING GRAVITY - The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz from Godspell to Wicked by Carol de Guere (Applause US$27.99) Stephen Schwartz is the most successful Broadway composer/lyricist of his generation. With Godspell, Pippin and The Magic Show all running over 1,900 performances and Wicked taking over $1million at the box office every week since it opened in 2003 he has created a record that is unlikely to be surpassed in the near future. But few books have been written about his achievements; early success in his twenties, a fallow period which followed a series of high-profile failures, then regeneration as an animated movie musical lyricist, to the megablockbuster hit of all-time, his story could be a Broadway musical in itself. Carol de Guere’s authorised biography minutely dissects his oeuvre and what emerges is a highly-readable account of the working life of a Broadway composer. Schwartz is remarkably candid and open in his discussion of his work, with examples of where his ideas for certain songs came from and his musical influences, giving the book a genuine authenticity. Stephen Schwartz was born 6 March 1948 in New York City to Stanley, a disabled World War 2 veteran, and Sheila, a pre-school teacher. After spending eighteen months in Paris, the family moved to Roslyn Heights, New York, where their neighbour was George Kleinsinger, a composer whose Broadway credits included Shinbone Alley starring Eartha Kitt. It was Kleinsinger who first sowed the seed of Schwartz wanting to become a composer. During high school Schwartz attended weekend classes at Julliard. He learnt classical piano and became very proficient at it. His favourite composers included Handel, Bach, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and Puccini. He liked the dissonance of Leonard Bernstein and the work of Aaron Copeland, especially his Appalachian Spring. Kleinsinger, 32 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

shows and met his future wife Carol Paisecki. This led to him being discovered by agent Shirley Bernstein, sister of Leonard, who took him under her wing and steered him toward along with his show buff parents, Broadway where his first credit was broadened his musical horizon to writing the title song for the 1969 play include songs of musical theatre greats Butterflies are Free. A stint as A&R manager at RCA saw Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Irving him finding his way around a recording Berlin, Jule Styne and Jerry Bock. He enrolled at Carnegie University, studio where he produced the OffPittsburgh, where, because they did not Broadway cast recording of The Last have a musical theatre course, he Sweet Days of Isaac. studied acting, later switching to Godspell, based on parables from directing. Still smitten with the musical The Gospel According to St. Matthew, theatre bug, Schwartz became heavily was, according to Schwartz, involved with the University’s Scotch ‘n’ “Woodstock made biblical” and a Soda Club and wrote several musicals - perfect fit for the peace-love spirit of Whatserface, Nouveau and Pippin, the 60s. Conceived by former Carnegie Pippin. Nouveau’s score included “A Mellon alumni John-Michael Tebelak, New Society”, a four-part fugue which Schwartz came on board to write a new score following an Off-Off-Broadway he later revised as “The Goldfarb run as The Godspell. The free-wheeling Revelations” for The Magic Show. During this period, Schwartz formed a 6 improvisation tone of the piece enabled -piece rock ‘n’ roll group called The Pipe him to come up with songs in a variety of styles that paid homage to his favourite pop composers of the period. It’s what set the show apart and brought in a youth audience. When The Fifth Dimension didn’t record “Day by Day”, Schwartz released the show version which went Gold and stayed on top of the Top 40 for 9 weeks. The musical ultimately played 2,124 performances. He quickly followed with a lyric only assignment on Bernstein’s Mass before Pippin, his second Broadway venture, got up in 1972. Totally different to the college version, although basically using the same story source of the son of Charlemagne searching for self-fulfilment, the musical Online extras! was directed and Read excerpts from the book and buy it choreographed by Bob Fosse. online. Simply scan the QR code or visit When the book writer Roger http://bit.ly/2khBaie O. Hirson heard Fosse had signed on he told Schwartz, Dream, became caught up in the social “This is our last happy day on this show,’ and he was right. Although the idealism of the 60s, joined peace marches and fell in love with the music musical was a hit, running five years and 1,944 performances, helped by the of The Supremes, James Taylor, Joni first-ever TV commercial for a Broadway Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane, and Laura show, Fosse’s autocratic attitude soured Nyro, who he particularly admired for Schwartz on working on Broadway. her use of polytonality (combining a The Magic Show in 1974 was built chord with a different bass note). Upon graduation in 1968, Schwartz around the talents of Doug Henning, a joined the New London Barn Playhouse Canadian magician, and set in the Passaic Top Hat, a floundering in New Hampshire where he musically nightclub in New Jersey which tries to directed, staged and choreographed

avoid bankruptcy by hiring a magic act. Henning couldn’t sing, so illusions became his songs. The critics were under-whelmed with the score, even though it does contain Schwartz’s tourde-force “West End Avenue”, but they loved the tricks and so did the public, who kept it running for 1,920 performances. It was not until Wicked opened in 2003 that Schwartz had another hit on Broadway. The Baker’s Wife, a musical version of the French movie La Femme de Boulanger, closed out-of-town, Working lasted 24 performances, whilst Rags only managed four. Schwartz tried opening his next show Children of Eden in London. It did better with 103 performances but it was no longrunner. Then came the call from Alan Menken to collaborate and write lyrics for Disney’s animated version of Pocohontas, which turned the composer’s fortunes around. Suddenly he was wanted in Hollywood. The Hunchback of Notre Dame followed and then he got the chance to do both music and lyrics for Prince of Egypt and a new TV version of Pinocchio called

Geppetto. All of them produced some remarkable songs including the Oscarwinning “Colors of the Wind”, whose lyric idea was inspired by the work of Oscar Hammerstein 2nd, “Just Around the Riverbend” which according to Schwartz was a Native-American version of “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story, and Esmeralda’s prayer for justice and fairness “God Help the Outcasts” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The bulk of de Giere’s book reserves 16 chapters to the development, readings, workshops, out-of-town tryout, and eventual Broadway premiere of Wicked. From acquiring the rights to Gregory Maguire’s novel, Schwartz’s original 1998 story outline, his collaboration with book writer Winnie Holzman, director Joe Mantello, through to the endless rewrites and song replacements, it’s one of the most comprehensive overviews of the development of a hit Broadway musical. Schwartz and Holzman always envisioned Wicked to be a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and in their adaptation wrote small signposts along the way that referenced the iconic

MGM movie. Just prior to tech-rehearsal the lawyers from Universal, who owned the rights, stepped in and made the authors remove them for fear of copyright infringement. But one signpost still remains to this day and that’s Schwartz’s homage to Harold Arlen’s original score. Elphaba’s “Unlimited Theme” is the first 8 notes of “Over the Rainbow” (Un-li-mi-ted, my fu-ture… corresponds with Somewhere o-ver the rain-bow). It’s different rhythmically and harmonised over a different chord, but it’s still the same 8 notes. Like Cole Porter, Noel Coward and Jerry Herman, Schwartz writes both music and lyrics. He has won Oscars and Grammys but the Tony has eluded him. His theatre peers might have under -appreciated his work but the general public love it. In March 2016 Wicked became one of only three musicals in American history to reach over 1 billion in box-office sales, joining The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera, and what’s more it did it in record time over a thirteen year period. Its global take of 4 billion is even more staggering. That’s success on an unprecedented scale.

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London Calling

It plays 12 August to 30 September. Prior to Against, the company will produce Ink, an explosive new play by James Graham, set in 1969, about a young Rupert Murdoch and his quest to establish his newspaper empire in Britain, in particular his most influential paper, The Sun. Directed by Goold, it plays 17 June through 5 August. The new season opens with a revival of Martin Crimp’s By Peter Pinne contemporary satire The Treatment, starring Aisling Loftus and Matthew Needham with direction by Lyndsey Turner. Bryan Cranston, star of Following a season at the National Theatre, and a sellBryan Cranston. TV’s Breaking Bad, is out run at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival, Our Ladies of collaborating with flavourPerpetual Succour will transfer to the Duke of York’s of-the-month Belgian Theatre, playing from 9 May until 2 September 2017. director Iva Van Hove on a Adapted by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot), with direction by Vicki new stage project for Featherstone, the musical has a score which mixes Handel London’s National Theatre. with ELO. It is based on the novel The Sopranos by Alan Cranston will star as Warner and follows six girls on the cusp of change. Young, Howard Beale, the role lost and out-of-control, they’re hit by love, lust, pregnancy created on film by Peter and death over the course of a single day. Songs include Finch, in an adaptation of “Mr Blue Sky” and “Long Black Road” by ELO, “Oh Taste Paddy Chayefsky’s and See” by Vaughan Williams, and “Three Little Birds” by screenplay for the 1976 Bob Marley. Sidney Lumet movie The Royal Shakespeare Company have announced their Network, to be directed by production of Queen Anne, which played a season at the Van Hove. It’s scheduled Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2015, is to open at to open in November the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, for a strictly limited season 2017. Lee Hall, an Olivier 30 June to 30 September 2017. Written by Helen and Tony winner for Billy Edmundson and directed by Natalie Abrahami, the new Elliot - The Musical, is play examines the life of one of England’s little-known doing the adaptation, with set and lighting design by Jan monarchs and her intimate relationship with her childhood Versweyveld, sound by Tom Gibbons, video by Tal Yarden, confidante Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, in 1702. costumes by An D’Huys and music by Eric Sleichim. The Romola Garai (Atonement) stars as Sarah opposite Emma original movie is a satire on television, which shows what Cunniffe (Proof) as Anne. Edmundson’s plays include The lengths employees of a fictional fourth-place network will Clearing, Mother Teresa is Dead and The Heresy of Love. go to, to boost ratings. The film won four Oscars. In a land where ballroom dancing champions are given Lin-Manuel Miranda’s super blockbuster Hamilton is iconic status on a weekly basis on TV’s Strictly Come heading to London and will reopen the Victoria Palace Dancing, it’s no surprise that the first international Theatre, currently undergoing renovation, with previews production of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom should do commencing 21 November, for an official opening 7 well in its UK out-of-town tryout in Leeds. Reviews were December 2017. The principal cast includes Rachelle Ann mostly positive for the musical, but raves for Australian Go (Eliza Hamilton), Christine Allado (Peggy Schuyler/Maria Fernando Mira repeating his role of Rico. The musical Reynolds), Rachel John (Angelica Schuyler), Giles Terera played a two month season at the West Yorkshire (Aaron Burr), Obioma Ugoala (George Washington), and Playhouse over the Christmas period. With a revised book Jason Pennycooke (Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson). by Terry Johnson and direction and choreography by the The roles of Alexander Hamilton and King George III will be UK’s wunderkind Drew McOnie, the production featured announced later. Cameron Mackintosh and Jeffrey Seller American Sam Lips as Scott and Gemma Sutton as Fran, will be producing the London premiere, which will be Tamsin Carroll as Shirley and Fernando Mira as Rico. But it directed by Thomas Kail. The musical has been Broadway’s was Mira’s first act paso doble routine that took the hottest ticket since it opened in 2015, taking in excess of $2 honours; “This is a show that can burst into dance, and million per week. Fernando Mira’s clatter-clapping Paso Doble is as much a Rupert Goold, Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, showstopper as any eleven o’clock lungbuster” (Variety), has announced three new productions for their 2017 “As Rico, the father who comes to understand that his season, which sees the return of film and TV star Ben daughter must follow her own dance, Fernando Mira stops Whishaw to the venue. He is to star in a new play, Against, the show” (Guardian). Catherine Martin’s flashy sequined written by Chris Shinn, directed by Ian Rickson, with design costumes, imported from the Australian production, were by Ultz. Whishaw plays Luke, an aerospace billionaire in called “gobstopper gladrags”. The production is booked to Silicon Valley, who claims he can talk to anyone and that play Toronto’s Prince of Wales Theatre from 26 April until God is talking to him. He sets out on a mission to change 25 June, 2017, after which it will be decided if it tours or the world but is met with violent opposition. immediately takes a shot at Broadway. 34 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

roadway uzz

By Peter Pinne

According to Observer critic Rex Reed, “The Present, despite Cate Blanchett, might be the worst play to ever hit Broadway,” calling it “a relentless three-hour pile of noisy, pointless and Cate Blanchett and pretentious junk.” He Richard Roxburgh. was referring to the recently opened Sydney Theatre Company production of Andrew Upton’s adaptation of Anton Chekov’s first play Platinov. Ben Brantley in the New York Times thought it was a “sprawling and confused adaptation of a sprawling and confused play.” Both of them, however, praised Blanchett’s performance; “so imaginative and exciting to watch that you become riveted to everything she does” (Reed), “Ms Blanchett knows how to hold a stage and, if necessary, hijack it” (Brantley). It’s the first time the Sydney Theatre Company has played on Broadway. Previous New York outings have been at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (A Streetcar Named Desire) and New York City Center (Uncle Vanya) - both productions also starred Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh, her current co-star, who also came in for his fair share of plaudits, “an irresistibly charming rascal played by the irresistibly attractive Roxburgh.” Elton John and Paul Rudnick are developing a musical based on The Devil Wears Prada, producers Kevin McCollum, Fox Stage Productions and Rocket Entertainment have announced. John’s credits include The Lion King, Billy Elliot: The Musical and the Tony-winning Aida, while Rudnick is the author of Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Regrets Only and the screenplay of In and Out. The novel, written by Lauren Weisberger, had a 2006 film adaptation which starred Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep. It follows the story of Andy Sachs, a young woman who becomes the second assistant to Miranda Priestly, the notorious editor-in-chief of the world’s foremost fashion magazine. No production timeline has been announced. The Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical Kinky Boots will receive a German production, opening at the Stage Operettenhaus in Hamburg in December. It will be produced by Stage Entertainment and marks the seventh country in which the musical will be playing; Seoul (South Korea), Toronto (Canada), West End (UK), Melbourne (Australia), Tokyo (Japan) and Malmo (Sweden). The musical, which has a score by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein, opened on Broadway in

2013. It currently stars Todrick Hall (Memphis) as Lola, Killian Donnelly repeating his London performance of Charlie Price, and Taylor Louderman (Bring It On - The Musical/NBC’s Peter Pan Live!) who recently joined the cast as Lauren. Ken Ludwig’s A Comedy of Tenors, a sequel to his 1986 hit Lend Me a Tenor, has just opened at Paper Mill Playhouse, New Jersey. The company produced Lend Me a Tenor in 2013 and the cast of that production, Judy Blazer (Maria), John Treacy Egan (Tito), Donna English (Racon), David Josefsberg (Max), Michael Kostroff (Saunders) and Jill Paice (Mimi) have returned to appear in the new play which is directed by Don Stephenson, who also directed Lend Me a Tenor. Set in Paris in the 1930s, the play revolves around one hotel suite, four tenors, two wives, three girlfriends, and a soccer stadium filled with screaming fans. The stage is set for the concert of the century provided producer Henry Saunders can keep the amorous Italian superstar and his hot-blooded wife from causing runaway chaos. In 2011 the original play was musicalised and played a season in the West End. Following its tryout season at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, the musical Amelie will begin previews on 9 March at the Walter Kerr Theatre, for an opening on 3 April. The musical, based on the Oscar-nominated movie of the same name, features a book by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award nominee Craig Lucas, with music by Daniel Messe and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Messe. Musical staging and choreography are by Sam Pinkleton. It stars former Hamilton Tony Award nominee Phillipa Soo in the title role, with Adam Chanler-Berat as Nino, Manoel Felciano and Tony Sheldon. The plot revolves around a young, sheltered girl who covertly improvises small, but extraordinary acts of kindness that bring happiness to those around her. The original film featured Audrey Tatou in a career-defining performance. Producers Sonia Friedman and Scott Rudin are bringing the acclaimed London production of George Orwell’s iconic novel 1984 to Broadway, opening 22 June at the Hudson Theatre. Created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, the drama comes to New York after four seasons in the UK. The creative team features Chloe Lamford (Scenic and Costume Design), Natasha Chivers, (Lighting), Tom Gibbons (Sound) and Tim Reid (Video). Orwell’s political fiction book was first published in 1949 and depicts a dystopian sciencefiction future in which thought is suppressed and a totalitarian state controls the public. A new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Enemy of the People plays the TBG Theatre at The Barrow Group from 11 March through 1 April. The adaptation by Seth Barrish and K. Lorrel Manning will be directed by Manning. It features Jeremy Folmer (The Unrepeatable Moment), Eliza Foss (Indignation), Mike Giese (A Low Lying Fog), Reade Kelly (God’s Country), Larry Mitchell (ReEntry), Katherine Neiman (Dream of a Blacklisted Actor) and Martin Van Treuren (Uncle Vanya). The classic play about a physician who tries to expose a pollution problem in his hometown and is shouted down by commercial interests, in this adaptation centres on the question: Does democracy work? www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 35

Stage Briefs

 Misha Williamson (Glinda) and Emma Taviani (Elphaba) in Miranda Musical society’s production of Wicked, playing at Sutherland Entertainment Centre from March 22 - 26, 2017. www.mirandamusicalsociety.com.au Photo: Andrew Del Poppolo.

Online extras! Go behind the scenes of the rehearsals of Wicked. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/WlI0OwLkcMM  Charmaine Gibbs as Anna and Stephen Halstead as The King in Rockdale Musical Society’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, at Rockdale Town Hall from March 3 to 11. For more details, check out our website http://bit.ly/2lle33n

36 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 37

SPARK 2017 This is a coming of age story of a young girl growing up on an isolated island, entering womanhood without the guidance of a mother, and the coming of age of a nation whose national character was forged in the trenches of Gallipoli and the Western Front. The novels (The Lighthouse Girl and The Lighthouse Boy) are special as they are so evocative of the period, with beautiful illustrations and photographs, speaking equally to young readers and adults. The fact that they are based on a true story and chart the lives of people who lived and breathed gives special significance to individuals who were among so many who were either sent away to war, or left to keep the home fires burning. How has the playwright adapted it for the stage? Hellie Turner has gone through a very detailed process of combing through the books to find the essential elements; those key moments and events that give the shape and reference to the characters’ lives. Some characters are an amalgam of different people, some a more accurate representation, but always staying true to the author’s intention with respect to story, form and style. What audience age does it appeal to? This play very much has a broad appeal. My 6 year old has read the books and learnt so much from them;

In April the Black Swan State Theatre Company of W.A. is staging the World Premiere of The Lighthouse Girl, drawn from the unique Western Australian novels by Dianne Wolfer about a girl who deciphered messages from soldiers before they went to war. Director Stuart Halusz explains what will make the experience special. she’s desperately looking forward to it. Likewise my 11 year son has a deeper connection, learning as he has about the expeditionary force and Albany’s part in that historic occasion. Every actor and designer I met wanted to work on this, and it has grasped the hearts and minds of Black Swan’s broader audience as ticket sales continue to swell, which is a real affirmation of the company’s commitment to local stories and artists. Is it quaint looking at a time when people communicated by morse code, in this day of instant communication? Not at all. It certainly gives one a perspective, especially when matched with the privations and austerity of life on an island outpost with little human and social interaction. Remember that

morse code and wireless telegraphy were relatively new technology, and for a young country like Australia to have embraced these early on is testament to the forward thinkers of the day. Just as young people today are adept at navigating their way around a mobile phone, so Fay learns quickly and to a high degree the sophisticated skills around sending and receiving telegrams and communicating via semaphore. What were some of the special messages received by the lighthouse girl? Most of the messages were back home to sweethearts, wives and family. Many to the soldiers’ mothers. They outlined the hopes, fears and often regrets that were hitherto unvoiced,

(Continued on page 39)

38 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

 Illustrations from the novel Lighthouse Girl by Dianne Wolfer, illustrations by Brian Simmonds. Courtesy of Fremantle Press and Brian Simmonds.  Fay Howe, the inspiration of the story.

and stand out as lone voices among the tens of thousands steaming off to an unknown fate. Dearest Mother, I’ll miss you and hope that you and father will think of me often. I’ve longed for adventure it’s true but now it’s upon me I’m more than a little anxious. My thoughts will fly home across the wide blue ocean to you ... Darlin’ Sybil, I hope you’ve forgiven me for headin’ off like that. It’s just that a man has to do what a man has to do. In this case it might be that I have to get me head shot off, but I hope not. When I get home we’ll get hitched, I promise ... I’ll keep yer photo close ... For a small theatre company to commission an original play with a cast of six is a big undertaking. What does it take to get a project like this underway? Yes it takes a lot of courage and foresight for an Artistic Director to argue the case and maintain the need for such an undertaking, especially with the added risk of touring the show and opening out of town. It takes financial investment in workshops, readings and developments, and a very skilled production department including workshop, wardrobe and design team to realise a period play with all its incumbent costume, prop, lighting and sound requirements. It’s a big show for a studio, and we are all thrilled to be bringing it to life. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 39

SPARK 2017

Faith Healer by Brian Friel. Great Irish storytelling. The Fantastic Francis Hardy works his magic, curing the sick and giving strength to the weak. His powers are real, or so he says. Noises Off by Michael Frayn. A misfit gaggle of actors struggles to cope with mounting disasters, while the director tries to keep the show from slipping off the rails.

New South Wales Sydney Theatre Company productions recommended for students have school day matinees. Away by Michael Gow. Filled with irrepressible humour and a distinct Madeleine Jones, Johnny Nasser, Romy Watson, Australian spirit, Away is a beloved Hannah Waterman, Huw Higginson in Mr Stink. Photo: Heidrun Lohr. modern classic. It’s Christmas, 1967. Three families are about to head for the coast to get away, to move on, to change … But ‘tis not the season to be jolly. The Popular Mechanicals by Keith Parents and teachers have wonderful choices of productions suitable for Robinson, William Shakespeare and excursions in 2017. Here are some highlights. Tony Taylor. The popular mechanicals are Shakespeare’s greatest clowns - the Touring Nationally The 13-Storey Treehouse, a play by endearingly amateur acting ensemble Bell Shakespeare is offering school Richard Tulloch, is adapted from the led by Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s performances in Sydney, Canberra and book by Andy Griffiths and Terry Dream. Here, they take centre-stage in Melbourne of Richard III. AwardDenton. a wild imagining of what goes on in winning actor Kate Mulvany embodies the wings. one of the most ambitious and Victoria 1984, the Headlong, Nottingham gleefully amoral villains ever written. Melbourne Theatre Company is Playhouse and Almeida Theatre hit Bell will present a 90-minute presenting three plays on the VCE list. adaptation of the novel by George exploration of Macbeth in Sydney, Melbourne Talam by Rashma N. Orwell. Melbourne and Perth from July to Kalsie follows three young people from Andrew Upton’s new adaptation of September, while the company’s India making a new life in Australia. Three Sisters by Antov Chekhov. production of The Merchant of Venice ____________ will tour extensively from July to November. Melbourne Talam. ____________

Plays For Schools

CDP Theatre Productions will tour four productions, adapted from popular children’s books and aimed at younger and primary school audiences, nationally. Mr Stink, a 60 minute play by Maryam Master, is based on the book by David Walliams. Horrible Harriet, a play by Maryam Master, is based on the books by Leigh Hobbs. Tall Stories’ production of Room on the Broom is adapted from the award winning picture book by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler. 40 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

Western Australia The Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA recommends three productions for students: The Lighthouse Girl by Hellie Turner based on the novels by Dianne Wolfer. (See our special feature on page 38.) Endgame by Samuel Beckett. This tragicomedy reveals the constant duel between tyranny and submission and the need and desire to break free of the cycle. Once in Royal David’s City by Michael Gow. Will has planned to share a restful, halcyon Christmas with his recently-widowed mother. But then she falls ill. During a bedside vigil, Will is forced to piece together the splintered shards of his own life. ____________

Amber McMahon in The Popular Mechanicals. Photo: Kris Washusen.

