Stage Whispers March/April 2020 edition

In This Issue 10

The Complete Works Of David Williamson .............................................. 10 A retrospective on our prolific playwright’s 50 year career

17

creating a shake & stir ............................................................................. 16 shake & stir theatre hit the road with Animal Farm Aussie Conquers Broadway ..................................................................... 20 Carmen Pavlovic - Moulin Rouge! on Broadway and much more “Don’t Call Us...” .................................................................................... 24 Great audition stories and gossip from the stars The Gospel According To Paul ................................................................. 28 An extract from Jonathan Biggins’ Paul Keating play Aussie Musical Theatre Pioneers .............................................................. 32 Nancye Hayes, Jill Perryman, Tony Lamond and Kevan Johnston

26

School Performing Arts Resource Kit ....................................................... 35 Articles and resources for Performing Arts teachers One Star In A Galaxy Of Stars .................................................................. 42 Being part of Harvest Rain’s Wizard Of Oz Arena Spectacular

37 47

55 78

New Zealand Musical Theatre ................................................................. 54 Golden era for big New Zealand musical theatre companies

Regular Features Stage Briefs

8

Broadway Buzz

30

London Calling

31

Stage On Page

50

Stage On Disc

52

On Stage - What’s On

56

Auditions

64

Reviews

70

Musical Spice

92

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85 6 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

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Editorial

Ben Mingay peruses the latest edition of Stage Whispers between performances.

Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, We begin this edition celebrating the career of playwright David Williamson, who is calling it a day after 50 years and 57 plays. Martin Portus chatted at length with the prolific playwright for a State Library of NSW oral history project on leaders in the performing arts, and caught up with him again recently as he celebrates his retirement with two new plays, and a major revival.

With our special focus on schools this edition, given the continuing popularity of Williamson’s plays on school curricula, I’m sure teachers and students will find it a useful resource.

Our annual School Performing Arts Resource Kit (SPARK) supplement, and the related free online publication of the same name, have become a regular March / April feature.

Having taught drama, organised excursions and incursions, and staged school musicals in a previous life, I hope the many teachers who are receiving this magazine find this feature informative and useful.

I’d love for teachers to share with us their school production experiences, especially if, like me, your school shows were expected to break even.

This edition we feature a “unique” perspective on choosing your school production, and holding auditions, from new columnist Miss Patrice.

Recently I unearthed the paperwork for my first school production, The Pirates of Penzance, staged for less than $400 in 1978. This was well before the era of radio mics, and much scrounging from community theatre companies helped dress the show, while the single sheet program was run off on the school’s Gestetner.

Budgets certainly rose over the years, but they remained relatively modest up until the time I moved on from teaching.

Fundraising by students, teachers and parents was important to get the shows off the ground. I fondly remember one wonderfully supportive Principal, out on the school oval running a lunchtime putting competition to help raise funds.

By contrast, a hit production of Grease made such a profit that we were able to purchase resources for every faculty, rewarding the 20+ staff members who were actively involved.

Yours in Theatre,

Neil Litchfield Editor

CONNECT

Cover image: Main: The cast of shake & stir theatre’s Animal Farm.

Read Peter Pinne’s interview with the company’s artistic directors on page 16.

Photo: Dylan Evans.

Inset: David Williamson.

Photo: Robert Catto. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 7

 Jemma Rix and Courtney Monsma have been announced as Elsa and Anna respectively in the forthcoming Australian production of Disney’s musical adaptation of Frozen. Playing at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from July. frozenthemusical.com.au Photo: Julie Adams.

Online extras!

Disney’s highly anticipated Broadway sensation Frozen lands in Sydney soon. https://youtu.be/vE7ILCZybaY 8 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Stage Briefs ďƒ­ Kate Maree Hoolihan and Ian Stenlake in The Bridges of Madison County, playing at The Hayes Theatre from March 6. hayestheatre.com.au Photo: Grant Leslie.

ďƒ­ Ryan Gonzalez, Andrew Coshan and Elise McCann in Merrily We Roll Along, playing at The Hayes Theatre from April 16. hayestheatre.com.au Photo: Peter Brew Bevan.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 9

Online extras!

David Williamson discusses Family Values and the beginnings of his career. https://youtu.be/MD7795eDmGg 10 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Cover Story

The Complete Works Of David Williamson David Williamson - Australia’s most prolific and successful playwright - is calling an end to his remarkable career of 50 years.

Martin Portus reviews his legacy.

Williamson wants to go out with a bang and - if he is actually going - the fireworks are certainly aligning. First up, he’s just blown out 78 candles.

His play, Family Values, with its impassioned call to his generation to become activists against our shameful treatment of refugees, was a big hit this year at Sydney’s Griffin Theatre and even with those pesky critics who’ve been attacking him for decades. What he calls his last play, his 57th, Crunch Time, is running at Sydney’s Ensemble, about a businessman seeking reconciliation with his sons and their help to end his own life.

And Williamson’s classic harpooning of Sydney greed and ambition in Emerald City has been revived by director Sam Strong in a current QT/MTC co-production. Its costumes and music are straight out of the 1980’s and, says Williamson, there’s nothing dated in the appalling human behaviour.

Williamson - despite carping from leftist or feminist ideologues - is a great believer in the accumulated, essentially unchangeable qualities of what makes us human. A satirist, he says, can’t afford to let wishful ideological fashions get in the way of telling it like it is. The playwright is deeply informed by the post-graduate psychology he studied as he escaped his first short career in mechanical engineering.

“We are far from the perfect creatures that socialist ideology would like to make us into,” he says. “I (Continued on page 12) www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 11

Jason Klarwein and Marg Downey in Queensland Theatre’s Emerald City (2020).

Photo: David Kelly.

Online extras!

Check out a preview of Queensland Theatre’s Emerald City. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/W52wjO7bRhI

So Williamson’s problem is only that he’s quite happy - living on delight in satirising my own side, that Sunshine Beach near Noosa, an of the pious left - of which I’m still a enduring marriage, blessed in a member - who can often look blended family of 5 kids and 14 ridiculous. When I’m asked why I grandchildren. We know well his long don’t attack the other side, I say personal journey into the sunshine they’re beyond satire.” from his plays, for which over 50 Now 52 years on from writing a years he’s shamelessly drawn on his first play at Monash University - and own experience of work, first some very crude engineering revues - marriages, adultery, fighting parents he likes to think he’s gotten even and generations, cultural clashes, better at being a dramatist. But he shifting friendships, bitching sounds uncertain; critics have made colleagues, competitive grandhim defensive about his later work. parenting, and finally euthanasia...to Mostly only his earlier plays have been say nothing of the big social issues revived - like Emerald City, The Club, he’s plucked from the headlines of our times.

Travelling North, Sanctuary and The Perfectionist.

So what now? He’ll walk Sunshine “Maybe,” he muses, “I’ve lost the Beach, keep up learning French (a raw energy of The Removalists; maybe counter, he says, to dementia), and I’ve lost the desire to show the pound his exercise bike while following podcasts. darkest aspects of human nature; Of course he’s retired before, back maybe increasingly I’ve wanted to show the more humane, empathetic, in 2005, amid even bigger, different fireworks. He was furious at being positive sides of human nature but snubbed by the new directors of the without leaving all the darkness behind.”

Sydney Theatre Company, Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett. His play As the last line of his ‘last play’ suggests, even after the assisted Influence, centred on the repellent if death, “All is more or less well with sincerely held beliefs of a shock jock modelled on the late Stan Zemanek, the world.” had been box office gold for the STC, (Continued from page 11)

12 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

but Williamson was told they were no longer interested in his work. And the times, he thinks, were demoting the importance of writer.

“Back then I was ditched with this new STC policy of having great actors in great roles,” he says. “And ‘director theatre’ was taking off, with smart kids playing with classics like Chekhov, Ibsen and other masterpieces which surely already had a perfected and proven structure. It was the cult of the director, the cult of Dazzle, and Barrie Kosky, and The Wars of the Roses with constantly falling golden flakes and misplayed guitars.”

A Melbourne journalist back in the 1970s warned Williamson that his first success would be short. ‘The arts is more about fashion than the fashion industry,’ he said, ‘you’ll go out of fashion,’ remembers the Tall Poppy playwright. ‘The only way you’re going to survive is to keep working and keep having people come to your plays because the critical industry will rapidly turn on you.’

“And how true that turned out to be. I didn’t realise it would happen so fast!”

So Williamson stayed on his toes, changing subjects, being the Living

Newspaper of our times. And ever reinventing, he’s always on the quest to find the latest best producer or director, or different state theatre company or alternative to premiere his next work.

It’s hard to believe he can retire from this compulsive deal making, or that he can quell that emotional fire about a subject that drives him to the keyboard.

Writer’s block was never his problem.

“I wrote Sanctuary (1994) in just ten days, in the white heat of passion and disgust at American foreign policy in Iraq - sometimes the momentum just takes over.”

Back in 2005, a heart arrhythmia condition also called for him to retire.

But wounded, he was soon back, writing smaller, more cabaret-like shows and then a host of new plays for Sandra Bates’ Ensemble.

Arguably, Williamson was now serving an aging middle-class audience long comfortable with his comedy and sharing his own older concerns; but he denies that the demographic there on Sydney’s North Shore was any different from his old homes with the state theatre companies.

And true, there was nothing too elderly about his capacity to collar new subjects: ethical challenges to Western medicine, crossdressing footballers, Generation X professionals, Asperger’s, real estate horrors and nightmare grandchildren.

As he’s done before, he can also switch from dark dramas or frothy (Continued on page 14)

Andrew McFarlane and Belinda Giblin in Griffin Theatre Company’s Family Values (2020).

Photo: Brett Boardman.

Cover Story

Online extras!

Meet the team behind Griffin Theatre Company’s Family Values. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/s2nBsdl_Ib4

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 13

Cover Story

al Court The Removalists at Roy 1970.

Theatre, London circa

David and Kristen Williamson.

David at the Kennedy Centre, Washington for The Club (Players in the US).

Rupert, in which the global media tycoon tells his epic story direct to the satires and pull out a philosophical audience. Williamson was unaware, big canvas rabbit, like his recent unlike the men across the desk, that a success, Nearer the Gods. Premiered fictionalised version, Succession, and in Brisbane in 2018, it’s due next year two other related films around Fox in Sydney. Turning from executive Roger Ailes were in the neighbourhood to the stars, Nearer works. the Gods is about the discovery of “Anyway, Ailes was an American universal gravitation by that eccentric and they still don’t see Murdoch as genius, the hero of the Age of that, and Ailes had sexual Reason, Isaac Newton, and his misdemeanours which made him much more interesting than an nurturing colleague, Edmund Halley (he of Halley’s Comet).

Adelaide boy starting off with barely “It was one of the biggest leaps by nothing.” humanity in understanding the Celebrated in the 1980s for his cosmos and Newton - difficult, early films like The Year of Living cantankerous, Asperger’s and brilliant Dangerously, Gallipoli (with director - driven out of madness by Halley to Peter Weir) and Phar Lap, and with see through the fog of his time.” film adaptations of ten plays under his Williamson is obviously excited belt, Williamson had a reputation that the story’s internationality has overseas as a social issue writer of been recognised and director Bruce conscience. As well as significant Beresford is currently in London theatre hits that decade, he had casting for the film. Of course, another nice earner writing scripts for Williamson also wrote the screenplay. Hollywood - but for films never made.

And getting up the Newton film “LA was my least favourite city. I redeems all those dud spruiks he did used to break out into a nervous rash in Los Angeles. His last was for a film on the plane, knowing I had to of another big canvas play of his, appear every time before a panel of (Continued from page 13)

14 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

the director, various producers and studio executives and convince them I was a writer. In Hollywood you always have to act like a writer.”

Once he got close with a Korean war film he wrote for Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise, but the head honcho with the final decision thought no one remembers Korea. The precious “green light” wasn’t given. Ultimately, A Few Good Men was the result, but Williamson was long gone.

“Bang. I was suddenly history. No more white limousine. I had to find my own way to the airport.”

Colin, the Sydney screenwriter in Emerald City (premiered in 1987 and a film just a year later) also shares Williamson’s own dream for global opportunities and the quest for that Harbour view.

“But Colin is also passionate about the need to have our own stories in Australia, told in our own accents, otherwise we will always think that real life happens elsewhere and spoken in accents other than our own.”

The Williamsons moved from Melbourne in 1978, attracted, he

says, by Sydney’s opportunities, its hedonism and free, less ideological thinking, and the greater professionalism of its theatre and film making. When Emerald City premiered, they moved again, this time to a water frontage…

“My only defence when criticised for that was the Woody Allen defence that any satirist is prey to the impulses he satirises.”

But beyond the Harbour view, telling our own stories in our theatres and films is the driver of David Williamson’s long career. He still gets angry at the memories in Melbourne of how our universities and arts companies were locking out Australian stories and dominated by an English superiority.

“It’s hard for this younger generation to understand the impetus and anger that was burning in our breasts in those days.”

It’s what drove young Williamson to Betty Burstall’s new La Mama and later the Pram Factory in Carlton. He remembers a blokey, fiercely egalitarian and ideological world, more interested in fashionable actor-

David Williamson spoke to Martin Portus for a State Library of NSW oral history project on leaders in the performing arts; the full interview now available on the Library’s website.

devised works than writers. They asked him to write the last scene of something so they could improvise the rest; they liked what he wrote, asked him for an earlier scene, and then another.

“It was the only play I wrote backwards. It was 1970, The Coming of Stork, about blokes in a share household.”

The explosive success of The Removalists and Don’s Party quickly followed in both Melbourne and Sydney. Then Williamson’s next plays, Jugglers Three and What if you Died Tomorrow, were premiered, respectively, by the MTC and the Old Tote at the new Sydney Opera House.

He’d arrived, and quickly.

For the next 25 years Williamson was the darling - and cash cow - of any state theatre company lucky enough to get first dibs on his plays.

It was his artistic and commercial choice and, for Australian playwriting, his greatest legacy.

“I did transform the local scene and made it acceptable for Australian plays to occupy centre stage in our mainstream theatres, something that hadn’t happened up to this stage. It

was always presumed to be British plays or perhaps American or European ones.”

So fierce in 1990 was the competition to premiere his play, Siren, that both Melbourne and Sydney producers grabbed the play, unseen. The Melbourne production opened 15 minutes earlier than Sydney’s, thus claiming the ‘premiere’.

Offstage, notably in Sydney in the 1980s, Williamson was a committed cultural advocate, including 12 years as President of the Writers’ Guild.

And yet … he was dumbfounded when once in a pub, full of writers, one came up to him and said, ‘Williamson, you don’t know how hated you are!’.

The remark is ancient now, but obviously cut Williamson to the core, just like the impact he still shows from old feuds with colleagues and carping with critics.

The giant storyteller to his tribe forged a place for Australian stories on our stages, but then dominated those stages for half a century. Now he’s making room and moving off perhaps.

Diane Craig, Matt Minto and John Wood in Ensemble Theatre’s Crunch Time.

Photo: Prudence Upton.

Online extras!

David Williamson broaches sibling rivalry in his final play, Crunch Time. https://youtu.be/a0qo4Iq-EvM www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 15

The name may be spelt in lower-case but there’s nothing small about the achievements of shake & stir, the Queensland based theatre company which keeps punching above its weight. On the eve of their national tour of Animal Farm, Peter Pinne sat down with artistic directors Ross Balbuziente, Nick Skubij and Nelle Lee to discuss how they have become the most successful commercially independent touring theatre company in the country.

“The year was 2004. I wanted to be an actor but had just graduated from QUT in Business, Marketing and Advertising,” said Ross Balbuziente.

“Nick had studied Law at James Cook Uni, and Nelle had a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts in Acting from USQ. Nick and I were cast in an in-school touring company in 2004 and instantly became best friends who shared big dreams. At the same time Nelle and I were cast in a show for another theatre company and we too became best friends who shared big dreams. All three of us were at a mutual friend’s party and we all got chatting properly and the seeds of our first few school touring productions were planted.

“Two years later we resigned from our day-time jobs and have worked fulltime for shake & stir ever since.” shake & stir theatre company was founded in 2006, touring schools for the first time and also establishing an after-school drama program. Both these initiatives are still the nuts and bolts of the company. Today at any given moment they can have up to five teams of three actors touring schools. A busy day mid school term would see one team in Cairns (FNQ tour), one team in Brisbane (SEQLD tour), one team in Sydney (NSW tour), one team touring primary schools all over Queensland, and one team in co-production with Opera Queensland touring primary/ secondary schools all over Queensland.

The company operates a weekly Drama program, which is now offered at 10 locations across SEQLD - attracting up to 400 students annually.

Statespeare was their first mainstage production in 2009. Produced as a co-production with La Boite, it incorporated material from several Shakespeare plays and included contemporary references, directly 16 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

targeting students and created as a means to get young people through the theatre doors. Not a Shakespearean play, but one about studying his works, it was aimed at high-school students, toured, and was nominated in 2012 for Best Presentation for Children at the Helpmann Awards.

“A cleverly written piece, combining hilarious bits of physical theatre with a mixture of contemporary and Shakespearean rhetoric…totally engaging.” (Sue Gough, Courier Mail) Statespeare was also the first time they began to realize their buckets of dreams. As Nelle said, “Our very first tour, taking Statespeare across the country, was exciting and then as the cherry on the top we were nominated for a Helpmann Award. I remember thinking, I am waking up every day doing what I love with people I love.

Surely that’s a good measure of success.”

“It was terrifying to be touring our first mainstage,” Ross added. “We had a touring party of six and back then thought that was a huge team - our biggest touring party since then has been 60+.”

Since then the company has continued to grow, producing adaptations of classic literature (Dracula, Jane Eyre, 1984, A Christmas Carol), and titles that are simultaneously popular and unexpected (Fantastic Mr Fox, Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts, George’s Marvellous Medicine). Ross, Nelle and Nick are responsible for the largest portion of the creation, adaptation and creative direction of the work produced by the company.

The company has performed in 110 different theatre venues in every state and territory in the country, and regularly tour to New Zealand. The current full-time staff is 12, plus all the

actors, crew and creatives who work on mainstage productions. In the last 2 years shake & stir has been seen by over 420,000 audience members.

To date shake & stir has produced 14 major productions, with an outstanding national reputation for touring excellence, consecutively winning the PAC’s Drover Award for Tour of the Year in 2014 and 2015. This year at the Matilda Awards, they won the Gold Award in recognition of the breadth of their Australian and New Zealand touring. It was the second time the company has been awarded this honour.

In addition Fantastic Mr Fox won the 2020 Matilda Award for Best Video Design for Craig Wilkinson (Video) and Jon Weber (Illustration).

“The audience is immersed in Dahl’s story like never before. It felt like we were reading a picture book.” (Virag Dombay, Broadway World) The previous year shake & stir’s production of A Christmas Carol was nominated for 8 Matilda Awards and won Best Set Design and Best Video Design.

“The use of effects and video have really done well to showcase where the team at shake & stir are taking this timeless classic and recreating it for a contemporary audience.” (Australian Stage).

The company joined the big-league in 2018 when they toured the Australian premiere of Green Day’s American Idiot, which played the Sydney Opera House, and six other capital cities. Showcasing a series of ‘frontmen’ from iconic Aussie bands Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), Chris Cheney (The Living End), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Sarah McLeod (The Superjesus) - as the character of St Jimmy in various cities, the reviews were glowing, with

the company being praised for their effort.

According to Ross, the Sydney season of American Idiot in the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, was one of his proudest moments. “The whole season had sold out and we were selling standing room only tickets. It was pretty special to be in that beautiful big space watching a rock musical bring everyone to their feet.”

A national tour of Animal Farm playing 36 venues throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory, ACT, Tasmania and Western Australia was the plan for 2020, although this will likely be revised in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Originally adapted by Nick in 2011, George Orwell’s allegorical novella Animal Farm was described in earlier productions as “one of the most raw pieces of theatre produced in this country in recent decades”. (Australian Stage) All three artistic directors are responsible for product control and share the duties between them. On a national tour one of them will try and meet up with the touring party to

Tim Dashwood in shake & stir theatre’s Animal Farm.

Photo: Dylan Evans.

(Continued on page 18)

Animal Farm Adaptation by Nick Skubij. Directed by Michael Futcher.

The national tour is scheduled to open on April 28 at Ipswich Civic Centre. Due to the uncertain nature of Government directives relating to public gatherings for the foreseeable future, shake & stir will update its audience on the status of the Animal Farm national tour and remaining seasons of Fantastic Mr Fox, both in Australia and New Zealand via its website shakeandstir.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 17

All three enjoy touring says Ross. “I love doing my exercise runs in other watch and note the production every cities and towns. It’s a great way to few weeks. They also have a few experience the beautiful places around Touring Company Managers who the country.” schedule all their tours and are the “I love touring,” Nelle concurs. “I get point of contact for their in-school to visit some of the most amazing actors. places, with a great group of people, “We are in a lovely position,” says and call it work.”

Ross, “where each artistic director acts, “Australia is such an incredible directs and writes, in addition to country and what other job pays you to programming and producing the travel around and experience it all,” Nick shows. We can and do take on different agrees. artistic roles for each production. That And their experiences? For Nick it means that we are often literally in the was seeing a sunset and sunrise from a shows and can ‘check’ them from hot air balloon over Uluru, for Nelle, inside.” sitting in the waters of Coffin Bay eating freshly shucked oysters and sipping (Continued from page 17)

bubbles, and for Ross, performing on the beautiful stage of the Theatre Royal in Hobart.

Does it get boring driving long distances?

Nelle believes the drives are the best.

“Oh, sure the stretch between Esperance and Perth could do with a few more pit stops, but after a good podcast and few rounds of ‘would you rather’ the time flies.”

After fifteen years they’re all still best friends.

“We wouldn’t be still doing it if we weren’t,” said Ross.

And their big dreams have certainly paid off because they’re still kicking goals.

shake & stir Virtual All of shake & stir’s in-school performances are currently available to stream online.

SW: Tell us about Shake & Stir Virtual. What exactly is it?

S & S: Shake & Stir Virtual is a unique online portal where teachers and students can access our performances online. Each show has been recorded in a ‘live’ theatre environment across multiple camera angles. This means that although the shows were captured in the one take, viewers can benefit from alternative perspectives - as if they were moving around the audience during the show for a different view. Also available via Virtual, are performance resources, some interactive additional clips and some fun special features.

SW: What shows do you have on offer via this online portal?

S & S: We have all 7 of our in-school productions, including Shakespeare and non-Shakespeare available online with plans to include some of our multi-award winning main-stage productions down the track. There are also interviews with our actors, creatives and directors, along with interactive and live Q&A sessions. This all means that our audiences, especially our teachers and schools, can continue to engage with the company while socially isolating.

It’s pretty cool and more is getting added each day.

SW: Why do you think it is important that students watch “live” theatre during this time?

S & S: Beyond that fact that Shake & Stir Virtual will ensure teachers can stay on track with their curriculum, it is so important for young people to have an opportunity to escape and be entertained while going through these difficult times. Many of our schools and student audiences have grown up with shake & stir and we hope that having access to our productions on their own devices at home will give a sense of normality and comfort. Plus, the way we created the virtual shows makes them feel very much live and distinct to what young people traditionally engage with online - there is a sense of urgency and in-the-moment that these shows capture.

SW: What do you think will happen to companies like shake & stir if alternative methods of delivery are not embraced by consumers during these unusual times?

S & S: It is vitally important that companies like shake & stir accept the current reality and act and adapt as best as possible. We should be giving our audiences every possible reason to continue to engage with us until we can once again return to theatres and schools across the country. With no clear idea as to when this will be over, it is difficult but essential to work out how an industry like the live arts can continue with bans on social gatherings.

The obvious thing is to somehow temporarily move online. But then it is also vital to capture what makes live theatre unique - by definition, it must happen right there in front of you. Otherwise, it is just a poor substitute to the great passive options viewers have on Netflix. Great live theatre demands a certain degree of participation from the audience and that is the challenge with delivering it virtually. We learn more about this new medium every day.

If audiences don’t accept that how they consume live theatre has temporarily changed, and continue to support theatre companies, there will be significantly fewer companies left on the other side. And audiences can support companies through these tough times in many ways. If you’ve brought tickets to a show which has been cancelled, consider donating your refund to the company to support them and their team. Enrol in an online class with an shake & stir theatre’s actor you may have seen in a show. Most importantly, when the curtain does rise again, go and see live theatre.

In Animal Farm. the meantime, please visit shakeandstirvirtual.com.au Photo: Dylan Evans.

18 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

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Aussie Conquers Broadway In part two of our series on Australians making it in New York, we speak to Carmen Pavlovic - the CEO of Global Creatures - producer of Broadway’s number two bestselling musical Moulin Rouge!

Her schedule in February included a trip to LA for the Grammys, back to Sydney to see her family, off to The Bahamas for a conference, then New York and back to Sydney for her son’s birthday.

Stage Whispers: What do you love about New York and what could you do without?

Carmen Pavlovic: I love the diversity, and culturally NYC is like nowhere else in the world. Broadway itself is a genuine community and the standard of work is so high that it is thrilling and engaging. I saw the sixhour epic The Inheritance in December. It’s now early February and I have thought about it every day since because it was so powerful and so moving.

20 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

I also saw Slave Play, which was so insightful. It really stretches your mind to be part of a community at the forefront of current thinking regarding so many issues around race and gender.

I love the way Broadway truly embraces risk.

I could do without the sirens, although I am becoming more and more blasé about them. I find the homelessness really confronting. My children’s constant questions about the how and why and what to do to

fix it are so hard to answer. Oh, and I wish the food portion sizes were smaller. They kind of freak me out.

And that a good cup of tea was easier to get!

SW: What additional challenges are there on Broadway producing original musicals in comparison with Australia?

Carmen Pavlovic: I’ve kept the centre of the company in Australia, so distance and time zones are probably the biggest challenge. The international profile of Broadway is so

great that success and failure each have such high stakes. But in most other ways it is easier. Broadway is geared to produce new work whereas new musicals in Australia remain a bit of a novelty. As such, the appetite for risk and the available investment is dramatically higher in New York. The Broadway community is really structured in its approach to deal making and investment and the (Continued on page 22) Carmen Pavlovic.

L-R: Jacqueline B. Arnold as La Chocolat, Robyn Hurder as Nini, Holly James as Arabia and Jeigh Madjus as Babydoll in Moulin Rouge! on Broadway.

Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Online extras!

No matter your desire, you’re welcome at the Moulin Rouge! Scan or visit https://youtu.be/PWa4tbW2XMo www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 21

(Continued from page 21)

established practices give you neat guidelines on many issues.

SW: With Moulin Rouge you have found the winning formula. What have you learnt from producing other shows that held you in good stead?

Carmen Pavlovic: I don’t think there is a winning formula that can be found and rolled onto the next show as a guarantee of success. People only see a formula as ‘winning’ in hindsight. On paper, you can cast the best creative team with the best title in the world but whether that team will find alchemy; whether we will all realise the same vision, is unknowable in advance.

At the same time, naturally I have learned so much over the last decade.

Moulin Rouge! has benefitted from every good and bad decision we have ever made and I don’t think our company would have produced this version of Moulin Rouge! on Broadway at this time without everything we have done before it.

SW: How thrilling was it to read positive reviews for a new project?

Carmen Pavlovic: It is obviously a thrill and probably just more of a relief than anything. Even though we received an amazing review from Ben Brantley from the New York Times in Boston, none of us assumed that would be repeated by him again on Broadway. We decided to keep our heads down and do the work and to take nothing for granted. In NYC the reviewers all come in before Opening Night, so reviews start appearing online as the curtain comes down.

Consequently, you end up reading them on the way to, or at, the After Party. Over the years I have experienced the very worst and the very best of reviews and plenty of mixed ones in between. But I always say it is the same people with the same appetite for creative risk; and the same preparedness to take a big bold swing behind each show. No review, whether good or bad, changes that.

SW: How hard was it getting the song publishers to agree to let you “slice up” the songs?

22 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Carmen Pavlovic (seated front left) with Baz Luhrmann and the creative team behind Moulin Rouge!

Carmen Pavlovic: The score of Moulin Rouge comprises 70 songs, representing the work of 160 composers. Each song requires permission from the composer/s and publisher/s, both in terms of the creative use in show and financial deal. I think MR is the most complex music licensing ever undertaken for a Broadway show and took us many years to achieve, with many curveballs. The cast album required a different set of rights to be cleared all over again, so getting the show rights in place in time for opening and for the cast recording to take place four days later was a massive undertaking for our company. The rights process and outcome certainly feature as a highlight in the story of our journey to Broadway.

SW: Now that it has momentum, will it run for a decade on Broadway?

Carmen Pavlovic: I am no more able to predict the trajectory of a Broadway show over the next decade than Scott Morrison can project the trajectory of Climate Change over the next decade - but sadly that hasn’t stopped him pretending he can!

Scientists are equipped to predict what a future decade looks like based on facts and research. Theatre producers and uninformed politicians cannot. I’m delighted with the early

Christiani Pitts in King Kong.

Photo: Matthew Murph y.

critical and commercial success on Broadway and I hope MR can sit on Broadway for a long time. Beyond that, I take nothing for granted. I just keep one foot in front of the other while we chip away at the international roll out of our existing titles. We have the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! going out at the end of 2020 and to the West End early 2021 and to Australia in mid2021; Muriel’s Wedding has a reading in New York next week and we are gaining momentum on our plans for King Kong to go to China. Then there are another few titles we are considering for development.

SW: Where do you live when you are in New York?

Carmen Pavlovic: All over the place! We relocated to the US for most of 2018 because we had Moulin Rouge! opening in Boston in July, the Walking with Dinosaurs world tour starting in the UK in July and King Kong opening on Broadway.

We home-schooled the kids for that period, so we had a teacher living and travelling with us. It was a nightmare of logistics and upheaval.

We settled in an apartment in NY right by Central Park. It had a pool so the kids could get outdoors and keep up their swimming, which is much harder to do in NY than Bondi! Eddie Perfect and his family lived a block away so his super cute kids would often come over for a hang out.

The rest of the time, if the kids are with me for short trips we stay in a short-term apartment. If it’s just me, I stay at a hotel. I have a bag that I leave in New York with weird things in it like a water filtering jug and band -aids and rubber bands!

SW: How do you now balance managing a musical in NY with a young family in Sydney?

Carmen Pavlovic: I’m not sure that I do! The word ‘balance’ also freaks me out because it feels like a bar I am constantly failing to reach. Frankly, we spend most days on the edge wondering how the hell we are going to get through the next few months.

Inevitably the great opportunities my family have had go hand in hand with great sacrifices. Travel is incredibly expanding for kids. They go to fun opening nights and see lots of great shows. On their first day of school in New York they went on an excursion to the United Nations building and watched a sitting. Yet they spend too much time longing for their mother and I for them. I feel physically strange and discombobulated without them. My arms feel weird. People often try to comfort me with “You’re being a great role model”, and I hope that is true, but when your kids are crying to you on the phone it is very hard to tell

them, or yourself, that you are being a great role model.

When (my husband) Pete (England) and I are both rehearsing the same show, it is bloody because there is that inevitable period of months where we are both in the theatre day and night. King Kong on Broadway was so hard in that respect.

Although the kids did come and hang at the theatre a lot of nights with Eddie Perfect’s kids.

I simply could not have produced Moulin Rouge! on Broadway without Pete being prepared to lead the domestic front. I’m happy for the kids that they have this incredible relationship - that they can experience a man in the role of primary carer. But I can’t pretend that doesn’t give me complicated, and defensive, and sad feelings about whether I am a good mother. And then other times I just slap myself and say ‘Shut up! We are so privileged, and the kids are so bloody fine.’ I mean parenthood is essentially an exercise in managing your own guilt no matter who you are and what you are doing, isn’t it?

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 23

Coral Drouyn looks at the dreaded audition process which all performers face at some time in their careers.

“God I hope I get it.

I hope I get it.

How many people does he need?”

Those are the ensemble’s opening lines of the opening number in Michael Bennett’s iconic musical A Chorus Line (the A was added by Bennett to jump alphabetically ahead of Fosse’s Chicago in theatre listings).

It’s a show all about the audition process. If there is anyone out there who hasn’t ever auditioned, then chances are you’ve chosen to live a normal life. For those of us in show biz, mostly we hate them, sometimes love them (if we get the part) and frequently love to hate them.

In the late 1950s and 1960s there was one young woman who queued in the ‘cattle call’ for every JC Williamson’s and Garnet Carroll show.

For ten years or more she got knockbacks: the dreaded “don’t call us”. Then at one audition she was told, “Thank you, we start rehearsals on Monday week. Who’s your agent?”

Looking confused she said, “I don’t understand,” and the director said to her “You’re in. We want you for the show.” Flustered, she shook her head and replied, “Oh I don’t do shows, I only do auditions!”

There’s no definitive history of when auditions started, but we do know that Shakespeare auditioned players for specific roles, especially if 24 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

they were playing female roles. In Victorian times, ‘Ladies of the Chorus’ first had to pass inspection of their legs (up to the knee) before there was any interest in dance skills, and a pretty smile, and a “well turned” ankle, were the main requirements.

These days most performers are triple threats - dancers, singers, and actors - and they all have agents who can negotiate an audition time instead of queueing in line for hours on end.

Well, almost all.

Ben Mingay is currently green with success as Shrek in Shrek The Musical, but his very first audition, for Rent in Sydney, almost put him off show business before he got started.

“I was an 18-year-old bogan from Newcastle with no experience and no training, wearing a flanno,” he tells me. “I travelled down to Sydney and stood in a cattle call queue for seven hours at Kinsellas. Finally someone came out and said, ‘We’re running out of time, so keep walking through the door, keep walking and sing the highest notes in your song (unaccompanied) then walk off, don’t talk to the panel, and out the back door on the other side.’ Well, being a bogan from Newcastle, I’d chosen ‘Mustang Sally’. So I walked in without stopping and sang ‘You’ve been running all over town’ and out the door on the other side.”

It took Ben nine hours to sing six words without getting any feedback.

But look at him now.

Legendary star Nancye Hayes recalls her first audition(s) for Betty Pounder.

“I got call-back after call-back for Bye Bye Birdie. In the end I didn’t get it because I didn’t look like a teenage groupie.”

She reminiscences, “I cried so hard my mother told me I had to toughen up or just be a secretary if I couldn’t take rejection. But just a couple of months later Pounder herself called me and said, ‘There’s a place for you in My Fair Lady’. So, if you do a good audition, but you’re not right for the show, they will remember you for something else.”

Nancye became our Leading Lady in so many musicals that even she was surprised when she was asked to audition for Showboat, thirty years later.

“They wanted to hear me sing,” she tells me. “I’d been touring in a play, Mourning, for a year and my voice was very rusty. But I thought, well hopefully they all know me. When I arrived at the theatre, there wasn’t just a couple of people sitting in the stalls. There were long trestle tables with about a dozen people, including the creatives from America, sitting in judgement like a jury. It was like the Spanish Inquisition and I thought, “Is this what young performers have to go through now? How terrifying.”

Some American creatives have a hard time accepting just how excellent our Australian performers are, as Todd McKenney told me.

“I was in Singapore doing a Power Rangers show when John Frost called me and said that he wanted me for Crazy For You, but I had to audition for the American Director - so could I get myself to New York the following day. Talk about pressure!” Todd explains.

Todd threw his singlets and sarongs (it’s steamy in Singapore) into a bag, and hopped on the first flight to New York, where it was freezing cold, and, because his room wasn’t ready, he wandered the streets in his tropical gear, shivering.

“I was told not to prepare anything as they would provide the music, etc,” he continued. “When I turned up to the audition the Musical Director asked me what I was going to sing. I flippantly said, “what have you got?” since I’d been told not to bring anything. The Musical Director cut me to pieces in front of all the creatives by saying, ‘I don’t know how it’s done in

your country, but in this town we come to an audition prepared!’”

Todd didn’t pass the audition and it wasn’t until six months later that he got to play the role, after the imported American lead was injured.

Poirot star David Suchet auditioned for the West End producer John Gale with dire consequences early in his

and there was silence. Then Gale’s voice boomed out - ‘How do you spell your surname?’ I responded S.U.C.H.E.T. I waited for what seemed like eternity before he said, ‘Yes, well, thank you Mr Suc(K)hit - perhaps another time.’”

Being present at someone else’s embarrassing audition is nearly as bad

career. He mumbled his name, which Gale clearly didn’t hear, and then announced he would do Mark Antony’s famous speech from Julius Caesar, whilst outlining an imaginary body on the stage.

“I was extremely nervous and overexplained the imaginary body,” Suchet says. “I got through the speech

as being the auditionee.

Jason Langley, acclaimed director, was once an actor and fell victim to his own talent in an audition “I had prepared a fabulous song for a musical audition, a song I could nail without fail. However, during the (Continued on page 26)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 25

(Continued from page 25)

audition nerves took away my ability to make “oo” sounds - not great when you’re singing ‘Blue Moon’! I learned never to sing songs with a proliferation of ‘oo’ sounds from then on.”

But his worst audition moments came as a director.

“I had a young actor who decided to present the Juliet/Nurse scene - by herself. She sat on the stage unintelligibly mumbling barely above a whisper, then stopping at the end of each line, saying quite loudly ‘huh?’ and demonstrating listening to the nurse in silence,” Jason tells me with a laugh. “(Another time) I gave an auditioning actor some notes on his monologue that he’d presented in a static standing position. I asked if he’d hop on the stage and try it again. He obliged, lifting one leg and hopping on the spot whilst doing the monologue. Well, you can imagine, I was on the floor in hysterics. Not the finest moment for either of us.”

Performer turned director Paul Watson has a similar story.

“I auditioned a kid joining an already established cast. He said, ‘I’m so and so and I’m here to audition for the role of Johnny.’ I told him that role had been cast and we were only auditioning for ensemble men, to which he replied, ‘You’re about to recast the role of Johnny!’ Let’s just say that after his audition we couldn’t even find a place for him in the ensemble!”

Self-belief is essential in a performer, but delusion is best avoided, as are lies and ‘padding’ your CV.

26 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Tim Draxl and Angelique Cassimatis during rehearsals for Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s A Chorus Line.

Photo: Robert Catto.

Performer, musician and coach Will Conyers was caught off-guard when he was taking auditions as MD for the Topol production of Fiddler on The Roof.

“I looked at the auditionee’s CV and she said that her singing teacher was….ME! I’d never seen her in my life, but I couldn’t resist asking her what ‘I’ was like as teacher. She then gave a detailed story of her lessons with me and how I was okay, but a bit of a perfectionist and very demanding.

The casting director was in hysterics and quite literally wet herself.”

The ultimate audition story concerns the great, and seemingly immortal, Angela Lansbury. In a career lull in 1966, after the failure of Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle, she desperately wanted to be considered for Mame on Broadway.

Jerry Herman, the composer, was one of the few people who had seen

her in Anyone Can Whistle on one of its 12 performances, and wanted to audition her, even though director Gene Saks was pushing for his wife, Bea Arthur, who eventually played Mame’s ‘bosom buddy’ Vera Charles.

Lansbury’s agent kept pushing, and when Lansbury finally had an audition time, Jerry Herman helped give her the extra edge by rehearsing two of the show’s best numbers with her (I believe they were “It’s Today” and “Open a New Window”). As if that wasn’t enough, he even accompanied her himself on piano.

Because this is showbiz, you’d likely expect this story to end right there.

You’d think someone would holler from the back the house, “You’re hired!” But that’s not what happened at all. Rather, months went by. Still no offer was made. The producers’ search lingered on. Lansbury remained on the short list but was not the favourite.

Still, Angela Lansbury wouldn’t back down. She knew this role was a make or break moment in her career.

Four months after her original audition, she laid down the law. “I am going back to California and unless you tell me - let’s face it, I have prostrated myself - now, yes or no, that’s the end of it.”

And the rest is history Of course we’re not all Angela Lansbury, but when your heart knows you’ve done a great audition, make sure your head believes it.

New Releases ORiGiN Theatrical and Nick Hern Books origintheatrical.com.au Nick Hern Books Origin Theatrical is the new Australian theatrical agent for British play publisher Nick Hern Books, taking over from Dominie Drama which closed down earlier this year.

Nick Hern Books publishes over 1,000 plays and theatre books including works by many of the UK’s leading playwrights and emerging writers.

The company represents many classic plays (including Dracula and Great Expectations) and plays in translation, together with a wide range of authoritative theatre books, many of them written by well-known theatre practitioners.

Popular Nick Hern Books titles which have been widely staged in Australia in recent times include Tom Wright’s adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Kindertransport by Diane Samuels and Cock by Mike Bartlett.

Choosing A Show Music Theatre International Australasia mtishows.com.au Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Music Theatre International, Australasia is now representing more titles from the catalogue Dramatists Play Service, Inc. The catalogue includes performance rights to classics including The Crucible, All My Sons, Death of A Salesman and A View From A Bridge by Arthur Miller; The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, and many comedies by the writing trio Jones, Hope & Wooten to name a few.

More professional productions, previously administered by overseas agents, will now be licensed from Australia under a new arrangement. mtishows.com.au/dramatists-play-service-mtia

Metro Street Music Theatre International, Australasia has secured the licensing rights for Australasia to the Helpmann Award nominated Metro David Spicer Productions Street by Matthew Lee Robinson. The musical, first davidspicer.com staged in 2009 by the State Theatre of South Australia, was described by Australian Stage as “powerful gutsy Motor-Mouth Loves Suck-Face: An Apocalyptic Musical raw emotion with brilliant music and lyrics”.

This youth musical with a Set against the backdrop of modern-day Melbourne, pop rock score by Anthony soon to be university graduate Chris undergoes a lifeCrowley, recently published altering year. The four women in his life - his mother

by Currency Press, was Sue, grandmother Jo, girlfriend Amy, and girl next door described by Stage Whispers Kerry - enable him to find his way to what he needs the as “freakishly funny”. most: home.

Blasko Tupper, teenage mtishows.com.au/metro-street master of the dark arts, has just kidnapped her entire Disney’s Moana Jr school including MotorThe latest release mouth and Suck-face. These from Broadway Junior two geeks in lust and love is Moana JR. have until midnight to lose This 60-minute their virginity, escape adaptation of the through a cosmic wormhole and save the planet - in the Disney movie is a heartother dimension! Everything goes according to plan until warming coming-ofBlasko’s parents escape their cage and start transforming age story that follows the strong-willed Moana as she hysterical teenagers into mindless zombies. sets sail across the Pacific to save her village and discover davidspicer.com.au/shows/motor-mouth-loves-suckthe truth about her heritage. face-apocalyptic-musical mtishows.com.au/disneys-moana-jr www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 27

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating is on tour across five states - or at least his alter ego Jonathan Biggins is - in a one man play described as the satirist’s finest work. Audiences seeing the production are greeted with the following opening joust.

[Lights up on Keating standing in his office. Awkward pause.]

Well, this is going to be a fun evening.

[He addresses a member of the audience.]

Where you from? Like I give a shit but my producer - and I use the word advisedly - producer? Fair dinkum, if she had bronchitis, she couldn’t produce phlegm. Anyway, she said audience interaction was a good idea. “Breaks the ice,” she said. I said how does that work and she said: “You ask someone where they’re from and they answer and then you say something funny about where they’re from.” And people pay to see that? Totally pointless exercise, as far as I can see. But I’ve always been a cooperative kind of guy. So, where are you from?

[Audience member responds.

Pause.]

Not you, bloke next to you.

Petersham? Jesus Christ, what can you say about Petersham to kick off a sparkling night of entertainment? I would defy Chaplin to raise a laugh about Petersham.

[Talks to another audience member.]

Online extras!

The Gospel According To Paul.

Photo: Brett Boardman.

28 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Jonathan Biggins channels our former PM in The Gospel According To Paul. https://vimeo.com/280817196

Where are you from? Arncliffe?

Best thing you can say about Arncliffe is it’s not Petersham.

Right, sod that for a game of soldiers - as initially suspected: pointless exercise. Ice well and truly intact. And I can hear my producer already: “You have to show more empathy, Paul.” Why start now, sweetheart? If fifty years in public life has taught me one thing, it’s that empathy is for people who come second so they can feel sorry for the people who came third.

private life, that is strictly off limits.