Sport For Jove is staging a trio of Shakespearean plays, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as Cyrano de Bergerac, at the Seymour Centre and Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. The company will also present its HSC Symposiums, a combination of critical analysis and theatrical experience, covering Hamlet, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Henry IV and The Crucible. ____________ Sydney’s Griffin Theatre recommends the following plays for students: Michele Lee’s Rice, the winner of the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2016-2017. The play unpicks the vastly different relationship that migrants of varying generations and backgrounds have with Australia. Katherine Thomson’s classic Australian play Diving for Pearls. ____________

Queensland In 2016, 7,800 students saw a Queensland Theatre performance. The company also delivered 334 workshops to approximately 2,500 young people across the state, many of them in regional areas. Students from all over the state also come to Queensland Theatre for Theatre Residency Week, which has been running for 46 years. The following plays are highly recommended for schools. Once in Royal David’s City by Michael Gow. Will has planned to share a restful, halcyon Christmas with his recently-widowed mother. But then she falls ill. During a bedside vigil, Will is forced to piece together the splintered shards of his own life. Noises Off by Michael Frayn. A misfit gaggle of actors struggles to cope with mounting disasters, while the director tries to keep the show from slipping off the rails. My Name is Jimi. Four generations of one Torres Strait family take the stage, as Jimi’s grandmother, mother, son and brothers help him spin yarns of totems, traditions and childhood memories. ____________

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in Fremantle - Based on a true story from Japan, Hachik? is a theatrical celebration of the remarkable joy and companionship that an animal can bring to our lives. South Australia State Theatre Company of South Australia will present Sista Girl, an exploration of the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, via the story of two women who share a white father, at 16 venues across the state. Natasha Wanganeen in Sista Girl. Photo: Sia Duff.

The Ensemble Theatre recommends Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Rasputin Affair by Kate Mulvany and The Plant by Kit Brookman. The Ensemble Theatre is developing Dead Puppet Society is presenting student workshops on audition Laser Beak Man, aimed at High School techniques, improvisation, performance, directing, design, students, at La Boite Theatre in production and playwriting. Brisbane. For further information contact Rose Downie rose@ensemble.com.au.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 41

SPARK 2017

Photos: Maximilien Mackenzie.

A Study Tour Of New York Students from Albert Park College in Melbourne enjoyed a study tour of New York in June last year. Dimitra Lambrellis, Daniel Bird and Tomas Barnes reveal their special moments. Our team of 21 students and three teachers waded through the buoyant crowds and shifting urban scenery of the sprawling cityscape of Manhattan, New York, on a journey that would define much of our 2016 school year. In a small tour bus, we drove, jetlagged, through the streets and highways from Newark Airport to the iconic city, glimpsing the city and the famed Lady Liberty peaking through the trees. Our first stop after settling into accommodation was a trip to view the marvels of Times Square. Over a two-week period the tour took us through a myriad of renowned 42 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

museums and galleries, including MOMA, the Brooklyn Museum, the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum. Some of us even shed tears at artworks that we never dreamt we would see in person and stared in awe at attractions which we had only ever seen in films. We also enjoyed a day trip to Coney Islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Luna Park, a conversational insight into the Off Broadway scene with the creators of Drunk Shakespeare and a tour of Rockefeller Center with its resident NBC studios. The NYC Create Tour provided us with many incredibly unique

If you would like to initiate your own Performing Arts study tour for your students, please contact Doppelgaenger Travel for a conversation around your preferred itinerary, and an obligationfree quote. Doppelgaenger Travel’s most popular Performing Arts destinations currently include Berlin, London, Los Angeles, and New York City. doppelgaenger.com.au

experiences. One example of a standout was the Broadway show Wicked which our group watched, followed by the privilege of meeting some of the cast and production team, post-production. We learnt about the city’s rich history, including visiting the 9/11 Memorial, which was a humbling experience for all. Many of us also developed strong friendships with people who we didn’t previously know. Interspersed among the sights and activities, students had the opportunity to absorb the natural expanse of Central Park in its sprawling diversity, peppered with surprises in the form of subway street performers The Lucky Chops and a skate day, with hundreds of skaters dominating the city streets. Over its duration, New York proved to be a photographer’s paradise with an ever-changing urban landscape and architecture. The last days of the trip would eventually take the group to see the Statue of Liberty. Our final meal in a stunning restaurant served as a finale of the expedition. The trip was organised by Doppelgaenger Travel, a tour company specialising in drama study tours to locations worldwide. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 43

SPARK 2017

Studying Music Theatre In London

Jessica Trip.

Sydney performer Jessica Tripp reflects on her recent experience completing an MA Music Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. What attracted you to study at Central? I was interested in the course because it not only offered the musical theatre training I wanted, but it also offered me the opportunity to explore and create new work focused on personal areas of interest. However, it was my audition experience which ultimately led to me choosing Central. It was very well organised and I felt immediately comfortable in their positive and supportive environment. What has been the best aspect of the course? For me it has been getting to know and learn alongside the other students. I never felt that I had to compare myself or compete with others, there was always the support and freedom to develop and learn in a safe space. Central has a strong focus on diversity 44 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

and the leaders of our course made it clear that we were there to celebrate and perfect what made us unique as performers. We all love and support each other and throughout the year they became my family, which was very important being so far from home. There is a real sense of community at Central. What does a normal day consist of? It usually begins at 8am with a selfled physical and vocal warm up or coach-led body conditioning class. The day is normally dedicated to two practical or theory classes - acting, singing or dance - ending at 5pm. There are also individual singing lessons and time to research, study or practice. Students are able to book rooms or small suites to rehearse in so it’s common to see students using these facilities throughout the day and

late into the evening.    Central is based in London. How have you found studying abroad and the transition?  It did take me a little while to find my feet. My first challenges included

Central will be holding auditions in Sydney on the 9th of April 2017. To find out more and register for an audition/ interview please visit www.cssd.ac.uk/stagewhispers

Photos: Patrick Baldwin.

finding somewhere to live and navigating the transportation system, but Central’s Student Advice Service provided a lot of support. It is also a massive financial commitment so I had to balance part-time work with my fulltime study. But overall it’s been an amazing and worthwhile experience. It’s been such a pleasure to really dedicate myself to study and train amongst like-minded and passionate people. I’ve been able to see lots of varied theatre and it’s been a great introduction to the overwhelmingly large industry here. Do you have any advice for anyone thinking of applying to Central? Do your research. Central offer a great variety of courses and there is a wealth of information on their website. You can download or have the prospectus mailed to you. Just do it! Sometimes taking the first step is the hardest, but if it’s your passion, be brave and go for it because you will never know if you don’t try and if you do get the opportunity to study at Central, it will be one of the greatest things you will ever get to do.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 45

information until I scream at them. They forget things, SPARK 2017 even though they have been doing a show for five years.” A percentage of schools perform at the their own venue, whilst others use professional theatre spaces. “Good scheduling is needed in a professional venue, but it’s also important at a school to know when to say pack up, as the younger kids want to go home at a certain time. “It is a complicated animal to wrestle with different departments asking for rehearsal time.” He says a good example is Reddam House, a private school which recently Audiences are more demanding than ever to hear everything on stage. Leading staged Cats. The school provided his audio companies Loud and Clear in Sydney and LSS Productions in Melbourne company with the layout of share their tips on getting the best results from school musicals with large casts. the orchestra pit in advance David Betterridge from drawings, cast lists, the “Some of the schools are to help his company work Loud and Clear says “getting script and any changes to very sophisticated. They out a microphone plot. the information from schools the script the better. might even have a “Schools need to to allow us to help them is “We might have done production manager who understand the implications the first hurdle.” The Sound of Music 50 can effectively manage of adding characters (or He says the more detail times, but it is useful to lighting, costumes and sets.” dividing one part amongst a provided about production know if there is no solo for Others, he says, are not few cast members ) as it requirements, rehearsal and Mother Superior because she so sophisticated. requires more microphones, production schedules, set “They don’t give any can’t sing. a bigger mixing desk and

Sound Advice

(Continued on page 47)

46 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

more staff.” Otherwise he says the bill goes up like a poker machine. “I suggest school teachers resist giving everyone a sing. Give it to the best ones and let the others have a go next year.” Another key tip, he says, is adequate technical rehearsals. “They need at least two or three to learn how it all goes together. “Ten or fifteen years ago in schools and amateur theatres people tended not to be miked. Expectations are much higher these days.” Marcello Lo Ricco from LSS Productions in Melbourne is on the same wavelength about the need for detailed planning. “I can’t even quote without a production schedule. Labour is usually fifty percent of the cost,” he said. “When you are hiring from a professional sound company the crew needs to be booked well in advance,

as they are always working on multiple shows at once.” Aside from labour costs, the number of radio microphones is a big determinant of the final cost. “Radio microphones are more reliable these days but they are still an expensive venture to get into. They are small and fragile, with consumable materials on a limited life span.

“Radio microphones live a tough life. Sweat gets into microphones, which just mutes the sound. “If you are not careful you have to throw them away.” Marcello says a single unit comprising a receiver, transmitter and microphone can cost $500 but it can be as high as $5000.

He says most schools rent them. “I have someone full time cleaning, testing and repairing radio microphones.” Another complication is antennae distribution. “The more microphones there are, the more radio frequencies you need. Recently I had two theatres in one venue.”

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School Performance Services

A Sydney company offers schools the opportunity to convert plain school halls into sophisticated theatres suitable for large cast musicals.

School Performance Services was only formed in 2015 but already it’s conquered some big challenges. The company’s first production was Oliver! at the International Grammar School in Sydney, the first large scale musical the school had staged. Its school hall has no lighting or sound and there were more than one hundred students on stage. Company co-owner Grant Fraser said, “there was a stage used for assemblies, but everything else had to be bumped into the hall. “There were also power constraints, so we used a mixture of conventional and LED lights which don’t use much electricity. “A normal theatre has lighting bars and a lot of time is spent up ladders to adjust the lights. We had to bring in

trussing and winched up the lights. It is all highly engineered. You need permits to do it. “We used eight fixed moving head lights that change colour. They can be focussed from the lighting board.”

The principals of School Performance Services Grant Fraser and Taylor Allen each have decades of experience as lighting designers and operators in the theatre and entertainment industries. The company also does smaller jobs to supplement lighting equipment in school theatres. For more details contact www.schoolperformanceservices.com.au

48 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

The sound involved a digital mixing console, speakers and radio mikes, plus the challenge of amplifying a small orchestra. The company also mentored students in back stage roles including lighting operation. “We set it all up in one eight hour day. There were five people working on it. “The time frame is tight. Also when you are dealing with primary school through to high school children they have a short attention span, so it has to be done very quickly. “All the hard work paid off, and the end result was an extraordinary production, with all nights sold out and a standing ovation on the last night. The overwhelming comments were that it didn’t look or sound like a school production.” The Director Deborah Cunneen said the audience was “amazed” at the professional transformation of the hall. “School Performance Services was flexible and understanding of our needs and worked with us closely to create the best show within our budget constraints,” she said. The technical budget for Oliver! was $20,000. For their next production, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, they are spending $25,000.

Gobotech

SPARK 2017

Gobotech are the only Australian manufacturer making gobos to suit the newest intensely hot lighting fixtures as well as stainless steel and full colour gobos. Gobos are created out of thin stainless steel shim which is a stencil cut of your image. If more detail is required then black and white glass gobos or even full colour images can be created to suit particular lights. The new range of moving lights often have very small image areas to use, which limits what can be done in steel but the glass gobos have incredible definition and are currently in production using gobo sizes as low as 13mm. If you don’t own any of the new fancy LED fixtures or moving lights don’t despair. The old fashioned fixed profile is still a fantastic tool and weapon of choice used in theatres and schools around the world. If you can focus the light then it will have a slot

at the top about halfway along where you can slide in a gobo holder. Not sure what you have, then take a photo of the model and Gobotech staff can help you determine what you will need to project a gobo with it. The results are rewarding and it is incredible what an effect a simple breakup gobo or a couple of complimenting coloured image projections can do on a stage.  There are literally thousands of standard images available but you can also specify your theme and they

should be able to offer you a selection of images to choose from. Gobotech Pty Ltd have been manufacturing gobos for the Australian Entertainment Industry as well as for theatres and schools for 20 years. You can now purchase a dedicated LED gobo projector complete with your custom image specifically for your situation. They will walk you through your scenario to ensure that you get the right tool for the job.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 49

SPARK 2017 Jessica Koncic in the title role of Chicken Licken. Photo: Arthur Coates.

Online extras! Watch a performance of Chicken Licken by scanning the QR code or visiting https://youtu.be/EYviyrYQHoA

Chicken Licken will b Adelaide Fringe Festival fr For information and tickets visi To find out more about the Victori School Australia co www.stageschool.com.au

A Word From Book Nook Late last year we were sad to hear of the closure of the Performing Arts Book Shop in Pitt St, an institution in the Performing Arts scene in Sydney. We visited the store in 2015 and were delighted to note all the contemporary plays we had in common as well as many historic treasures long out of print. I bought a couple myself. Yes I still add to my personal library despite

50 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

having a whole shop full of drama books. Along with actors, directors, writers, drama teachers, students, designers, applied artists and technicians, publishers and specialist booksellers are part of our sometimes thriving, sometimes fragile creative community. Running an independent bookshop is a labour of love with

Jessica Koncic with the youngest member of the cast of Chicken Licken.

Chicken Licken

Through a very cute and cheeky tale of a naive chook called Chicken Licken, students of the Victorian Youth Theatre programme have set off on a journey that enthralled young audiences in Melbourne and will be seen in March in Adelaide.

be performing at the om March 14 - 18, 2017. it www.chicken-licken.com.au an Youth Theatre and other Stage ourses please visit u or call (03) 8199 8344. many challenges, so enjoy them while you can. So to happier topics here are some exciting new plays released in 2016 and coming in 2017.  Fight With All Your Might the Zombies of Tonight by Matthew Whittet.  Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell.  Talking to Brick Walls by Claire Christian.  Girl Asleep by Matthew Whittet.

The talented cast performs a new adaptation of a popular folktale that tells of Chicken Licken’s journey to tell the king that the sky is falling after an acorn falls on her head. Jess Koncic plays Chicken Licken. “Being in a children’s show is wonderful, as I’ve always believed that children’s theatre gives kids something to look forward to outside of school and everyday things by inviting them into a different world,” Jess says. Jess has seen herself step into a more children’s style of theatre only recently and has found the stride incredibly rewarding, but also demanding. “We had to learn lines really quickly and choreograph dances and songs super fast, so we had to be very energetic, especially me!” As the lead character and the oldest cast member, Jess has been setting an example for her fellow performers and has been humbled with their reception to her guidance.

“My cheek muscles are so toned from all the smiling I’ve been doing,” she says. “Audiences in Melbourne have loved the show.” “With the Melbourne season now over, the cast and crew are feeling the excitement brew in anticipation for the Adelaide Tour. The VYT will be taking Chicken Licken to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in March. “I want to be exhausted after each show,” she says. “We put a lot of energy in when we’re on stage and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do in Adelaide with the audiences there.” Jess and her fellow Chicken Licken performers are able not only to deliver morals and insights through the story, but also provide an opportunity for children to become involved in a theatrical avenue that paves the way for expression, confidence and imagination.

 Out of the Ordinary by Alex Vickery- to drama teachers and students and Howe.  Northern Perspectives by Steven Oliver.  The Unknown Soldier by Sandra Eldridge.  The Literati by Justin Flemin.  The Great Fire by Kit Brookman.  Brainstorm - The Complete Playscript (and How to Stage Your Own) by Ned Glasier. The titles I have chosen to highlight are on topics I judge to be of interest

youth theatre practitioners. For a full list of our new releases and our bestsellers please visit us on Facebook, to hear first about newly published plays. We also have the lists up on our website as well as lists of curricula for HSC and VCE. Mary Sutherland To purchase any of these plays visit Book Nook at www.booknook.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 51

Choosing A Show

Musicals For Schools

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story.

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story www.buddythemusical.com The U.K. producers of the hit Rock & Roll musical Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story are now licensing the amateur and professional rights to the show in Australia and New Zealand. There is a full-length script (over two hours in length), as well as a 90-minute ‘concert’ version and a shorter Buddy JR edition for younger performers, where all of the music is provided on backing track. The show can be performed by a cast of 12+ (including actor/musicians) and is relatively simple to stage. Community theatres and schools from the across the globe, have successfully staged productions of Buddy… “We instinctively knew this gem of a show would be a spectacular hit. Nightly standing ovations and rave reviews accompanied the entire season, with so many memories being relived alongside the pleasure of watching a new generation discover the excitement and brilliance of Buddy’s music. We have definitely delivered the surprise #1 hit show of 2016 in Tasmania!” - Belinda J. King (Encore Theatre Company, Launceston) For licensing enquiries and perusals email rick.thorne@buddyshow.com, visit the website buddythemusical.com/request-licence, or phone 0011 44 207 240 9941 52 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

Maverick Musicals www.maverickmusicals.com Maverick Musicals has announced that some of its most popular School Musical Deluxe packages are available on USB! Maverick’s USB’s and their content is designed to make your production life just a little bit easier. Scripts, scores, song tracks, both vocal and performance, graphics and SFX are all ready for you on their new line of “Musicals on a Stick”. The titles include Bonsai Samurai - Maverick King Fu Panda meets Moana! You’re History: When a nerdy teenager turns a portable classroom into a time machine, a mischievous detention class is sent hurtling back through history! High School Spoof-ical: Welcome to Sweet Valley High, a perfect world of perfect Disney teens.

ORiGiN Theatrical www.origintheatrical.com.au ORiGiN Theatrical is releasing two new TRW Young@Part® collection musicals, The Addams Family and Curtains. Created for schools and youth groups, these 65-70 minute authorized editions of Broadway musicals are tailormade for young performers. There are great parts for girls, boys, and any sized ensemble. The Addams Family Young@Part The #1 high school musical in the U.S.! The Addams Family Young@Part® will introduce a whole new generation to the creepy and kooky Addams clan. Bring this heart-warming story about acceptance and family to your stage today! Curtains Young@Part From the creators of Chicago and Cabaret comes Kander & Ebb’s whodunnit musical mystery. Curtains Young@Part® is the tongue-in-cheek murder mystery that is a love letter to musical theatre. This show is ready to be solved by even the youngest actors. Each TRW Young@Part® Musical comes with a set of scripts/vocal books, performance CD’s, guide vocals, director’s script and logo pack. School Premieres from David Spicer Productions www.davidspicer.com St John the Evangelist High in Nowra (NSW) is staging the World School Premiere of Masquerade by Kate Mulvany in July. The musical adventure is based on the children’s classic by Kit Williams with music by Pip Branson, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentleman. In a wondrous world of riddles and hidden treasure, bumbling Jack Hare is on a race against time to deliver a message of love from the Moon to the Sun. Radford College in the ACT is staging the World School Premiere of Song Contest: The Almost Eurovsion Experience in April. The glitzy comedic musical features eleven countries competing, a multitude of anxious contestants, a gushing hostess and all the quirkiness that both delights us and makes us cringe in a single breath. Fairfield College in Hamilton will stage the world school premiere of Aotearoa - A New Zealand rock musical in June. An award winning musical that is part love story, part eco awareness, part spiritual enlightenment wrapped around some of the great New Zealand rock songs of our time. Includes songs from Split Enz, Crowded House, Dragon, The Mutton Birds and many more. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 53

Not In The Script Currency Press has released a new collection of thirty-two monologues, drawn from the work of great storytellers, poets and novelists. These pieces do not come from plays, but each has a narrative and an action that makes it ideal for theatrical performance. Enjoy this sample from the comic 19th century novel Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. This is the opening passage from one of the great comic novels of the nineteenth century, first published in 1889. J. is accustomed to a good life of eating, drinking, larking about with his friends and not working more than he has to, but he is not an aristocrat. (If you are looking for a similar comic style from an endearing aristocratic twit you could try almost any of the P.G.Wodehouse novels about Bertie Wooster and his famous butler Jeeves.) J.’s style, as you can see, is self-dramatising but also oddly innocent and ingenuous. You will have to decide the extent of his self-awareness. He is obviously claiming to believe all the information that he has found about his supposed illnesses, including the advertisements, but is he also conscious of the comic effect? He certainly shouldn’t play it too much for laughs. The comedy depends on his (apparent) sincerity. There is something attractive about his cheerful acceptance of everything, especially at the end. You could play on this old piece’s obvious relevance in these times of scam ‘complementary medicine’ and hypochondriacal Google self-diagnosis. There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency. We were sitting in my room, smoking, and talking about how bad we were - bad from a medical point of view I mean, of course. We were all feeling seedy, and we were getting quite nervous about it. Harris said he felt such extraordinary fits of giddiness come over him at times, that he hardly knew what he was doing; and then George said that he had fits of giddiness too, and hardly knew what he was doing. With me, it was my liver that was out of order. I knew it was my liver that was out of order, because I had just been reading a patent liver-pill circular, in which were detailed various symptoms by which a man could tell when his liver was out of order. I had them all. It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form. The diagnosis seems in every case to correspond exactly with all the sensations that I have ever felt. I remember going to the British Museum one day to read up the 54 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

treatment for some slight ailment of which I had a touch - hay fever, I fancy it was. I got down the book, and read all I came to read; and then, in an unthinking moment, I idly turned the leaves, and began to indolently study diseases, generally. I forget which was the first distemper I plunged into some fearful, devastating scourge, I know - and, before I had glanced half down the list of ‘premonitory symptoms’, it was borne in upon me that I had fairly got it. I sat for a while frozen with horror; and then in the listlessness of despair, I again turned over the pages. I came to typhoid fever - read the symptoms discovered that I had typhoid fever, must have had it for months without knowing it - wondered what else I had got; turned up St Vitus’s Dance found, as I expected, that I had that too - began to get interested in my case, and determined to sift it to the bottom, and so started alphabetically read up ague, and learnt that I was sickening for it, and that the acute stage would commence in about another fortnight. Bright’s disease, I was relieved to find, I had only in a modified form, and, so far as that was concerned, I might live for years.