I signed up for the public spotlight, not my family. I never wanted that relentless intrusion, never asked for it. They talked me into doing a Women’s Weekly picture spread at the Lodge - like that was going to help the recalibration of monetary policy. And those jumpers, Jesus, who thought the festive knitwear was a good idea? I look like the illegitimate son of Jenny Kee and Al Grasby. Everything I learned about fashion I did not learn from Al Oh yeah - that’s the sort of stuff Grasby. Al wore ties so wide they you’re here for, isn’t it? The wit and met around the back. He looked like a Ken Done painting gone terribly wisdom of P J Keating. The “souffles can’t rise twice” stuff, the wrong. “all tip, no iceberg”. But what am I No, no - let’s call this a reminder doing here? In bloody Wollongong? of what political leadership actually I’ve always said if you’re not in the looks like. You know, there are Eastern suburbs of Sydney, you’re generations born in this country camping out. (gesturing to the set) who’ve never truly seen it. They laboured under the So I thought I’d bring along a few misapprehension that Scott of the home comforts. Some of us Morrison is a leader. He couldn’t have standards. lead a Mardi Gras parade if he was But why am I here? Good question. I can tell you why I’m not Ian Thorpe wearing a mankini. He’s just the last bloke to be spat out by here. Don’t think this’ll be the autobiography I said I’d never write. the revolving door that passes for I agree with Sam Goldwyn - no-one the highest office in this country. should write an autobiography until Apart from breakfast radio on 2GB, apparently. Look at the dismal after they’re dead. And don’t hold your breath for anything about my record of the last thirteen years:

The Gospel According to Paul Touring Australia from March to July. For dates and tickets, visit artsontour.com.au/tours/gospel-according-paul

Script Excerpt Kevin Rudd. Tintin meets the Rain Man. Julia Gillard never had a chance. Put a chip in the glass ceiling that wouldn’t trouble Windscreens O’Brien. Tony Abbott, the failed priest. This is a bloke who thought misogyny was his teacher in third class. Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Fizzer. The only bloke who can make a real leather jacket look like vinyl. And now the current clown Scott Morrison, who genuinely believes he was put there by God. First time I’ve heard Rupert Murdoch called God but I suppose it makes sense. And I hate to tell you Scott, you do not automatically become a man of the people simply by putting on a baseball cap with the words “Make the Shire Great Again”. Last decent leader out of the shire was a hobbit.

No, that’s not leadership.

Leadership is about two things: it’s about imagination and courage the imagination to make sense of the bigger picture and think of something better and the courage to see it through. And that takes confidence - but that’s not like a can of Popeye’s spinach, it has to be earned. And earn it I did.

So consider this a call to arms.

I’m here to give you a history lesson. So shut up and listen and you might learn something.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 29

B

roadway uzz

Jeanna de Waal, Roe Hartrampf, and Tomas Matos in Diana: A True Musical Story.

Photo: Little Fang Photography.

By Peter Pinne

Disney has just paid a record $75 million for the worldwide rights to screen Lin-Manuel Miranda’s monster hit Hamilton in a theatrical run, followed by a debut on the Disney+ streaming service. Netflix was among several studios bidding on the rights to the recording, putting in bids back in 2018. The Hamilton movie is a filmed version of the original Broadway show, shot onstage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre over the course of three live performances back in 2016, two weeks before the original (and Tony Award-winning) cast left the production.

Hamilton won’t hit theatres until October 15, 2021, and most likely won’t hit Disney+ until 2022. Disney will almost certainly be advertising the fact that Disney+ will be the only place in the world to watch one of the most in-demand stage shows.

The cast of The Music Man revival, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, will include an additional four Tony Award winners - Jefferson Mays as Mayor Shinn, Jayne Houdyshell as Mrs Shinn, Marie Mullen as Mrs Paroo, mother of Foster’s Marian the librarian, and Shuler Hensley as Marcellus Washburn, old friend of Jackman’s Harold Hill. The Music Man will be produced by Scott Rudin, Barry Diller and David Geffen, with direction by Jerry Zaks and choreography by Warren Carlyle. It begins previews 9 September at the Winter Garden Theatre, with opening night set for 15 October.

Paper Mill Playhouse, New Jersey, has announced that a reimagined version of Elton John and Tim Rice’s 2000 musical Aida will premiere during their 2020-21 season. It will be directed by original Broadway cast member Schele Williams and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, and run from 4 February until 7 March 2021. The production’s revised book is by David Henry Hwang, who co-authored the original with Linda Woolverton and Robert Falls.

Following the Paper Mill premiere, the musical will launch a national tour, playing Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Fort Worth, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia and Washington DC, with other cities to be announced. The original Broadway production starred Heather Headley and Adam Pascal.

A musical version of Robin Williams’ much lauded 1993 movie Mrs Doubtfire will open at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, 5 April, following previews from 9 March. Rob McClure (Beetlejuice) stars in the Williams role of a desperate divorced father who dons drag as a Scottish nanny so he can be close to his kids. Written by the Something Rotten team of Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick, the musical has recently finished a successful tryout season at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre. Jerry Zaks is 30 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Online extras!

Jeanna de Waal sings “If” from Diana: A True Musical Story. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/7yZjS1DadLs the director, with choreography by Lorin Latarro.

According to Variety, “McClure deftly honors Williams’ performance” and brings “winning sincerity and his own nimble, multi-voiced comic chops to the effort.” The big question now being asked, after the early closure of the critically lauded Tootsie, is whether Broadway is ready for another cross-dressing straight male actor masquerading as an older woman who is in the process becoming a better man. Only time will tell.

Ralph Fiennes and Emma Stone are rumored to be up for the major roles of Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey in the movie musical based on Tim Minchin’s Olivier and Tony Award-winning Matilda. It would be the first musical project for Fiennes, who is a two-time Oscar nominee for Schindler’s List and The English Patient. Stone won an Oscar for her performance in the movie musical La La Land. She made her Broadway debut taking over as Sally Bowles in the Cabaret revival. Bertie Carvel played Miss Trunchbull and Lauren Ward played Miss Honey in the original stage production, both in London and on Broadway.

Diana, David Bryan and Joe DiPietro’s musical about Princess Diana, is finally coming to Broadway, opening at the Longacre Theatre 2 March. Director Christopher Ashley claims, “The show celebrates her life and makes a case she was a transformative person who changed fashion and philanthropy and the Royal Family and the world.” The musical shows the evolution of Diana from a shy 19-year-old schoolteacher, thrust into the world spotlight, to humanitarian and fashion icon by her death.

The musical has previously been seen at La Jolla Playhouse, California. British actress Jeanna de Waal plays Diana, Roe Hartrampf is Charles and Erin Davie is Camilla Parker Bowles.

London Calling

Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. Photo: Neil Mockford.

By Peter Pinne Whoopi Goldberg is returning to London to appear in a strictly limited six-week engagement of the musical Sister Act, which will play at the Eventim Apollo (formerly Hammersmith Odeon) for a summer run, 21 July to 30 August. Goldberg, who was one of the producers of the original production of the musical in 2010, and played the Mother Superior role for a few weeks before closing, will play a reworked version of her original movie role of Deloris Van Cartier, a lounge singer hiding out in a convent to escape the mob. Jennifer Saunders, best known for her role of Edina in TVs Absolutely Fabulous, will star opposite Goldberg as the Mother Superior. The musical has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, and a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner. An extra week has now been added to the engagement because of record-breaking pre-sales. The theatre seats 3487.

Goldberg won a Golden Globe for her performance of Deloris in the 1992 movie and also appeared in the 1993 sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.

Imelda Staunton, who currently holds the record for the most Olivier Award wins in the Best Actress in a Musical category for Sweeney Todd, Gypsy and Into The Woods, will return to the West End in a bid to make it a quartet. She will play matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi in Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! The production will reunite Staunton with Dominic Cooke, who will direct the musical. The pair previously worked together on the National Theatre’s Olivier Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. Hello, Dolly! is based on Thornton Wilder’s 1954 play The Matchmaker, which was in-turn based on his 1938 play The Merchant of Yonkers, itself an adaptation of a 19th-century Viennese farce. The plot follows Dolly as she makes her way from Yonkers to New York to help a wealthy suitor find love, only to discover she is the one who needs a match. Carol Channing was the original Broadway Dolly in 1964, with Barbra Streisand essaying the role on film in 1969. Jerry Herman’s iconic score, which includes “Before the Parade Passes By”, “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and the title tune, will be augmented in the London version with “Penny In my Pocket” for Horace Vandergelder, a song cut from the original Broadway production, but reinstated for the recent Bette Midler Broadway revival.

Ben Elton’s hit historical BBC sitcom Upstart Crow has just opened in a new stage adaptation at the Gielgud Theatre. David Mitchell, who plays the Bard in the series, is making his West End debut. Others from the sitcom cast who also appear are Helen Monks as Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna, Rob Rouse as household servant

Online extras!

Sister Act’s original Deloris is back for a limited time in London. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/LZpCDfsfTHE Bottom, Steve Spiers as actor Richard Burbage and Mark Heap, who originally played Shakespeare’s nemesis Robert Greene, as new character Doctor John Hall. Danielle Phillips (Judith), Rachel Summers (Desiree) and Jason Callender (Arragon) round out the cast. The stage adaptation is set in 1605, a point in time when Britain’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, was in need of a hit. But as he battles his personal life to put pen to paper, can he fulfil his potential? Elton previously penned TV series The Young Ones and Blackadder, as well as the musicals We Will Rock You and Love Never Dies.

Celebrating 60 years since it opened, Hampstead Theatre has announced four classic plays will be revived at the off-West End venue from March 2020. Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, last seen at the Pinter in the West End season of Pinter plays, opens the season. First performed in 1960, the play finds two hit-men awaiting confirmation of their next target, with the info passed to them via a dumb waiter. Alice Hamilton directs. It plays 19 March to 18 April. Tennessee Williams’ 1967 The Two Character Play follows. Two siblings in a play within a play find the difference between reality and illusion becomes blurred.

Sam Yates directs. It plays 24 April to 23 May. Alfred Fagon’s The Death of a Black Man is set in 1970s London and finds 18-year-old Shakie trying to make money on King’s Road, toasting success with champagne, and trying to be at the centre of things. Dawn Walton directs. It plays 28 May to 27 June. The final play is Marsha Norman’s 1985 Pulitzer-Prize winner ‘Night Mother. A heartbreaking drama, it follows Thelma and her daughter Jessie, as secrets revealed lead to life-changing conversations. Roxana Silbert directs. It plays 2 July to 1 August. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 31

Aussie Musical Theatre Pioneers

Toni Lamond, Jill Perryman and Nancye Hayes with their Helpmann Lifetime Awards.

There was a time when imported stars always scored the leading roles in musicals staged in Australia. Leading lady legends Nancye Hayes, Toni Lamond and Jill Perryman, and dancer Kevan Johnston led the charge to showcase local talent. Peter Eyers spoke to the four pioneers for his Stages podcast.

impressed by ‘from Broadway’ or ‘from The West End’. Then Australian audiences started to learn about their own. Jill Perryman (shone) in the Phillip Street revues, Tikki Taylor and Toni Lamond in The Pajama Game and Kevan Johnston as a strong minor roles in the Australian “The Pajama Game dancer. We didn’t have a lot of male premieres of celebrated musicals such Is the game I’m in. dancers of his calibre.” as Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady And I’m proud to be “Producers were dependent on and Call Me Madam.

In the Pajama Game ‘stars’,” said Toni Lamond. “They were Post-war musical theatre was I love it!” bringing out the third understudy dominated by a legion of imported from the fourth stock company - as talents who would have some Vernon Hines sings this lyric in the affiliation with a production overseas long as they had an American or an English accent.” but were often unknown to the opening moments of the iconic For some of our favourite punters. The all-conquering musical. On Broadway The Pajama production house of the day was the Australian stars, the opportunity to Game dominated the 1955 Tony lead an Australian company in iconic J.C. Williamson company. It insisted Awards. In Australia, it launched the roles seemed like a dream - until the careers of some of our greatest stars. that the best choices to lead shows down under were overseas performers arrival of The Pajama Game.

They showed audiences that Toni Lamond played Babe Williams from touring companies - even Australian ‘stars’ were more than in that production. She recalls that understudies. capable of shining brightly.

Nancye Hayes reminds us, “It was “The Pajama Game was chosen to fill Cherished elders of the local stages JCW theatres after the cancellation of like Jill Perryman, Nancye Hayes, Toni always their (JCW) policy to bring a scheduled tour from Dame Margot people out because they felt that Lamond and Kevan Johnston began Fonteyn. It was proposed that if they Australian audiences were more their careers in the chorus and in 32 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

put an Australian company into the chain of theatres for a few months they couldn’t lose too much money.”

The Firm (as JCW was called) not only produced the shows, but owned a network of theatres around the country. Wages still had to be paid to staff who worked at these theatres and the philosophy was that it was better for them to house a show than be dark.

It was the extraordinary Betty Pounder who suggested to Williamsons that an entirely Australian company could and should be employed to perform the show.

‘Pounder’ began life as a dancer and worked her way up the ranks as dance captain, ballet mistress, choreographer, associate director and director.

‘Pounder’ was sent overseas to study Broadway productions, then oversee their transition to stages in Australia. She would often be working on many productions at once, maintaining shows in commercial seasons, while prepping the next show to go into production.

Kevan Johnston can lay claim to being one of the first Fosse dancers in Australia, performing the iconic ‘Steam Heat’ number alongside Tikki Taylor and Frank Sheldon. ‘Pounder’ acted as a Casting Director for the shows and kept her eye on performers for future work. “We were good enough and picked to go into the next show. Pounder knew who she wanted,” he said.

She had a grasp on all facets of the business and knew who could be mentored and developed as performers.

The 1950s were the formative years of large commercial musicals playing Australia. Communication perhaps wasn’t always the best, as Kevan Johnston recalls. “I didn’t know I was a principal dancer till I got the program - there was no talk of money. We didn’t have agents. (There was) no retainer between shows and you had to find your own accommodation on tour. But we got per diems.”

Nancye Hayes says, “at auditions they’d often just get you to sing

Happy Birthday to see if you could hold a tune.”

The great Jill Perryman obviously impressed from her first venture into the spotlight.

“I auditioned for the first show, and then went from show to show to show to show.”

But her career started many years before, when she accidentally became a child actor.

“I went on to the stage when I was two (years old), looking for my mum.”

At the time her parents, William Perryman and Dorothy Duval, were touring in a production of White Horse Inn. So adorable was the toddler that she was written into the show. “They made me a dress to join the onstage company of White Horse Inn.” Toni Lamond came to The Pajama Game from the variety stage. Her parents were vaudeville performers Stella Lamond and Joe Lawman. She made a huge impact in The Pajama Game, singing numbers like “Hey There” and “I Don’t Want to Talk Small Talk”, launching a career that would see her take centre stage again and again in big commercial productions such as Oliver!, Gypsy, 42nd Street and Beauty and the Beast.

Toni Lamond said The Pajama Game was a breakthrough for Australian artists. “The Australian audience discovered us. Two and a half years we ran. It was supposed to be three months.”

The show also completed a tour of New Zealand.

The production also featured Jill Perryman (then aged 22) in the role of dowdy secretary Mabel.

Despite the success of the Australian cast tour, the status quo of imported stars continued well into the 1960s. JCW blamed the owners of American musicals for insisting on American leads down under.

Finally, Jill Perryman broke the mould in the 1966 production of Funny Girl. Her adept skill at comedy, a glorious voice and intuitive dramatic

Stage Heritage

(Continued on page 34) www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 33

Nancye Hayes.

Online extras!

Stages with Peter Eyers is available wherever you get your podcasts. For the Apple Podcast, scan the QR code or visit https://apple.co/2OF6qVB (Continued from page 33)

Jill Perryman.

Toni Lamond.

34 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Grable withdrew Nancye got her chance.

Her breakout performance had one reviewer claim, “Nancye Hayes gives an exhilarating and seemingly inexhaustible performance.”

She was riding the wave started

by Lamond and Perryman and supported by ‘Pounder’, delighted to continue the realisation that homegrown talents had what it took.

“I always wanted to go on the stage, and I’d tell my mother (who was a very practical woman), while she was washing up. ‘Yes, that’ll be nice dear, that’ll be nice’.”

Nancye had to complete a secretarial course before embarking on a career in show business (she didn’t use it). Determination, talent and resilience ensured that Nancye’s star shone brightly over a plethora of shows like Chicago, Guys and Dolls and Showboat. And like ‘Pounder’, who mentored performers, the generosity continues as Nancye guides the way for the next generation.

skill made her the ideal choice for the lead.

Jill’s husband Kevan Johnston recalls, “People said you can’t do it without Barbra Streisand.”

Despite her talent, she needed the approval of the American director and JCW management to secure the role.

Jill’s success as Fanny Brice is still discussed today, alongside star turns in shows like Annie, A Little Night Music, Hello, Dolly! and The Boy From Oz. The trio of triumphs was completed when a dynamic young talent, who had proven herself in shows such as How to Succeed in Business and My Fair Lady, was given the chance to lead a brand-new show from Broadway.

That joy belonged to Nancye Hayes as Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity.

But she nearly didn’t get that breakthrough chance. Despite Jill Perryman’s outstanding success in The “Stages” podcast was Funny Girl, ‘The Firm’ had reverted to launched in 2018 to record essential its policy of importing its leads, and announced that Betty Grable would conversations with creatives about their career and process. The podcast star in the show. Thankfully, when provides an insight into the history and various components of the industry. Perhaps most importantly it can offer the ambitious performer knowledge that there are many different pathways to cultivate a career in the arts.

There are now 99 episodes available to access, featuring a host of practitioners from dancers, directors and drag queens to producers, playwrights and performers.

“The generosity of their spirit and wisdom never ceases to impress me,” says Peter Eyers.

Series 3 of Stages, launched in February, includes interviews with Toni Lamond, Kevan Johnston, Jill Perryman and Nancye Hayes.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 35

SPARK 2020

Afternoon Tea With Miss Patrice

Hello everyone and welcome to my new adventure! A column in this wonderful little publication. I am beyond excited.

My name is Esmerelda Patrice and I am a teacher in WA. Last year, I was asked to teach a drama class and so I took on the idea of doing the school production as well.

I talked about my triumph in a podcast. Now teachers from all over the world have been writing to me and asking for my advice. After only one production! Clearly, I didn’t realise I was that clever.

So please, ask me questions regarding anything theatrical!

My first letter for today comes from Sydney (I won’t put in names - that wouldn’t be very professional would it). This writer wants to know how he can help his school speed up the audition process and make sure the right people get the right roles.

Well George, when I did my show last year, we had a lot of people turn up and my audition was smooth and efficient. I videoed every auditionee in order to see them later, and if they knew the words to their song, had seen the movie of the musical and could provide their own costume, then I decided they were the right person for the role. Easy really. I don’t see what is terribly hard about it. But remember to press the record button.

If you want to speed up the process, maybe you could just skip the singing and just ask them have they seen the show, and do they have the costume. That would make things a bit easier wouldn’t it!

My next letter comes from someone in Melbourne who would like to do a production of Les Misérables at their school, but they are concerned that it is an old show. Well my dear, I know exactly how you feel. That is why I suggested to my principal that we do Les Mis (as I like to call it) but that we modernise it quite a lot and set it in Australia. That way, the set is so much easier and the costumes are easier and I could do what I wanted to do and add some Australian songs into the show. My principal thought it was a little ambitious for my first show, so he said no, but clearly he was taken with the idea. I knew he would be. Go ahead my dear, do the Australian Les Misérables, set it here and make it a wonderful modern hit. I am sure you can do it. I am a firm believer in having the youth of today being involved in the process, so maybe you could ask them what are their favourite songs and see where you can involve them in the show. Easy!

Now, if you would like to ask me a question, and I am sure that there are many, many of you out there who might be stuck on how to make your show relevant or just need a little bit of sparkle added, feel free to write to me at misspatrice@iinet.net.au and I will do my best to answer you.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

Until next time my dears,

Miss Patrice Online extras!

Afternoon Tea With Miss Patrice is available on PodBean. Scan or visit https://misspatrice.podbean.com 36 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

These materials are available for all shows and are appropriate for multiple year levels from Stages 4-6.

“Sport for Jove offers teachers a one-stop shop - a full live production, paired with the depth and value of extensive education materials,” says Ryan.

The content in each of these kits is curated from the years of experience which Ryan has in education. Along with his professional theatre career, Ryan has worked as a teacher at secondary level, a lecturer at tertiary level, and has been creating work with young artists in schools for over two decades.

“Bringing these texts alive for young people and demystifying what can seem so immense and intimidating is just an incredibly inspiring process and I can’t wait to work with another big selection of In lieu of the cancellation of all school excursions, and the NSW students this year,” Ryan says. current circumstances, Sport for Jove are excited to present Another valuable aspect of the their 2020 Productions and Symposiums as a Digital 2020 Education Season is the HSC Education Program via online streaming. This provides the Symposiums series. These 2 and 3 opportunity for students and teachers to still enjoy valuable hour deep-dives into classic works on and extensive educational content in their classrooms or in the HSC syllabus are led by Ryan and his team of directors and actors. Each their homes. symposium combines lecture, scenesportforjove.com.au work and expert commentary to analyse key scenes from a work.

The company works to create what it describes as a complete, hands-on experience to open diverse critical readings, unlock language, elaborate on character, and answer students’ questions.

This year, Sport for Jove has Sydney-based theatre company Sport for Jove has been delivering expanded its HSC Symposiums series, multi-award winning and innovative productions of classic texts for running events on 10 separate works, over a decade. What’s not so well known is that the company also from Norm and Ahmed to Hamlet. provides comprehensive education packages for teachers.

There are also extra-curricular Each year, as part of their these plays first hand in the theatre,” opportunities for students outside of Education Season, Sport for Jove says Sport for Jove’s Artistic Director, the standard production season. The delivers 5 mainstage productions over Damien Ryan.

Shakespeare Carnival is a state-wide 4 terms. These productions are This year, Sport for Jove will bring performance competition for selected from the national syllabus to life Shakespeare’s Othello, students; the Shakespeare and curated based on NSW teachers’ Macbeth, The Tempest and Romeo Residency is a week-long, in-school needs. and Juliet, as well as Arthur program; and the Second “Sport for Jove’s productions and Miller’s The Crucible.

Age Project is an opportunity for symposiums are passionately Sport for Jove also assists teachers young performers in acting training presented, very rigorously developed in the classroom. Accompanying each outside of school hours. and designed to give students and production is a detailed and free Sport for Jove wants teachers to teachers an extraordinary live Teacher Resource Kit, providing an take a break, sit back, enjoy the show experience and personal relationship analysis of the play, a guide to the and let its theatre practitioners do the with these great plays in performance. production, lesson activities, videos, work.

It is imperative that students meet photos and design materials.

Sport For Jove’s The Crucible.

Photo: Seiya Taguchi.

20-20 Vision For Teachers On Classics

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 37

Curtains For Shakespeare In Love

Love.

MTC’s Shakespeare In Photo: Jeff Busby.

When the Melbourne Theatre Company needed lavish looking drapery for its blockbuster production of Shakespeare In Love in 2019, a local specialist company was on hand to assist with the design and creation.

Theatre Star Pty Ltd has a specially fitted out factory in Melbourne, with a large squeaky clean floor-space, huge cutting tables and a motorised bar for test hanging drapes.

Owner Rod Paton says whilst Gabriela Tylesova designed the lavish look for the MTC play, it was up to his company to work out how to create some of the more challenging aspects.

He says the components of the drapery in Shakespeare In Love included “big stylised pleats on the OP side, three enormous swagging velvet curtains above, a whole range of cut canvas cloths with scenic artworks to create depth, a huge scenic painted cloth at the rear, and various other gauzes and panels.”

Rod says drapes play an important role in many shows and often add to the illusions used in theatre.

“Layer after layer of various speciality cloths are often used for various purposes such as filtering, reflecting or blocking light, adding depth, concealing and revealing scene changes, not to mention painted backdrops, projection surfaces and fancy front drapes.”

Rod says his team of professionals have many years of experience.

“We manufacture for theatre productions, events, films, television studios, schools, universities, churches

and festivals and have worked on countless productions all around Australia.”

For those without the budget of the Melbourne Theatre Company, he has other solutions.

To assist with school and amateur productions, Theatre Star has recently introduced a new drape support product known as the Instaframe.

The Instaframes are a lightweight and portable drape or backdrop support which fold out for use and pack away for storage. The frames can support digitally printed backdrops as well as black masking curtains.

Rod says “not only are they portable, lightweight, safe and budget friendly, but they are re-usable for years after.”

Bumping-in at MTC’s Shakespeare In Love.

For details about Theatre Star’s “Drama Deal” packages, which include Instaframes, digitally printed backdrops and black masking curtains, visit theatrestar.com.au/dramadeals or call (03) 8761 6927.

LET’S PUT ON A SHOW! ALL THE RESOURCES YOU NEED TO STAGE YOUR NEXT PRODUCTION stagewhispers.com.au/StageResources 38 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Performing Arts In Education Sound and light specialists Lifelike Atmospheres asked teachers and students for their reasons why putting on a show is such a valuable experience for schools.

The only thing that is constant in our modern world is change.

Developing the capacity in students to engage with and thrive in this environment is the challenge for modern education. One of the key skills required for success is creativity.

The Arts in schools is more than just producing a show, performance or backdrop. The final production is not the only real benefit for the school, teachers or students. More important is the journey - the process of bringing students, teachers and the general community to create, develop and explore together. It’s about the complete experience, from the setup, to producing the show, the sensations the audience receive and most importantly the learning the student gains from being a part of the show.

Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) works to engage, inspire and enrich student learning through stimulating the imagination and encouraging every student to explore their creative mind. It is through the

SPARK Shayna and Sunny, former students at Rose Bay Secondary College, offer their own insights.

“For most of you...this musical is nothing more than a production put on by a couple of school kids and their teachers. But for us, (this) musical meant that we could all get together and make friends we’d never normally make, sing things we’d never normally sing, and wear things we’d never normally wear. This musical has bought together a bunch of incredibly talented, supportive and fun people into a close family, where we’ve built incredible friendships and unforgettable memories. To our teachers, you guys gave us the opportunity to make school so much more than just homework and assignments, and for that, we’re all eternally grateful.”

study of Visual Arts, Photography, Music and Drama that students can learn to express themselves in this ever-changing world. Not only do The Arts foster creativity and imagination, they also develop key skills in critical thinking, ethics, Information and Communication Technology, intercultural understanding, and literacy.

Being a part of a show or production, no matter the type of role you play or tasks you do, engages the whole being and provides experiences working collaboratively with others.

Thanks to Alysha McCann and Megan Lasting relationships and strong Marshall, teachers at Francis bonds with others are created that Greenway High School, for their may never have blossomed prior to contribution to this article. this journey.

Students explore their own unique art of self-expression and emotions, setting a firm foundation for life as they move into adulthood. Keeping this passion alive beyond school is just as important to one’s continuous growth in self-expression as it is now as students.

Star Struck.

LifeLike Atmospheres is an industry leader for sound, lighting and audio visual solutions. lifelike.com.au www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 39

Shows for Schools

Lamb.

Touring company Critical Stages presents shows at more than 100 venues across Australia. Between 2016 and 2018 it sold 55,000 tickets to 25 productions. The company’s 2020 program includes two plays highly recommended for schools.

Lamb Jane Bodie’s Lamb returns for a ten-city tour along Australia’s East coast throughout September and October.

Originally staged at the Red Stitch Theatre in Melbourne, Lamb spans 40 years of life on an Australian sheep farm. Bodie’s bittersweet story explores the world of three siblings born onto their parents’ property.

Chris Bendall, CEO of Critical Stages Touring said, “It’s a really engaging fusion of drama and music with celebrated composer Mark Seymour (from Hunters and Collectors) having written new songs for the play in a unique collaboration with the playwright.

“We’re particularly pleased that the work has been included in the VCE Drama Syllabus for the year and are looking forward to introducing upper secondary students to this brilliant new play.”

The show tours across four states throughout September and October.

I’ve Been Meaning To Ask You Devised by Brisbane-based verbatim theatre makers The Good Room, this production continues their award-winning work taking anonymous submissions from ordinary Australians to create theatrical experiences.

The play combines submissions of children aged 9-13 in the regions where the show will tour, with answers from adults in the same towns.

Some of the questions include Why do you have to go to work? How come adults drink to have fun? What was life like before the Internet?

Chris Bendall, CEO of Critical Stages Touring said, “When I first saw this work premiere at Brisbane Festival in 2018 I was laughing and crying within minutes - at the same time.

40 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

This is a show that works with young people to ask questions and share stories that are relevant to them, in their voice, giving agency to the voices that we never hear on our stages.”

The production is currently slated to engage communities in Canberra, Bundaberg and Albury Wodonga, with more venues to be announced soon.

criticalstages.com.au I’ve Been Meaning To Ask You. Photo: Stephen Henry.

Online extras!

Watch a preview of I’ve Been Meaning To Ask You. Scan The QR code or visit https://vimeo.com/285781142

Taking Charge

SPARK

Artie Jones from Factory Sound estimates that more than a quarter of a million disposable batteries could end up in landfill after being used in productions each year in Australia. He says there is a better alternative.

Batteries, maths and landfill When it comes to the best way to power your wireless systems - alkaline battery or rechargeable - there are many factors to consider. The saying “Less is More” is the key.

A wireless microphone system that’s used for three performances, then put back in the cupboard until next year, equates to fewer performances, but a greater risk of battery leakage inside the wireless transmitter.

The risk of battery leakage from a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable battery, however, is negligible, even if left inside a device for a prolonged period.

How much landfill is acceptable?

Let’s imagine a typical user of wireless microphones - the annual school production. A small-tomedium sized production, with a handful of shows and a couple of tech rehearsals, could consume 140 batteries for a production.

There are around 8000 schools in Australia. If just 15% of these attempt an annual production, 168,000 batteries would be used. Add to that a few end-of-year concerts, and it would be a very conservative estimate of 250,000 batteries heading to landfill annually.

This figure doesn’t include amateur theatre, professional

productions, theatre restaurants, nor the thousands of bands that use the same wireless systems and in-earmonitoring systems.

Brand-specific rechargeable batteries If you are the person responsible for wireless microphones, the very first thing you’ll notice is how quickly alkaline (single use) AA batteries disappear. It might be because the AA batteries have been ‘borrowed’ by students and co-workers, as they fit a variety of other devices.

Generic rechargeable AA batteries offer the ‘double-whammy’ of not only being desirable to the borrower, they also may not deliver the (approximately) 1.2V per cell consistently throughout the charged state.

Once your battery level drops, although the wireless will remain on, the actual RF performance - the quality of the wireless transmission will suffer greatly, leading to dropouts and possible interference.

The safety net and convenience factor With single-use alkaline batteries giving us a landfill concern, and generic rechargeable batteries possibly not performing ‘up to scratch’ , there are great reasons to choose a wireless-specific rechargeable (such as BA2015 for Sennheiser, or SB900A for Shure).

If you load your BA2015 into the Sennheiser bodypack, then drop it into the L2015 charger after the gig, it simply will not over-charge.

Similarly, if you put the bodypack into the charger without the correct BA2015 battery in place, it won’t charge. The safety nets are in place to ensure there is no danger of damage.

With a lifecycle of around 1000 discharge / charge cycles, using the correct NiMH rechargeable battery pack in the wireless transmitter, the battery is highly likely to last for the same number of performances as the wireless itself. Because they’re a unique shape, they are unlikely to be borrowed as well.

Smart RF (wireless) technicians keep a spare rechargeable battery for each wireless device, and they will also find a way to document the life of each battery. Get ready to buy another one after around 800 charges.

If all theatres and performance venues around the world approach battery usage the same way, imagine how much less landfill we would contribute each and every year.

For all your wireless microphone system needs (including spare batteries) get in touch with the friendly staff at Factory Sound at factorysound.com or on 1800 816 244.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 41

One Star

In A Galaxy Of Stars What’s it like to be part of a cast of 600? Drama teacher, director, theatre reviewer and proud grandmother Carol Wimmer explores what goes on behind the scenes of Harvest Rain Theatre’s arena production of The Wizard of Oz. ‘One star in a galaxy of stars’ is a quote from the booklet The Performing Artist’s Yellow Brick Road to Excellence - written by Tim O’Connor and Callum Mansfield, who directed and choreographed Harvest Rain’s arena production of The Wizard of Oz. In the words of the preface, it’s “a map to the mind, heart and soul of what it means to be a performing artist”.

In the performance at Sydney’s Qudos Arena on 25th January (and on tour), spectacular LED scenery ‘twistered’ Dorothy and her friends from stormy Kansas to the land of Oz, and through brightly lit cornfields, dark forests and witch-inspired maelstroms to the Emerald City.

But it was the 600 young people, aged 10 to 17 - who sang and danced in perfect, choreographed formation as Munchkins, Poppies, Winkies, Jitterbugs and flag-bearing Emerald City citizens - that impressed most.

42 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Because I am close to one of the young performers, Alex, and his mother, Meredith, I set out to find out how long the ‘journey to Oz’ took and just what it takes to be part of the massed chorus. They suggested I look at the aforementioned booklet.

Without being didactic, it takes the young people who have signed up for the journey through a clear and sensitively worded explanation of what it takes to be a performer - and to be part of a production. It explains what is meant by professionalism, focus, being creative, building a character and being passionate about their art. It warns gently about ego and bitterness, and stresses the importance of respect and responsibility. It could be a handbook for any aspiring performer.

With all that in mind, the questions came easily.

Stage Whispers: How did you hear about Harvest Rain?

Meredith: It came up on a Facebook feed. Because of Alex’s interest and involvement in dance and drama, we sought more information and decided to sign up for the Skills Assessment Workshop in early 2019.

SW: Tell me about that workshop.

Alex: I felt uncomfortable at first, but there were lots of kids in the same boat. We did some ‘getting to know you’ drama games, and some singing and dancing, and that made me feel more confident. There was a little bit of choreography too, but it was easy to follow.

SW: What came next?

Meredith: Once Alex was accepted, we received the invoice and

SPARK 2020

The Wizard Of Oz. Photo: Glenn Pokorny.

Online extras!

The cast of The Wizard Of Oz give their impressions of the arena spectacular. https://youtu.be/NCn5npQIoW4

information about forthcoming boot camps - and we signed up for the long haul.

SW: The long haul?

Meredith: The show wouldn’t go on until January 2020, and it seemed strange to be paying up front that far in advance. But in retrospect, Harvest Rain kept in constant email contact and we felt very informed and confident about their organisation.

SW: And the cost?

Meredith: To some it may seem a lot at the time, especially as it’s a oneoff payment, but it ends up being good value compared with the cost of other arts courses - and other school holiday activities. It gives the kids exposure to the production process - a window into the world of theatre.

SW: Tell me about the boot camps.

Alex: I was still a bit nervous at first, but the teachers made it fun and the singing and dancing was like ordinary dance classes except there were lots of kids.

Meredith: Alex couldn’t go to the second boot camp because he had rehearsals for both his school production and his dance studio production that weekend. But they were very accommodating. He was able to do the boot camp online.

SW: How did that work?

Alex: It was based on the booklet.

We had to read through the booklet and answer the questions, like, “What things are you afraid of when you are performing?’ or “What should you do if the director is talking to someone else in the room?”

Meredith: I was impressed with the wording and how they approached difficult issues, like explaining about ego. They used the heading “Beware of Getting a Big Head” but explained the problems associated with ‘ego’, and how to deal with them, gently but firmly.

SW: What was the next step?

Meredith: We had sent measurements for costumes and later in the year received emails with the (Continued on page 44) www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 43

SW: Why was that?

Alex: Well, it wasn’t just a big SPARK 2020 basketball court! There were proper ‘voms’ (vomitoriums) and a big stage.

(Continued from page 43) Suddenly we all knew where were coming in from and could get an idea rehearsal schedule and costume pick of where the audience would be. up details.

SW: How did you feel about the SW: Tell me about rehearsals. performances?

Alex: They started in the second Alex: It was exciting! And week of January - at the basketball everything worked. stadium at Bankstown.

SW: Would you do it again?

We learnt all the choreography and Alex: Definitely. It was fun meeting practised it over and over. Sometimes so many people, learning all the dance it was a bit boring because we were routines and being part of something there all day, from 8.15 in the morning so big. until 3.30pm, but it was fun as well.

SW: What about your feelings SW: What made it fun?

Meredith?

Alex: That’s easy! Callum and Tim. I Meredith: At that first assessment I don’t think I’ve ever met nicer people. met some parents whose children had They were always happy. They never been involved in Grease (Harvest Rain’s frowned and never raised their voices. previous production) and they were Callum always smiled and never really very positive, so I was comfortable got cross. Even when he had to “tap about Alex being involved. I had the people out”. It was the same with the same feeling at the induction, after Mass Captains. It was much more Callum spoke to us about how they exciting when we got to the Qudos would look after the kids. That was Arena. important for me because they seemed

44 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

to be good role models for kids who want to go into the arts.

SW: And would you sign up for Alex to do it again?

Meredith: We’re in the process of doing that at the moment! The next production is We Will Rock You in 2022 and applications are open now.

Alex enjoyed it so much that our younger son wants to do it next time as well.

So, there are the answers to my questions! It seems that through people like Tim O’Connor and Callum Mansfield, Harvest Rain is encouraging hundreds of kids to follow their dreams in the arts - and in the process educating them about commitment, collaboration, and rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing! It’s giving them the thrill of performing to a vast audience, and the excitement of working with professional creatives and performers.

It seems that We Will Rock You is what Harvest Rain does - and will do again in 2022!

Forgotten Fabrics Get Chance To Shine Tracey Nuthall from Costumes without Drama shares her philosophy, after running her company for almost 19 years.

Costumes without Drama was started primarily as a reaction to the waste produced by making costumes for a single use (sometimes even out of paper, and other materials which are not able to be laundered) and ending up either taking up storage room, never to be used again, or sent to landfill. There are only so many items a school can use on multiple occasions, and there are only so many costume pieces which are likely to be used in the ‘dress up’ box at home.

Right from the start we chose not to buy cheap imported garments, or garments made by cheap labour overseas. Most costumes are made on site or locally.

We always used reusable bags, mostly cloth bags made from fabrics saved from landfill, dumped due to being unfashionable designs etc.

Many fabrics used have originated from sources other than fabric wholesalers. Garments have been lovingly created from fabric unearthed languishing in friends’ and family’s sewing rooms, waiting for that ‘ah

ha’ moment when its time came to shine. I personally know each of the 13,000 inventoried items, and could probably tell you the source of the fabric.

Providing costumes for school productions is a privilege Costumes without Drama honours by providing

a full inventory of items supplied, with everything packaged and labeled.

It was not trendy or even ‘cool’ to send costumes out to schools in recycled bags when we started. I have noticed progressively over the years that there is finally an understanding that we do not have to re-invent the wheel for every production. We do not have to spend a lot of money, and it is OK to use something which has been used by someone else before.

Finally, as I approach 20 years in business, I am in fashion!

costumeswithoutdrama.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 45

Let’s Put On A Show Suppliers offer tips on some of their most popular products.

Portable Seating And Stages

For nearly a decade, Transtage has been selling portable seating and stages for schools, churches and theatres.

The Sydney company, which delivers Australiawide, says purchasing the stages is more cost effective than renting, if you have a few repeat uses.

The company says the modular stages can be put together in about an hour and easily deconstructed into flat packs for ease of storage.

The stages have a load capacity of 750 kilograms per square metre, and can be set outdoors or on uneven terrain.

Different uses for the stages include choir risers, seat risers, catwalks and regular platforms for speeches, music and dance. transtage.com.au

Stage Make-up And Accessories

Centrestage Costumes supplies schools around Australia with stage make-up, costumes and accessories for productions, drama classes and Year 12 monologues.

Owner Mary Gurry says the family owned business is one of few companies left in Melbourne which specialises in stage make-up.

“Our most popular products for parties and professionals are fantasy make-up and special effects kits,” she said.

The company is proud to have costumed the Melbourne Marching Girls for their annual appearance in Sydney Mardi Gras. Mary Gurry says the theme this year is white steampunk.

centrestagecostumes.com

Protecting Sets

Creative Film and Theatre Solutions says FoamCoat is an under-rated product which theatres and schools should put on their shopping list.

It’s a non-toxic, water-based coating for styrofoam and polystyrene foam, as well as other surfaces.

The company says FoamCoat provides a hard, durable finish that resists chipping and cracking, yet can be sanded smooth or carved to add detailing.

The flame retardant and water-resistant product is also used on primed wood, concrete block, primed fiberglass, papier mâché, muslin and many other materials.

Creative Film and Theatre Solutions’ new business development manager Natasha Srbinovski is available to advise schools, theatres and universities on their upcoming projects.

Photo: Jann Whaley.

For more info on FoamCoat, visit au.rosco.com/en 46 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

TAFE Queensland: A Community Of Practice

SPARK 2020

TAFE Queensland has proudly partnered with the University of Canberra to add a new drama and production major to its Bachelor of Acting and Performance (304JA.2) degree.

With the addition of the new major, TAFE Queensland now offers acting and performance students two comprehensive streams of study, both on stage and behind stage, over a three year performing arts program.

While the existing advanced acting major trains actors and performers of the future, the new drama and production stream will prepare the next generation of theatre practitioners, all under the guide of TAFE Queensland’s team of unique and expert staff.

They also offer a Diploma of Screen and Media - Performance (CUA51015), and a Certificate III in Community Dance, Theatre and Events - Acting (CUA30213), offered as part of TAFE in Schools.

This initiative will deepen the connection between TAFE Queensland’s training, drama teachers and students in the community, helping high school students to understand and engage with acting and the 21st century theatre experience.

Taught by award-winning industry professionals, TAFE Queensland’s performing arts program elevates artists’ creative practice through fundamental skills training and specialist knowledge.

Graduates of TAFE Queensland’s performing arts program have gone on to work as actors, performers, theatre makers and arts facilitators, within the creative industries.

Central to the success of TAFE Queensland Acting is the

Photo: Aidan Rowlingson.

relationship the program maintains with graduates. Staff and alumni come together to collaborate, utilise rehearsal space, access staff mentorship and use the campus theatre to develop and perform selfdevised work.

The combination of broad and focused training and education, in conjunction with their ongoing graduate student support, creates a deep and passionate community of practice that is unique to TAFE Queensland Acting.

Students are not simply enrolling into an arts program, they’re enrolling into an extended support network to help them get to where they want to go well into the future.

Photo: Warrick Fraser.

To kick-start your career in acting and performance, visit tafeqld.edu.au or call 1300 308 233. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 47

Empowering Creativity At APGS

Current Performing Arts electives offered by APGS include:

APGS is an innovative school for students with a passion for the creative and performing arts. The school is open to students of artistic ability, and dedicated to nurturing talent and encouraging the highest quality in performance and academic excellence.

The school (in the Sydney suburb of Glebe) caters for young people who, in addition to their academic studies, want to focus on Music, Drama, Dance and/or Visual Arts.

Students complete the NSW curriculum and work towards their HSC while participating in a unique Performing Arts program lead by industry experts for part of the week.

In 2019, student Lola Rose Bond received Dux of the Year and won a $30,000 scholarship to study a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) at the Queensland University of Technology.

The scholarship capped off a busy HSC year. She completed Four Unit English, acting and performance roles, and her work was selected in ARTEXPRESS, the annual HSC Visual Arts exhibition.

Her Year 12 study included a creative agenda of dance, drama and art alongside advanced English. ‘’A lot of people thought I was crazy for doing four major works, but I absolutely loved it,’’ Ms Bond told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Music: digital music composition and arranging, solo/duo vocal skills and performance, percussion company, vocal ensemble performance, ear training and arranging, music ensemble, senior music company.

Dance: jazz, hip-hop, musical theatre, self-devised choreography, contemporary ballet, acro, contemporary.

Drama: junior drama company, improvisation, speech, scripts and scene work, senior drama company, musical theatre.

Visual Arts: wire art jewellery, film making, digital comics, body of artwork.

For more details, to book a tour, or for enrolment info visit apgs.nsw.edu.au

Lola Rose Bond’s artwork Chimeras, selected for the 2020 ARTEXPRESS exhibition, highlights the conflict between self identity and public image. In addition to representations of her models’ personalities, her own image also forms part of this work (3rd and 4th from left). artgallery.nsw.gov.au/insideartexpress/2020/lola+rose_bond

48 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Online extras!

Hear from students how studying at APGS empowers their creativity https://youtu.be/GSNQUWcFlws

Scenic Studios

SPARK

Scenic Studios is a Melbourne based company and has been trading for over 40 years, specialising in theatrical painting of scenic backdrops and theatre scenery. It offers a high level of craftsmanship in all fields of scenic art and also manufactures scenic paints and hires scenic backdrops and drapes.

The company’s scenic hire range includes over 200 backdrops which are professionally painted and give depth to the scene to allow for lighting tricks and ambience. The standard size, 12m wide x 6m drop, fits most theatres and school auditoriums.

Scenic Studios says a good backdrop will set the scene or create the atmosphere you desire for your performance.

Many different themes are available, from traditional productions such as Oliver!, The Lion King, Seussical and Beauty and the Beast, to ballrooms, circuses, forests and gardens. All can be found on the company’s website scenicstudios.com.au - under backdrop hire.

The company has also has sequin drapes, slash curtains, lame curtains and crush velvet drapes.

The scenic paints it supplies are designed to paint theatre backdrops and scenery. There are 28 colours to choose from, with special paints such as texture, canvas / surface primers and stage black.