Cholera I had, with severe complications; and diphtheria I seemed to have been born with. I plodded conscientiously through the twenty-six letters, and the only malady I could conclude I had not got was housemaid’s knee. I felt rather hurt about this at first; it seemed somehow to be a sort of slight .Why hadn’t I got housemaid’s knee? Why this invidious reservation? After a while, however, less grasping feelings prevailed. I reflected that I had every other known malady in the pharmacology, and I grew less selfish, and determined to do without housemaid’s knee. Gout, in its most malignant stage, it would appear, had seized me without my being aware of it; and zymosis I had evidently been suffering with from boyhood. There were no more diseases after zymosis, so I concluded there was nothing else the matter with me. I sat and pondered. I thought what an interesting case I must be from a medical point of view, what an acquisition I should be to a class! Students would have no need ‘to walk the hospitals’, if they had me. I was a hospital in myself. All they need do would be to walk around me, and,

after that, take their diploma. Then I wondered how long I had to live. I tried to examine myself. I felt my pulse. I could not at first feel any pulse at all. Then, all of a sudden, it seemed to start off. I pulled out my watch and timed it. I made it a hundred and fortyseven to the minute. I tried to feel my heart. I could not feel my heart. It had stopped beating. I have since been induced to come to the opinion that it must have been there all the time, and must have been beating, but I cannot account for it. I patted myself all over my front, from what I call my waist up to my head, and I went a bit round each side, and a little way up the back. But I could not feel or hear anything. I tried to look at my tongue. I stuck it out as far as ever it would go, and I shut one eye, and tried to examine it with the other. I could only see the tip, and the only thing that I could gain from that was to feel more certain than before that I had scarlet fever. I had walked into that readingroom a happy healthy man. I crawled out a decrepit wreck. I went to my medical man. He is an old chum of mine, and feels my pulse, and looks at my tongue, and talks about the weather, all for nothing,

when I fancy I’m ill; so I thought I would do him a good turn by going to him now.’ What a doctor wants,’ I said,’ is practice. He shall have me. He will get more practice out of me than out of seventeen hundred of your ordinary, commonplace patients, with only one or two diseases each.’ So I went straight up and saw him, and he said: ‘Well, what’s the matter with you?’ I said: ‘I will not take up your time, dear boy, with telling you what is the matter with me. Life is brief, and you might pass away before I had finished. But I will tell you what is not the matter with me. I have not got housemaid’s knee.Why I have not got housemaid’s knee, I cannot tell you; but the fact remains that I have not got it. Everything else, however, I have got.’ And I told him how I came to discover it all. Then he opened me and looked down me, and clutched hold of my wrist, and then he hit me over the chest when I wasn’t expecting it - a cowardly thing to do, I call it - and immediately afterwards butted me with the side of his head. After that, he sat down and wrote out a prescription,

Script Excerpt and folded it up and gave it me, and I put it in my pocket and went out. I did not open it. I took it to the nearest chemist’s, and handed it in.The man read it, and then handed it back. He said he didn’t keep it. I said: ‘You are a chemist?’ He said: ‘I am a chemist. If I was a cooperative stores and family hotel combined, I might be able to oblige you. Being only a chemist hampers me.’ I read the prescription. It ran: 1lb beefsteak, with 1 pt bitter beer, every 6 hours. 1 ten-mile walk every morning. 1 bed at 11 sharp every night. And don’t stuff up your head with things you don’t understand. I followed the directions, with the happy result - speaking for myself that my life was preserved, and is still going on. Edited by John McCallum and Jenny Nicholls.

Buy “Not In The Script” in paperback from Stage Whispers books. www.stagewhispers.com.au/books Subscribe to Stage Whispers and receive a free copy. See page 5 for details.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 55

The Show Must Go On

appreciate Mr. Wilkie’s efforts to replace the wardrobe, scenery, and effects which have been destroyed, and Just over 90 years ago a darling of the Australian theatre scene suffered to ensure an early resumption of Mr. Wilkie’s programme.” Similar an horrific setback. Jenny Fewster from AusStage tells how the public appeals sprang up around the country. resurrected a theatre company from the ashes. The success of the appeal allowed Early on Monday the 21st June 1926 Wilkie, including the value of the Wilkie to travel to England to gather the Geelong Mechanics’ Institute was personal effects of the members of the new stage costumes and effects. On destroyed by fire. It was the fourth fire company, is estimated at £5,000 the eve of his departure Wilkie in the property, and police were (current value approx. $380,000) There broadcast from the studios of 3AR. He suspicious it was the work of a was no insurance on this sent a message of “farewell and thanks “maniac”. The Mechanics’ Institute property.” (Argus, 22 June). to the many lovers of Shakespeare who housed what was considered Victoria’s A despondent Wilkie gathered rallied to help him to replace the stage most historic library, and the largest together his troupe at Melbourne’s effects which were destroyed by the outside Melbourne. A large number of Hotel Windsor to inform them that he disastrous fire. From Cairns and its 35,000 volumes were destroyed. had no choice but to disband for the Geraldton in the North to Melbourne,” The Weekly Times reported, “In the time being. He was determined to start he said, he had been inundated with library were catalogues published as far back as 1852, and many historic records of the gold diggings.” But the most reported loss was that of Englishman, Mr. Allan Wilkie, a Shakespearean actor-manager who was a darling of the Australian theatregoing public. Wilkie had just arrived with his wife, actress Frediswyde Hunter-Watts and other members of the Allan Wilkie Shakespearean Company in Geelong from Broken Hill. There they had been greeted at civic receptions, offered financial support from State Governments, and had played such a successful season that Wilkie had vowed to return annually. In Geelong the company were to AusStage contains information on the tours of the Allan Wilkie play The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Shakespearean Company. Dream over three nights, opening on The Allan Wilkie - Frediswyde Hunter-Watts Theatre Collection in Monday 21st June 1926. However, fate the Barr Smith Library of the University of Adelaide was donated dealt them a bitter blow when “on the by their long time friend and publicity agent Angel Symon. Saturday night Mr. Allan Wilkie’s stage fittings and costumes and a large afresh and thought that it might be messages of sympathy and quantity of the personal effects of the possible that by Christmas they might condolence, while from all parts of the join him again. Commonwealth there had been a 28 members of his company were placed in the hall. A carrier who had Within days an appeal had been generous response to the fund. He been engaged to remove the property started, and supporting committees would be absent on the trip about four from the station to the hall had sprang up around the country. A months. suggested that it should be left on the statement was released by the Allan In December 1926 Wilkie and Wilkie Appeal Committee asking for Hunter-Watts arrived back in Australia lorry in the stables until Monday with new properties and costumes, morning, but Mr. Wilkie desired that it subscriptions. “The disastrous fire should be placed in the hall, so that it in Geelong, in which practically the including the wardrobe used by Sir could be sorted. Members of the whole effects of the Allan Wilkie Herbert Beerbohm Tree - founder of company were engaged until late on Shakespearean Company were the Royal of Academy of Drama Saturday night at this work. Everything destroyed has excited sympathy (RADA) - in his long running revival of throughout Australia, and New Henry VIII, which allegedly ran for 254 except a small safe, one box, and the coffin used in the production of Zealand … It is proposed to make an consecutive performances. The Allan “Hamlet,” was burned. The loss to Mr immediate appeal to all those who Wilkie Shakespearean Company 56 Stage Whispers March - April 2017

reformed with many of the original members and, to the great delight of Australian audiences, commenced touring their expanded repertoire (now including Antony and Cleopatra and Henry VIII) in Hobart on January 22. On the 24th of February 1927 a civic reception was held to present Wilke and Hunter-Watts with the funds raised by the public appeal (rumoured to be £3000). The Brisbane Courier reported: “At a civic reception tendered today at the Melbourne Town Hall to Mr. Allan Wilkie and his wife, the Lord Mayor presented the Shakespearean actor with an illuminated address and a cheque representing the amount subscribed by the public of Australia to enable Mr Wilkie to replace the wardrobe which was destroyed. A large number of representative citizens attended and a number of speeches congratulating Mr. and Mrs. Wilkie on the part they had played in disclosing the beauties of the Shakespearean drama to the Australian public were made. “Mr. Wilkie, in expressing his appreciation of the generosity of the people in all the States where his work was known said that the fact that he was again able to take up his work so soon after the fire was the greatest compliment to that generosity that he could make. It showed that the people appreciated his aims as much as his work. The fact that the company with which he was playing now consisted, with only a few additions, of the same players who were with him at the time of the fire showed what a fine de corps existed among them.” However, the Australian public’s adoration of the Allan Wilkie Shakespearean Company was to be short lived as ‘talkies’ and the grips of the depression took hold. By October 1930 attendance was so poor that Allan Wilkie had no choice but to disband his company. In 1931 Wilkie and Hunter-Watts left Australia and toured a Shakespeare recitation production through New Zealand, Canada and the United States, eventually retiring to Scotland. Frediswyde Hunter-Watts died in 1951 and Allan Wilkie in 1970.

Allan Wilkie and Frediswyde Hunter-Watts.

Stage Heritage

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 57

On Stage A.C.T. Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott. Canberra Repertory Society. Until Mar 11. Theatre 3. (02) 6257 1950 (10-4 Mon to Fri). Chicago Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse, Music by John Kander & Lyrics by Fred Ebb. Canberra Philharmonic Society. Mar 9-25. Erindale Theatre, McBryde Crescent, Wanniassa, ACT. (02) 6257 1950 (10-4 Mon to Fri). Ladies in Black. Book by Carolyn Burns. Music and Lyrics by Tim Finn. Queensland Theatre Company. Mar 27 - Apr 2. Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 2700. Trelawney of the ‘WELLS’ by Arthur Wing Pinero. Canberra Repertory Society. Mar 29 - Apr 9. Theatre 3. (02) 6257 1950 (10-4 Mon to Fri). PAW Patrol Live! - Race To The Rescue. Based on the hit animated Nickelodeon TV series

58 Stage Whispers

A.C.T. & New South Wales

produced by Spin Master. Mar 31 - Apr 2. Playhouse Theatre, Canberra. http://bit.ly/2khP43E Les Misérables. Music by Claude -Michel Schonberg, Lyrics & Book by Alain Boublil. Free-Rain Theatre Company. Apr 4 - 22. The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. (02) 6258 6290. Richard III by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Apr 6 - 15. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700. The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence in association with David Atkins Enterprises and ABA International Touring. Apr 25 30. Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 2700. Avenue Q. Conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Book written by Jeff Whitty. Supa Productions. Apr 28 - May 13.

The Q Theatre, Queanbeyan. (02) 6285 6290. New South Wales Aladdin. Music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin. Book by Chad Beguelin. Disney Theatrical Productions. Until Mar 26. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. 1300 558 878. La Bohème by Puccini. Opera Australia. Until Mar 24. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 7777. Odd Man Out by David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre. Until Mar 18. World Premiere. (02) 9929 0644. La Traviata by Verdi. Opera Australia. Opera Australia. Feb 3 - Apr 1. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 7777. The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter-Beane. New Theatre association with the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi

Gras Festival. Feb 7 - Mar 4. http://newtheatre.org.au Barbu. Sydney Opera House by arrangement with Arts Projects Australia. Feb 8 - Mar 4. Studio, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 7777. The Judas Kiss by David Hare. Old Fitz Theatre. Until Mar 11. www.oldfitztheatre.com Strangers on a Train by Craig Warner, from Patricia Highsmith’s novel. Maitland Repertory Theatre. Until Mar 4. Maitland Repertory Theatre. (02) 4931 2800. Visiting Mr Green by Jeff Baron. Pymble Players (comedy / drama). Until Mar 11. Pymble Players Theatre, Cnr Mona Vale Road & Bromley Ave., Pymble. (02) 9144 1523. The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. The Guild Theatre. Until Mar 18. The Guild Theatre, Rockdale. (02) 9521 6358. Butterflies are Free by Leonard Gershe. Arts Theatre Cronulla.

Just $40 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage

New South Wales

Velvet, with its hedonistic world, pitting dazzling acrobatics against disco divas in a sexy, spectacular, sparkling and slightly sadomasochistic show, continues its national tour in Hobart from March 9, Wollongong from April 8 and Canberra from May 3, with Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin and Parramatta to follow. www.velvettheshow.com

Until Mar 25. Arts Theatre, 6 Surf Road, Cronulla. (02) 6523 2779. Tosca by Puccini. Opera Australia. Until Mar 31. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Away by Michael Gow. A Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre production. Until Mar 25. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 1777. Richard III by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Until Apr 1. Sydney Opera House. Mark Colvin’s Kidney by Tommy Murphy. Belvoir. Until Apr 2, Belvoir Upstairs Theatre, (02) 8355 9341 & Apr 5 - 8, Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, (02) 8839 3399. Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood. Sydney Theatre Company. Until Apr 1. Roslyn Packer Theatre. (02) 9250 1777. Jasper Jones. Adapted by Kate Mulvany from Craig Silvey’s novel. Belvoir Productions. Mar

1 - 4. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Australia Day by Jonathan Biggins (Comedy). Lithgow Theatre Group. Mar 3 - 11. Club Lithgow. (02) 6351 3375. The King and I by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Rockdale Musical Society. Mar 3 - 12. Rockdale Town Hall. 0423 566 393 between 3pm & 8 pm. Bloom by Andrew Morton. Sutherland Theatre Company. Mar 3 -12. Sutherland School of Arts. www.thesutherlandtheatrecompany.com.au Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov. Nowra Players. Mar 3 - 18. Players Theatre, Bomaderry. 1300 662 808 (Shoalhaven Visitors Information Centre). 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose. Campbelltown Theatre Group. Mar 3 - 18. Town Hall Theatre, Campbelltown. (02) 4628 5287. Evita. Lyrics by Tim Rice, Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Gosford Musical Society. Mar 3

- 18. Laycock Street Community Theatre, North Gosford. (02) 4323 3233. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. The Acting Factory Inc. Mar 3 - 18. Regatta Park, Nepean River, Penrith. www.actingfactory.com Raw Comedy 2017. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Mar 4. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Dirty Dusting by Ed Waugh and Trevor Wood. The Acting Factory Inc. Mar 4 - 12. U3A Hall, School of Arts, Penrith. www.actingfactory.com Picnic by William Inge. Newcastle Theatre Company. Mar 4 - 18. Newcastle Theatre Company, Lambton. (02) 4952 4958 (3-6pm Mon - Fri). Superhal by John Galea. Presented by The Puzzle Collective. Mar 7 - 18. NIDA Parade Theatre. www.thepuzzle.com.au Calamity Jane. Adapted by Ronald Hanmer and Phil Park   from the stage play by Charles

Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

K. Freeman,  after Warner Bros. film written by James O’Hanlon. Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. Music by Sammy Fain. One Eyed Man Productions in association with Neglected Musicals and Hayes Theatre Co. Mar 8 - Apr 1. Hayes Theatre Co. (02) 8065 7337. Neighbourhood Watch by Lally Katz. Stooged Theatre. Mar 8 18. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. The Bleeding Tree by Angus Cerini. Sydney Theatre Company / Griffin Theatre Company. Mar 9 - Apr 8. Wharf 1. (02) 9250 1777. Blackrock by Nick Enright. Presented by White Box Theatre & Seymour Centre. Mar 9 - 25. Seymour Centre. (02) 9351 7940. When Dad Married Fury by David Williamson. Woy Woy Little Theatre. Mar 10 - 26. Peninsula Theatre, Woy Woy. (02) 4344 4737. Queen of Mars. Premiere of comedy-drama by Newcastle’s Stage Whispers 59

On Stage John Wood. Theatre on Brunker. Mar 10 - Apr 1. St Stephen’s Hall, Adamstown (Newcastle). (02) 4956 1263. LGBTI Theatre Festival. works with lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex themes and characters. Mar 10. Catapult Dance Studio, Newcastle. www.lgbtitheatrefest.com The Laden Table by Yvonne Perczuk, Nur Alam, Raya Gadir, Chris Hill, Marian Kernaham and Ruth Kliman. Presented by bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company. March 10 - 25. KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. www.bakehousetheatrecompany.com.au Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. Genesian Theatre, Sydney. Mar 11 - Apr 8. 1300 237 217. The Empire Strips Back... AWAKENS! - A Star Wars Burlesque Parody. EmpireStripsBack.com. Mar 11. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

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New South Wales

Consensual by Evan Placey. New Theatre, Newtown. Mar 14 Apr 15. newtheatre.org.au. Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. Old Fitz Theatre. Mar 15 - Apr 8. www.oldfitztheatre.com The Vicar of Dibley by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer. Adapted for the stage by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter. Coast Theatre Company (Wyong Drama Group). Mar 17 - 25. The Art House, Wyong. 1300 665 600. Dracula. Adapted from Bram Stoker’s novel by Nelle Lee & Nick Skubij. shake & stir theatre co and Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Mar 17. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard. Murwillumbah Theatre Company. Mar 17 - Apr 2. Murwillumbah Civic Centre. (02) 6672 6753.

Jack The Ripper by Joe Dickinson. The Players Theatre, Port Macquarie. Mar 17 - Apr 2. (02) 6584 6663. Class Clowns. Tantrum Youth Arts and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Mar 17. Royal Exchange, Newcastle. (02) 4929 4969. Try and Stop Me. Comedy on cyber-bullying by Lewis Spears. Mar 18. Royal Exchange, Newcastle. (02) 4929 4969. Burlesque Idol. Musical comedy. Mar 19. Lizotte’s, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4956 2066. 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche by Evan Linder & Andrew Hobgood. Glen Street Theatre, Belrose. Mar 21 - 26. (02) 9975 1455. Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of OZ. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, Book by Holzman, based on the novel by Gregory Macguire. Miranda Musical Society. Mar 22 - 26. Sutherland Entertainment

Centre, Sutherland. (02) 8814 5827. Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene, adapted by Giles Havergal. Hunters Hill Theatre. Mar 22 - Apr 2. Now performing at Hunters Hill Town Hall, Hunters Hill. (02) 9879 7765. Newcastle Fringe Festival 2017. 24 shows at seven Newcastle venues - Royal Exchange, Grand Hotel, Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle Leagues Club, Catapult Dance Studios, Circus Avalon and Crown and Anchor Hotel. Mar 22 -26. newcastlefringe.com.au Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters. Adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs. CHATS Productions Inc (Coffs Harbour). Mar 23 - Apr 1. Jetty Memorial Theatre, Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour. (02) 6652 8088 (Tue Fri 12 - 4pm.) Lord of the Flies. Adapted from William Golding’s novel. Hunter Drama, at Richley Reserve,

Just $40 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Blackbutt. Mar 23 - 26. 1300 367 852. Dream-Time by Maura Campbell (Surreal drama inspired by a teen murder). Reamus Youth Theatre. Mar 24 - Apr 1. Maitland Repertory Theatre. (02) 4931 2800. Swan Lake. Moscow Ballet La Classique. Mar 24. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. The Business by Jonathan Gavin, based on a Maxim Gorky story. Valley Artists. Mar 24 - Apr 1. Laguna Hall. valleyartists.org The Bold, The Young and The Murdered by Don Zolidis. Bankstown Theatre Company. Mar 24 - Apr 02. The Bankstown Arts Centre. 0418 869 858. Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward. Ballina Players. Mar 24 - Apr 2. Players Theatre, Ballina. www.ballinaplayers.com.au Two by Jim Cartwright. Ensemble Theatre. From Mar 24. (02) 9929 0644.

All Shook Up by Joe DiPietro with the music of Elvis Presley. Cooma Little Theatre. Mar 24 Apr 8. CLT, Uran Street, Cooma. www.clt.org.au Carmen on Sydney Harbour by Bizet. Opera Australia. Mar 24 to Apr 23. Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquarie’s Point. (02) 9318 8200. Anh Do - The Happiest Refugee. A-List Entertainment. Mar 25. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Whatever Gets You Through The Night by Nicole Peelgrane (Premiere season of a new Australian comedy). Muswellbrook Amateur Theatrical Society Inc. Mar 28 Apr 1. Atherstone Room, Upper Hunter Conservatorium of Music, Muswellbrook. www.mats.org.au It Shoulda Been You. Book & Lyrics by Brian Hargrove, Music by Barbara Anselmi. Chatswood Musical Society. Mar 31 - Apr 8.

New South Wales The Independent Theatre, North Sydney. www.chatswoodmusicalsociety.com.org Farndale Murder Mystery by David McGillivray. Roo Theatre Company. Mar 31 - Apr 8. Roo Theatre, Shellharbour. www.roo-theatre.com.au Edge of the World - A new original work by Graham Patterson. Armidale Drama and Musical Society. Mar 31 - Apr 8. The ‘Stro, University of New England. www.adms.org.au The Book of Everything adapted by Richard Tulloch from the Novel by Guus Kuijer. Castle Hill Players. Mar 31 to Apr 22. Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill. (02) 9634 2929. Black Birds by Emele Ugavule and Ayeesha Ash. Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith. Mar 29 - Apr 8. (02) 4723 7600. The Drowsy Chaperone. Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert

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and Greg Morrison. Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society. Mar 31 - Apr 8. www.hmds.org.au The Rasputin Affair by Kate Mulvany. Ensemble Theatre. From Apr 1. World Premiere. (02) 9929 0644. Dracula by Bram Stoker, created and adapted by shake & stir theatre co. Apr 1 - 4. Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399. The World of Musicals. R.K.T.Z Group & Mayo Entertainment. Apr 1. Civic Theatre, Newcastle (02) 4929 1977. Apr 3. Cessnock Performing Arts Centre. (02) 4993 4266. Soul & Cirque. Motown music and acrobatic routines. Apr 1. Lizotte’s, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4956 2066. Talk by Jonathan Biggins. Sydney Theatre Company. Apr 3 - May 20. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 1777.