The company ships paint and hires backdrops Australia wide.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 49

Stage on Page

By Peter Pinne

ME - ELTON JOHN (Pan Macmillan $22.00) Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll has become the mantra of virtually every rock star since the species was invented and there’s no shortage of it in Elton John’s new autobiography Me. Ghost-written with The Guardian’s pop critic Alexis Petridis, the elder-statesman of British pop has a right royal time of debunking and endorsing myths about him and his extravagant lifestyle in a marvelously self-effacing and revealing tell-all. And he doesn’t stint on the gossip either.

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947 in Pinner, a North-West London suburb, he began playing pub-piano at 16 in Northwood Hills Hotel. His idols were Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley and the “jolly Trinidadian lady Winifred Atwell”, whose style of piano -playing he admired and copied - “The way she would lean back and look at the audience with a huge grin on her face while she was playing, like she was having the best time in the world.” It could be describing any Elton John concert of the last six decades.

The off-spring of a chronically unhappy marriage, he loved his nononsense grandmother, who came to

50 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

his rescue when his foreskin got caught in a trouser zip as a boy.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Music but knew he would never become a classical pianist as his fingers were too short. He was also a statistic freak, a record-collecting obsessive, and good at sport, which is why later in his career he bought the Watford Football Club and took it from Third Division to First.

He changed his name to Elton John when he was playing in the band Bluesology, taking the John from lead singer Long John Baldry and Elton from another band mate.

His outrageous fashion sense burst into creative flower when he met Tony King, an openly gay man who worked for Dick James Music where John was employed. He met his writing partner and lyricist Bernie Taupin when they both answered an ad for talent in the popular UK music publication New Musical Express, placed by Liberty Records A&R man Ray Williams. At the time Taupin was living in Lincolnshire, in Owmby-by-Spital, and pushing wheelbarrows full of dead chickens for a living.

Empty Sky was the first John/ Taupin album, released in 1969, but it was in the 1970’s that Elton John produced their first hit single, “Your Song”, which John had knocked off in

fifteen minutes. Since then they have collaborated on 30 albums, making them one of the most successful songwriting duos in pop music.

With success came uncontrollable excess for John - tantrums, lavish spending and out-of-control drug binges. The drug addiction lasted for 15 years.

“The first line I snorted made me retch. I went out to the toilet and threw up, then immediately went back and asked for another line.”

At one time during this period his days were filled with snorting coke and watching porn. It was also the legendary time he called his office and asked some chap to do something about the weather: “It’s far too windy here, can you do something about it?”

A late bloomer when it came to sex, he had his first experience when he was 23 with John Reid, a Scotsman who became his financial adviser and who later turned out to be dodgy.

John claims he missed out on catching HIV because he was more voyeur than participant when it came to orgies.

But it’s the gossip and dissing of fellow rock stars that provide the laughs - like when he asked Yoko Ono what happened to the herd of cattle she and John Lennon once bought Yoko shrugged and said “Oh I got rid of them. All that mooing.” Or the time he and legendary drag queen Divine were refused entry to New York’s gay bar Crisco Disco because they were over dressed! Divine was in a caftan

and John a flowered shirt.

He was “never great friends with David Bowie”, who called him “the token queen of rock and roll”, but he adored John Lennon and got on famously with him.

Early in his life he got engaged to Linda Woodrow, but called it off when he met a new boyfriend. Later he married German recording engineer Renate Blauel in Sydney in 1987. They were divorced a year later.

After a lifetime of disastrous relationships, he finally met and married (when it became legal in the UK) Canadian David Furnish. They had a stag party at a gay Soho club where Ian McKellen came in drag as Widow Twankey.

John’s mother was prone to constant mood swings, which came to a head when he married Furnish, and she viciously said, “you care more about that f**king thing you married than your own mother.” It was seven years before he spoke to her again.

John used his public profile to raise awareness of AIDS and fought for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients. He annually raises money for AIDS charities.

There’s little about the nuts and bolts of songwriting. Taupin wrote the lyrics in one room and then gave them to John, who sat down at the piano and set them. No editing, no agonising. And he was prolific too, setting “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters”, “Amy” and “Rocket Man” before breakfast one morning.

The Lion King, written with Tim Rice’s lyrics, despite becoming the second longest running musical on Broadway and being the biggest grossing Disney animated film ever, gets scant mention except the fact that he wrote a song for a warthog who farted a lot. Likewise, his other forays on Broadway - Aida, Lestat and Billy Elliot - receive only brief mentions. His tribute single “Candle in the Wind”, reworked for Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, stands as the best-selling single in the UK and US charts, having sold over 33 million copies.

Currently on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour around the world,

John’s epic career has never been more brilliantly captured than in the pages of this book. It’s racy, it’s vivid, and it’s a must read!

best possible introduction to theatre children can have” and the Sydney Morning Herald saying “Theatre of Image holds a special and unique place in the Australian theatrical TOI TOI - KIM CARPENTER’S THEATRE landscape.”

The book contains full-colour OF IMAGE: 30 YEARS IN 2019 (Theatre of Image $30.00) spreads on all of the 27 original This book is a retrospective of past shows, plus anecdotes by Carpenter, actors and practitioners. From the productions of Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image and was launched at beginning TOI integrated film into a celebratory party at NIDA in their work and later digital animation in Jake and Pete - A Road Story for September 2019 on the announcement that after 30 years of Cats! which featured The Umbilical operation Theatre of Image will close. Brothers, who interacted with a host Initially founded by Carpenter as a of cartoon characters on the screen Theatre in Education company, under behind them.

Carpenter’s astute artistic vision it Their successes include: Monkey… became Australia’s premiere visual journey to the west (2014), The Book theatre company, with The Australian of Everything (2010-2013), which proclaiming “Theatre of Image is the included a season on Broadway, and national and international tours of Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince, which became their most successful production and remained in their repertoire for 16 years. It has now become a major ballet with a new adaptation by Carpenter, who has also designed sets and costumes, with choreography by Graeme Murphy and music by Christopher Gordon, which the Australian Ballet will perform throughout 2020.

It is an impressive achievement in Australia that an independent theatre company, underpinned by one individual’s singular distinctive vision, has sustained a successful life for three decades. Carpenter deserves our hearty applause. TOI will be missed.

Stage Whispers Books Visit our on-line book shop for back issues and stage craft books www.stagewhispers.com.au/books www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 51

original cast. Idina Menzel repeats her role of Elsa and sings the heart out of “Into the Unknown”, a song in the vein of “Let it Go”, with sustained notes in the upper register. Josh Gad’s Olaf essays a jauntily comic “When I

By Peter Pinne Am Older”, whilst Jonathan Groff’s Kristoff sings “Lost In Six - The Musical (Toby Marlow/Lucy Ross) (6 Music The Woods”, a ballad with multiple key-changes that Ltd). sounds like an 80s Air It’s easy to see why Six - The Musical has become the Supply number. The second-highest streaming cast recording behind album, which is short, is Hamilton, because it’s 80 minutes of hot, sassy, girl-group padded out with pop vocals that nod to the Spice Girls and every girl-group of vocals of “Into The the nineties. A modern retelling of the lives of the six Unknown” (Panic! At wives of Henry VIII presented as a pop concert, it’s clever, The Disco), “All Is lyrically astute, and has enough pop-hooks and ear-worm Found” (Kacey ditties to satisfy even the most jaded. First presented by Musgraves) and “Lost Cambridge University students at the Edinburgh Fringe In The Woods” Festival in 2017, it’s gone on to become one of the (Weezer).  hottest musical theatre hits around the globe. Each wife gets their turn in the spotlight - Renée Lamb (Catherine of Aragon), Christina Modestou (Anne Boleyn), Natalie Paris Online extras!

(Jane Seymour), Aimie Atkinson (Katherine Howard), Izuka Stream the Frozen 2 soundtrack on Hoyle (Catherine Parr) and Genesis Lynea (Anne of Cleves) Spotify now. Scan the QR code or visit - and they’re outstanding individually, but magnificent https://spoti.fi/2wCMtsi together as in the opening “Ex-Wives”, the Weimar Cabaret-sounding and satiric “Haus of Holbein” and the finale. Hoyle’s “I Little Shop of Horrors (Howard Ashman/Alan Menken) Don’t Need Your (Ghostlight) Love” is a worthy Jonathan Groff also stars in the new production of contender for AdeleLittle Shop of Horrors, the 1982 hit which, on this like popularity, whilst recording, is just as campy and fun as it was nearly four the opening includes a decades ago. Revived by director Michael Mayer, and still musical quote of keeping it small by playing Off-Broadway, the musical “Greensleeves”, widely about a man-eating plant based on Roger Corman’s 1960 (but falsely) believed to B-movie gets it right in every department. Groff is have been written by wondrous as the nerdy and nervy botanist Seymour, with Henry VIII for Anne Tammy Blanchard as the abused Audrey being both trashy Boleyn.  and vulnerable.

Ari Groover, Salome Smith and Online extras!

Joy Woods dooBuy the Six cast recording from Amazon wop delightfully today. Scan or visit as the girl trio, https://amzn.to/2PaUcnK Crystal, Ronnette and Chiffon, Frozen II (Kristen Anderson-Lopez/Robert Lopez) Christian Borle is (Disney). delicious as the sadistic biker The flavour of “Greensleeves” is also evident in “All Is Found”, the first track on the soundtrack of Frozen II. dentist Orin, and Sung by the character of Iduna (Evan Rachel Wood), the Kingsley Leggs, mother of Elsa and Anna, it’s minor-keyed and has a folksong feel. Disney’s sequel to their epic-blockbuster Frozen Online extras! has already taken $1.419 billion at the box-office, making it the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Kristen Download the album from Apple Music Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, who wrote the songs today. Scan the QR code or visit for the original movie, are back for this latest effort from https://apple.co/32iqwus the Mouse Factory, together with a good many of the

Stage On Disc

Rating  Only for the enthusiast  Borderline  Worth buying  Must have  Kill for it 52 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

with his thumping baritone, makes a meal of “Suppertime”. Middle-class American values have never been more wittily espoused than in “Somewhere That’s Green”, a gem in a score that’s been given a splendid makeover. 

on “Memory”. Best of all is McKellen as Gus: The Theatre Cat. The gold-standard is still the direct-to-video 1998 stage production which starred Paige and John Mills.

Lloyd Webber has written a haunting new song, “Beautiful Ghosts” (to make it Only Fools and Horses - The Musical (John Sullivan/ Oscar eligible), for the Chas Hodges) (Silva Screen) TV spin-offs have a hard time getting the punters into character of Victoria, the theatre (why pay money for something you can see on sung in the movie by telly) but that’s not a problem with Only Fool and Horses, Francesca Hayward, with Taylor Swift which has been going gangbusters since it opened last singing a pop version year and has become the West End’s latest hit. BBC TV’s of it over the end revered series about Del Boy Trotter, Rodney and Uncle Albert - and their get-rich schemes - lovingly puts the credits.  working-class characters on stage in a series of set-ups from the series, with a part-jukebox and part-newly Online extras! written score by John Sullivan (son of the original series Get the soundtrack of Cats from writer John) and Chas Hodges (of Chas and Dave fame) JB Hi-Fi today. Scan the QR code or visit with clever lyrics, heaps of rhyming-slang, and http://bit.ly/32dUD68 knockabout tunes that could have come out of the Lionel Bart basket. “Where Have all the Cockneys Gone” is a great knees-up sung in counterpoint with “Any Old Iron”, Moulin Rouge! (Various) (House of Iona/RCA) With a jukebox score of over 70 songs from a period “Mange Tout” is rudely comic, whilst “Bit of a Sort” is laugh-out-loud funny. “Being a Villian” could have been of 70 years, Moulin Rouge pretty well has something for lifted from a different version of Oliver! Jeff Nicholson and everyone. Adam Tveit stars as artist Christian, with Karen Samantha Seager land “The Tadpole Song”, a funny ode Olivo as Satine, the Moulin Rouge star. They’re both to sperm and brilliant. Broadway belting has never been better. Olivo is embryos, Pippa Duffy introduced in the “Sparkling Diamond” medley, which is a mash-up of “Diamonds Are Forever”, “Diamonds Are a and Ryan Hutton find irony and fun in Girl’s Best Friend”, “Material Girl” and “Single Ladies”. It’s “Marriage and Love”, non-stop disco. They both close the first act with the and Chas and Dave’s “Elephant Love Medley”, which includes a heap of love 60s hits “Margate” and songs: “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”, “Falling in Love “That’s What I Like” With You”, “Up Where We Belong”, “I Will Always Love get a breezy airing. It’s You” and others, but their best outings are Elton John’s all very East End “Your Song”, which hits all the emotional beats of the show, and “Come What May”, a stunning second-act London and refreshing. highlight. A simple acoustic-guitar rendition of “Nature  Boy” by Sahr Ngaujah is a welcome relief from the relentless pace and non-stop beat. Whilst Tveit and Olivo Online extras! are the nominal names Get your copy of Only Fools And Horses on the marquee, the from Silva Screen. Scan or visit star of the show is http://bit.ly/2SLregm Justin Levine, who did the orchestrations and arrangements.

Cats (Andrew Lloyd Webber/T.S. Eliot) (Republic) Seamlessly integrating In 1981 Judi Dench was cast in the double role of Grizabella and Jennyanydots in the original production of song after song in medley after medley, Cats, but one week before previews she injured her he’s worthy of, and Achilles tendon and was replaced by Elaine Paige. The rest, as they say, is history. Dench finally gets to appear in deserves, a Tony. this beloved show as Old Deuteronomy, along with a host  of star names - Taylor Swift, Ian McKellen, James Cordon, Rebel Wilson and Jennifer Hudson - in the movie version, Online extras! which is shaping up to be one of the biggest musical Get the cast recording of Moulin movie flops of all time. These are not even close to Rouge! from Google Play. Scan or visit definitive performances. The vocals are very ordinary. http://bit.ly/2HMCGC5 Dench speak-sings her role, whilst Hudson over-emotes www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 53

NEW ZEALAND MUSICAL THEATRE our home turf by a pro-am,” the Big stars are returning to New reviewer gushed.

Zealand to feature in major proAnother kiwi expat who enjoyed am productions of musical theatre playing in his home country was Caleb blockbusters. David Spicer reports.

Last year over 150,000 people attended 19 local musicals staged on sets which were toured around the country by the NZ Musical Theatre Consortium.

The biggest coup was Hayden Tee’s return to New Zealand to play Javert at the Civic Theatre in the Auckland Music Theatre / Amici Trust’s season of Les Misérables.

“To do something at home for family and friends was a dream,” said Tee, who has previously played the role in the West End. The performer told Radio New Zealand that he enjoyed working in the pro-am company because of his fond memories of amateur theatre.

“I grew up in a little village of 800 and got into amateur theatre with the Otamatea Repertory Club.

“It was a small village. I was a young guy figuring out he is gay, and I found theatre was a place for misfits. Everyone fits in; it is a community; it is a family and that is where I developed my love for it.”

The company rehearsed in the same room where he was farewelled from New Zealand as a 19-year-old.

190 volunteers were involved in the production of Les Misérables, which a review from local website Theatrescene described as ‘C’est Magnifique’.

“So often Kiwi audiences flock to touring overseas shows, based on the premise that ‘it’s come from New York, London or Sydney - it must be amazing’.

Consequently, it’s thrilling and heartening to see Les Misérables done with such flair, panache and extravagance on 54 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Jago-Ward. Raised in Wellington but now based in Melbourne, he was dynamic as Galileo in Showbiz

Christchurch’s production of We Will Rock You. He subsequently doubled up to play Killer Queen in a production at the Clarence Street Theatre in Hamilton, a role he says he felt “roused” to play, describing her as “absolutely mad and just a joy to play.”

Online extras!

Hayden Tee transforms into Javert while he sings “Stars” from Les Misérables. https://youtu.be/FTZBj8sSXQ8

Markham Lee, the co-chair of the NZ Musical Theatre Consortium, said proam musical theatre in New Zealand “is going through a golden era”.

“Musical theatre societies have access to the very best musicals in the world to present to our audiences through the consortium model, with our country often being the very first in the world granted the community theatre rights to these mega-musicals.”

Under the NZMTC model, community theatre groups from around the country pool their resources to secure the performance rights, and design and build the product, with local casts, crews and orchestras staging the production in their hometowns.

In 2019 there were 238 performances of the consortium productions - We Will Rock You, Wicked, Les Misérables, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Sister Act, Mary Poppins, Grease, Miss Saigon, Avenue Q, The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia! Highlights included a production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert in New Plymouth, described by the Taranaki Daily News as “taking local theatre goers on a ride of a lifetime”.

A production of The Phantom of the Opera in Blenheim was described by the local paper as a “spine-tingling and spectacular production”.

The other co-chair of the NZ Musical Theatre Consortium, Kevin Landrigan, said, “it’s impossible to keep track of the number of volunteer hours that go into each of these productions.

“From the casts onstage, to the musicians in the orchestras, the stage crews, wardrobe teams and even the theatre ushers, the vast majority of people involved in each one of these shows in every centre do it for the love of it.

“It would not be inconceivable to think that over 1 million volunteer hours from kiwis throughout the country would have been contributed to staging these productions in 2019.”

Opposite page: Hayden Tee as Javert in Auckland Music Theatre & Amici Trust’s co-production of Les Misérables.

Top left: Showbiz Christchurch’s Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.

Photo: Danielle Colvin.

Top right: Wellington Musical Theatre’s Phantom Of The Opera.

Photo: Ivor Earp-Jones.

Centre: Showbiz Christchurch’s We Will Rock You. Photo: Danielle Colvin.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 55

On Stage

A.C.T. & New South Wales

Global a cappella sensation Voca People bring their unique style of music to Australia with shows at State Theatre Sydney on May 1 and Arts Centre Melbourne on May 3. voca-people.com

Online extras!

Watch Voca People’s acapella version of “Uptown Funk”. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/3er8ytNbT2A A.C.T. The Who’s Tommy. Music & Lyrics by Pete Townshend.

Book by Pete Townshend & Des McAnuff. Canberra Philharmonic Society. Mar 5 21. Erindale Theatre, Wanniassa. (02) 6257 1950. philo.org.au Family Values by David Williamson. Griffin Theatre Company. Mar 1 - 14. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700. canberratheatrecentre.com.au Grace Under Pressure by David Williams & Paul Dwyer. Sydney Arts and Health Collective. Apr 3 - 5. The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. (02) 6285 6290. theq.net.au Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare.

Apr 9 - 18. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Peepshow. Circa. Apr 22 - 24.

The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 2700.

The Choir of Man. Mar 26 - 28. canberratheatrecentre.com.au The Playhouse, Canberra Wolfgang’s Magical Musical Theatre Centre. (02) 6275 Circus. Circa. Apr 23 - 24. The 2700.

Playhouse, Canberra Theatre canberratheatrecentre.com.au Centre. (02) 6275 2700.

Rolling Thunder Vietnam. Blake canberratheatrecentre.com.au Canberra Comedy Festival.

Canberra Theatre Centre. Mar 16 - 22. (02) 6275 2700. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Productions. Mar 27 & 28.

56 Stage Whispers

Mamma Mia! Music and lyrics

by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine Johnson. Originally conceived

by Judy Craymer. Free-Rain Theatre Company. Apr 28 May 17. The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. (02) 6285 6290. theq.net.au Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon. Canberra Rep. Apr 30 - May 16. Theatre 3. canberrarep.org.au New South Wales No Pay? No Way! by Dario Fo, adaptated by Marieke Hardy.

Sydney Theatre Company.

Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Until Mar 20, sydneytheatre.com.au & Riverside Theatre, Parramatta, Apr 1 - 4, riversideparramatta.com.au Faust by Gounod. Opera Australia. Until Mar 11. Joan

Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. opera.org.au Carmen by Bizet. Opera Australia. Until Mar 23. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. opera.org.au Crunch Time by David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre.

Until Apr 9. ensemble.com.au Don’t Dress For Dinner by Marc Camoletti, adapted by Robin Hawdon. Arts Theatre Cronulla.

Until Mar 21. 6 Surf Road, Cronulla. artstheatrecronulla.com.au Our Blood Runs In The Street.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Until Mar 21. Old Fitz Theatre. redlineproductions.com.au The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto. Pymble Players. Until Mar 14. pymbleplayers.com.au Sherlock Holmes and the Death on Thor Bridge by Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Sandra Bass. Genesian Theatre Company. Until Apr 4. 420 Kent Street, Sydney. genesiantheatre.com.au Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare.

Until Apr 4. Playhouse, Sydney Opera House. sydneyoperahouse.com

Singin’ in the Rain. Screenplay: Betty Comden & Adolph Green.

Music and lyrics by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed.

Rockdale Musical Society. Mar 6 - 14. Rockdale Town Hall. rockdalemusicalsociety.com

Mamma Mia! Music and Lyrics

by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine The Pirates of Penzance by Johnson. Gosford Musical Gilbert and Sullivan. The Arcadians Theatre Group. Until Society. Mar 6 - 21. Laycock Mar 21. The Arcadians’ Miners Street Community Theatre, Lamp Theatre. arcadians.org.au Wyoming. gosfordmusicalsociety.com HMS Pinafore by Gilbert and Mamma Mia! Nowra Players.

Sullivan. Hayes Theatre Mar 6 - 21. Players Theatre, production directed by Kate Bomaderry.

Gaul. Shoalhaven nowraplayers.com.au Entertainment Centre, Mar 3; Capitol Theatre, Tamworth, Something’s Afoot by James Mar 5; Cessnock Performing McDonald, David Vos, and Arts Centre, Mar 7; Bathurst Robert Gerlach, with additional Entertainment Centre, Mar 10; music by Ed Linderman. The Orange Civic Centre, Mar 12 & Players Theatre, Port Macquarie. Mar 6 - 22. (02) Glasshouse Port Macquarie, 6584 6663.

Mar 14. hayestheatre.com.au The 39 Steps. Parody by Patrick playerstheatre.org.au Barlow of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, from the novel by John Buchan. Metropolitan Players Inc. Mar 4 - 14. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. metropolitanplayers.com.au

Shen Yun. Mar 4 - 22. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. capitoltheatre.com.au

The Bridges of Madison County. Book by Marsha Norman. Music & Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Matthew Management and Neil Gooding Productions. Mar 6 Apr 5. Hayes Theatre Co. (02) 8065 7337. hayestheatre.com.au

New South Wales Arcadians Theatre Group. Mar Theatre. (02) 9975 1455.

6 - 21. The Arcadians’ Miners glenstreet.com.au Lamp Theatre. arcadians.org.au Distorted by Xavier Coy. Fixed Foot Productions. Mar 10 - 22.