Stage Whispers 61

On Stage The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence in association with David Atkins Enterprises and ABA International Touring. From Apr 5. Roslyn Packer Theatre. (02) 9250 1999. The Popular Mechanicals by Keith Robinson, William Shakespeare and Tony Taylor from the original direction of Geoffrey Rush. Sydney Theatre Company presents a State Theatre Company South Australia production. Apr 6 May 13. Wharf 2. (02) 9250 1777. Disney’s Camp Rock The Musical. Book by Robert L Freedman and Faye Greenburg. Music by various writers, adapted and arranged by David Lawrence. Wyong Musical Theatre Company. Apr 7 - 15. Grove Theatre, Wyong. www.wmtc.com.au Gala Fundraising Concert with José Carbó and Emma Matthews. Rockdale Opera Company. Apr 8 at 7.30pm. Rockdale Town Hall, 448 Princes Highway Rockdale. www.rockdaleopera.com.au Sing Along to the Shows: Travels around the World. Adamstown Arts. Apr 8. The

62 Stage Whispers

New South Wales

Dungeon, Adamstown Uniting Church. (02) 4943 5316. Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. Young People’s Theatre Newcastle. Apr10 - May 20. Young People’s Theatre, Hamilton. (02) 4961 4895. Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph. Old Fitz Theatre. Apr 12 - May 6. www.oldfitztheatre.com The Dog / The Cat. The Dog by Brendan Cowell and The Cat by Lally Katz. Belvoir. Apr 13 - 30. Belvoir Upstairs. (02) 8355 9341. The Next Step. Musical numbers from the Disney Channel television series. Live Nation. Apr 13. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson. Elanora Players. Apr 15 - 22. Elanora Community Centre, Elanora Heights. (02) 9979 9694. Diary of a Wombat. Original story by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley, Adapted by Eva Di Cesare, Sandra Eldridge and Tim McGarry. Presented by Monkey Baa Theatre Company. Apr 18 24 / May 27. Lendlease Darling Quarter Theatre. Big Fish. Book by John August. Music & Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. RPG Productions / Hayes Theatre Co. Apr 18 - May 14. (02) 8065 7337.

Rent. Rock musical by Jonathan Larson, based on the opera La Boheme. Pantseat Performing Arts. Apr 20 - 22. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Smurf in Wanderland by David Williams. National Theatre of Parramatta / Griffin Theatre Co. Apr 20 - 29, Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta, (02) 8839 3399. Storytime Ballet: The Nutcracker. Australian Ballet. Enmore Theatre, Apr 18; The Concourse Theatre, Apr 21 - 22. australianballet.com.au Broadway Blockbusters In Concert. Tweed Theatre Company. Apr 21 - 30. Tweed Heads Civic Centre. 1800 674 414. PAW Patrol Live! - Race To The Rescue. Based on the hit animated Nickelodeon TV series produced by Spin Master. Apr 21 - 23. Darling Harbour Theatre, ICC Sydney. http://bit.ly/2khP43E Daylight Saving by Nick Enright. The Theatre on Chester. Apr 21 - May 13. Cnr Chester St and Oxford St, Epping. (02) 9877 0081. Anyone for Breakfast? by Derek Benfield. Club 71. Apr 22 - May 13. St Peter’s Hall, Hamilton (Newcastle). (02) 4942 6015.

Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. Newcastle Theatre Company. Apr 24 - May 6. Newcastle Theatre Company, Lambton. (02) 4952 4958 (Mon - Fri 36pm). The Chapel Perilous by Dorothy Hewett. New Theatre. Apr 25 May 27. Don’t Dress for Dinner by Marc Camoletti, adapted by Robin Hawdon (Farce). Maitland Repertory Theatre, 244 High Street, Maitland. Apr 26 - May 13. (02) 4931 2800. www.maitlandreptheatre.org Seussical KIDS by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, based on the books of Dr. Seuss. Hunter Drama. Apr 26 - 30. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Mapping the Lake. Tantrum Youth Arts. Apr 28 - 30. Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery gardens, Booragul. tantrum.org.au Two Weddings, One Bride by Ronert Greene. Opera Australia. Apr 29 - Oct 22. Playhouse, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 7777. Puppetry of the Penis. A-List Entertainment. Apr 29. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Just $40 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Queensland Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by Peter Combe. Brisbane Arts Theatre. Until Mar 25. (07) 3369 2344. Back to the 80’s by Neil Gooding. Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport. Until Mar 4. (07) 5532 2096. The Flick by Annie Baker. Queensland Theatre. Until Mar 5. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. 1800 355 528. Saturday Night Fever. Music & Lyrics: The Bee Gees. Book: Robert Stigwood assisted by Bill Oaks. New Version arranged and edited by Ryan McBride. Spotlight Theatrical Co., Benowa. Until Mar 4. (07) 5539 4255. Single Asian Female by Michelle Law. La Boite. Until Mar 4. Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove. (07) 3007 8600. American Idiot by Bill Joe Armstrong. Playhouse, QPAC. Continuing. 136 246.

The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. New Farm Nash Theatre. Until Mar 18. Merthyr Rd Uniting Church. (07) 3379 4775. Siren by David Williamson. Mousetrap Theatre, Redcliffe. Until Mar 11. (07) 3888 3493. The Sleeping Beauty. Australian Ballet. Until Mar 4. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 136 246. Don’t Dress For Dinner by Marc Camoletti. Rondo Theatre, Cairns. Until Mar 4. 1300 855 835. The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow, Brisbane Arts Theatre. Until Apr 1. (07) 3369 2344. Australia Day by Jonathan Biggins. Toowoomba Repertory. Until Mar 4. (07) 4632 8058. Don’t Dress For Dinner by Marc Camoletti. Rondo Theatre, Cairns. Until Mar 4. 1300 855 835. Jurassic Park The Musical by Aaron Holmes/Phillip Malcolm.

Queensland Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Until Apr 24. (07) 3369 2344. Calendar Girls by Tim Firth. Villanova Players. F.T. Barrel Auditorium. Until Mar 12. (07) 3395 5168. Murderers by Jeffrey Hatcher. Centenary Theatre Group. Mar 4 -25. 0435 591 720. An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley. Ipswich Little Theatre. Mar 8-25. (07) 3812 2389. Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe. Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre Company. Mar 8 - 11. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. 136 246. Constellations by Nick Payne. Qld Theatre. Bille Brown Studio, Brisbane. Mar 9 - Apr 9. 1800 355 528. Short and Dangerous - One Act Play Season. Gold Coast Little Theatre. Mar 9 - 12. (07) 5532 2096. My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Opera

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Australia & John Frost. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. Mar 14 - Apr 30. 136 246. RAW. Qld Ballet. Mar 17 - 25. Playhouse, QPAC. 136246 Sylvia by A.R. Gurney. Coolum Theatre Players. Mar 17 - 26. (07) 5446 2500. Third Week in August by Peter Gordon. Sunnybank Theatre Group. Mar 24 - Apr 8. (07) 3345 3964. Sweet Road by Debra Oswald. Javeenbah Theatre, Nerang. Mar 24 - Apr 8. (07) 5596 0300. Boyband - The Musical. Spotlight Theatrical Company, Gold Coast. Mar 24 - Apr 9. (07) 5539 4255. Wicked. Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz, Book: Winnie Holzman. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Mar 31 Apr 9. 1300 655 299. Back to the 80’s by Neil Goodling. Redcliffe Musical

Stage Whispers 63

On Stage Theatre. Mar 31 - Apr 9. 0488 103 759. Spotlight on Broadway. Savoyards. Star Theatre, Wynham. Apr 2. (07) 3893 4321. The 13-Storey Treehouse by Richard Tulloch. Apr 5 - 9. Playhouse, QPAC. 136 246. Oliver! by Lionel Bart. Noosa Arts Theatre. Apr 6 - 23. (07) 5449 9343. Minefields and Miniskirts by Terence O’Connell. Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Apr 8 - 29. (07) 3369 2344. The Wizard of Oz. Music: Harold Arlen. Lyrics: E.Y. Harburg. Book: adapted by John Kane (for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Gateway Theatre Productions, Caloundra. Apr 8 11. 0458 020 370. Model Citizens. Circus Oz. Apr 12 - 15. Playhouse, QPAC. 136 246. Paw Patrol Live! - Race to the Rescue. Convention & Exhibition

64 Stage Whispers

Queensland & Victoria

Centre, Brisbane. Apr 13 - 15. http://bit.ly/2khP43E Untapped. Raw Dance Company. Apr 19 - 29. Playhouse, QPAC 136246. Cosi by Louis Nowra. Beenleigh Theatre Group. Apr 21 - May 6. (07) 3807 3922. 25thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin. Prima. Sandgate Town Hall. Apr 21 29. 0431 563 739. One For The Road by Willy Russell. Rondo Theatre, Cairns Little Theatre. Apr 21-29. 1300 855 835. Broadway Blockbusters in Concert. Tweed Theatre Company. Apr 21 - 30. 1800 674 414. Once In Royal David’s City by Michael Gow. Qld Theatre. Playhouse, QPAC. Apr 22 - May 14. 1800 355 528. Annie by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan. Phoenix Ensemble,

Beenleigh, Apr 28 - May 8. (07) 3103 1546. Golden Moments of Opera. Toowoomba Philharmonic Society. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Apr 29 - 30. (07) 4636 3072. Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring. Mousetrap Theatre Company, Redcliffe. Apr 29 May 13. (07) 3888 3493. Victoria Kinky Boots. Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. Book by Harvey Fierstein. Until Mar 26. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. 1300 558 878. The Book of Mormon. Book, Music and Lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Ongoing. Princess Theatre, Melbourne. BookOfMormonMusical.com.au The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence in

association with David Atkins Enterprises and ABA International Touring. Until Mar 19. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. Ticketmaster. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Australian Shakespeare Company (ASC). Until Mar 4. Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne - enter through Observatory Gate on Birdwood Avenue. (03) 8676 7511. www.shakespeareaustralia.com.au The Way Things Work by Aidan Fenessy. Red Stitch Actors Theatre. Until Mar 5. Rear, 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East. (03) 9533 8083. John by Annie Baker. Melbourne Theatre Company. Until Mar 25. Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. (03) 8688 0800. Face to Face by David Williamson. Brighton Theatre Company. Until Mar 4. BTC Theatre, Cnr Wilson & Carpenter Streets, Brighton. 1300 752 126.

Just $40 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley. Mordialloc Theatre Co. Inc. Until Mar 4. Shirley Burke Theatre, Parkdale. (03) 9587 5141. Counting Sparrows by Alison Campbell Rate. Malvern Theatre Company Inc. Until Mar 4. 1300 131 552. Australia Day by Jonathan Biggins. Heidelberg Theatre Co. Until Mar 4. (03) 9457 4117. The Homosexuals, Or Faggots. Declan Greene. Sisters Grimm / Griffin / Malthouse Theatre. Until Mar 12. Merlyn Theatre. (03) 9685 5111. Little Gem by Elaine Murphy. The Mount Players. Until Mar 11. Mountview Theatre, Macedon. (03) 5426 1892. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Eltham Little Theatre. Until Mar 5. Eltham Performing Arts Centre. 0411 713 095. Steptoe and Son. Based on the scripts by Ray Galton and Alan

Simpson. The 1812 Theatre. Until Mar 18. (03) 9758 3964. Outside Edge by Richard Harris. The Basin Theatre Group. Until Mar 18. 1300 784 668 between 7pm and 9pm. The Full Monty by Terrence McNally and David Yazbek. Stage Art. Mar 2 - 19. The National Theatre, St Kilda. www.stageart.com.au Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee. Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group (STAG). Mar 2 - 12. (03) 9382 6284. Absent Friends by Alan Ayckbourn. Lilydale Athenæum Theatre Company Inc. Mar 2 18. (03) 9735 1777. A Chorus Line. Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban and a book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Beaumaris Theatre Inc. Mar 3 - 18. (03) 9583 6896. The Novello Years by Ivor Novello. Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Victoria. 3pm on Mar 4 &

Victoria 5. “The Knowe”, 4 Clarkmont Road, Sassafras. 0490 465 009. Faith Healer by Brian Friel. Melbourne Theatre Company. Mar 4 - Apr 8. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. (03) 8688 0800. Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon. Shepparton Arts Theatre Group. Mar 4 - 12. Bakehouse Black Box. G’day Habibi by Danielle Faour. The Butterfly Club. Mar 7 - 12. (03) 9663 8107. The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. Foster Arts Music & Drama Association (FAMDA). Mar 9 - 24. Foster War Memorial Arts Centre. 0418 342 445 or (03) 5682 2077. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Music and lyrics by Richard and Robert Sherman with book by Jeremy Sams. Licensed script adapted by Ray Broderick. CenterStage Geelong. Mar 10 - 18. Geelong Performing Arts Centre. (03) 5225 1200. Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Gemco Players. Mar 10 - 25. The Gem Community Theatre. 0411 723 530. The Japanese Princess by Saint Saëns. Lyric Opera of Melbourne. Mar 11 - 18. Chapel Off Chapel. (03) 8290 7000. The Sleeping Beauty by Ottorino Respighi and Gian Bistolfi. Victorian Opera. Mar 11 - 18. Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183. Rules For Living by Sam Holcroft. Red Stitch Actors Theatre. Mar 14 - Apr 16. Rear, 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East. (03) 9533 8083. Cleave by Colleen Burke. The Butterfly Club. Mar 14 - 19. (03) 9663 8107. H.M.S. Pinafore by Gilbert & Sullivan. Melbourne Opera. Mar 14 - 18. The Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne. Ticketek. Piece For Person And Ghetto Blaster by Nicola Gunn. Malthouse Theatre. Mar 15 26. Beckett Theatre. (03) 9685 5111.

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The Gospel According to Matthew by Matthew Semple. The Butterfly Club. Mar 15 - 19. (03) 9663 8107. The Cheese Girls. The Butterfly Club. Mar 15 - 19. (03) 9663 8107. Curtains by Rupert Holmes, Fred Ebb and John Kander. SLAMS Music Theatre Company. Mar 17 - 25. The Alan Ross Centre, Billanook College, Mooroolbark. (03) 9720 3205. Shakespeare in Saigon by Cenarth Fox. Encore Theatre Company Inc. Mar 17 - Apr 1. Clayton Community Centre. 1300 739 099. Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling. Sherbrooke Theatre Company Inc. Mar 17 - 31. 1300 650 209. Faster. The Australian Ballet. Mar 17 - 27. State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183. Salmon for Breakfast. The Butterfly Club. Mar 21 - 26. (03) 9663 8107. Franky Winehouse by Ashleigh Kreveld. The Butterfly Club. Mar 23 - 26. (03) 9663 8107. Melbourne International Comedy Festival - March 29 to April 23. www.comedyfestival.com.au Madagascar by J.T Rogers. Essendon Theatre Company. Mar 30 - Apr 6. 0422 029 483. SOAP. Mar 30 - Apr 22. Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse. (03) 9685 5111 The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. Frankston Theatre Group. Mar 31 - Apr 9. Mt Eliza Community Centre. frankstontheatregroup.org.au Jake’s Women by Neil Simon. ARK Theatre. Apr 1 - 8. Lilydale Heights College Performing Arts Centre. 0491 151 340. Storytime Ballet: The Nutcracker. Australian Ballet. Frankston Arts Centre, Apr 1 - 3; The Clocktower Centre, Apr 7 8; Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Apr 11 - 13. australianballet.com.au Stage Whispers 65

On Stage High School Musical Jr. Book by David Simpatico. Catchment Players of Darebin. Apr 7 - 9. Banyule Theatre, Heidelberg. catchmentplayers.org.au 9 to 5 The Musical. Music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, book by Patricia Resnick, based on the screenplay by Resnick and Colin Higgin. Fab Nobs Theatre. Apr 7 - 22. www.fabnobstheatre.com.au PAW Patrol Live! - Race To The Rescue. Based on the hit animated Nickelodeon TV series produced by Spin Master. Apr 8 & 9. Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne. http://bit.ly/2khP43E Three Little Words by Joanna Murray-Smith, Melbourne Theatre Company. Apr 18 - May 27. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. (03) 8688 0800. Joan by Kate Davis and Emma Valente. Theatre Works and The Rabble. Apr 20 - 30. Theatre Works. (03) 9534 3388.

66 Stage Whispers

Victoria & Tasmania

Is There Life After High School. Book by Jeffrey Kindley and music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia. PEP Productions. Apr 20 - 29. Doncaster Playhouse. pepproductions.org.au When I Was Five by Jeff Baron. Williamstown Little Theatre. Apr 20 - May 6. (03) 9885 9678. Strands by Peta Brady. The 1812 Theatre. Apr 20 - May13. (03) 9758 3964. Richard III by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Apr 20 - May 7. Fairfax Studio. Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183. The One Day of the Year by Alan Seymour. Mordialloc Theatre Company. Apr 21 - May 6. Shirley Burke Theatre, Parkdale. (03) 9587 5141. Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Apr 21 - 24. Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

High Society. Book by Arthur Kopit. Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Malvern Theatre Company Inc. Apr 21 - May 6. 1300 131 552. The Realistic Jonses by Will Eno. Red Stitch Actors Theatre. Apr 25 - May 28. Rear, 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East. (03) 9533 8083. Pride and Prejudice by Simon Reade, based on the novel by Jane Austen. Heidelberg Theatre Co. Apr 28 - May 13. (03) 9457 4117. Seussical by Lyn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Panorama Theatre Co. Apr 21 - 30. Frankston Arts Centre. (03) 9784 1060. Carmen, Live or Dead by Craig Harwood and Natalie Gamsu. The Butterfly Club. Apr 25 - 30. (03) 9663 8107. Checklist for an Armed Robber by Vanessa Bates. Off The Leash Productions. Apr 29, Richmond Theatrette; May 5 - 7, Old

Drouin Butter Factory; May 12, Traralgon VRI Hall; May 13, Stratford Courthouse Theatre. The Savages of Wirramai by Sandy Fairthorne. Geelong Repertory Theatre Company. Apr 28 - May 13. (03) 5225 1200. Tasmania The Hound of the Baskervilles. Adapted by Steven Canny & John Nicholson. Hobart Rep. Feb 24 - Mar 11. Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. (03) 6234 5998. Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire. Encore Theatre Company. Mar 3 - 18. Princess Theatre, Launceston. (03) 6323 3666. You and Me and the Space Between by Finegan Kruckemeyer. Terrapin Puppet Theatre. Mar 16 - 18. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666.

Just $40 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage The Season by Nathan Maynard. Ten Days on the Island / Tasmania Performs. Mar 16 19. Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). White Snake. Ten Days on the Island and Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. Mar 21. Princess Theatre, Launceston, (03) 6323 3666 & Mar 24 & 25, Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). Exposing Edith. I’ll Wager Productions. Mar 23. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666. Fragile Matter. Tasdance and Theatre North at the Princess, in association with Ten Days on the Island. Mar 24. Princess Theatre, Launceston. (03) 6323 3666. The Frock. Graeme Murphy and MADE, in association with Ten Days on the Island. Mar 24 & 25. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666. Anh Do - The Happiest Refugee. A List Entertainment. Mar 30. Princess Theatre, Launceston, (03) 6323 3666 & Apr 1, Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow. Mar 30. Princess Theatre, Launceston. (03) 6323 3666. Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain. Hamley Productions. Apr 5 - 8. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666. Swan Lake. Moscow Ballet La Classique. Apr 8. Princess Theatre, Launceston, (03) 6323 3666 & Apr 5 & 6, Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). Hello, Beautiful! by Hannie Rayson. Gasworks Ars Park. Apr 8, Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). A Vicar of Dibley Christmas The Second Coming by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter. Adapted from the original TV

Tasmania, South Australia and W.A.

series by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer. John X and Graeme Paine. Apr 13 - 29. Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. (03) 6234 5998. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666. Mr Stink. By Maryam Master, based on the book by David Walliams. CDP Kids. Apr 19 20. Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). Loose Ends by Jens Altheimer. Apr 27 - 29. Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 (for freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277). South Australia Adelaide Fringe. Continues until March 19. Multiple venues. www.adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix Adelaide Festival of Arts. March 2 - 19. Various venues. www.adelaidefestival.com.au Lanza Sings Again. Mar 4. Country Arts SA. Hopgood Theatre. http://bit.ly/2khURX6 or (08) 7009 4400. Shakespeare’s Menage A Trois. The Raw Shakespeare Project. The Singing Gallery McLaren Vale, Mar 17 & 18 and Brick+Mortar, Mar 10 & 11. www.rawshakespeareproject.com.au The Pajama Game by George Abbott & Richard Bissell. Music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Northern Light Theatre Company. Mar 24 - Apr 8. Shedley Theatre. www.northernlight.org.au/tickets The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence in association with David Atkins Enterprises and ABA International Touring. Mar 28 Apr 2. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide. 131 246. Laying the Ghost by Simon Williams. Tea Tree Players. Mar 29 - Apr 8. Tea Tree Players Theatre. www.teatreeplayers.com Long Tan by Verity Laughton. Brink Productions in association with Adelaide Festival Centre

and State Theatre Company. Mar 31 - Apr 8. Space Theatre. 131 246. The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Apr 6 - 22. The Arts Theatre. www.adelaiderep.com Cavalleria Rusticana / I Pagliacci. State Opera of South Australia. Apr 19 - 22. Festival Theatre. 131 246. Playing Sinatra by Bernard Kops. Barossa Players. Apr 20 - 22. Barossa Arts and Convention Centre. (08) 8561 4299. www.barossaconvention.org Before the Party by Rodney Ackland. Independent Theatre. Apr 21 - 29. Goodwood Institute Theatre. www.independenttheatre.org.au Mr Burns (A Post Electric Play). State Theatre Company of SA. Apr 22 - May 13. Space Theatre. BASS. Storytime Ballet: The Nutcracker. Australian Ballet. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Apr 27 30. australianballet.com.au Mame. Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Gilbert & Sullivan Society of SA. Apr 29 - May 6. The Arts Theatre. www.gandssa.com.au Western Australia Matilda by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin. Royal Shakespeare Company. Until May 7. Musical based on the book by Roald Dahl. Crown Theatre Perth. http://bit.ly/2khQ9ZC Snakes and Ladders by Tony Moore, KADS. Until Mar 19. Australian play. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda. Lucky Charm Newsagency, Kalamunda Shopping Centre. (08) 9257 2668. Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson. Wanneroo Repertory. Until Mar 4. Set in Hollywood in 1939. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo. 0499 954 016. Gentlemen Incorporated by Deborah Mulhull. Darlington Theatre Players, Until Mar 11.

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Marloo Theatre, Greenmount, (08) 9255 1783. Meeting by Antony Hamilton & Alisdair Macindoe. Antony Hamilton Project & PIAF. Mar 14. Synchronised Meeting of minds and machine. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA. Ticketek 132 849. The Manginyar Classroom by Roysten Abel. Cain and Abel Theatres, Bhoomija Trust & PIAF. Mar 1 - 4. School of Rock Indian folk styl. Regal Theatre, Subiaco. Ticketek 132 849. Calvin Berger by Barry Wyner. Roleystone Theatre. Mar 10-25. Musical based on Cyrano de Bergerac. Roleystone Theatre, Brookton Hwy, Roleystone. (08) 9367 5730. Pardon Me, Prime Minister by Edward Taylor & John Graham. Harbour Theatre. Mar 10 - 19. British farce Camelot, Mosman Park. Taz Tix www.taztix.com.au The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin. Midnite Youth Theatre Company. Mar 15 - 18. Musical comedy. Subiaco Arts Centre. Ticketek 132 849. The Blind Giant is Dancing by Stephen Sewell. WAAAPA 2nd Year Acting Students. Mar 17 23. Australian Political Drama. Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley. (08) 9370 6636. The Tempest by William Shakespeare. WAAAPA 3rd Year Acting Students. Mar 17 - 23. Free event. The Courtyard, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth. Lord of the Flies by William Golding adapted by Nigel Williams. WAAAPA 2nd Year Music Theatre Students. Mar 17 - 23. Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley. (08) 9370 6636. Cinderella by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Iona Presentation School. Mar 17 - 19. Family musical. Regal Theatre, Subiaco. Ticketek 132 849. Stage Whispers 67

On Stage

Western Australia & New Zealand

The Mozart Factor by Kate Rice. Melville Theatre. Apr 8 - 22. Show set around a community choir. Melville Theatre, Palmyra. (08) 9330 4565. It Runs in the Family by Ray Cooney. Wanneroo Repertory Club. Apr 20 - 29. farce set in a hospital. Limelight Theatre, Civic Dve, Wanneroo. (08) 9571 8591. Design for Living by Noël Coward. Old Mill Theatre. Apr 21 - May 6. 1930s comedy directed by Barry Park. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth. (08) 9367 8719. Love Me Slender by Vanessa Brooks. KADS. Apr 21 - May 13. Comedy set in a slimming club. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda. (08) 9257 2668. The Lighthouse Girl by Hellie Turner. Black Swan State Theatre Company. Apr 28 -May 14. Set in 1914 in WA. Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of Western Australia. 132 849. KOOZA. Cirque du Soleil. Apr 30 - May 7. Under the Grand Chapiteau, Crown Perth. www.ticketmaster.com.au New Zealand Ropable. By Ross Gumbley & Allison Horsley, based on Rope by Patrick Hamilton. Until Mar 4. The Court Theatre, Christchurch. (03) 963 0870. My Dad’s Boy by Finnius Christina sings “Total Eclipse Of The Teppett. Fortune Theatre Co., Heart” as Adele and 18 other divas. Dunedin. Until Mar 4. (03) 477 https://youtu.be/C3DlDPeurRw 8323. As You Like It by William Shakespeare. Summer That Face by Polly Stenham. Rob Whitehead. Garrick Theatre, Tosca by Puccini. The West Shakespeare. Until Mar 11. Old Stirling Players. Mar 17 - Apr 1. Guildford. (08) 9378 1990. Australian Opera. Mar 28 - Apr Arts Plaza, Auckland. 0508 484 Drama directed by Sharon 8. To honour or betray? His The Real McCoy by Tommy 253. Greenock. Stirling Theatre, Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. Marren. Irish Theatre Players. The Merchant of Venice by Innaloo. (08) 9440 1040. Ticketek 132 849. Mar 23 - Apr 7. Directed by William Shakespeare. Butterfly Heathers - The Musical by Kevin Denice Byrne. Irish Club, Genesis. New choreographers. Creek Theatre Troupe. Until Mar Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe. Subiaco. West Australian Ballet. Mar 29 4. WAAAPA 3rd Year Musical www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au Apr 1. New work. The WA Ballet Theatre Students. Mar 18 - 25. Once in Royal David’s City by Centre, Maylands, Ticketek 132 The Pink Hammer by Michele Amas. Howick Little Theatre. Musical based on the cult fil. Michael Gow. Black Swan State 849. Until Mar 18. (09) 361 1000. Geoff Gibbs Theatre, WAAPA, Theatre Centre. Mar 25 - Apr 9. Swan Lake. Moscow Ballet ‘La Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. Edith Cowan University, Mt WA Premiere set at Christmas. Classique’. Apr 1. Classical Abbey Musical Theatre. Mar 2 Lawley. Heath Ledger Theatre, State romance. Regal Theatre, 18. The Auditorium, Centennial Cinderella. Garrick Theatre. Mar Theatre Centre of Western Subiaco. Ticketek 132 849. Drive. (06) 355 0499. 23 - Apr 8. Fairytale directed by Australia. Ticketek 132 849.

Christina Bianco performs her solo show Diva Moments at The Alex Theatre, St Kilda in March 2017. www.alextheatrestk.com

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68 Stage Whispers

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On Stage The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare. Manawatu Summer Shakespeare 2017. Mar 2 - 11. Victoria Esplenade Gardens, Palmerston North. We May Have to Choose by Emma Hall. BATS Theatre, Wellington. Mar 2 - 11. Spirit Level by Pam Valentine. Dolphin Theatre, Auckland. Mar 3 - 18. (09) 636 7322. Peer Gynt (recycled) by Eli Kent. Auckland Theatre Company. Mar 7 - 18. ASB Waterfront Theatre. (09) 309 3395. Miss Jean Batten by Phil Ormsby. Faxworks / WTF! Women’s Theatre Festival. Mar 7 - 11. Circa Theatre, Wellington. (04) 801 7992. iD by Cirque Éloize. Mar 8 - 12. Civic Theatre, Auckland. (09) 951 2501. La Soirée. Auckland Arts Festival. Mar 8 - 26. Spiegeltent, Aotea Square, Auckland. (09) 951 2501. The Biggest by Jamie McCaskill. Tikapa Productions. Auckland Arts Festival. Mar 9 - 19. Q Rangatira. (09) 951 2501. Expect The Unexpected. A Cabaret with a difference. Auckland Music Theatre. Mar 9 - 18. iTICKET. Mary Poppins. Music & Lyrics: Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman. Additional Music & Lyrics: George Stiles & Anthony Drewe. Book: Julian Fellowes. Napier Operatic Society. Mar 10 - 25. Napier Municipal Theatre. www.napieroperatic.org.nz An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan. Thames Music and Drama. Mar 10 - 14. www.thamesmad.co One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. Nelson Repertory Theatre. Mar 10 - 18. Theatre Royal Nelson. (03) 548 3840. Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill. Circa Theatre, Wellington. Mar 10 - Apr 8. Circa 2. (04) 801 7992. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare. Stagecraft Theatre, Wellington. Mar 15 25. www.stagecraft.co.nz

The Encounter. Inspired by the book, Amazon Beaming, by Petru Popescu. Complicite / Auckand Arts Festival. Mar 15 19. ASB Theatre, Auckland. (09) 951 2501. Boys at the Beach by Alison Quigan and Ross Gumbley. Ellerslie Theatrical Society, Auckland. Mar 16 - 25. Stables Theatre, Auckland. iTICKET. School Dance by Matthew Whittet. Centrepoint Theatre, Palmerston North. Mar 18 - 29. (06) 354 5740. The Time of My Life by Alan Ayckbourn. Cambridge Repertory Society. Mar 18 - Apr 1. www.cambridgerepertory.org.nz The Vicar of Dibley by Ian Gower from the original TV series by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer. Titirangi Theatre. Mar 21 - Apr 1. www.titirangitheatre.co.nz Horror by Jakop Ahlbom. Auckland Arts Festival / Jakop Ahlbom Company. Mar 21 - 27. The Civic, Auckland. (09) 951 2501. The Wedding of the Century by Devon Williamson. Detour Theatre, Tauranga. Mar 22 - Apr 8. iTICKET The Bone Feeder. A new opera, scored by Gareth Farr and written by Renee Liang. NZ Opera / Auckland Arts Festival. Mar 23 - 26. ASB Waterfront Theatre. (09) 951 2501. Priscillla Queen of the Desert by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott. Showbiz Christchurch. Mar 24 Apr 8. Isaac Theatre Royal. 0800 TICKETEK Weed by Anthony McCarten. Company Theatre, Auckland. Mar 25 - Apr 8. (09) 445 9900. Magdalena of Mangere by Louise Tu’u. We Should Practice. Mar 29 - Apr 1. Mangere Arts Centre. 0800 BUY TIX (289 849). Play On by Rick Abbott. Wellington Repertory Theatre. Apr 5 - 15. (04) 479 3393. Rock of Ages. Book: Chris D’Arienzo. Music & Lyrics:

New Zealand

Auditions Place your audition notice in our next edition. Email stagews@stagewhispers.com.au or call (03) 9758 4522

Classic rock songs. Tauranga Musical Theatre Inc. Apr 14 29. iTICKET. Peter Pan. Marlborough Children’s and Youth Theatre. Apr 18 - 20. ASB Theatre Malborough. (03) 520 8560. The 13-Storey Treehouse by Richard Tulloch, from the book by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton. Apr 18 - 22, Bruce Mason Centre, Auckland; Apr 26 & 27, Clarence St Theatre, Hamilton; Apr 30, Baycourt Community and Arts Centre, Tauranga, May 4, Turner Centre, Kerikeri and May 5, Forum North, Whangerai. All This Intimacy by Rajiv Joseph. Elmwood Players. Apr 19 - 29. Elmwood Auditorium, Merivale. (03) 355 8874. A Chorus Line. Music: Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics: Edward Kleban. Book: James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante. Apr 19 - 23. Regent on Broadway, Palmerston North. 0800 224 224.

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The Jungle Book. Based on Rudyard Kipling’s classic, adapted and directed by Jason Moffat. Mairangi Players, Auckland. Apr 21 - 29. TheatreWorks. www.mairangiplayers.co.nz Anything Goes. Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter. Book: P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse. East Otago Musical Theatre. Apr 24 - 29. The Sound of Music. Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. North Canterbury Musical Society. Apr 27 - May 13. Rangiora Town Hall. iTICKET The Wizard of Oz. Whangarei Theatre Company. Apr 28 - May 13. www.whangareitheatrecompany.org.nz Last Legs by Roger Hall. Fortune Theatre Co., Dunedin. Apr 29 May 27. (03) 477 8323.

Stage Whispers 69

Ryan Bondy (centre) as Elder Price, A.J. Holmes (far right), as Elder Cunningham and the company in the Australian premiere of The Book Of Mormon at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne. Photo: Jeff Busby.

Reviews: Premieres

The Book of Mormon Book, Music and Lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Directed by Trey Parker and Casey Nicholaw. Princess Theatre Melbourne - Opening Night, Feb 4. LET me start with the tagline: The Book Of Mormon Is Quite Simply The Funniest Musical Of All Time. This marvellous piece of buffoonery, for all it’s crudity and brashness, is warm, endearing, positive and has a terrific score. It’s a collaboration made in Latter Day Heaven. Make no mistake, this is not just a series of gags - this is a finely crafted show where the book never puts a foot wrong, and the musical score carefully underpins every character transition. Canadian Ryan Bondy has the leading man role of Elder Price, and is excellent, with a fine voice and plenty of stage presence, but he’s at the mercy of the astonishing A.J Holmes as Arnold, Elder Cunningham. Holmes possesses an arsenal of physical comic skills, along with impeccable timing and a warmth and vulnerability that make him endearing to every member of the audience. He also has an amazingly flexible voice with a very pretty head register. The unexpected star of the night is Zahra Newman, who leads the local cast (and what a cast it is). An award winning dramatic actress, she brings an extra dimension to what might have been a paper-thin character in Nabalungi, but it’s her singing voice which blew us all away. She has enough chest register to belt a number and the sweetness of tone to deliver the prettiest melody. 70 Stage Whispers

The marvellous versatility and experience of Bert LaBonte (Mafala) adds an extra dimension to what could have been just another two-dimensional African character. Rowan Witt is ‘wonderfully witty’ and ‘gorgeously gay’ as Elder McKinley and his ‘Turn It Off’ number is an absolute showstopper. Andrew Broadbent is fine in a number of roles, but totally wonderful as John Smith. Kellie Dickerson, surely our finest Musical Director, has once again assembled a group of musicians who knock our socks off. Scott Pask’s set is fabulous and keeps transition time to an absolute minimum, while Anne Roth’s wonderful, and perfectly reflective of the content, costumes show why the designer is a Musical Theatre icon. Casey Nicholaw is co-director, but it’s his choreography that delights at every turn and step-ball-change. It’s crisp, cheesy and camp - in other words, just perfect. And so is the show. Coral Drouyn The Testament of Mary By Colm Tóibín. Sydney Theatre Company. Wharf 1 Theatre. Jan 13 - Feb 25. WE all love the real story behind the myth and surely no character is more encoded, more encrusted with ritual, than that of the Mother of God! Famed Irish writer Colm Tóibín has Mary literally stepping down from her plinth, discarding her sacred props and stripping down to a T shirt. In short scenes broken by deep blackouts, Alison Whyte speaks directly to us from the roped-off, black and marble steps of Elizabeth Gadsby’s set.

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Online extras! Discover Huff with Playwright and Performer Cliff Cardinal. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/o5HyPTECgsY Cliff Cardinal in Huff at the 2017 Sydney Festival. Photo: Jamie Williams.

Adoring her son but discarded from his adult life, she travels to Cana to warn Jesus of danger. She has no time for his now fine robes, his dysfunctional disciples and his highfalutin’ words. Toibin’s easy prose totally engages as Mary tells the story of Lazarus and witnesses, but is unconvinced by the marriage trick of water to wine. Whyte excellently paces her emotional heat rising to the final agony of the Crucifixion. Later, Mary can’t abide the false proselytizing of men about the Resurrection or, she sniggers, the Virgin Birth! Mary’s testament is firmly in the real world, the perspective of a mother and a woman made cynical. Whyte is forthright and convincing in that humanity while also hinting at an icon in the making. Indeed, Toibin’s play left me wanting more of her insight and character, more flesh on the bones of his very plausible counterfiction. Director Imara Savage also keeps Mary’s command of the stage overly still. Martin Portus Huff Playwright/Performer: Cliff Cardinal. Native Earth Performing Arts (Canada). Sydney Festival. Australian Exclusive. Director/Dramaturg: Karin Randoja. Seymour Centre. Jan 24 - 28. GROWING up on an indigenous reservation in Canada is not much different, it seems, from growing up on similar reservations anywhere. Isolated from the mainstream by legislation, distance and lack of opportunity, some adults

turn to drink and abuse. Kids ‘huff’ (sniff) gasoline and find secret places in which to hide from the realities of a dysfunctional world. But wherever they go the ‘Trickster’ bad luck, misfortune, adversity - follows them. Cliff Cardinal blends the realities of tribal beliefs and mysticism with forced segregation and assimilation in this heart-wrenching story of brothers trapped in a barrage of abuse and hardship following the death of their mother. They cling together, trying to sustain each other, but gradually give in to the darkness that creeps after neglect, addiction and despair. Cardinal writes economically yet with graphic, haunting realism. The characters he creates he inhabits skilfully, moving from one to another with fluid clarity and lithe delineation. The brothers become a beautiful mother, a drunken father, an unwilling stepmother. An aged grandmother hobbling on a walking stick morphs into a gurgling, odorous skunk. Though tempered with some humour, and buoyed by the immediacy and intimacy of Cardinal’s performance, this is a harsh tale of abuse and neglect. It is, however, a tale that needs to be told, often, and as vividly as Cardinal does. Carol Wimmer Odd Man Out By David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Jan 24 - Mar 18. ACCORDING to Wikipedia, this is the 48th play that David Williamson has unleashed upon us. Not to mention his 24 or so screenplays.

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Stage Whispers 71

Odd Man Out belongs to the growing group of Williamson plays dealing with ‘social psychology’. Here is a caring nurse Alice (Lisa Gormley) falling in love with a fullon Asbergers sufferer Ryan (Justin Stewart Cotta) - a computer genius with no capacity to play the niceties (and idiocies) of modern living. In this mismatch made in Hell everything goes wrong. And it’s only at the half-way stage that Alice realises the dimensions of the task in front of her. She can cue him to do the right thing but he must at all times be receptive to her promptings. In a plain acting area with six separate seats (designer Anna Gardiner), director Mark Kilmurry makes the action hurtle along and a dedicated cast join in. Lisa Gormley’s warm smile lights up the action and Justin Stewart Cotta presents a portrait of singular difficulty, a brilliant man without any capacity to join in daily life. At other times, on a bus or at a restaurant, the stage appears packed with life. Rachel Gordon gives a good account of Alice’s bossy friend Carla, and Gael Ballantyne plays two mothers, Alice’s concerned Mum and Ryan’s deeply troubled Mum who says, with huge understatement, that ‘Ryan has difficulties with company.’ Lighting is particularly crucial and Christopher Page keeps the characters at all times separate. It’s a touchy subject for light comedy but Williamson makes the most of things, packing the evening with plenty of laughs. Frank Hatherley

after school officials had contacted the police re the boy’s behaviour also raises questions about the shooting. Nonetheless, Tony comes across as a sympathetic figure, whose life is blighted more by the words and actions of others than by his own behaviour. Phil McGrath and Tony Anthony provided lighthearted comic moments as two police officers who do a newspaper quiz each day before starting an afternoon shift, and the other actors likewise came across as down-to-earth figures, with Karen Lantry seen principally as the police superintendent who tries to help Tony through his postshooting trauma, while still maintaining policing regulations, and Georgia Hicks-Jones as the girl Luke wrote his love poem for. Matt Bailey, Will Parker and Matthew L. Heys, in multiple roles, made their characters down-toearth. Ken Longworth

Fly By Night By Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock. Hunter TAFE Regional Institute of Performing Arts. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. Dec 15 - 17. FLY By Night, written by a trio of Yale University drama graduates, is a musical that looks at ordinary people in everyday situations. But as this Australian premiere production showed, their lives capture the emotions of audience members. The story covers the year leading to a massive blackout that hit New York in November, 1965, with that event impacting on the lives of the characters. And the soft-rock Post songs let those people reflect on their lives. There’s a lively By Jerry Bowden and Ann Croger. Upstage Theatre and The duet, for example, between young sandwich maker Harold Lock-up. The Lock-Up, Newcastle. Feb 8 - 18. McClam (Jackson Vaughan) and his boss, Crabble (Bradley JERRY Bowden, a policeman for the past 24 years, and Hall), in which the repetition of the words “mayonnaise, Ann Croger, the artistic director of Upstage, jointly wrote meat, cheese and lettuce” brings out their respective and directed this engrossing drama which looks at the frustrations. Likewise, Miriam (Caitlin Denton and impact the shooting of a knife-wielding 16-year-old male Chauntelle O’Brien alternating), a young woman from has on the police officer who fired the gun, those around South Dakota who has accompanied would-be actress sister him and the teen’s family and friends. Daphne (Leanne Sewell) to New York, reminisces movingly The roofed exercise yard in what was once Newcastle’s about her late father’s belief that humans are created by central police station was an appropriate setting for the falling stars. play, with the 11 actors, most of whom played two or three Director David Brown kept the story moving briskly roles, making swift offstage changes of garb. And while the along, with Joel Mews’ adroit suit-clad narrator setting the threatening teenager, Luke, is never shown, the comments scene for encounters and changing relationships, as Harold made about him by school mates, a girl who has ignored falls in love with both sisters. The actors from Hunter TAFE’s his advances, and his mother tell the watchers a lot about advanced acting and music theatre courses, who also his character. included Jayden Gobbe-Bezzina as a passionate playwright, The story covers several years, moving backwards and Joey Storms, Ryan Bates as Harold’s recently widowed forwards in time. The audience sees, for example, the father, and Stephanie Hallam in various roles, ensured that reactions of the gun-carrying policeman, Tony Montabello watchers would not make an early flight from the theatre. (Tim Moran), and the accompanying policewoman, Jane Hunter TAFE’s Regional Institute of Performing Arts has (Emily Daly), to Luke threatening to stab Jane in a shopping used its end-of-year show slot in recent years to give centre. There is also a moving meeting in a park years later audiences the chance to see good musicals that otherwise between Tony’s wife, Nicole (Jasmine Ashley) and Luke’s might not be produced in Australia. Hopefully, with many mother (Fyona Coulton), where the conversation between TAFE courses currently going through change, the musical the two, unaware of each other’s identities, shows how premieres will continue. their lives have been affected post the incident. And the Ken Longworth fact that Tony had been sent to Luke’s school to talk to him 72 Stage Whispers

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Online extras! Check out a trailer for King Roger. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/ifCCPa8j5ss King Roger. Photo: Keith Saunders.

King Roger By Karol Szymanowski and Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz. Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Jan 20 - Feb 15. CONCEIVED by Karol Szymanowski and his co-librettist Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz , King Roger was first performed in 1926. It comes to Australia for the first time directed by Kasper Holten in a collaboration between Opera Australia, The Royal Opera House and Dallas Opera. It revolves around the 12th Century Sicilian King, Roger, who is torn between his orthodox religion and the call of a strange, new Bacchanalian-type faith proclaimed by a man who is known as “The Shepherd”. Szymanowski mixes the stylised themes of the religious mass with the lilting notes of Polish folk music, a ‘fusion of styles’ that gives both the performers and the orchestra, conducted by Andrea Molino, the opportunity to thrill the audience with music that soars at moments of elation and challenges at moments of impasse. The set, designed by Steffen Aarfing, is dominated by a huge head that revolves to reveal the three storeys of Roger’s palace, where he paces up and down spiraling staircases in a frenzied attempt to resist the erotic call of the Shepherd and his followers. Michael Honeyman is outstanding as King Roger, agonizing in indecision until he regains his inherent power and strength in the joyous hymn to the sun that concludes the opera.