Chapter Two by Neil Simon.

Theatre on Brunker. Mar 6 Old 505 Theatre, Newtown.

28. St Stephen’s Church Hall, old505theatre.com Adamstown (Newcastle). (02) Cusp by Mary Anne Butler.

4957 1895.

ATYP. Mar 11 - 28, SBW Falsettos by William Finn and James Lapine. Theatre & Company. Mar 6 - 14. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. (02) 8839 3399. riversideparramatta.com.au Into the Woods Jr. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Book by James Lapine. Parkes Musical & Dramatic Society.

Mar 6 - 22. Parkes Little Theatre. parkesmandd.com.au Everybody by Branden JenkinsJacobs. Cross Pollinate Productions. Mar 6 - 21. KXT Kings Cross Theatre. kingsxtheatre.com

Stables Theatre, griffintheatre.com.au & Mar 31 - Apr 1, Riverside Theatres, riversideparramatta.com.au She Kills Monsters by Qui Nyugen. Tamworth Dramatic Society. Mar 11 - 14. Capitol Theatre, Tamworth. tds.org.au Be More Chill. Music and Lyrics

by Joe Iconis. The Regals Musical Society. Mar 11 - 14.

St George Auditorium, Kogarah. theregals.com.au

The Wireless Chronicles 4: I Spy. Final episode of a farcical crime series, by Newcastle’s Maureen O’Brien. MozInOz. The Gospel According to Paul Mar 11, Royal Exchange Salon

by Jonathan Biggins. Soft Theatre, Newcastle; Mar 14, St Tread. Mar 10 - 14. Glen Street Augustine’s Hall, Merewether;

The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. The

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

Stage Whispers 57

On Stage

New South Wales

Mar 15, The Dungeon, Adamstown. 0421 072 444.

NTC Theatre, St Lambton. (02) 4952 4958.

Attila by Verdi. Opera Australia.

Mar 12 - 28. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. opera.org.au

Grace Under Pressure by David Williams and Paul Dwyer.

Sydney Arts & Health Collective and Alternative Facts. Mar 13 14, Civic Theatre, Newcastle, (02) 4929 1977 & Mar 31 Apr 1, The Art House, Wyong, (02) 4335 1485.

Elise and Norm’s Macbeth by John Christopher-Wood.

Murwillumbah Theatre Company. Mar 13 - 15, Autumn Club; Mar 20 - 22, Stokers Siding Hall; Mar 27 29, Tumbulgum Hall. murwillumbahtheatrecompany.com.au

God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. Henry Lawson Theatre, Werrington. Mar 13 - 27. hltheatre.com.au

Mr. Melancholy by Matt Cameron. Maitland Repertory Theatre. Mar 13 - 15. 0466 332 766. maitlandreptheatre.org

21 Chump Street: The Musical

by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Chookas Entertainment. Mar 13 - 14. Royal Exchange Salon Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 As I Lay Dreaming by Catherine 4969.

McKinnon. Hunter School of Dance Nation by Clare Barron. the Performing Arts. Mar 13 Belvoir. Mar 14 - Apr 12.

14. Hunter Theatre, belvoir.com.au Broadmeadow (Newcastle).

The Mousetrap by Agatha (02) 4952 3355.

Christie. Hunters Hill Theatre.

Mar 14 - Apr 5. Hunters Hill Daughters of Heaven by Michelanne Forster. Newcastle Town Hall.

Theatre Company. Mar 13 - 28. huntershilltheatre.com.au

58 Stage Whispers

Fawlty Towers The Dining Experience. Mar 17 - 21. Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House. sydneyoperahouse.com Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep.

Margaret Leng Tan in a coproduction by Chamber Made and CultureLink Singapore.

Mar 18 - 20. Studio, Sydney Opera House. sydneyoperahouse.com

musicals, dramas, cabarets, dance routines and children’s theatre - presented at five venues. Mar 18 - 22. newcastlefringe.com.au Favourite Shorts 2020. A Festival of Short Plays. Armidale Drama and Musical Society.

Mar 19 - 28. adms.org.au

Ross Noble - Humournoid. A List Entertainment. Civic girl friend by Natesha Theatre, Newcastle, Mar 19, Somasundaram. New Ghosts (02) 4929 1977 & Cessnock Theatre Company & the IGNITE Performing Arts Centre, Mar Collective. Mar 18 - Apr 4.

20, (02) 4993 4266.

Belvoir Street Theatre.

Soft Murder by Bette Guy. newghoststheatre.com Lismore Theatre Company. Mar Disney’s Alice in Wonderland Junior. Noteable Theatre Company. Mar 18 - 22. Zenith Theatre, Chatswood. noteabletheatrecompany.com The Unseen by Craig Wright.

Knock and Run Theatre. Mar 18 - 21. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

20 - 29. Rochdale Theatre, Goonellabah. trybooking.com/BGBZH

Bloody Murder. Send-up by Ed Sala of Agatha Christie murder mysteries. Newcastle Dinner Theatre. Mar 20 - Apr 4. St Matthew’s Anglican Hall, Georgetown. 0403 705 680.

2020 Newcastle Fringe Festival. Allo, Allo! by Jeremy Lloyd and Twenty-nine shows - comedies, David Croft. Richmond Players.

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage

New South Wales

Arts Theatre Cronulla’s first play of the year, Don’t Dress for Dinner plays until March 21. dontdressfordinner.com.au Photo: Port Hacking Camera Club.

Mar 21 - Apr 4. Richmond School of Arts. richmondplayers.com.au Tideline by Wajdi Mouawad.

Theatre Excentrique. Mar 24 Apr 5. Old 505 Theatre, Newtown. old505theatre.com Two Twenty Somethings Decide Never To Be Stressed About Anything Ever Again.

Ever by Michael Costi. Bite Productions. Mar 24 - Apr 5.

KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. kingsxtheatre.com Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. Book by Douglas McGrath. Words & Music by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil.

Miranda Musical Society. Mar 25 - 29. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. mirandamusicalsociety.com.au or (02) 9521 8888.

Is God Is by Aeasha Harris. Red Line Productions. Mar 25 - Apr 8. Old Fitz Theatre. redlineproductions.com.au American Song by Joanna Murray-Smith. Red Stitch / Critical Stages. Mar 26 - 28.

Glen Street Theatre. (02) 9975 1455. glenstreet.com.au Blanc De Blanc Encore.

Burlesque extravaganza with international performers. Strut & Fret Production House. Mar 26 - Apr 19. The Spiegeltent, Civic Park, Newcastle. spiegeltentnewcastle.com

Apr 5. Players Theatre, Ballina. ballinaplayers.com.au

31 - Apr 4. SBW Stables Theatre. griffintheatre.com.au

Things I Know to be True by Andrew Bovell. Castle Hill Players. Mar 27 - Apr 18.

Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill. paviliontheatre.org.au

Carl Barron - Skating Rink for Flies. A-List Entertainment. Mar 31 - Apr 5, May 14 - 15. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

La Traviata by Verdi. HANDA Opera on the Harbour. Opera Australia. Mar 27 - Apr 26.

Fleet Steps, Lady Macquarie’s Point. opera.org.au

Plaques and Tangles by Nicola Wilson. Atwea College. Apr 2 4. Community Arts Space (CAS) Theatre, Hamilton (Newcastle).

(02) 4925 4200.

Chess: The Musical. Musical by ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and lyricist Tim Rice. The Very Joseph and the Amazing Popular Theatre Company. Mar Technicolor Dreamcoat by 27 - 28. Civic Theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Rice. Criterion Theatre Grafton Is There Something Wrong Inc. Mar 26 - Apr 5.

With That Lady? Written and criteriontheatre.org.au performed by Debra Oswald.

Dial M For Murder by Frederick Knott. Ballina Players. Mar 27 -

Griffin Theatre Company. Mar

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

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. CHATS Productions. Apr 3 - 12. Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour. chats.org.au Love Magic and Behind the Wire by Carl Caulfield. Stray Dogs Theatre and Newcastle Writers Festival. Apr 4. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Stage Whispers 59

On Stage

New South Wales

Tom Oliver in Rolling Thunder Vietnam, touring Victoria, Queensland, Sydney and Canberra throughout March and April. rollingthundervietnam.com Photo: Jeff Busby.

Online extras!

Check out a clip from Rolling Thunder Vietnam. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/y6zQPretZZo Home, I’m Darling by Laura Wade. Sydney Theatre Company. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Apr 6 May 16. sydneytheatre.com.au The Linden Solution by Alexander Lee-Reekers.

Ratcatch. Apr 8 - 18. KXT Kings Cross Theatre. kingsxtheatre.com Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr by Ian Fleming. Music & Lyrics by Richard and Robert Sherman.

Adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams. Young Peoples Theatre, Newcastle. Apr 14 May 30. YPT, Hamilton. ypt.org.au

18. The Red Tree Theatre, Tuggerah. 1300 665 600. wyongdramagroup.com.au Seussical KIDS. By Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, based on children’s stories by Dr Seuss.

High Street Productions. Apr 16 - 17. SPCC Theatre, Waratah (Newcastle). (02) 4960 6600.

Wright. Belvoir. Apr 18 - May 17. belvoir.com.au

A Broadcast Coup by Melanie Tait. Ensemble Theatre. Apr 17 - May 23. ensemble.com.au

Echoes of the Jazz Age. Adapted by John Bell and musician Simon Cinque from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s essay on the Roaring Twenties. Artist Management. Apr 18.

Newcastle City Hall. (02) 4929 1977.

Batch Festival. Griffin Theatre Company. Apr 17 - May 2.

SBW Stables Theatre. griffintheatre.com.au Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig. Elanora Players. Apr 17 - 25. Players Theatre, Elanora Heights. elanoraplayers.com.au

9 to 5: The Musical. Book by Patricia Resnick. Score by Dolly Parton. John Frost, Suzanne Jones and Ambassador Theatre Group Productions. From Apr In Duty Bound by Ron Elisha.

21. Sydney Lyric.

The Theatre on Chester. Apr 17 9to5themusical.com.au - May 9. Theatre on Chester, The Twelfth of Never by Louis Cnr Chester & Oxford Sts, Carry Me by Sarah Hadley.

Nowra. Red Line Productions.

Epping, Bontom. Apr 14 - 26. Old 505 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Apr 21 - 26. Old Fitz Theatre. theatreonchester.com.au Theatre, Newtown.

Tennessee Williams. Albury redlineproductions.com.au William Shakespeare’s Long old505theatre.com Wodonga Theatre Company.

The Gruffalo’s Child. Musical Lost First Play (Abridged) by Apr 16 - 25. awtco.org.au Penn & Teller at the Capitol adaptation of the children’s Austin Tichenor and Reed Theatre. Presented by Sydney Wolfgang’s Magical Musical book by Julia Donaldson and Martin. Genesian Theatre Opera House. Apr 14 - 21.

Circus. Circa. Apr 16 - 18. Glen Company Inc. Apr 18 - May 16. Axel Scheffler. Tall Stories and Capitol Theatre, Sydney.

Street Theatre.

CDP Presents. Cessnock genesiantheatre.com.au glenstreet.com.au Performing Arts Centre, Apr sydneyoperahouse.com A Room of One’s Own by 21, (02) 4993 4266 & Civic King & Country. Anzac Tribute. Scary Bikers by John Godber.

Virginia Woolf, adapted by Theatre, Newcastle, May 19 Wyong Drama Group. Apr 16 - Wagga Wagga School of Arts Carissa Licciardello and Tom 20, (02) 4929 1977.

60 Stage Whispers

Merrily We Roll Along. Based on the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by George Furth. Luckiest Productions.

From Apr 16. Hayes Theatre Co. (02) 8065 7337. hayestheatre.com.au

Community Theatre (SOACT) Apr 16 - 27. soact.com.au

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Hot Mess. The General Public.

Apr 22 - May 2. KXT - Kings Cross Theatre. kingsxtheatre.com The Little Prince. Broadway Entertainment Group in association with Sokol Entertainment. Apr 23 - 26.

Capitol Theatre, Sydney. capitoltheatre.com.au

Broadmeadow. (02) 4921 2121.

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. Classic Murder Mystery. Maitland Repertory Theatre. Apr 29 - May 17. maitlandreptheatre.org

Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. Book by Douglas McGrath. Words & music by Fawlty Towers by Connie Booth Gerry Goffin and Carole King, & John Cleese. Picton Theatre Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil.

Group (PTG). Apr 24 - May 5.

Hornsby Musical Society. Apr Picton Shire Hall.

30 - May 3. Hornsby RSL. (02) pictontheatre.org.au 9477 7777 or Dr Seuss’s - The Cat in the Hat. hornsbymusicalsociety.com.au Stage adaptation of the Triple X by Glace Chase. Sydney children’s book. Showcase Theatre Company. The Entertainment. Apr 24.

Playhouse, Sydney Opera Cessnock Performing Arts House. Apr 30 - May 23.

Centre. (02) 4993 4266. sydneytheatre.com.au PAW Patrol Live! Race to the Rescue. Musical adventure, based on the animated TV series. Stan. Apr 26. Newcastle Entertainment Centre,

New South Wales & Queensland May 1 - 10. The Red Tree Theatre, Tuggerah. wyongdramagroup.com.au

Redcliffe. Until Mar 15. (07) 3888 3493. mousetraptheatre.asn.au

The Addams Family. Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lippa. Wyong Musical Theatre Company. May 1 - 17. Wyong Grove Theatre. wmtc.com.au

Rumors by Neil Simon. Growl Theatre. Until Mar 15. boxoffice@growltheatre.org.au

Into the Woods. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Book by James Lapine. Coffs Harbour Musical Comedy Company. May 1 - 24. Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour. jettytheatre.com or (02) 6648 4930.

Brisbane Comedy Festival.

Brisbane Powerhouse. Until Mar 22. (07) 3358 8600.

The Twits by Roald Dahl.

Brisbane Arts. Until Apr 11.

(07) 3369 8613.

LB HWY. Festival of New Work.

La Boite, Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove. Mar 4 - 18. (07) 3007 8600. laboite.com.au

Mother by Daniel Keene.

Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. Mar Speed: The Movie, The Play. On 4 - 14. 136 246. a vintage bus departing from Senior Moments 2: Remember, Brisbane Powerhouse. Until Remember by Angus Hand to God by Robert Askins. Mar 22. (07) 3358 8600.

FitzSimons & Kevin Brumpton.

Red Line Productions. Apr 30 - Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward.

Rapid Fire Productions. Mar 4 May 30. Old Fitz Theatre.

Ipswich Little Theatre. Until 8. Playhouse, QPAC. 136 246. redlineproductions.com.au Mar 14. (07) 3812 2389.

Mamma Mia! Music and lyrics The Full Monty by Simon The Opposite Sex by David

by Benny Andersson and Björn Beaujay. Wyong Drama Group. Tristam. Mousetrap Theatre,

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

Queensland

Stage Whispers 61

On Stage Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine Johnson. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba. Mar 5 - 15. 1300 655 299. empiretheatre.com.au Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman.

Javeenbah Theatre Company, Nerang. Mar 6 - 21. (07) 5596 0300.

Musical Sorcery. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Mar 6 - 7. (07) 3833 5044.

Mr Bailey’s Minder by Debra Oswald. Centenary Theatre Group, Chelmer. Mar 7 - 28.

0435 591 720. centenarytheatre.com.au Into The Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

Savoyards. Mar 7 - 14. Star Theatre, Wynnum. (07) 3893 4321. savoyards.com.au

Queensland

The Snow Queen. Book by Jim Fury. Music by Natalie Trengove. Tweed Theatre Company, Tweed Heads. Mar 7 - 22. 1800 674 414. trybooking.com/579654

The Ballet Beautiful.

Queensland Symphony Elegies: A Song Cycle by Orchestra. Mar 15. Concert William Finn. Griffith University Hall, QPAC. (07) 3833 5044.

Musical Theatre, Burke Street Charlie and the Chocolate Theatre, Woolloongabba. Mar Factory by Anthony Newley, 10. (07) 3735 3224.

Leslie Bricusse, Marc Shaiman Ben Folds: The Symphonic Tour. Concert Hall, QPAC. Mar 11 - 12. 136 246.

and Scott Whitman. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. Mar 18 - Apr 19. 136 246.

Curious George by John Kavanaugh and Jeremy Desmond. Brisbane Arts. Mar 12 - May 23. (07) 3369 2344.

American Song by Joanna Murray-Smith. Gardens Theatre. Mar 20 - 21. (07) 3138 7750.

Firebringer by Meredith Stepien gardenstheatre.qut.edu.au and Mark Swiderski. Spotlight The Importance of Being Theatre Company, Gold Coast. Earnest by Oscar Wilde. St Mar 13 - 28. (07) 5539 4255. Luke’s Theatre Society. Mar 20 spotlighttheatre.com.au - 28. Anglican Christ Church, Yeronga. (07) 3343 1457.

Falling From Grace by Hannie

The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow. Rayson. Villanova Players, Brisbane Arts Theatre. Mar 7 - Morningside. Mar 14 - 29. (07) 21. (07) 3369 2344.

3395 5168. trybooking.com/594937

62 Stage Whispers

Triple X by Glace Chase.

Queensland Theatre. Mar 14 Apr 4. Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane. 1800 355 528

60th Anniversary Gala.

Queensland Ballet. Mar 20 28. Playhouse Theatre, QPAC. 136 246.

The Peasant Prince.

Queensland Symphony Orchestra. QSO Studio. Mar 21. (07) 3833 5044.

Exposing Edith by Greg Wain.

Michaela Burger with Greg Wain. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. Mar 21. 136 246.

Sondheim On Sondheim by Stephen Sondheim. QPAC Production. Concert Hall, QPAC. Mar 22. 136 246.

Diplomatic Relations by Geoff Bamber. Coolum Players. Mar 27 - Apr 5. (07) 5446 2500.

Lorelei by Julian Langdon, Casey Bennetto and Gillian Cosgriff. Queensland Opera.

Mar 27 - Apr 4.

Conservatorium Theatre, Southbank. 136 246.

Celebrating Nina Simone Featuring Lisa Simone. Concert Hall, QPAC. Mar 31. 136 246 Three. Australian Dance Collective. Playhouse QPAC. Apr 1 - 4. 136 246

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage

Queensland & Victoria

Compassion. Camerata.

Concert Hall, QPAC. Apr 2. 136 246.

The Umbilical Brothers return to QPAC in 2020 with their new show The Distraction, playing from April 21 to 26. qpac.com.au

Mozart’s Jupiter. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Apr 3 - 4. (07) 3833 5044.

Our House by Tim Firth. Music and lyrics by Madness. Brisbane Arts Theatre. Apr 4 - May 16.

(07) 3369 2344.

The Choir of Man. Andrew Kay and Nic Doodson. Playhouse, QPAC. Apr 7 - 18. 136 246.

Penn And Teller. Concert Hall, QPAC. Apr 7 - 11. 136 246.

Sleeping Beauty by Jim Fury and Natalie Trengove. Brisbane Arts. Apr 14 - Jun 20. (07) 3369 2344.

Rock of Ages by Chris D’Arienzo. Beenleigh Theatre Group. Apr 17 - May 2. (07) 3807 3922. beenleightheatregroup.com The Beauty Queen of Leenane

by Martin McDonagh.

Sunnybank Theatre. Apr 17 May 2. (07) 3345 3964.

Bye Bye Birdie by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams. Gold Coast Little Theatre. Apr 18 May 9. (07) 5532 3224. gclt.com.au Simply The Best. Queensland Pops. Concert Hall, QPAC. Apr 18. 136 246 Chamber Players. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Concert Hall, QPAC. Apr 19. (07) 3833 5044.

The Umbilical Brothers: The Distraction. Playhouse, QPAC. Apr 21 - 26. 136 246.

Carl Barron - Skating Rink For Flies. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. Apr 21 - May 3. 136 246.

Brassed Off by Paul Allen.

Cairns Little Theatre. Apr 24 May 9. Rondo Theatre, Cairns.

1300 855 835. therondo.com.au Opera Gala. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Apr 24 26. Concert Hall, QPAC. (07) 3833 5044.

Online extras!

The Distraction blends live performance with the spectacle of cinema. https://youtu.be/5DuBYxfGjk0 Medea. Adapted by Kate Mulvany and Anne Louise Sarks. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. Apr 26 - May 9. 136 246.

Waiting For God by Michael Aitkens. Ipswich Little Theatre.

Apr 30 - May 16. (07) 3812 2389. ilt.org.au

Victoria Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.

Continuing. Princess Theatre, Melbourne. harrypottertheplay.com/au Shrek the Musical. Music by Jeanine Tesori. Book and lyrics

by David Lindsay-Abaire. John

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

Frost. Continuing. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. shrekthemusical.com.au Billy Elliot the Musical by Lee Hall and Elton John. Until Apr 19. Regent Theatre, Melbourne. billyelliotthemusical.com.au Torch The Place by Benjamin Law. Melbourne Theatre Company. Until Mar 21. Fairfax Stage Whispers 63

On Stage

Victoria

Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. Theatre Company. Mar 5 - 21. mtc.com.au lilydaleatc.com

Saigon. Caroline Guiela Nguyen and Les Hommes Approximatifs. Asia TOPA. Mar The Importance of Being Emerald City by David Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Williamson. Melbourne Theatre 12 - 15. Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. adapted by Jon Haynes, Jude Company. Mar 6 - Apr 18. artscentremelbourne.com.au Kelly & David Woods.

Southbank Theatre, The Malthouse Theatre. Until Mar Sumner. mtc.com.au American Song by Joanna 8. Merlyn Theatre.

Murray-Smith. Red Stitch / Women of Troy by Euripides, malthousetheatre.com.au adapted by Don Taylor. Gemco Critical Stages. Mar 14, Drum Theatre, Dandenong, On Golden Pond by Earnest Players. Mar 6 - 21. drumtheatre.com.au & Mar 18, Thompson. The 1812 Theatre. gemcoplayers.org Frankston Arts Centre, Until Mar 14. The Lowe Unleash The Beast / La Bête De artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au Auditorium, Upper Ferntree Scène. Pauline Calmé. Mar 9 Gully. 1812theatre.com.au Gobby by Jodie Irvine. Mar 16 14. The Butterfly Club.

21. The Butterfly Club.

Les Misérables. Music: Claude- thebutterflyclub.com thebutterflyclub.com Michel Schönberg. Lyrics: End Of by Ash Flanders.

Herbert Kretzmer. Original Hell Ship: The Journey of the Darebin Arts. Mar 11 - 22.

French text by Alain Boublil & Ticonderoga by Michael Veitch.