The queen, Roxanna (Lorina Gore), in a lyrical aria in Act 2 urges Roger to listen to the Shepherd’s philosophy and recapture the pleasure that they once found in each other. Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu is The Shepherd, his rich voice reaching out to entice and eventually entrap those who try to resist the pleasures that he describes in song. Carol Wimmer Still Life By Dimitris Papaioannou. Sydney Festival. Carriageworks. Jan 27 - 29. STILL Life is an appropriate closer of the Sydney Festival part arts installation, part physical theatre, a wordless echo of Samuel Beckett. Greek artist-performer Dimitris Papaioannou is best known for his opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympics. Here his inspiration is the myth of Sisyphus, forever doomed to carry a boulder to the mountain top, watch it roll to the bottom and then repeat the action for eternity. Across the vast stage of an old industrial bay of Carriageworks, Papaioannnou drags his huge cracking masonry to an electrified soundscape of scrapes and tool banging. The boulder even consumes him, his limbs artfully entangled on the surface with those of another, with the fine agility and wit of a circus act. Dressed nattily in blacks like workers a century past, Papaioannnou and his team of seven make the Sisyphus tale a homage to the dignity and futile drudgery of daily work. Later they pull up

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Stage Whispers 73

The Encounter. Photo: Prudence Upton.

Online extras! Discover Complicite’s compelling The Encounter. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/b687nwzQuv4 endless gaffer tape from the stage floor, never arriving at any destination; they noisily drop and reclaim rocks; sit on chairs which disappear; try to step ladder to the heavens. Above then rolls a smoky sky enmeshed in giant tumbling rolls of parachute cloth. That and Papaioannou’s boulder rolling are the highlights but, for engagement, the rest rolls slowly downhill. A final communal meal ignores us completely and abandons all communication of meaning. Martin Portus The Encounter Complicite / Sydney Festival. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Jan 18 - 28. WITH just one man on a stage cluttered with mics and speakers, The Encounter is a compelling innovation of sound and storytelling which makes excellent Festival programming. This is compelling theatre produced by the famed British company Complicite and directed Simon McBurney. For two hours - with tangents - performer Richard Katz takes us on the astonishing journey of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre into the depths of the Amazon jungle. Soon stripped of his camera and his clothes, McIntyre hurtles lost through a raw hallucinogenic tale into the natural world. His remarkable survival and enlightenment at the very source of the Amazon was told to the Romanian writer Petru Popescu. 74 Stage Whispers

Katz hosts this epic with his amiable London accent, with McIntyre’s American drawl or creating all the sounds of the jungle and its natives as he circles a huge 3D mic. This renders magically in our headphones as an intimate 360 degree circle of localised sounds. The cacophony deepens when Katz adds other sound objects or small recorders which are then looped into repetitions. A bank of boys at the back of the theatre keep all this in motion, adding music to Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin’s sound design, and keeping an eye on the autocue. But for all the bristling technology, at heart this is the ancient allure of shared and mighty storytelling. Martin Portus I Hate You My Mother By Jeanette Cronin. Real Harpy and White Box Theatre, in association with Red Line Productions. Old Fitz Theatre (NSW). Jan 24 - Feb 11. JEANETTE Cronin, an edgy, unsentimental actor who I’ve long admired, is turning into a productive playwright. This latest work though is more a showreel of vignettes than a cohesive play. Its promised theme is the murderous impact of child sexual abuse passed quietly on through the generations. We leap back and forth between four developing stories, a gothic manor house tale of a father raping his daughter, an horrific murder investigation in Oklahoma, a nursing home of demented memories in Liverpool, and a boy’s allegations against a female babysitter in Morisset, NSW.

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It’s all a cacophony of travelling accents, high drama and occasional, lurid poetry, with Cronin always the driving character and NIDA graduate Simon Glommen Bostard in support. Thematic connections or meaning between the stories (other than those demonic web-feet) are few and the constant splicing cuts away our empathy for victim or perpetrator. Kim Hardwick moves the play with agility and Tyler Ray Hawkins’ chromatic dark set with Martin Kinnane vivid strip and detailed spot lighting delivers a high production value. So too does the rising tension of Nate Edmondson’s sound. Cronin’s performances are artful if arch and Bostard, while an appealing performer, doesn’t always reach the gravitas necessary to counter her mad characters. I Hate You My Mother opens a new season at what is the 20th anniversary of the Old Fitzroy Theatre in Woolloomooloo. Martin Portus

On a minimalist stage a cast of five superb actors mirrored their real to life characters expertly. Bruce, played by Chris Farrell stepped into Springsteen’s shoes with dynamic and convincing acting. Springsteen’s original manager was Mike Appel, played by Justin Anderson. Steve Van Zandt, guitar player and friend was played by Kashmire Sinnamon. Wonderful and very persuasive, they both gave a clear and emotional insight into the strong influence both men had on Springsteen’s career and his life. Jessica Papst played the part of an early girlfriend Wendy, with Springsteen’s wife of 26 years Patti Scialfa played by Alicia Beckhurst. It is said that the lyrics to ‘Born to Run’ were a love letter written to Wendy in the 70s; this went on to be one of the biggest Rock’n’Roll songs ever. Between six vignettes, Papst played on acoustic guitar and sang snippets of Springsteen songs. Although a great vocalist, it just didn’t spark the essence of his songs. I would have much preferred the real Springsteen tracks blaring out of the speakers as they did only once or twice; I Which Way Home found it far more powerful hearing a few seconds of the By Kate Beckett. ILBIJERRI Theatre Company / Belvoir / artist himself. Sydney Festival. Downstairs Theatre, Belvoir. Jan 11 - 29. The play kept a very steady and smooth pace THOUGH billed as ‘Indigenous theatre’, Katie Beckett’s throughout; the conversational, informative narration told play is one with which we can all identify. It’s a story of the story but it lacked the recognizable point when he reached his peak. The exhilaration was not quite unconditional love, written and performed by a daughter who skilfully shares, through theatre, her special emphasized enough. I wanted more of a celebration of his relationship with her father. achievements. However, in its totality the play is an The simple set of a map, two tea chests, an Esky and an absolute winner - intense, revealing and so wonderfully hour long trickle of sand take Beckett and her father, played acted and directed. Lisa Romeo by Tony Briggs, on a special road trip back to country via memories and unanswered questions about the past. Rachel Maza’s direction has eliminated unnecessary Champions mime. The action itself is clear enough, as are the Form Dance Projects / Sydney Festival. Carriageworks. Jan transitions from journey to memory. Deft pauses and 17 - 22. moments of quiet eye contact establish the depth, warmth FROM Form Dance Projects in Parramatta comes this and humour, as well as the irritations and disappointments highly produced new work for Sydney Festival defying the that are inherent in any close relationship. idea that sport and arty stuff like contemporary dance can Beckett plays herself as the consummate daughter, never mix. clicking her tongue as her father throws his fantail After consulting the coaches and female athletes of the wrappers on the floor, but lovingly aware of his aches and Western Sydney Wanderers, choreographer Martin del Amo and his team of eleven all-female dancers stage Champions pains as she takes him ‘home’. Briggs manifests his character in slow smiles and as though in a footy stadium. carefully relaxed movements, re-living some moments with Clare Britton’s huge grassfield set is crossed with Karen quick anger and passionate realism, injecting others with Norris’ giant side lights and swinging spotlights from the sparkling wit. The father Beckett writes about with love is sky, the dancers’ bright coloured sportswear adding to the very clear in his interpretation. hyperrealism. Short but moving, this play is, in Maza’s words: “a Dancers ape the movement of players; their warm-ups, universal human story that transcends race, time and peeling from pack, their side-moves and lines, pacing the place”. geometry of the ground, marking and countering. Through Carol Wimmer this lens, the movement of sport becomes sharply observed dance but, oddly, captures little of the drama of sport, the kinetic excitement and climax of a big game. Gail Priest’s Springsteen Written and directed by Gabriel Bergmoser. Bitten By attractive rumbling score doesn’t so much drive the work as Productions. Tuxedo Cat, Melbourne. Jan 25 - Feb 4. create reflective spaces. BITTEN By Productions’ Springsteen is in part a Martin del Amo’s best achievement is not so much in his biography of Rock’n’Roll living legend Bruce Springsteen. It choreographic development as in the wit and framing of captures not the brand that is the iconic artist but looks at the game. Huge back screens feature visiting TV sports the human side; the results of putting everything into a life- presenter Mel McLaughlin doing spot interviews with long dream, losing friends and loved ones along the way. players and commentators, offering an on-going, hilarious Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 75

sports-talk analysis of what we’re seeing. Julie-Anne Long has done a fine job as dramaturg and adds to the satire as a plucky, well-feathered mascot. Champions may drop the ball of its narrative but it’s an engaging showpiece of movement with impressive production values. Martin Portus

application. But Staccato’s sleazebag chairman Simon (Matt Day) recruits HR monster Linda (Briallen Clarke) to help roll Andrew as a failure in strategic planning. This is masterly comic writing from writer Ross Mueller these scenes mocking the chasm between the arts purpose of not-for-profits and the corporate strategies and workplace jargon so natural to many directors now, in fact, on the boards of such arts companies. Clarke shines as the insufferably saccharine mistress of management speak, as Mrs Monacelli’s Christmas-Time Spectacular By Theo Rule. Grainery Theatre Company. Newcastle City does Day as the besuited cynic looking to his vineyard and Hall. Dec 16 - 17. developing political career. WRITER, director and actor Theo Rule has shown a Poor shuffling Andrew doesn’t stand a chance, and the talent for using offbeat situations to tell the traditional play dips into an interesting darkness as his life unfolds. But adding heart to his purpose is young employee Jill (Emele Christmas story, with his 2015 show, Saviour’s Day, set Ugavule) who rises from the wreckage with a new against the background of the destructive Cyclone Tracy that hit Darwin a few hours before Christmas Day in 1974, generation defiance. winning him the 2016 City of Newcastle Drama Award Director Chris Mead keeps the comic action tight and (CONDA) for best musical or drama written for a Newcastle real on a loved if battered sound studio set from Sophie Fletcher. Verity Hampson’s lighting nicely punctuates and, company. His skill was again enjoyably evident in this musical set in in one hilarious scene, adds sharp comedy. Sydney in 1930, when a crippling economic recession and The play’s editing could be tightened and its dramatic the advent of sound films led to the closure of theatre chronology smoothed, but Mueller’s new play - with such companies. an accomplished cast - packs a lot of heart and satirical The title character, whose theatre company puts punch into just 90 minutes. Martin Portus together colourful vaudeville shows each Christmas, learns that a film distribution company wants the venue she uses converted to a movie house. But an Irish actor, who has ‘Tis Pity migrated to Australia with his wife, comes to her rescue By Richard Mills. Victorian Opera. Conductor/Composer: and helps to make the show a hit, despite having marriage Richard Mills. Director: Cameron Menzies. Melbourne problems. Recital Centre. Feb 4 - 8. I HAVE been a big fan of Victorian Opera for many years The story was told brightly, with the Irishman, Jack (Stu Brown), bringing out the affection Joseph, the earthly now. Their programs are innovative, often breaking new father of Jesus, had for Mary, and that affection being ground and are always cast from strength. extended to wife Noelene (Hannah Wellham) when she reSuch was the case with ‘Tis Pity, an operatic fantasia/ appears. song cycle on the world’s oldest profession. This included The 20 songs were used well, with Jack’s ‘It Doesn’t ten vignettes moving through the ages. International Really Feel Like Christmas’, as he searches the streets for cabaret star Meow Meow was at the peak of her powers. Noelene, being moving, and Noelene’s ‘When We Were Her voice was unfailingly beautiful whether soaring in the Young’, as she watches Jack in rehearsal after they have re- stratosphere or plumbing the depths. She moved united, bringing out her memories. The show also included beautifully and was always expressive. lively dance, with the ensemble performing to The Corrs’ Her partner in crime was Australia’s favourite comic rock version of traditional Irish folk song ‘Toss the Feathers’ tenor, Kanen Breen. His voice was clean and strong and his as Jack recalled his earlier life in Ireland. expressive face a delight. The two worked very well The 40 performers, including Roz Williams as the together. There were three male dancers who added to amusingly tenacious Mrs Monacelli, did excellent work action at various times. under the guidance of the direction team led by Rule and The music was very listenable and Orchestra Victoria was musical director Sam Spencer. And the 12 Christmas-related in fine form. songs, including a jazz-style version of ‘Away in a Manger’, Unfortunately, most of the words were lost, so that I written by Newcastle’s Chris Bathgate, who was also a cast had no idea of what was going on, and missed most of the member, showed how well they could work in a very jokes, assuming there were some. The program had no different Yuletide story. details about the various sections and there were no Ken Longworth surtitles. With some vignettes sung in French and German (I think) this was a major problem. A Strategic Plan There were a couple of screens at the back which By Ross Mueller. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables depicted key phrases at various times, but not enough to Theatre. Jan 27 - Mar 11. follow the plot. Occasionally passages were accompanied AGING rock muso Andrew (Justin Smith) is now the by just the piano, and words could be heard. At others the brass let fly and you had to watch to see if someone was dedicated CEO of a music studio for teenagers, Staccato; he’s has just finished an ambitious Australia Council singing. 76 Stage Whispers

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Blink. Photo: Robert Catto.

Hopefully they can add surtitles to enhance what was a very entertaining evening. Graham Ford

James Raggatt plays Jonah, finding the guileless naivety of the character in hesitant candor and humble lack of sophistication. Charlotte Hazzard is beguilingly believable as Sophie, wary, cautious, but also just a little shrewd and Blink manipulative. By Phil Porter. bAKEHOUSE Theatre Company / Luke Rogers / Together they recreate Porter’s characters with Stories Like These. Kings Cross Theatre. Feb 9 - Mar 4. perceptive appreciation and intelligent interpretation on an SOPHIE and her father move from Isle of Mann to share innovative set designed by Anna Gardiner. two flats in London. When her father dies and she loses her Carol Wimmer job she feels she is gradually disappearing. Jonah grew up on a farm and spent his teenage years Nosferatutu … or Bleeding at the Ballet with a camera keeping watch for marauding hoons who By Tommy Bradson. Virginia Hyam Productions and Griffin attack the property after the death of his father. When his Independent. SBW Stables Theatre. Jan 7 - 21. mother also dies he moves to London and leases Sophie’s GRIFFIN’S first independent show for the year opens ground floor flat. with blood on the floor. If this seems like the beginning of a conventional love Vampire Nosferatutu is driven by an urge centuries-old story, it isn’t. Rather it’s a ‘quirky, dysfunctional’ love story to dance ballet and just can’t resist chewing into dancer about two lonely people who connect via, incredible Brandyn Kaczmarczyk when he steps out to do a solo Swan though it may seem, a WiFi baby monitor, which Sophie Lake. sends to Jonah. He watches her - and she feels less invisible. Backed by Steven Kreamer’s agile three handed He follows her - and she pretends she doesn’t realise until, orchestra, the rest of this mad cabaret is Nosferatutu eventually … struggling alone to dance the classic, and share his ample Phil Porter’s scenes are delicately crafted, his characters collapse of self-worth. tenderly developed, their foibles and their relationship Whippersnipper thin, white-faced and hairless, the kohldisclosed in carefully written dialogue. eyed Tommy Bradson is necessarily enigmatic, a Monster of Luke Rogers’ direction is similarly delicate and deft. He Asperger angst. uses the snug intimacy of the KXT stage to involve the Kaczmarczyk gargles blood from the corner and the audience closely in the lives of these two young people, “usher”, Sheridan Harbridge, who also directs, is later matching Porter’s sympathetic writing with empathetic recruited, but these parts are under-written. This is vision and direction. Bradson’s show; he wrote it as well. Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 77

Alice Qin in Little Emperors. Photo: Tim Grey.

The staging is unusual - perhaps inspired. The set (Romanie Harper) is a shallow pool of water. Considerable variety in atmosphere is communicated specifically with the use of lighting (Emma Valente) and how it plays on/and with the water and the scrim. Generally the acting is stunning. Yuchen Wang as Kaiwen is wholly convincing in his role of the hidden second child who finally escaped China to ‘indulge in’ a Western way of life in Melbourne. As Kaiwen’s Mother Diana (Xiaojie) Lin gives a very sincere tightly timed and controlled performance. Alice Qin, who plays Kaiwen’s sister, gives a vital performance full of gloriously expressed energy. She plays a first child who although a girl was kept and dressed as a boy to hide her gender. This is a wonderful glowing experiment as a cultural exchange that has particular relevance to our changing political landscape. A significant and resounding piece of contemporary theatre for Asia Topa and in many ways a masterful achievement. Suzanne Sandow

Biographica Composed by Mary Finsterer, with a libretto by Tom Wright. Sydney Festival. Sydney Chamber Opera in association with Ensemble Offspring. Carriageworks. Jan 7 - 13. THE Sydney Festival kicks off premiering this rousing local chamber opera from composer Mary Finsterer and librettist Tom Wright. Through a dozen episodic scenes, we glimpse key moments in the life and genius of the Italian astronomer, mathematician, doctor and general Renaissance polymath, Gerolamo Cardano. His monologing wit and lively tangents, as Bradson In a speaking role, Mitchell Butel captures his abrasive hurtles through strobes and smoke across Alexander capacity to speak on all matters - and the Berlage’s cabaret set, is an inventive crazy entertainment interconnectedness of all systems - but Cardano has less nicely spiked with attitude and naughtiness. Snippets of luck connecting with his own domestic life. engaging songs steal from forlorn French ballads or spoof His children (sung by Jessica O’Donoghue, Andrew musicals, pop and opera. Goodwin and Simon Lobelson) end up variously as a I like my comedy dark and dry but for me Bradson, while syphilitic whore, an exiled thief and a cuckolded murderer. engaging to watch, didn’t turn his slapstick into ongoing The curse it seems began at Cardano’s birth, which his laughter. His script and its wandering narrative needed far grieving mother (Jane Sheldon) tried to abort. more editing, ideas and development. Finsterer’s score begins with a Renaissance formalism But as a creation, his character of Nosferatutu is a but speeds quickly into an expressive narrative of often welcome reincarnation of that pantheon of Lindsay Kemp surprising, sometimes melodious, musical elements, notably and Cabaret Conspiracy who astounded us around with the percussive thrills (Claire Edwards) well-known from Darlinghurst in decades past. Ensemble Offspring. It’s a modernist mix appropriate for Martin Portus the journey of this capricious genius on the cusp of the modern age. Jack Symonds conducts the ten musicians Little Emperors onstage. By Lachlan Philpott.Directed by Wang Chong. Asia Topa. Across this spacious Carriageworks space, Janice Malthouse Theatre, The Beckett. Feb 9 - 26. Muller’s direction is inventive and focused. Wright’s libretto LITTLE Emperors is multi layered. It is a family story that tends to baffling poetics, but his words for the volatile is profoundly meshed in the cultural story of China’s one Cardono are compelling - and indeed compete sometimes child policy. It is presented in a wonderful surreal abstracted with the score. way, and yet also accentuates the naturalistic and acutely This is moving, thoughtful musical drama, well worth a personal, via the use of ‘state of the art’ Audio-Visual ticket. projection. Martin Portus 78 Stage Whispers

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Joel Jackson and Christie Whelan Browne in MTC’s Born Yesterday. Photo: Jeff Busby.

Reviews: Plays

Online extras! Set and Costume Designer Dale Ferguson discusses choices behind Born Yesterday. https://youtu.be/a7KYx2Wsd74 Born Yesterday By Garson Kanin. Melbourne Theatre Company. Directed by Dean Bryant. Southbank Theatre - The Sumner. Jan 14 - Feb 25. WITH the wackiest and most invigorating curtain call, this captivating production of a play first performed in 1946 feels very modern, relevant, easy to relate to and thought-provoking. Russell Dykstra as Harry Brock is a significant plus. Brock is the demanding ‘nouveau riche’ bully at the centre of the story. Dykstra never-the-less elicits sympathy for Brock in his portrayal of this complex well-drawn individual. Christie Whelan Browne is a superb choice for the role of Billie Dawn - the simple retired showgirl and longsuffering girlfriend of Brock. Browne moves across the stage in such an interesting way, expressing her character’s physical tensions and ticks, and yet at times she is lithe and winsome. Costuming is vivid and colours work stunningly with the set of white and hues of blues and greens (both designed by Dale Ferguson). This set is of such grand proportions it boasts a glorious full staircase. Lighting (Matt Scott) makes some marvelous changes to colour and ambiance. This amazing environment and the very solid acting of the supporting cast creates a delightfully convincing work to support the character journey and evolution of Billie Dawn. Generally music is only incorporated when actually being turned on by a character. Born Yesterday is a Cinderella story that talks about deception and betrayal. It highlights how a little knowledge

can be a dangerous thing, and how an intelligent mind can be very sexy. Truly a most enjoyable and entertaining night out. Suzanne Sandow My Friend Miss Flint By Donald Churchill and Peter Yeldham. Therry Dramatic Society. Arts Theatre Adelaide. Feb 9 - 18. THEY say there’s nothing more certain than death and taxes, yet in My Friend Miss Flint the tax man certainly arrives but death is foiled, because how can you plan the death of someone who doesn’t exist? This is a rather dated English comedy. Nevertheless, in this production directed by Barry Hill, it remains enjoyable due to the competent writing of playwrights Donald Churchill and Peter Yeldham, together with a strong cast. Peter Davies gives a very good performance as the confused and out-of-his-depth TV gardener Tom, while Shelley Hampton is excellent as Sarah, his accountant, with just the right mix of fiery frustration at Tom’s disinterest in his financial affairs and remorse for her own former deceptive and illegal taxation actions. Norman Caddick steals every scene he’s in as Tom’s twice-weekly help. He adds delightful nuances of character to his role as Albert. Newcomer to the Adelaide theatre scene Ellen Ferguson has created quite a strong and amusing character in Lucy, but needs to be careful with enunciation. Heath Trebilcock, also a fairly inexperienced actor, does laudable and very controlled work with his character, the

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Stage Whispers 79

Joe Petruzzi and Peter Houghton in The Way Things Work. Photo: Teresa Noble.

Inland Revenue man Mr Dodds. Sue Wylie, as Inspector CP Lens, is also very good. Barry Hill and Jeff Baker’s set design is strong. Hill’s direction ensures the actors make the most of the space, with consistently well-paced action. My Friend Miss Flint is another commendable Therry production. Lesley Reed

The first act is all Petruzzi, and what a meal he makes of the smarmy yet insidious minister. In “Act Two” we meet the two brothers responsible for the supply of the inferior concrete “Normal concrete…just not ‘special’ concrete”. Fennessy gives us quintessential Greek brothers - the roles are equally balanced between the actors, and there’s a connection that is always convincing. It also has some of the funniest lines. One brother comments on Ouzo, “It’s like being face-f##ked by a licorice allsort.” There are belly The Way Things Work laughs to balance the intakes of breath and it’s a Written and directed by Aidan Fennessy. Red Stitch Actors masterclass in performance. The third segment of the story Theatre, St Kilda. Jan 31 - Mar 5. is all Houghton in a wonderful and powerful display of his WHEN you have an intelligent two-hander script, and dramatic range. Chilling, pathetic, yet frightening, he sucks us into a world we all too often choose to close our eyes to. two mature actors at the top of their game, there is no greater pleasure than a night at the theatre. We are extraordinarily lucky to have Houghton’s gifts in Fennessy is one of those gifted writers who understands Melbourne. that plot is nowhere near as important as how characters With a simple but interesting white box set, costumes by react to plot, to drive storytelling forward. His 90 minute Fennessy himself, and excellent lighting and sound by Matt Scott and Russell Goldsmith, this production is certain to play - ostensibly three separate satirical explorations of character inter-action within the framework of the one plot feature heavily in this year’s theatre awards. point, a Royal Commission over the use of inferior concrete Coral Drouyn in the building of a Ring Road tunnel - is both chillingly real and hilariously comic, but never less than enthralling. ‘Night, Mother Fennessy’s casting choices are as astute and classy as his By Marsha Norman. Javeenbah Theatre, Nerang, Gold Coast. Director: Barry Gibson. Jan 27 - Feb 11. dialogue and storytelling. Many of us will have admired the work of Joe Petruzzi SENSITIVELY directed by Barry Gibson, the story of the (now a Red Stitch Ensemble member) and Peter Houghton relationship between a possessive mother (Del Halpin) and separately, but together on stage they are electrifying. It’s her epileptic, divorced daughter (Amy McDonald) is the perfect marriage of text and performance. brought to life in a drama that is more common than we know of or care to acknowledge. 80 Stage Whispers

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Both ladies bring comedy and pathos to their finely tuned characters, which held the audience’s attention on the “roller coaster” ride of the entire play. The mother, Thelma, has become very dependent on her troubled daughter, Jess who, planning for the times ahead, has gone out of her way to make Thelma’s life as easy as possible with notes and lists to help her cope with life now and into the future. One couldn’t help but wonder what one would do if in this situation? A workable set with attention to detail and effective lighting helped tell this riveting tale of mother and daughter and their dependence on each other. Roger McKenzie

Across Ormerod’s five giant red containers, under rows of institutional lights, each focused scene speeds across his sparse stage. To clean up his vice-ridden city, the Duke (Alexander Arsentyev) retires in disguise to a monastery and passes power to Angelo (Andrei Kuzichev), a clean shaven, Putin look-a-like who bristles with moral certainty. His first victim is the young Claudio (Kiryl Dytsevich), to be executed for fornication, but when Claudio’s pious sister, Isabella, comes begging for his life, Angelo turns lustful and tries to barter for her maidenhead. Anna Khalilulina is wonderfully alert and passionate as Isabella, jousting with Angelo’s cold tyranny, the Russian armed police always angling around dangerously. The final moral showdown is inventively staged as an ugly political Macbeth rally, defying Shakespeare’s oddly tame, even comic ending By William Shakespeare. Directed by Bruce Widdop & Matt of forgiveness. Young. OZ ACT. Geelong Botanic Gardens. Jan 14 & 15. Good theatre shouldn’t demand prior homework but THE dark aspects of Macbeth provide limited scope for a that’s how to get the best Measure of this memorable more light-hearted approach, yet, while still exploring the Russian production. descent into evil that Macbeth (Andy Delves) undergoes, OZ Martin Portus ACT manages to keep the play in a relatively unthreatening sphere. Delves makes the spiralling descent from decency to I Am My Own Wife depravity an interesting journey. By Doug Wright. Oriel Entertainment Group. 45downstairs, The outdoor setting is evocative and the elements in this Flinders Lane, Melbourne. Jan 17 - Feb 5. performance were certainly in the play’s favour; howling BEN Gerrard plays Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in this winds and changeable weather conditions added to the intriguing, moving, funny, and mysterious play. I don’t mood and atmosphere. Aspects such as the apparitions of think the term tour de force is out of place. Banquo (Jamal Ali) were nicely executed. Aided, supported and guided by Shaun Rennie’s precise, Lady Macbeth (Marie Claire Tchernomoroff) seemed meticulous direction, he also peoples the stage with over uncertain about her disposition and her apparent sweetness thirty other characters - everything from Charlotte’s vicious could have been exploited in a more calculated manner to Nazi father, to her fellow antiquarian Alfred - and even her disguise her deceitful plans. Lady Macduff (Sarah Breen) playwright-biographer Doug Wright. captured the sinister tones of the play well and Eleanor I’ve not seen a lot of standing ovations at 45downstairs. Ruth impressively demonstrates her range and versatility as Mr Gerrard received one. a performer across all her roles (Donalbain, Witch, Young Mr Wright tells Charlotte that she is so amazing she Siward). should not exist: an obvious transvestite who survived the The witches (Sarah Breen, Marie Claire Tchernomoroff, Nazis and then the Stasi, running a cellar nightclub for East Eleanor Ruth) are portrayed as whimsical rather than Berlin’s LGBT community under Stasi noses, and receiving menacing and they toy with Macbeth in a charming and an Order of Merit from the German government for her playful manner. OZ ACT have created an endearing efforts as an antiquarian who maintained a museum. performance while still pointing to some of the wretched There are narrative leaps without explanation - which elements that consumes this ominous text. only make the work and Charlotte the more intriguing. Patricia Di Risio There is the horrible irony that she survives the Nazis, but succumbs to the Stasi. As she asked the armchair heroes Measure for Measure who attacked her for it afterwards, what could she do? By William Shakespeare. Cheek by Jowl / Pushkin Theatre When asked if she had gone through her life without a (Russia). Sydney Festival. Jan 7 - 11. partner, she replied, ‘I am my own wife.’ THIS is a rigorous, bracing production from Moscow’s In addition to Mr Rennie’s direction, the other artistic Pushkin Theatre, with director Declan Donnellan and elements here cohere beautifully. Caroline Comino’s designer Nick Ormerod from Britain’s famed Cheek by Jowl minimalist set design is inventive and suggestive rather than - a star offering in Russian at the Sydney Festival. fussy detailed verisimilitude. Hugh Hamilton’s lighting is It’s a quicksilver production with Shakespeare edited restrained and apt throughout. Nate Edmondson’s sound down and offered as surtitles, but read like this his fine design includes numerous perfectly chosen music cues and words on governance, sexual hypocrisy and corruption are, just perceptible but ominous rumbles that stir the for us non-Russians, scrambled in the rush. The thrill is in emotions. the action below, through which the 13 actors huddle and Michael Brindley weave like some community chorus witnessing our gullibility. Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 81

In the Shadow Written & Directed by Anne Blythe- Cooper. Music by Louella Jury, lyrics by Anne Blythe- Cooper. Presented by Reimagined Histories. At the Cascade Brewery Theatre, playing throughout 2017. THEATRE takes many forms, and appears in many different venues. Historical play In the Shadow, a short but powerful piece about a colonial identity and architect Peter Degraves, is performed in a brewery. The Cascade Brewery and the Theatre Royal in Hobart are two of his better known edifices. His wife Sophia was in his shadow, but is really the subject of the play. Sophia introduces the audience to the individuals who shaped her destiny, and welcomes us and the characters to her dining table. Multiple roles are played by Anne’s son James −whose powerful voice, stagecraft and adaptability belie his youth. With a striking presence on stage, James introduces an array of characters. The small theatre room has a slight echo and flat light but accomplished actors make such tiny negatives disappear. This is a tightly crafted, emotionally charged piece of theatre. Anne’s portrayal of Sophia is so finely drawn, delicate yet strong, that the audience is drawn into and buffeted by her story. Anne’s beautiful words in song, with music by Louella Jury, are a welcome relief to the pace and emotion. Blub warning - bring a tissue, an open mind, and a love of history and theatre. Merlene Abbott

comprehend the horrors of war. At times, I felt there was a bit of discord with how Rick was described in the script and how he was portrayed. I would have liked to see a more forceful interviewer with a charismatic side, trying to draw the two women’s stories out more. An enjoyable production, celebrating women, their strength and heroism. This one made me laugh and cry! Shannon O’Connell

Laughter on the 23rd Floor By Neil Simon. Newcastle Theatre Company. NTC Theatre, Lambton (Newcastle). Jan 21 - Feb 4. AMERICAN playwright Neil Simon spent his formative years in the early 1950s as a member of a team writing the scripts for United States television comedy shows, including the Sid Caesar-starring Your Show of Shows. When a ratings decline had that show facing cutbacks and later closure, the writers worked hard to preserve their jobs. Laughter on the 23rd Floor, written by Simon in 1993, draws on that situation, with the writers based on actual figures, including himself. It is a timelessly engaging comedy, and director Noel Grivas and the actors kept the laughs coming. The play’s Neil Simon figure, Lucas, played by Carl Gregory, is an apprentice writer who quietly observes his teammates and occasionally points out their idiosyncrasies to the audience. Milt (Craig Lindeman) is a womaniser and flashy dresser, whose jokes reflect his garb; head writer Val (Brian Wark) is The Shoehorn Sonata a politically aware Russian immigrant who still has trouble By John Misto. Squeaky Dog Productions. Directed by with English after years of living in New York; Brian (Aaron Joanna Joy. Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, Churchill) is an Irish-American with a biting sense of Gymea, Sydney. Feb 3 - 9. humour and eyes set on writing in Hollywood; Kenny (Lee WRITTEN in 1995, The Shoehorn Sonata acknowledges Mayne), one of the youngest members of the team, is the heroism of women during war, pays tribute to those sophisticated in garb and language; sole female writer Carol who suffered and brings their stories out of the past and (Bronwyn Kanitz) is sharply defensive about being into the present. continually referred to as a woman; and Ira (Drew Pittman) The play follows the reunion of two very different is a hypochondriac who always arrives late. women - Bridie (Narelle Jaeger), an Australian nurse, and The team is frequently watched by secretary and wouldSheila (Norah George), a British civilian, thrown together in be-writer Helen (Natasha Steggles). And the television the Japanese Prisoner of War (POW) camps. Fifty years later, comic, Max Prince (Richard Murray), is larger than life, they share their stories of survival with TV interviewer, Rick dominating the room even when he’s forced to take off his (Will Hall). suit or goes to sleep standing up while talking to a writer Directed by Joanna Joy, Squeaky Dog Productions’ after a chaotic night. The interactions between Max and his rendition was moving and inspiring. There was something writers had the audience constantly laughing. endearing about both Narelle’s portrayal of Bridie, an Ken Longworth Aussie Larrikin, and Norah’s interpretation of Sheila, a prim and proper Brit. Both actors gave heartfelt performances, Twist conveying the strength of these two characters and the By Miles Tredinnick. Director: Kyla Booth. Tea Tree Players power of friendship. The actors showed a genuine emotion, Theatre. Feb 8 - 18. allowing the audience to really feel what Bridie and Sheila SOMETIMES an ending that satisfies, surprises, and experienced. delights can go a very long way towards lifting a show into While there were tales of tragedy, I loved the use of the winners’ circle, and such is the case with Twist. If only humour to provide comic relief for the audience and show playwright Miles Tredinnick’s dialogue, plotting, and the strength of the human spirit. characterisation had been at least a little stronger and more As this production also toured schools, it aimed to distinctive than they are. Twist professes to be both a engage younger audiences through the effective use of thriller and a spoof, always a tricky balance to achieve, and technology and music. A younger actor also played the part for much of its length, it struggles to fully satisfy as either of Rick, who had a certain naivety as he tried to one. 82 Stage Whispers

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Castle Hill Players’ Calendar Girls. Photo: Chris Lundie.

Carsten Oostema, as our protagonist David Woods, delivers an impeccable ‘upper-class-twit-of-the-year’ characterisation. The twists promised by the title start to surface before interval, and the fun turns decidedly darker but this shift in tone is a challenge to accept, in spite of Oostema’s strong and steady efforts, because the ideal atmosphere is lacking, and so is true audience identification/involvement. Happily, Heather Riley lights up the show during her brief appearances, while Nick Manning -Bennett is both slyly funny and credible playing a police inspector. Whatever the shortcomings of Twist, they largely fall away into nit-picking when greeted with such a delightful conclusion as what this show provides. Twist may not add up to the most satisfying experience you’ll ever have at the Tea Tree Players Theatre, but you’ll be glad you came, all the same. Anthony Vawser Calendar Girls By Tim Firth. Castle Hill Players. Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill Showgrounds. Feb 3 - 25. TIM Firth’s stage adaptation of the 2003 film is a play with many scenes and almost as many costume changes, to say nothing of the props for the ‘nude’ calendar shoot. It’s a difficult play, more filmic than theatrical, and requires a great deal of energy and organisation. As such, it’s a play of many challenges, and director Annette van Roden and her cast have met these with clever direction and sensitive performances. It is set in a rudimentary church hall, from which designer Barry French has cleverly ‘cut out’ the back wall to

allow touching outdoor scenes to take place at the foot of a hill. Lighting by Andrew Kinch highlights the poignancy of these and other moments. The ‘calendar girls’ each have their own little idiosyncrasies. Chris (Megan Hipwell) is the dynamo behind the idea of the ‘nude’ calendar. Grief -stricken Annie is played by Leigh Scanlon. Cora (Margaret Olive) is an outspoken single mum, Jessie (Annette Emerton) a school teacher nearing retirement, Jacqui Darbyshire plays Celia, the ‘show pony’ of the group and Faith Jessel finds both comedy and pathos in the character of Ruth. A play such as this is demanding for community theatre. It requires a sound vision, copious time, creative imagination and attention to detail, But, it’s a heartwarming play and this very close, ensemble production will certainly please its audiences. Carol Wimmer Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare. Bard on the Beach 2017. Balmoral Beach Rotunda - Jan 20 - Feb 19, 2017; Dunbar Park, Avalon - Feb 24 - Mar 5:; Gunnamatta Park, Cronulla March 10 - 12;: The Greek Theatre, Marrickville - Mar 31 Apr 8;, Watsons Bay - Apr 13 - 23.. ‘TIS no mean feat to perform under the stars at any time, but imagine competing against very gusty sea breezes, the high-pitched chattering of a colony of bats and the possibility of summer rain! Despite such unpredictable conditions, the energetic cast and crew of this year’s Bard on the Beach productions are bringing Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, and the hilarious characters of The Merry Wives of Windsor to various outdoor locations

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across Sydney and a short indoor season at The Greek Theatre at Marrickville. Directors Patricia and Kyle Rowling make excellent use of the outdoor settings which lend themselves to Shakespearean-style theatre, originally played with few props, relying only on the Bard’s words and the actors to bring the characters and their plights to life. The young cast members of Romeo and Juliet do just that. Despite the challenge of the elements, their unamplified voices ring clearly and their characters are distinctly defined. The lovers, played by Adam Garden and Jade Alex Fuda are supported by an energetic cast, who double as the many characters who accompany the young couple on their short, impetuous and tortuous few days of love. This is a true ensemble production, with the company doubling in many roles as well as selling programs, raffle tickets and collecting donations after the performance. Carol Wimmer

The clash between Brian Harrigan, a Liberal politician played by Jim Thomson, and Helen McInnes, from The Greens played by Maree Barnett, is the core of the play. These two actors intelligently kept the balance of humanity and power. Katie Hall and Ju-Han Soon made excellent contributions as the president of the CWA and the teacher. The setting and technical production supported the actors unobtrusively to deliver a very enjoyable Australian play. Ruth Richter

Jasper Jones Based on the novel by Craig Silvey, adapted by Kate Mulvany. Belvoir (Sydney). Jan 25 - Feb 19, then on tour. WHAT is it about Western Australian writers that produces such cracking stories? Transfixed during this production, my mind cast back to Cloudstreet; like Jasper Jones it has buckets of humour, suspense, and life and death struggles with an air of authenticity you can almost taste. Australia Day The play adaptation is now in its return season to Belvoir By Jonathan Biggins. Heidelberg Theatre Company. Directed and will soon be released as a movie. The story of the by Joan Moriarty. Feb 17 - Mar 4. bookish white Charlie Bucktin (Tom Conroy) whose life THOUGH the script is just this side of caricature, changes forever when the part Aboriginal Jasper Jones (Guy Heidelberg Theatre has turned Australia Day into a Simon) knocks on his window, to alert him to the discovery charming exploration of small town relationships and of a terrible crime, has the feel of a classic. concerns. Each of the characters was clearly developed and Jasper Jones is a seamless integration of a knock out the balance between group scenes and the interspersed 2 story, beautiful acting and an elegant production. or 3 handed scenes was cleanly handled. The changes A special mention to the set design by Michael Hankin. between scenes were louder and longer. There was an The rustic fibro cottages (from a fictional 1965 WA regional effort to cover them with phone messages, which provided town) twirled on and off the stage underneath the tree some excellent laughs. which is both the crime scene and a confessional. The actors were consistent and tight. There are many There are two new cast members from the last season. one line jokes in the play and the actors managed the Stepping into the big shoes of the adaptor Kate Mulvany pauses for audience reaction well. Darren Gregor stood out was Kate Box as Mrs Bucktin and Steve Le Marquand as her as Wally Stewart, the town’s “reactionary redneck”. He husband. Both were stunning. gave a passionate performance for the conservatives. Nick My favourite character was the Vietnamese character Freedman playing Robert Wilson, a local councillor delivered Jeffrey Lu (Charles Wu). It was an antidote to the darker a strong performance exploring the challenges when sides of Australia on display during the story. friendship and ethics collide. David Spicer

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PLOS’ Wicked.

Reviews: Musicals

Wicked Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman. PLOS. Directed by Danny Ginsberg. Frankston Arts Centre. Dec 31, 2016 - Jan 7, 2017. THERE can’t be anyone who doesn’t know Wicked’s story of the alternate view of Oz and the two witches at its centre, or who hasn’t heard at least one of Stephen Schwartz’s great show tunes. The stunning trio of director Danny Ginsberg and set designer Mike Fletcher, with Brad Alcock as lighting designer - responsible for PLOS’ extraordinary production of Legally Blonde a couple of years ago - have joined forces again to stun us with this production of the already iconic show. You know from the second you see the visual feast of Fletcher’s Steam Punk set, with its moving cogs and clock and two revolves, that this will be something special. The cast is as good, and sometimes better, than any we have seen in Main Stage productions of this show, and proves, yet again, that the line between “professional” and “amateur” is now all but erased. Nadia Gianinotti is quite remarkable and vocally has more richness and roundness than Idina Menzel. Her Elphaba is a gawky misfit that most teenagers will identify with. PLOS has found the perfect Glinda in Britni Leslie, and it doesn’t hurt that she hails from Alabama. She has great comic flare, no doubt honed through her own cabaret performances, and I’ve never laughed so much at the role. Blake Testro brings great stage presence and a remarkable voice to the role of Fiyero and Tom Green, a twenty one year old from Wonthaggi who wowed us with his voice in Miss Saigon earlier this year, nails the role of Boq. Madame Morrible is given a slightly different take by the impressive and experienced Jennie Kellaway and John Tacey brings considerable musical chops to the role of The Wizard.

Steven Rostrum’s choreography is always impressive and there’s a freshness and originality that allows the dancers to shine. The indefatigable Brett Wingfield proves he is truly The Wizard of PLOS, with stunning costume designs which are beautifully complemented by Trent Whitmore’s excellent wigs. Alcock’s lighting is innovative throughout and Marcello Lo Ricco’s sound has never been better. Through all of this, Ginsberg is at the helm and, as always, pushes his cast that extra yard (metre) in the pursuit of excellence. Coral Drouyn Lea Salonga in Concert With Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Sydney Opera House, Feb 2 & 3. LEA Salonga has one of the best-known voices in musical theatre. Not only did the Filipina star originate the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, she also sang two princesses in Disney films: Jasmine in Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan. At her concert, she shows she is among the best, singing many Broadway numbers as well as - or possibly even better than - the original. It helps when you’re backed by the brilliant Sydney Symphony Orchestra, which makes these numbers sound better than you’re ever likely to hear them again. Salonga’s brother Gerard, an established conductor in Manila, is making his debut in Australia. It’s a phenomenal backing. But no-one is going to steal the show here. Whether it’s the powerful ‘I’d Give My Life For You’ from Miss Saigon or the Streisand number ‘Papa Can You Hear Me?’ - or indeed a reworked version of Cindy Lauper’s ‘True Colours’ Salonga’s execution is perfect. ‘On my Own’ from Les Misérables is breathtaking, ‘Burn’ from Hamilton heart-

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Lea Salonga In Concert. Photo: Robert Catto.