Northcote Town Hall Arts Jean Marc Natel. Ballarat Lyric Centre. darebinarts.com.au Chester Creative. Mar 17 - 22.

Theatre. Until Mar 8. Her fortyfivedownstairs.

Single Ladies by Michele Lee. Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat. fortyfivedownstairs.com Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. Mar ballaratlyrictheatre.com.au Oedipus Schmoedipus. post 11 - Apr 12. redstitch.net They Came from Mars and and Hong Kong Repertory Running With Emus by Landed Outside the Farndale Theatre. Asia TOPA. Mar 18 Merrilee Moss. Mar 11 - 22. La 28. Union House Theatre Avenue Church by David Mama Courthouse.

McGillivray & Walter Zerlin University of Melbourne, Jr. Beaumaris Theatre Inc. Until lamama.com.au Parkville.

Cider With Rosie. Laurie Lee, Mar 14. artscentremelbourne.com.au adapted by James Roose Evans. The Choir Of Man. Andrew Kay beaumaristheatre.com.au Switzerland by Joanna Murray- Powderkeg Players. Mar 12 and Nick Doodson. Mar 18, Smith. The Mount Players. Until 21. Dempster Park Hall, North Geelong Arts Centre, Mar 15. themountplayers.com Sunshine. geelongartscentre.org.au; Mar powderkegplayers.com 19, Frankston Arts Centre, The Curtain by Daniel Keene.

TENX10 2020.

Bendigo Theatre artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au; Until Mar 15.

Company. Mar 12 - 22. BTC Mar 20, Clocktower Centre, fortyfivedownstairs.

Arts Shed.

Moonee Ponds, fortyfivedownstairs.com bendigotheatrecompany.org clocktowercentre.com.au; Mar The Full Monty by Simon 21, Alexander Theatre, Clayton, Beaufoy. Lilydale Athenaeum monash.edu/mlive; Mar 22, Bunjil Place, Narre Warren, bunjilplace.com.au; Mar 24, Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo, (03) 5434 6100 or bendigoregion.com.au

Auditions

Place your audition notice in the next edition of Stage Whispers magazine.

For information, email stagews@stagewhispers.com.au or call (03) 9758 4522

Online extras!

Check out all the auditions that didn’t make it to print. Scan or visit www.stagewhispers.com.au/auditions

64 Stage Whispers

Mar 20 - Apr 4. Mechanics Institute Hall. warrandytehallarts.asn.au 10 In Ten. Shepparton Theatre Arts Group. Mar 20 - 22.

Bakehouse Black Box Theatre. stagtheatre.com Big Fish. Music & Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Book by John August. Fab Nobs Theatre. Mar 21 - Apr 4. fabnobstheatre.com.au We Will Rock You by Ben Elton and Queen. SLAMS Music Theatre. Mar 22 - 28. Alan Ross Centre, Billanook College, Mooroolbark. slams.org.au Scary Goats Tour by Chloe Towan. Mar 23 - Apr 5. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Get Happy. Anna Nicholson.

Mar 23 - 29. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Sri Lankan Fireteam: The Power of Song by Ruwanthi Wijetunga. Composed by Syd Zygier. Mar 23 - 29. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com The Bride. Nadia Collins. Mar 23 - Apr 1. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Kiss Kiss by Jordan Barr. Mar 23 - 29. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Yeah, But Not Right Now. AJ Holmes. Mar 23 - Apr 5. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Queer & Present Danger. Anna Piper Scott. Mar 23 - Apr 5.

The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com

Run For Your Wife by Ray Cooney. Encore Theatre. Mar 20 - Apr 4. Clayton Community We Too Us Too Me Too Too Too. Melbourne International Centre. 1300 739 099 Comedy Festival. Mar 23 - 29.

West Side Story. Book by La Mama Courthouse.

Arthur Laurents. Music by lamama.com.au Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Women Playing Hamlet by Stephen Sondheim.

CenterStage Geelong. Mar 20 - William Missouri Downs.

Hartwell Players. Mar 25 - Apr 27. The Playhouse, Geelong 4. Ashwood High School Performing Arts Centre.

Performing Arts Centre. centrestage.org.au hartwellplayers.org.au Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Warrandyte Theatre Company. Rolling Thunder Vietnam by Bryce Hallett. Blake

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Entertainment. Mar 25. Hamer Hall. artscentremelbourne.com.au Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2020. Mar 25 - Apr 19. Various venues. comedyfestival.com.au/2020 Tom Gleeson. Lighten Up. Mar 25 - Apr 19. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. ticketmaster.com.au Family Values by David Williamson. Griffin Theatre Company. Mar 25 - 28.

Geelong Arts Centre. geelongartscentre.org.au Grey Arias performed and created by Le Gateau Chocolat and Adrienne Truscott.

Malthouse Theatre. Mar 26 Apr 19. Beckett Theatre. malthousetheatre.com.au Psycho Beach Party by Charles Busch. Essendon Theatre Company. Mar 26 - Apr 4.

Bradshaw Street Community Hall, West Essendon. essendontheatrecompany.com.au

Victoria

Dial M for Murder. A new adaptation by Dean Drieberg.

Mar 26 - 28. Chapel off Chapel. chapeloffchapel.com.au

Frankston Arts Centre. panoramatheatre.com.au

Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay Abaire. Off The Leash Productions. Mar 27 - Apr 4.

Algie Hall, Neerim South & Drouin Secondary College. offtheleashtheatre.com.au

Mina Harker: Monster Doctor.

Innes Lloyd. Mar 30 - Apr 3.

The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com

History Boys by Alan Bennett.

Frankston Theatre Group. Mar 27 - Apr 05. Mount Eliza Community Centre. 1300 665 377.

One Hundred by Diene Petterle, Neil Monoghan and Christopher Heimann. ARK Theatre. Mar 27 - Apr 5.

Lilydale Heights College Performing Arts Centre. arktheatremelb.com

Tiramisù. Michael Burgos. Mar 30 - Apr 5. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com

Incognito! By James Hazelden and Nicholas Rasche.

Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Mar 31 - Apr 5. La Mama Courthouse. lamama.com.au War of the Worlds by Howard E. Koch, based on the novel by H.G. Wells. The 1812 Theatre.

Apr 1 - 25. bakery@1812.

1812theatre.com.au

Company. Apr 2 - 5. Unicorn Theatre, Mt Waverley. peridot.com.au Doggo by Alice Tovey. Hot Mess Productions. Apr 2 - 12.

The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com To Hell In A Handbasket with Dolly Diamond. Apr 2 - 4.

Chapel off Chapel. chapeloffchapel.com.au Flipside by Ken Duncum.

Brighton Theatre Company Inc. Apr 3 - 18. Brighton Arts & Cultural Centre. brightontheatre.com.au

A Streetcar Named Hot Tin Menagerie. Improv Theatre Sydney. Apr 6 - 12. The Butterfly Club.

When The Rain Stops Falling by thebutterflyclub.com Andrew Bovell. Clovelly Fox The Subtle Art of Modern Productions. Apr 2 - 11. Space Dating. The Butterfly Club. Apr 28, Victorian College of the 6 - 12. thebutterflyclub.com Arts. clovellyfox.com 1980s Depression: The Musical.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Music & Lyrics: Richard & Robert Sherman. Book: Jeremy Sams & Peridot Season of One Act Ray Roderick. Panorama Plays. Peridot Theatre Theatre Co. Mar 27 - Apr 5.

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

Jacinta Gregory. Apr 6 - 12.

Stage Whispers 65

On Stage

Victoria

Online extras!

Witness the magic on stage at Harry Potter And The Cursed Child. https://youtu.be/4Gp6ekBcNYY The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com The Business of God by Brendan Black and Martin Chellew. Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Apr 7 - 12. La Mama Courthouse. lamama.com.au The Briefing. Melissa McGlensey. Apr 10 - 19. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Welcome to Hell. The Butterfly Club. Apr 13 - 19. thebutterflyclub.com

As Harry Potter And The Cursed Child triumphantly enters its second year in Melbourne, producers have announced six new cast members. harrypottertheplay.com/au Photo: Damian Bennett.

Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com

Rebel. Highwire Entertainment. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne.

Apr 15 - 18. Gasworks Arts sixthemusical.com.au Park. gasworks.org.au What’s That Smell? Slinky & A Delicate Balance by Edward Kinky Malinki. Apr 13 - 19. The 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog.

Albee. inhouse productions.

Butterfly Club.

Mordialloc Theatre Co. Apr 17 Apr 23 - May 10. thebutterflyclub.com - May 2. Shirley Burke Theatre, fortyfivedownstairs.

Parkdale. fortyfivedownstairs.com Mrs. Robinson: A Soap mordialloctheatre.com Cabaret. Created by Ella Fillar.

Hamlet by William Krows Bar Kabaret. Melbourne The River by Jez Butterworth.

Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare.

International Comedy Festival. Williamstown Little Theatre.

Apr 23 - May 10. Fairfax Apr 14 - 19. La Mama Apr 22 - May 3. wlt.org.au Studio, Arts Centre, Courthouse. lamama.com.au Melbourne.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf, artscentremelbourne.com.au Stepping Out by Richard Harris. adapted by Sarah Ruhl. Red Nineteen 98 Productions. Apr 15 - May 3. Chapel off Chapel. chapeloffchapel.com.au

Stitch Actors’ Theatre. Apr 22 - Grace Under Pressure by David May 17. Cromwell Road Williams and Paul Dwyer.

Theatre. redstitch.net Sydney Arts & Health Collective Jofus and the Plank. Lily Fish. and Alternative Facts. Apr 23 & Apr 13 - 19. The Butterfly Club. Archimedes War by Melissa Law and Order: PTV. The 24, Alexander Theatre, Clayton, thebutterflyclub.com Reeves. Apr 15 - 25. Northcote Butterfly Club. Apr 22 - 25. monash.edu/mlive; Apr 30, Town Hall Arts Centre. thebutterflyclub.com I am the Very Model of a Frankston Arts Centre, darebinarts.com.au Modern Major Musical by Kelly by Matthew Ryan. Apr 22 artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au; Andrew McLelland. Apr 13 Jekyll and Hyde. A Slightly - 26. La Mama Courthouse.

May 1 & 2, Whitehorse Centre, 19. The Butterfly Club.

Isolated Dog / Melbourne lamama.com.au Nunawading, thebutterflyclub.com International Comedy Festival. Six The Musical by Toby whitehorsecentre.com.au Apr 15 - 19. Chapel off Chapel. Marlow and Lucy Moss. Louise Absolutely Not! by Lauren Whose Life is it Anyway? by chapeloffchapel.com.au Edwards. Hot Mess Withers, Michael Coppel and Brian Clark. Malvern Theatre Productions. Apr 13 - 19. The Linda Bewick. From April 23.

66 Stage Whispers

Just $50 a month to reach thousands of theatre goers. Contact Stage Whispers for details.

On Stage Company. Apr 24 - May 9. malverntheatre.com.au

Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia & W.A.

Royal, Hobart. Mar 12 - 15. theatreroyal.com.au

Three Little Words by Joanna Murray-Smith. Heidelberg Theatre Company. Apr 24 May 9. htc.org.au

Caravan Boat Treehouse by Stephanie Briarwood. Mudlark Theatre. Mar 18 - 21. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6331 0052.

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch theatrenorth.com.au Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher.

Mamma Mia! Music and Lyrics Geelong Repertory Theatre

by Benny Andersson, Björn Company. Apr 24 - May 9.

Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson.

Woodbin Theatre, Geelong Book by Catherine Johnson.

Encore Theatre Company. Mar West. geelongrep.com Berlin by Joanna Murray-Smith. 20 - Apr 4. Princess Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company. Launceston. (03) 6331 0052. theatrenorth.com.au Apr 25 - Jun 6. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. mtc.com.au

Hedda GablerGablerGabler by Mary Angley, Caithlin O’Loghlen, Emma Jevons and Sarah-Jayde Tracey. Apr 27 May 3. La Mama Courthouse. lamama.com.au

Beautiful - The Carol King Musical. Book by Douglas McGrath. Words & music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Burnie Musical Society. Mar 20 - Apr 4. Burnie Arts and Function Centre. (03) 6430 5850. burniearts.net

Twentieth Century by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

Mar 18 - 28. Therry Dramatic Society. trybooking.com/560190 The Gospel According to Paul

by Jonathan Biggins. State Theatre Company of SA. Mar 24 - Apr 4. Dunstan Playhouse.

BASS 131 246. statetheatrecompany.com.au Happy Birthday by Marc Camoletti. Tea Tree Players Mar 25 - Apr 4. Tea Tree Players Theatre. (08) 8289 5266. teatreeplayers.com Skylight by David Hare.

Verendus Theatrical. Mar 26 Apr 4. Holden Street Theatres. trybooking.com/595501

Single Asian Female by Michelle Law. State Theatre Company. Apr 23 - May 9.

Dunstan Playhouse. BASS 131 Bite Me But Smile. Zella Shear.

A Not So Traditional Story by 246.

Apr 27 - May 2. The Butterfly Nathan Maynard. Terrapin. Apr statetheatrecompany.com.au Club. thebutterflyclub.com 2 & 3, Earl Arts Centre.

That’s Not How I Remember It Monty Python’s Spamalot by theatrenorth.com.au or (03) plus Orange is the New Glass.

Eric Idle and John Du Prez. One 6331 0052 & Apr 22 - 26, Eyed Man. Apr 29 - May 9.

Studio, Theatre Royal, Hobart, Playhouse, Arts Centre theatreroyal.com.au Melbourne.

Peter Pan and Wendy by Doug artscentremelbourne.com.au Rand. John X Presents. Apr 14 Mamma Mia! Music and Lyrics - 26. The Playhouse Theatre,

by Benny Andersson, Björn Hobart. playhouse.org.au Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson.

South Australia Book by Catherine Johnson.

Williamstown Musical Theatre Adelaide Fringe. Continues Company. May 1 - 16. until Mar 15. Multiple shows.

Centenary Theatre, Multiple venues.

Williamstown. wmtc.org.au adelaidefringe.com.au Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Jeffrey Archer. Bendigo Theatre Company. May 1 - 10. bendigotheatrecompany.org We Will Rock You by Ben Elton and Queen. Phoenix Theatre Company Inc. May 1 - 9.

Doncaster Playhouse. phoenixtheatrecompany.org Tasmania Keeping Up Appearances by Roy Clarke. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Until Mar 15.

The Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. playhouse.org.au 50 Shades! The Musical Parody. David Venn. Theatre

Wings2Fly Theatre. Apr 25 & 26. Holden Street Theatres. wings2flytheatre.com.au Western Australia Cloudstreet by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo. Black Swan State Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre. Until Mar 15. Australian drama based on the novel by Tim Winton. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. perthfestival.com.au Shout! The Legend of the Wild One by John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana. Until Mar 7.

Australian Rock musical based on the life of Johnny O’Keefe. koorliny.com.au Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, adapted by Mike Carter. Darlington Theatre Players. Until Mar 14. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount. marlootheatre.com.au The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare. GRADS.

Adelaide Festival. Continues until Mar 15. Multiple arts events. Adelaide Festival Centre and other venues. BASS 131 246. adelaidefestival.com.au How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows.

March Productions. Mar 5 - 8.

Goodwood Institute. trybooking.com/587936 Wicked Sisters by Alma de Groen. The Stirling Players. Mar 6 - 15. Stirling Community Theatre. stirlingplayers.sct.org.au

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

Stage Whispers 67

On Stage Mar 5 - 14. The New Fortune Theatre, University of Western Australia, Nedlands. ticketsWA.com Song Contest: The Almost Eurovision Experience by Glynn Nicholas and Daniel and Gideon Frankel. Murray Music and Drama Club. Mar 6 - 8.

Musical celebrating Eurovision.

Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. manpac.com.au Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo. KADS. Mar 6 - 21. KADS Town Hall Theatre, Kalamunda. kadstheatre.com.au

Theatre. Mar 19 - 29. Adapted from the novella by Truman Capote. Camelot Theatre, Mosman Park. (08) 9255 3336 or taztix.com.au

Performing Arts Perspectives.

Showcase of WACE student performances. Mar 31. Perth Concert Hall. performingartsperspectiveswa.com

The Small Hours by Francis Durbridge. Stirling Players. Apr 24 - May 9. Thriller. Stirling Theatre, Innaloo. stirlingplayers.com.au

The Outsiders. Adapted by Christopher Sergei. Fremantle Performing Artists. Mar 19 21. From the novel by S. E. Hinton. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana. (08) 9467 7118. koorliny.com.au

Hamlet by William Shakespeare. WAAPA Third Year Acting students. Apr 2 8. Classic directed by Sean O’Shea. Roundhouse Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley. waapa.ecu.edu.au or (08) 9370 6636.

The Vicar of Dibley by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter.

Laughing Horse Productions.

Apr 24 - May 2. Koorliny Arts Centre. koorliny.com.au

The Viewing Room by Daniel Joshua Rubin. Joondalup Encore Theatre Society. Mar 20 - 28. A prisoner is placed in a couple’s living room. Padbury Community Hall. trybooking.com/597083

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Bridgetown Repertory. Mar 6 15. Bridgetown Theatre, Hester Senior Moments 2 by Angus St, Bridgetown. (08) 9761 FitzSimons and Kevin 1740.

Brumpton. Mar 25 - 29.

Seriously funny revue for Sleeping Beauty by slightly old people. Heath Tchaikovsky. Moscow Ballet Classique. Mar 6 - 7. Fairy-tale Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA. ballet. Regal Theatre. seniormomentsshow.com.au ticketek.com.au A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by William Shakespeare.

Roleystone Theatre. Mar 7 & 8.

Outdoor afternoon performances. Araluen Botanic Park. roleystonetheatre.com.au

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Stephen Sondheim, Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart.

Roleystone Theatre. Mar 27 Apr 4. Musical. Roleystone Community Hall. roleystonetheatre.com.au

Sex Toys by Carl Pomfret.

ARENAArts. Mar 12 - 28.

Locally written farce. Roxy Lane Cocky’s Crossing by Max Harvey. Beverly Amateur Theatre. taztix.com.au or (08) Dramatics. Mar 27 - Apr 4.

9255 3336.

Australian outback comedy.

The Pirates of Penzance by Beverly Platform Theatre, Gilbert and Sullivan. Platinum Beverly. (08) 9646 1600.

Entertainment. Mar 12 - 22.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Classic operetta. Quarry

by Alan Menken, Howard Amphitheatre. Ticketmaster.

Ashman and Tim Rice. Iona Spider’s Web by Agatha College. Mar 27 - 29. Regal Christie. Old Mill Theatre. Mar Theatre. ticketek.com.au 13 - 28. Comedy thriller set in Wicked by Stephen Schwarz the 1950s. 0491 633 037. and Winnie Holzman, based on trybooking.com/587569 the book by Gregory Maguire.

Jekyll and Hyde by Frank Mandurah Baptist College. Mar Wildhorn, Steve Cuden and 27 - Apr 4. Lakes Theatre, Leslie Bricusse. Laughing Horse MBC, Lakelands.

Productions. Mar 13 - 21. trybooking.com/BGZIR Musical. Don Russell Star Navigator by Tim Finn. WA Performing Arts Centre. (08) Opera. Mar 28. Staged concert 9493 4577. version. Perth Concert Hall. drpac@gosnells.wa.gov.au perthconcerthall.com.au Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Richard Greenberg. Harbour 68 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Western Australia & New Zealand

The Wild Cherry Project. Anton Chekhov / Daniel Keene.

WAAPA Third Year Performance Making students.

Apr 2 - 7. Enright Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley. waapa.ecu.edu.au or (08) 9370 6636.

A Chorus Line. Music: Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics: Edward Kleban. Book: James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante. WAAPA Third Year Music Theatre students. Apr 3 -8. Tony Award Winning Musical. Geoff Gibbs Theatre, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley. waapa.ecu.edu.au or (08) 9370 6636.

Quartet by Ronald Harwood.

Wanneroo Repertory. Apr 8 18. Play about aging opera singers. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo. limelighttheatre.com.au Miss Lily’s Fabulous Feather Boa. Adapted from the book

by Margaret Wild. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Apr 11 - 25.

Joyous puppet celebration.

Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle. sppt.asn.au Musicals in Concert. HAMA Productions. Apr 17 - 18.

Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA. hamaproductions.com.au The 91-Storey Treehouse.

Based on the books by Andy Griffiths. Apr 22 - 27. State Theatre Centre of WA. ptt.wa.gov.au

The Summer of Our Lives by Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods. Western Sky Projects.

Apr 28 - May 6. World premiere music schlockbuster.

The Blue Room, Perth. blueroom.org.au The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by Kent R. Brown. Apr 30 - May 16. Comedy thriller.

Garrick Theatre, Guildford. garricktheatre.asn.au New Zealand A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. The Court Theatre, Christchurch. Until Mar 14. 0800 333 100.

Stag and Doe by Mark Crawford. Howick Little Theatre. Until Mar 21. hlt.org.nz UPU. Curated by Grace Taylor.

Silo Theatre. Auckland Arts Festival. Mar 5 - 15. Q Theatre, Auckland. aucklandfestival.co.nz Black Lover by Stanley Makuwe. Auckland Theatre Company. Mar 6 - Apr 4. Q Theatre, Loft. atc.co.nz The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Evolution Theatre Company, Hawke’s Bay. Mar 6 - 21. 0800 BUY TIX (289 849).

Strictly Ballroom The Musical.

Book by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, adapted by Terry Johnson. Centrestage Theatre Company, Orewa. Mar 7 - 21. centrestagetheatre.co.nz A Skull in Connemara by Martin McDonagh. Titirangi Theatre. Mar 10 - 21. titirangitheatre.co.nz

On Stage Year of the Tiger by Alice Canton. Mar 10 - 21. Basement Theatre, Auckland. 0508 iTICKET (484-253).

Black Ties. Ilbijerri Theatre Company and Te Rehia Theatre. Auckland Arts Festival.

Mar 11 - 15. Aotea Theatre, Auckland. aucklandfestival.co.nz

New Zealand

Apr 4.

Theatre, Christchurch. Mar 28 - Gordon Gray-Lockart. Tauranga whangareitheatrecompany.org.nz Apr 18. courttheatre.org.nz Musical Theatre Inc. Apr 17 Mouthpiece by Kieran Hurley.

My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner May 2.