Online extras! Lea Salonga sings 'Burn' from Hamilton at the iconic Sydney Opera House. https://youtu.be/k3In2YHpO4A

generations as bright, witty, colourful entertainments, and will probably continue to do so as long as they are subject to quality productions that preserve the ageless aspects of the text while being prepared to modernise when necessary. This one should fit the bill for fans, being extremely wellsung, skilfully designed, and impressively costumed, with musicians (under MD Brian Chatterton, OAM) as accomplished as they are supportive. The libretto is updated here when deemed necessary, but the clever modernity doesn’t always fit well with the generally traditional delivery. Despite this, the ensemble of performers work very well together while retaining their individual personalities. David Lampard’s production design is superbly engineered to be simple-yet-effective. Given the relatively limited performance space available, it’s a small wonder. Those responsible for costumes Matilda Bawden, Margaret Cannon, Bronwen Major, Helen Snoswell - all deserve the highest commendation for their colourful contribution. Though Richard Trevaskis’ direction has allowed some sluggishness to seep in during the second act, it is not enough to dull the essential charm of this production. Anthony Vawser

Dusty The Musical Songs recorded by Dusty Springfield, book by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow. The Production Company. Adelaide Festival Theatre. Dec 31, 2016 - Jan 22, 2017. IT was sheer joy to attend the opening night of Dusty, The Musical. This new reincarnation of the 2006 show, starring Amy Lehpamer, is vibrant, sassy and swinging. Lehpamer inhabits Dusty Springfield - every move, The Mikado By Gilbert and Sullivan. The G&S Society of South Australia and gesture, note and swish of her amazingly bouffant wig, brings back this amazing lady. Guiding and telling the tale Co-Opera. Flour Shed, Harts Mill, Port Adelaide. Dec 9 - 11. of Dusty’s life, as if in Greek chorus, was young Dusty, THE ‘Savoy Operas’ of W.S. Gilbert and A.S. Sullivan played superbly by Adelaide’s own Baylie Carson. Todd particularly The Mikado - have endured down the stopping, and she even makes ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen sound fresh again. The only criticism is the choice of final encore: a medley of ABBA songs. It’s enjoyable but compared to everything else feels like a letdown. That’s the problem when you perform so brilliantly. Peter Gotting

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McKenney as Rodney was wonderfully over the top and he showed, yet again, he can sparkle in any role. Virginia Gay as Peg was a surprise to me as I had only seen her television work. What a great talent and a beautiful voice. Chloe Zuel as Reno was a standout for this reviewer - an incredibly powerful singing voice, vibrant stage presence and powerful acting. Set design by Anna Cordingly was clever - very simple framing and backdrop but highlighted by neon lighting and small set change pieces. Costumes were everything you would expect from the era of Dusty’s life - bright, bold and colourful - a wonderfully accurate and stunning effort by Isaac Lummis. Director Jason Langley has assembled a cast of wonderfully talented performers. This show is a beautiful window into the life of one of the world’s much loved idols. Shelley Hampton

Highlights included Kurt Phelan and Alex Woodward in a tender ‘Unworthy of Your Love’ (Assassins), a bitter and bitchy ‘Could I Leave You’ (Follies) by Stephen Hirst, and an emotional ‘Being Alive’ (Company) from Tim Carroll. Sean Andrews did some great vocal work on ‘The Road You Didn’t Take’ (Follies), ‘Send in the Clowns’ (a duet with Hirst) and ‘Sooner or Later’, which also gave Phelan a chance to show off his impressive terpsichorean ability (he was after all Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing). With all of the guys in white dressing gowns and jocks, ‘You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick’ (Gypsy) had buckets of raunch, whilst ‘Getting Married Today’ was a hoot with Phelan singing the soprano part falsetto, Andrews as the tenor, and Hirst as the demented bride. Musical direction with Dominic Woodhead on piano, Michael Thrum on sax and clarinet, and Kirsten Baade on bass, was top of the scale. Peter Pinne

Shrek Jr. Book and lyrics David Lindsay-Abaire and Music by Jeanine Tesori. Ballina Players Youth Theatre. Director: Geoff Marsh. Jan 13 - 22. BALLINA’S Youth Theatre production of this popular musical had everything one could ask for in entertainment! A large cast of enthusiastic performers kept the pace for the entire show. Geoff Marsh’s production worked well and with great costumes, wonderful singing and inspired routines, one soon forgot the limitations of the stage. The show produced many outstanding cameo performances including the Donkey, Sophie Brazenor; Shrek, River Fullengar; Princess Fiona, Hillary Goodsell and the diminutive Lord Farquaad, Lachlan McGeary - who spent the whole performance walking on his knees. Under the baton of Leanne Broadly, the music was enjoyable. Choreographer Sarah Shanahan-Jarvis created simple but effective routines suited to the abilities of the young cast. The near-full house appreciated the evening’s entertainment. Roger McKenzie

Ladies in Black Book by Carolyn Burns. Music and Lyrics by Tim Finn. Queensland Theatre / Sydney Theatre. Directed by Simon Phillips. Sydney Lyric Theatre then on tour Jan 3 - Apr 2. THIS quintessential Sydney story - adapted entirely by New Zealand born creatives - wrapped the audience in a familiar and cosy blanket of recognition. At the heart of the story is a 17 year old girl who wants, not to find the man of her dreams, but advance her education. Lisa (Sarah Morrison) is working at a Department Store (think David Jones) during her summer holidays, waiting for her results. Her father has pre-determined that University is out of the question. At the store she meets many wonderful characters facing suburban challenges. The most flamboyant is the stylish Hungarian immigrant Magda, in the designer dress department, played deliciously by Natalie Gamsu. Trisha Noble’s character Miss Jacobs - still distraught at the loss of her fiancé in World War 1 - acts as a behind the scenes Fairy God-mother. The male characters play second fiddle. Indeed one of the best songs of night involved the women making fun of Frank (Tamlyn Henderson) the husband of one of the Ladies Boys of Sondheim in Black. He is a “common variety bastard” - who often Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim. Narrations: Anthony “gets plastered”. Nocera. Concept/Direction: Kris Stewart. Musical Director: Tim Finn’s music and lyrics provide many unexpected Dominic Woodhead. Choreography: Kurt Phelan. and delightful flavours. One of the songs has a deft Understudy Productions & Brisbane Powerhouse. percussion comprising the tinkling of spoons on tea cups. Powerhouse, Brisbane. Feb 2 - 5. Finn has a connection to the 17 year old lead character STEPHEN Sondheim is a composer and lyricist who is gay who is bold enough to desire to be a poet. but to my knowledge he has never written a song for a gay The six piece band on stage for the duration are just the character. So Kris Stewart’s concept of looking at gay right balance for this chamber musical. relationships through the eyes of Sondheim’s songs is an Equally stylish is the simple elegant set by Gabriela interesting switch. Tylesova, which moves from the Department Store to Stewart’s directorial expertise shines through every step suburbia. She even managed to slide in a public urinal in a of the way as five young hunky guys sing, dance and strip- moment of hilarity. tease their way through more than a dozen Sondheim Ladies in Black is a treat to watch. classics. David Spicer Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

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Jurassic Park the Musical Music: Phillip Malcolm & Ben Kaye-Skinner. Book & Lyrics: Aaron Holmes. Brisbane Arts Theatre Director: Shaun King. Musical Director: Faron Swingler. Choreographer: Nicola Crawford. Jan 29 - Apr 24. LAME jokes, cheesy dialogue, and songs with titles like ‘Dinosaurs’, ‘Chaos Theory’ and ‘Raptors in the Kitchen’ are the milieu of Jurassic Park the Musical. A parody of Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 movie, the show was first staged in a backyard in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 2009. Arts Theatre produced a workshop of it in 2016. In this current version a group of more than accomplished Arts Theatre regulars try to keep this piece of nonsense buoyant with varying results. Director Shaun King made a meal of game-warden Robert Muldoon with his ‘ocker’ portrayal complete with shorts, boots and Digger’s hat. Gabby Carbon did likewise with paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler, spending the entire second act with dinosaur faeces on her face, whilst Chris Kellet, in dark glasses and black wig, channelled Elvis as chaos theorist Dr Ian Malcolm. Others to impress were Michael Fryer as Timmy, Alexandra Bolland as Lex, Christopher Crane as Dr Alan Grant and David Harrison, who nicely cloned Richard Attenborough as John Hammond. It was all very undergraduate and silly and pleased the mostly college-age audience. Biggest laughs came from the green dinosaur, an art department treat that brought much needed comic relief whenever it appeared. Peter Pinne

choreography by Alicia Nisi and Carla Dinley (upbeat music by Andy Coates) bring all these animals to life in a most entertaining way. Michael Brindley

Cabaret Music and Lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb. Book by Joe Masteroff. Produced by David M Hawkins. Directed by Nicholas Christo. Hayes Theatre Co. Jan 9 - Mar 5. Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne from May 1. IF Sydney were Berlin in 1929 then Kings Cross would be the place you’d watch a smoky, seedy and raunchy cabaret. This makes the 100 seat Hayes Theatre the perfect venue to enjoy an intimate look at this musical. Some lucky members of the audience were squeezed onto a table right next to the beautifully crafted set. Cabaret is now celebrating its 50th birthday. There were many aspects of this production that were as satisfying as past productions. Let’s start with the ‘Kit Kat Klub’ band. Let the first person I name be Ellie Shearer on the trombone. Her big fat juicy crackling notes penetrated your bones. Another stand out feature was the crisp choreography by Kelly Abbey. A particularly cute ensemble was a kissing dance when a couple’s lips remained locked during a routine. In the chair as the master of ceremonies was Paul Capsis. He seems to have been born to play this role and his intensity and humour were at times electrifying. Looking absolutely like he walked out of a movie set as the all Babe, The Sheep-Pig American boy was Jason Kos as Clifford Bradshaw. Whilst By David Wood, based on the novel by Dick King-Smith. Chelsea Gibb’s accent wasn’t exactly what you might have Victorian Youth Theatre. Southbank Theatre, The Lawler expected in the lead role of Sally Bowles, she absolutely (Melbourne CBD). Jan 19 - 28. smashed the part’s shining moment when she sings Life is a THIS 1998 stage adaptation by David Wood works a Cabaret. treat for the small fry. My companion - granddaughter, age Kate Fitzpatrick as Fraulein Schneider and the ensemble 6 - sat entranced and smiling throughout, with total also shone. concentration. It’s an entertaining and inventive production By the time the media were let in to see this production by Victorian Youth Theatre that softens and simplifies, but it had already been running for three weeks - which was the bones of the story remain. The eponymous Babe, a reflected in the sharp as a tack performance. piglet destined for Christmas dinner, turns out to be as David Spicer good a sheepherder as any dog - albeit with methods of her own and a little help from her friends. Swing On This Jessica Koncic is Babe, and she’s excellent, giving the Direction & Choreography: Chris Horsey. Music Direction: piglet a sweetness and touching naivety that luckily lead to Craig Schnieder. QPAC, Good Egg Creative & Asia courage and success. As Mrs Hogget, Kristen Robertson Theatricals. Concert Hall, QPAC, Brisbane. Jan 7. could perhaps reign in the hearty vehemence, smoothing WHAT a great start to 2017 this show was - a quartet of her transition from lip smacking over the bacon to Australia’s leading-men, an 18-piece big band, and songs becoming Babe’s protector and supporter. Liam Warren as that mined the Sinatra/Bublé songbook - it was a perfect Farmer Hogget carries off his role by maintaining a Buster mix. Ben Mingay, Luke Kennedy, Michael Falzon and Rob Keaton-like stone face. Piper Knight, clearly a teenager, Mills were sensational delivering, one of the most polished does very well with the sheep dog who becomes the vocals acts we’ve seen in recent times. Add in some blokey piglet’s surrogate Mum, but also the Narrator, engaging banter about their show-biz beginnings in TV talent shows, the audience to help Babe succeed. musical theatre, and pub rock cover bands, and a cheeky Otherwise, a large cast of kids with a wide range of ages mini-strip with Mills removing his pants, it was not only a and sizes, double up as sheep, ducks, puppies, rustlers, fun-filled testosterone-fuelled show, but a fabulous wolves and various humans. Their roles are helped by showcase of their extraordinary talents. clever, imaginative costumes designed by Jennifer ‘Feelin’ Good’ was a good opener but they also got McKenzie. Tony Nikolakopoulos’ concise direction and the maximum mileage out of Sinatra and Crosby’s famous duet 88 Stage Whispers

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Honk Jr.

Online extras! The cast of Honk Jr. discuss the show. Watch now by scanning the or visiting https://youtu.be/Ydc-kfOlAmo ‘Well Did You Evah’. Great solo moments included Mingay’s wild ‘Minnie the Moocher’, Falzon’s smooth ‘I’ve Got You under My Skin’ and Mills, who brought some genuine heart to ‘Mr Bojangles.’ Rhonda Burchmore was a ‘surprise’ guest, doing a mash-up of Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’. Also adding to the highlights was a quartet of “minimes” (Noah Taylor, Regan Walker, Jonathon Carmichael, Michael Marshman), four wonderful young tappers who clearly could have held the stage on their own. But it was the guys’ show. When they encored with two Sinatra classics, ‘New York, New York’ and ‘My Way’, the audience went wild and still wanted more. So did I. Peter Pinne Honk Jr. By George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Young Australian Broadway Chorus. The Lawler at Southbank Theatre Melbourne. Jan 18 - 28. THIS lively feel-good musical based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Ugly Duckling, with great ensemble numbers and some strong solos, is suitable for the whole family. We follow the self-discovery journey of Ugly, David Duketis, born into a family of farmyard ducks. He is clearly different, but as the story progresses, he and all the other animals learn that is something to celebrate.

The well-trained cast executed characterisation and choreography with confidence. Group numbers were performed with suitable enthusiasm. It was great to see the stage full of so many talented young performers. Overall the show sounded fantastic too. Everything was clear and well-balanced. The score was full of catchy tunes. There were some beautiful harmonies, particularly Emily Svarnias, Ida, and Charlotte Barker as Maureen’s duo, ‘The Joy of Motherhood’. The clever costumes create a farmyard full of animals including ducks, chickens, pigs, cows and even a turkey. They also enhanced the personality of each character. Cat, Joseph Baldwin, looked very suave. Tegan Vincent was quite balletic in her swan costume. I especially loved the paper parasols used as the ducklings’ eggs. Emily Svarnias as Ida, the mother duck, was outstanding. She had the emotional maturity to pull off jokes intended for the adults in the audience, cheekily complaining about her husband Drake, played by Dean Gild. She also delivered heart-felt solos such as ‘Different’ and ‘Every Tear a Mother Cries’. She was the most glamorous-looking duck I’ve ever seen, topped only by Grace, Emily Palmer, the most distinguished duck on the lake. An uplifting story and a nice way to spend a holiday afternoon or evening. Sophia Dickinson

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Little Shop of Horrors Book and Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Music: Alan Mencken. Director: Kate Foster. Bangalow Theatre Co. A & I Hall Bangalow. Feb 10 - 18. BANGALOW is a little town a few kms west of Byron Bay and this is only their second production. Little Shop of Horrors was a popular choice judging from the capacity crowd and their reactions. Director Kate Foster made good use of the limited facilities at her disposal and along with the Musical Director Margaret Curtis and Choreographer Anouska Gammon created a fun show for all the family. The cast of Seymour, Brian Pamphilon; Audrey, Madeleine Lipson; Mushnik, Graeme Speed and the trio of Ronette, Lyanne Compton; Crystal, Bridie Duff; and Chiffon, Tia McQueen-Nelson, brought the story of the man-eating plant, Audrey ll to life - in spite of the small acting areas available. As Audrey ll grew, the clever use of projection showed the tentacles spreading across the set. Roger McKenzie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Book by Jeffrey Lane. Music and Lyrics by David Yazbeck. Phoenix Ensemble Inc. Pavilion Theatre, Beenleigh Showgrounds, Qld. Feb 3 - 25. THE story opens with the smooth and self-loving lothario Lawrence Jameson (played excellently by Frog Johnson) conning the rich women of the French Riviera out of their jewels and cash quite happily, until the young and somewhat enthusiastic try-hard Freddy Benson (Trent Richards) arrives to try his luck. Into the mix is added Phillip Fitzjohn as Jameson’s sidekick Andre Thibault and Danika Saal as Christine Colgate, the eventual main target for the two prime protagonists. Fitzjohn is charming, with real comic timing and Saal is bubbly, fresh, and boy, can she belt out a tune. Faultless! All four deliver slick performances in some excellent scenes, none more so than Trent Richards’ take on the infamous Ruprecht scene, where the duo try to scare away an unwanted suitor (played by the wonderful Tia Wilke) by introducing her to a cellar-dwelling, socially inappropriate and repulsive character.

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Both Johnson and Richards are excellent in their respective roles, from Johnson’s self-confidence and stage presence to Richards’ playful joy, facial expressions and streetwise charm. The two play off each other with a wonderful stage chemistry which leads to some hilarious scenes. The show is studded with witty, sharp songs by David Yazbek, performed dutifully under the Musical Directon of Ben Tubb, that advance the story, with ‘The More We Dance’ a catchy treat, while the closing ‘Dirty Rotten Number’ is the one you’ll be whistling as you leave the theatre. Sherryl-Lee Secomb’s production has an admirably light touch, and she choreographs the space with panache. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is the perfect theatre package - clever songs, great acting and subtle choreography - it finds the lost era of musical comedy and brings it back to life. Mel Bobbermien The Addams Family Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.. Directed by Ryan Taafe. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre (W.A.). Jan 19 - 22. MANDURAH Performing Arts Centre’s production of The Addams Family is a big, lavish production with a professional polish and big budget feel. Set and Lighting Designer Stephen Carr establishes the world of the Addams Family even before the first song and we know we’re in for a treat. Hilary Readings’ costumes are also impressive. Cleverly directed by Ryan Taafe, this show pays on its promise. Chris Gerrish and Dixie Johnstone are outstanding as Gomez and Morticia Addams. They have a wonderful chemistry, embodying these iconic characters with precision and finesse. Taao Buchanan sings beautifully, giving depth to teenaged Wednesday, whose romance sets events in motion. Daniel Pais plays Pugsley with a cheeky charm. The audience adored picture perfect, polished performances from Jesse Watts as Fester and Peter ‘Pear’ Carr as Lurch, while Pam Ogborne was a feisty, likeable Grandma. Love interest Lucas was played with charm by Matthew Manning, looking gorgeously boy-next-door. His uptight parents Mal and Alice were brought to life in fine performances by Geoffrey Leeder and Renee Bickford. A sixteen-member ensemble of Addams Ancestors was highly focused and worked well as a team. Hilary Readings’ choreography was tight and wellperformed, the highlight being Gomez and Morticia’s ‘Tango de Amor’. The Addams Family Orchestra was led by Musical Director Jo Bennett. Tight and precise, this 11 piece band was key to the success of the show, which was vocally and musically strong throughout. Kimberley Shaw

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Cats Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot. Packemin Productions (Youth). Concourse Theatre, Chatswood. Jan 13 - 28. IT felt like Chatswood was raining with cats (but no dogs). On stage and off there were whiskers in every conceivable corner. The impressive clouder of cats on stage (yes, clouder is the collective for cats) formed a sumptuous choir, with their final meow or ensemble. Cats may never satisfy the purists as a piece of drama but as a vehicle for showcasing the talents of a large group of performing artists it excels. And Packemin Productions had no shortage of them. Take Noah Gill Mullins, who shone with his clarity of movement and dialogue as Munkustrap. Teenager Dominic Clark displayed his impressive pedigree as a world competitive trampoline gymnast, doing flips as Rumpus Cat and Macavity. Isobel Grundy, in training since the age of six, delighted with her dance performance in the character of Victoria. The beautifully named Harmony Lovegrove belted out Memory impressively as Grizabella. Steering the ship was the one guest professional, Simon Pryce, giving gravitas as Old Deuteronomy and a few dollops of humour as Bustopher Jones. The set comprised projections of the moon and the inside of a clock, framed with scaffolding. It left plenty of the stage open to the full size cats and very cute appearances by a group of ‘kittens’. The felines were exceptionally well drilled. Packemin Productions is the best youth theatre in Sydney. David Spicer Saturday Night Fever Book: Nic Cohn. Music: The Bee Gees. Spotlight Theatre, Benowa, Gold Coast. Director/Choreographer: Clay English. Feb 10 - Mar 4. BASED on the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta, Spotlight’s production had all the pizzazz of the era. In the role made famous by JT, Jackson Brash gave a fantastic performance and danced brilliantly, receiving a standing ovation. The supporting principals: Hannah Rigby, Ruby Hunter, Jack Harbour, Johnathon Fife and Marcus Du Toit, all turned in creditable characterizations, complete with New York accents. The set, designed by the director, capturing the Brooklyn neighbourhood these working-class Italian-American families called home, worked very effectively and slick scene changes enhanced the flow of the show. With exceptional dancing, Clay and his assistant Laura Carrett, along with Musical Director Julie Whiting, have created an energetic production, much to everyone’s delight. A great night’s entertainment! Roger McKenzie

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2017. VOLUME 26, NUMBER 2 ABN 71 129 358 710 ISSN 1321 5965

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Stage Whispers 91

Musical Spice

Shane Warne

NOT The Musical I’ve got an erection in the frozen food section, Simone’s patience now wearing thin, I love swapping numbers with scrubbers in clubs, But now what an SMS I’m in.

has me scratching my head, as during the musical’s second tour in Adelaide and Melbourne it got some brilliant reviews, had good audiences and the cast had a ball! The problem may be that this is a very intelligent musical about someone Here is another choice cut from a who is not so gifted in that department? Also the people on scene when the Australian Cricketers committees who choose the shows are on tour. seem to be allergic to Shane Warne Gonna bite you like a BBQ T-bone, himself. They might love Eddie Perfect My hotel room is a morality free zone, but are not so enthusiastic about Eddie Perfect in Shane Warne The Musical. Shane. I know you wanna do me, Come in spinner! Shane Warne There is also the problem with So here’s my room key. “Legend. Icon. Hero. Villain”, so says musicals about people who are still the publicist, is doing a national public figures but whose lives have It’s not all rude though. There are speaking tour during April. many sweet bits and of course you get moved on from the time it was The producers promise that “this is to play a bit of simulated cricket. written. the show that separates fact from Clinton the Musical was also I am sorry to say that at this fiction, revealing the man behind the written by Aussies and was staged in juncture Shane Warne the Musical is myths, the truth behind the tweets.” my least successful acquisition ever. It New York and Perth last year. Did that Members of the audience will be become redundant when Hillary lost able to ask questions? If I attended, the election? my question might be - what is it I also represent the rights to about you Warnie, that turns off Keating the Musical. It was wildly people who choose what musicals successful, touring Australia for two their theatre companies perform? years. On the amateur circuit there A few years back I signed up the have been about half a dozen amateur rights to Shane Warne the productions. Did it lose some edge Musical by Eddie Perfect (the first when John Howard stopped being professional season made the cover of Prime Minister? this magazine). Anyway here is a song Shane Eddie composed some great toeWarne could sing himself without tapping tunes with very funny lyrics. blushing. It is in the scene which reHere is a taste from the scene when enacts his ball of the century which he Warnie, freshly domesticated following delivered in England. a lengthy test tour, is out shopping with his wife and gets distracted by And the hairs stood up the text messages inundating his On the back of my neck, mobile phone. And the bails flew up, Gatting froze at the crease, And the crowd went wild, With shock and total disbelief, Online extras! And it was beautiful, Eddie Perfect as Warnie performs ’What It was absolutely beautiful. An SMS I’m In”. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/J1dV6nv3f2k David Spicer 92 Stage Whispers March - April 2017