Traverse Theatre Company. and Frederick Loewe. Showbiz taurangamusicaltheatre.co.nz Auckland Arts Festival. Mar 19 - 28. Q Theatre, Auckland. aucklandfestival.co.nz

Christchurch. Apr 3 - 18. Isaac Theatre Royal. showbiz.org.nz

Greedy Cat by Joy Cowley, adapted by Tim Bray, with music by Christine White. Tim Bray Theatre Company. Apr 4 28, The PumpHouse Theatre, Auckland; Apr 29 - May 2, Teo Oro, Auckland & May 6 - 9, BNZ Theatre, Maukau, Dimanche by Julie Tenret, Hampton. Hawera Repertory Sicaire Durieux and Sandrine Society. Mar 20 - 28. Repertory Auckland.

Heyraud. New Zealand Festival House, Hawera. hawerarep.org timbrayproductions.org.nz of the Arts, Mar 12 - 15, TSB The Lost Letter Office. Apr 14 Peninsula by Gary Henderson.

Arena, Wellington, festival.nz & Company Theatre, Auckland.

21. Hannah Playhouse, Auckland Arts Festival, Mar 18 Mar 21 - Apr 4.

Wellington. capitale.org.nz - 22, ASB Waterfront Theatre, companytheatre.co.nz Waiting for God by Michael aucklandfestival.co.nz Aitkens. Elmwood Players. Apr Watt by Samuel Beckett.

Babble. Massive Theatre Auckland Arts Festival. Mar 25 15 - 25.

Company. Auckland Arts elmwood-players.org.nz - 29. ASB Waterfront Theatre.

Festival. Mar 18 - 28. Manger aucklandfestival.co.nz Sister Act. Music by Alan Arts Centre, Auckland. 0800 Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, Grease by Jim Jacobs and BUY TIX (289 849) Warren Casey. Napier Operatic book by Bill and Cheri Murder on the Nile by Agatha Society. Mar 27 - Apr 11.

Steinkellner, and additional Christie. Nelson Repertory book material by Douglas Tabard Theatre.

Theatre. Mar 18 - 21. Theatre Carter Beane. Abbey Musical napieroperatic.org.nz Royal Nelson. (03) 548 3840 Theatre. Apr 17 - May 2.

First Things First by Derek Ladies in Black. Music & Lyrics: Benfield. Mairangi Players. Mar Regent on Broadway. abbeymusicaltheatre.co.nz Tim Finn. Book: Carolyn Burns 28 - Apr 4. Theatreworks based on Madeleine St John’s Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Dolphin Birkenhead. novel The Women in Black.

Theatre, Auckland. Apr 17 mairangiplayers.co.nz Additional Lyrics: Simon Philips May 2. dolphintheatre.org.nz Lysander’s Aunty by Ralph & Carolyn Burns. Whangarei The Blues Brothers: First McCubbin Howell. Court Theatre Company. Mar 19 Contact by Liam Hagan and Mad Sisters by Devon Williamson. Detour Theatre, Tauranga. Mar 19 - Apr 4.

Proof by David Auburn. Ellerslie detour.co.nz Theatrical Society. Mar 12 - 21. God of Carnage by Yasmina ellerslietheatre.co.nz Reza, translated by Christopher

Aladdin Jr. Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin. Book by Chad Beguelin. Manukau Performing Arts. Apr 18 - 25. Spotlight Theatre, Papatoetoe. mpatheatre.co.nz Annie by Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin. Harlequin Musical Theatre. Apr 18 - May 2. harlequintheatre.co.nz Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Music

by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. North Canterbury Musicals. May 7 23. ncms.co.nz Les Misérables. Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.

Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer.

Original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel.

Additional Material by James Fenton. Musical Theatre Dunedin. From May 7. Regent Theatre Dunedin. mtd.org.nz The Miracle Worker by William Gibson. Auckland Theatre Company. May 7 - 23. ASB Waterfront Theatre. atc.co.nz

JOIN THE CONVERSATION! Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stage_whispers Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/stagewhispers www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 69

Reviews: Premieres

The cast of Six. Photo: James D. Morgan / Getty Images.

Online extras!

Watch the trailer for the Australian production of Six. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/VhgicdsWqRI Six

By Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Louise Withers, Michael Coppel and Linda Bewick. Sydney Opera House. Opening Night: Jan 9. Comedy Theatre Melbourne, from Apr 23.

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, from Jun 11. Wellington Opera House, New Zealand from Jul 9.

Six is a musical unlike any Tudor history lesson! Ever!

Reincarnating Henry VIII’s six wives today as vibrant, irreverent, contemporary pop divas (conveyed by fabulous local triple threats), Six is a constantly surprising ‘herstory’, seen through a 21st century lens, debunking long perpetuated myths and stereotypes.

The Opera House Studio feels as much a mini concert arena as a theatre, accentuated by Tim Deiling’s spectacular lighting design.

A ripper of a pop score, inspired by the hits of modern female music stars, enhanced by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s slick, attitude-laden choreography and Gabriella Slade’s stunning costumes, combine to provide the show’s voice.

It’s very funny, occasionally bitchy, yet essentially it’s about sisterhood.

Created as a student production by final year Cambridge University students Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss for the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, it’s now an international theatrical phenomenon. Moss is also the show’s co-director, along with Jamie Armitage (the Australian Associate Director is Sharon Millerchip).

Each queen gets her own song to stake her claim to being the hardest done-by wife in the show’s simple plot premise, bookended by ensemble numbers, but throughout their individual stories, the remaining queens provide a stunningly harmonised backing vocals and moves.

70 Stage Whispers

Chloé Zuel’s determined Catherine of Aragon launches the challenge with her fiercely determined “No Way”. Kala Gare challenges as vivacious, doomed Anne Boleyn in “Don’t lose ur head”. Loren Hunter’s sympathetic Jane Seymour delivers the touching ballad “Heart of Stone”.

Who knew Tinder dating backfired even 500 years ago?

Kiana Daniele’s deliciously comic Anna of Cleves happily evades Henry in the raunchy “Get Down”. Courtney Monsma’s Katherine Howard moves from youthful flirtatiousness to a dark world of sexual predators in the provoking “All You Wanna Do”. Vidya Makan, the selfassured Catherine Parr, delivers a powerhouse vocal on “I Don’t Need Your Love”.

They’re brilliantly supported throughout by an allfemale band - musical director Claire Healy on keyboards, guitarist Debbie Yap, Jessica Dunn on bass and drummer Ali Foster.

A crossover and cross-generational hit, the cast recording is a streaming phenomenon second only to Hamilton for show music, with more than 300,000 streams a day.

Six is a boisterously fun #MeToo night of theatre.

Neil Litchfield The Neighbourhood

By Todd MacDonald, Aleea Monsour and Ari Palani. La Boite Theatre Company, Multicultural Australia and Empire Theatre. Roundhouse Theatre, Brisbane. Feb 8 - 29.

THE universe needs more productions like The Neighbourhood. In a world premiere for La Boite and Empire Theatres, this show’s positive tone and sparky creativity is a welcome antidote to negativity and fear around immigration and racism. People struggling with

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

their own cultural identity and sense of self will certainly feel a kindred spirit. The winning edge is provided by the unique perspectives of its seven stars - local artists who have collaborated with co-creators, Aleea Monsour (independent artist and director) and Ari Palani (Empire Theatre’s Youth Arts Director), to tell their own very personal stories. Complex and painful histories are not shied away from, yet tears of frustration at heartwrenching survival stories from Amer Joseph Thabet, Nima Doostkhah and Cieavash Arean turn to tears of laughter at the brilliantly funny observations of Aurora Liddle-Christie, Anisa Nandaula, Naavi Karan and Matt Hsu, who deal with identity in very different ways. Music and dance play important roles and many of the performers are musicians, poets and rappers and break up their stories with superb individual performances. They are supported by an ingeniously simple and succinct stage design by Adam Gardnir, lighting by Ben Hughes and sound by Brady Watkins, adding energy and pace - and facilitating tour-ability to help the show reach a wider audience. Don’t miss it.

Beth Keehn Black Cockatoo

By Geoffrey Atherden. Sydney Festival. Ensemble Theatre.

Director: Wesley Enoch. Jan 4 - Feb 8.

THE setting of Geoffrey Atherden’s new play is the back room of a museum, a storage unit with many

itemised boxes and a large, rolling ladder. It’s a brilliant vision for the play from set designer Richard Roberts, and director Wesley Enoch makes great use of the space.

Into this storeroom Atherden brings a friendly curator (Luke Carroll). He primes us all how to cheer, boo or groan when the results of the cricketers are revealed: for this is the story of the first black Australian cricket team to tour England in 1868 - 14 wins (hooray!), 14 losses (boo!), 19 draws (hnn?).

Crashing into the room come five Indigenous members of a group intent on adding truth to the narrative, and from then on we go back and forth from a story of yesterday’s cricketers to today’s black issues. Johnny Mullagh (Aaron McGrath), by far the most accomplished cricketer, gets the most from the six-months-at-sea round trip. He regularly top scores, meets Lady Lydia Bardwell (Chenoa Deemal) and learns to read and write.

Colin Smith excellently plays white boss-man Charles Lawrence, who promises each man 50 pounds before they start the journey but finds excuses not to pay them at every turn.

Director Enoch works wonders in the difficult Ensemble space.

It is of course when they get back to Australia that their troubles really begin. Their families and friends have all been moved to government-run missions. Cricket is hardly an option.

Frank Hatherley

Dubs Yunupingu & Joseph Althouse in Black Cockatoo.

Photo: Prudence Upton.

Online extras!

Director Wesley Enoch discusses Black Cockatoo. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/0YX-UGXlFYE Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 71

The Top Secret Violin Case

By Sofia Chapman. Midsumma Festival. La Mama Courthouse. Jan 21 - 26.

THIS show is an extraordinary gleeful exploration of some dark political events that besieged Eastern European countries under communist regimes. This light-hearted approach does not belittle the issues but allows the audience to see how suspicion and paranoia pervaded all aspects of life in countries like Romania. The formation of a Romanian folkloristic music ensemble becomes fraught with obstacles, fuelled by political machinations and corrupt bureaucracies. The characters are always having to second guess the motives of others and navigate unforgiving and uncooperative state systems.

Naïve American music student Brad Spiro (Sasha Čuha) catapults himself into this web of intrigue to learn from some talented local musicians. He tracks down violinist Ionel Stoican (Alana Hunt), whose ambition it is to form a group and record music with the reluctant contrabassist Tony Covaci (Kirri Büchle) and accordionist Nicu Valentinu (Sofia Chapman). This results in Brad being interrogated by the secret police and the unravelling of Ionel’s scheming efforts.

These events are delivered in a delightful absurdist style, where characters happily sing and dance while playing their instruments. This creates a wonderful tongue -in-cheek tone that is consistently adopted by all the performers, but each in their own unique and quirky manner. A simple set also employs a large screen which acts as a backdrop. The artwork for these visuals, as well as the set, creates a very rustic and austere atmosphere. A highly energetic and lively production full of unexpected and enchanting moments.

Patricia Di Risio Family Values

By David Williamson. Griffin Theatre Company. Director: Lee Lewis. SBW Stables Theatre. Jan 17 - Mar 7.

DAVID Williamson’s compelling new play centres on Roger (Andrew McFarlane), a retired justice who, with his wife Sue (Belinda Giblin), optimistically welcomes home their three feuding children for his 70th birthday.

The youngest, Emily (Ella Prince), who works in Border Force, arrives with her fiancée, her ship’s skipper Noeline (Bishanyia Vincent). Michael, a divorced Hillsonger (Jamie Oxenbould), doesn’t approve of gay marriage, and nor of his other sister, a refugee advocate, Lisa (Danielle King), who earnestly arrives with an Iranian on the run from being returned to Manus Island. It’s a bushfire just waiting to go off.

Set comfortably in Sophie Fletcher’s affluent North Shore dining room, with a well-appointed Federation landing and stairway, Family Values has Williamson’s exceptional wit but this time with minimal corny set-ups and cliché of characters.

The family are soon mocking, shouting and tearing away at old sibling scabs, but at heart, as the comedy eases, it’s a furious debate about Australia’s ongoing treatment of refugees. All points of view are around this 72 Stage Whispers

fraught table, and dramatized with little declamatory writing or acting.

The final word from refugee Saba (Sabryna Walters) quietens the room. And she motivates an unlikely but dramatically engaging moral shift to united action.

Williamson’s optimism and old activism wins out - and his delight in giving his audience a neat ending. Director Lee Lewis and an exceptional cast (and notably Oxenbould), achieve a near perfect drive of natural comedy and intensity of performance.

Martin Portus Betty Blokk-Buster Reimagined Sydney Festival. Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent. Jan 7 - 26.

BETTY Blokk-Buster hit Australian audiences with a raunchy belly blow in 1975. Reg Livermore’s saucy, whitefaced, bare-bottomed, feather duster-flicking, cabaretstyle ‘hausfrau’ charged on to the stage challenging critics to accept that his performance was much more than a “wank”! Livermore took “Betty” and his other “dinkum battlers, freaks and survivors” from Balmain’s Bijou Theatre to Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne in a year-long tour - and the country realised it had a new ‘star’.

Forty-five years later Red Line Productions and Josh Quong Tart bring a reimagined “Betty” to the Sydney Festival. With Livermore’s imprimatur, they transport the “makeshift fairground” of the original production into the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, where Tart introduces some of Livermore’s funny/outrageous characters to a new generation, albeit with a contemporary slant. Beryl, for instance, has Siri to keep her company at the sink! And the songs Tart chooses evoke similar social comment, especially his rendition of the sad “Age of Anxiety” and Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack”.

Like Livermore, Tart is a vibrant, multi-talented performer. He needs to be in order to sing, dance and act his way through a one-man show with a host of costumes and characters - none more challenging than recreating a “Betty” that will gratify Livermore’s original, and still thriving, fan base. Happily, Tart does so with abundant panache! His ‘reimagined’ show, like Livermore’s before him, is a real is block buster.

Carol Wimmer The Life Of Us Music and Lyrics by Ben Bennett. Book by Ashleigh Taylor and Ben Bennett. 100 Coffees Productions and Neil Gooding Productions. Hayes Theatre. Directed by Neil Gooding. Jan 16 - Feb 9.

THE first twenty minutes of this new Australian musical about the perils of managing long distance relationships are spine tinglingly good.

Co-writers Ashleigh Taylor and Ben Bennett play the leads. Ellie is at home looking after her mother with early onset of dementia, whilst Charlie is in London developing a career as a rock singer.

Lauren Peters’ set is cleverly divided into four - two bedrooms, kitchen and loungeroom. The long-distance lovers chat on Skype, sitting next to each other at times

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Pippa Grandison, Asheligh Taylor, Christian Charisiou and Ben Bennett in The Life Of Us. Photo: Grant Leslie.

Online extras!

Feast your eyes on the Australian premiere of The Life Of Us. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/Ja_jAN6CdCk but always communicating into their computer screens.

The choreography of these exchanges was sweet.

Co-writers Ashleigh and Ben are a couple in real life, and their relationship was tested by absence in its early stages, so there was no holding back on their sizzling chemistry. As the days of their separation ticked over you could feel the ache of their love sickness.

The couple are anchored on either side of the world and equally stubborn. Ellie won’t leave her mother Grace (Pippa Grandison), whilst Charlie’s manager and best friend Mike (Christian Charisiou) keeps delivering exciting career opportunities to the pop singer, to keep him in the UK. Ben Bennett has composed some delicious pop tunes, with his character nabbing the best of them. The show would benefit if a couple of the strongest songs were reprised, to help keep them spinning around the ears of patrons.

The character of Grace is based in part on a relative of Ashleigh’s, who suffered from dementia. It was portrayed sympathetically by Pippa Grandison. She was given one spectacular song, which was dramatically powerful but felt a fraction too lucid for someone who was unwell.

The Life of Us is a work in progress which will benefit from having such a high quality first outing.

As it stands, it is a highly entertaining piece of theatre which gets under your skin.

David Spicer

Black Ties Ilbijerri Theatre Company and Te Rehia Theatre. Sydney Festival. Sydney Town Hall. Jan 10 - 18.

TWO smitten lovers, one Aboriginal, the other Maori, try hard to unite their families, their cultures, behind their engagement.

Somehow the wedding is booked - despite possessive mums running indigenous guilt trips, hilarious lapses of cultural protocol, fierce racisms across the ditch, errant males and some toxic family baggage.

And we’re all invited, as the Sydney Town Hall is transformed for the second half from theatre format to a colourful wedding feast.

This big cast co-production between Melbourne’s Ilbijerri Theatre Company and Auckland’s Te Rehia Theatre, directed by their respective artistic directors Rachael Maza and Tainui Tukiwaho, is well-resourced and artfully presented.

Background images enliven a huge back screen, mobile chats are nicely projected, live musical segments are woven into the story, as are videos of backroom fights and missing mad relatives.

The humour is engaging, often wickedly non-PC, drawing on the banter of the family, such a familiar focus of indigenous theatre. John Harvey and Tainui Tukiwaho’s script is witty and occasionally perceptive on this indigenous cultural clash, but the show is long-winded, and in big need of editing and pace.

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Stage Whispers 73

Lady Tabouli.

Photo: Robert Catto.

Roles aren’t identified but it’s an excellent comic cast, with designer Te Ura Hoskins also playing good comedy with the costumes. A credit to all for almost holding our interest for more than three hours.

Martin Portus

Australian family - important because Danny has deliberately set in motion something that will bring turmoil and heartache.

The cast easily establishes the intimacy of four people who are very close. They are animated, lively, noisy, emotional. They argue, defend, assist, resist. Together they create a family united by culture, heritage and love.

Lady Tabouli

By James Elazzi. Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta Dino Dimitriadis directs with compassion and and Sydney Festival. Riverside Theatres Parramatta. imagination. His empathy with the characters is Jan 9 - 18. exemplified in intimate directions - the passing turn of a IN the short opening scene of James Elazzi’s play, head, transitory pauses, the evocative power of still Danny (Anthony Makhlouf) and Josephine (Nisrine Amine) moments of complete silence. dance as children to a tape of Lebanese singer and actress Though the characters in Lady Tabouli are Lebanese Sabah, who appears in a “dream sequence”.

Australians, the complex family drama that evolves is one Cut to the present, where Josephine and Danny with which anyone can identify - because the prepare for the christening of Josephine’s baby son. complications that Danny introduces could happen in any Danny sticks flowers on to blue place cards. Josephine family where strict customs or cultural expectations brings a bunch of blue helium balloons and an expensive dictate the consequences of the choices individual christening robe. Dana (Deborah Galanos), their mother, members are forced to make. brings the sugar-coated almonds, their uncle, Mark Carol Wimmer (Johnny Nasser), the christening cake. It is very funny, almost chaotic.

Leopard Print Loincloth Elazzi has used that chaos, and the cultural/religious

By Jake Stewart. Theatre Works and Kissing Booth. expectations of the family christening, to explore “what Midsumma Festival. Theatre Works, St Kilda. Feb 4 - 8. comes to the surface, and what is lost, when we shake up LEOPARD Print Loincloth is a depiction of our cultural fabric”. In the early scenes he establishes the contemporary Australian masculinity in a series of cultural mores that are so typical of a busy Lebanese sketches and vignettes; there’s no narrative per se, but the 74 Stage Whispers

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

theme is the inadequacies and vulnerabilities of men - or here boys - many of them teenagers. Their talk is competitive and aggressive. They watch each other, judging, comparing, jeering and enforcing loyalty. There’s an undercurrent of homoeroticism - implicit or explicit. A couple are in a relationship - which they will wreck because they’re boys. Some will want to get their kit off and show us their dicks.

The cast of six men - Joel Beasley, Eamon Dunphy, Ben Goss, Max Greenham, Louis Kemp-Mykyta and Rhys Wilson - are all talented but in different ways. Eamon Dunphy is menacing, whatever character he’s playing. Ben Goss is ever grinning-cheerful - until he’s close to tears.

Louis Kemp-Mykyta, the youngest, is precise, prissy and intelligent (and an actor to watch). Rhys Wilson is boyish and wanting to be liked - so is generally ignored. Joel Beasley has a retro moustache that makes him sulky and suspicious. Only Max Greenham switches persona - from sardonic butch to grinning idiot.

Director Dominic Weintraub opts for a large transverse playing space that, given the intimacy of some scenes, causes him problems he doesn’t quite overcome. At times the actors struggle a little with their text. Playwright Jake Stewart also appears, as himself, so that cast members can complain about what the text asks them to do. In my opinion a mistake, but the writing is sharply observed and insightful. It’s a depressing picture - or would be if it were not so frequently funny, performed with great energy and conviction, and giving us that satisfaction that comes from recognising truth.

Michael Brindley I’ll Be Home For Christmas

By Theo Rule. Grainery Theatre. Civic Theatre, Newcastle.

Dec 21 - 22.

NEWCASTLE playwright and director Theo Rule has shown a talent for developing enjoyable Christmas shows from serious issues, and that was certainly the case again with this musical comedy.

It looked at the final days in the life of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt before he supposedly drowned on December 17, 1967, while swimming alone off a beach near Melbourne.

As his body was never found, all sorts of rumours spread about his disappearance, with this story amusingly ending with a brief sequence that showed one of the rumours.

Theo Rule clearly did a lot of research into Holt’s life and the people associated with him and that came through in the performances. Holt’s popularity had diminished and he was trying to put together a Christmas message that would appeal to voters and fellow politicians.

Jared Mainey, who played Holt, brought out his mix of determination and nervousness, with the former certainly shown when he was with his wife, Zara (Hannah Buck), who was aware that he was having a relationship with Marjorie Gillespie (Brea Jones), a resident near their

bayside holiday home. Both the women clearly had misgivings about Holt’s treatment of them, with Marjorie often talking sharply to him when he had a meal with her and hubby Winton (Brian Burke).

The show had several gripping moments, including a sniper firing a gun through Holt’s parliament office window one night in 1966, with the bullet cutting his skin and causing bleeding. And Holt’s unsmiling interactions with his staff members, especially his press secretary Tony Eggleton (Lyndon Baker), came through in their responses to him.

The show had a large ensemble aged from eight to the 60s who played colourful characters, among them members of a hippy group, The Jesus Movement, who tried to promote Christianity through their performance of lively pop songs. And the Bible’s Three Wise Men, wearing classical garb, were seen giving advice to Holt on what to say and do. The large orchestra pit band, conducted by Okke Klassen, and the brisk dance routines added to the fun. The sets, including a beachside cliff with a walking trail, and the 1960s costumes likewise helped give this historic story a timeless nature.

Ken Longworth The Visitors

By Jane Harrison. Moogahlin Performing Arts. Sydney Festival. Carriageworks, Bay 20. Jan 22 - 26.

JANE Harrison’s intriguing new play imagines seven Aboriginal men watching and arguing over the arrival of Arthur Phillip and his ships at Botany Bay in 1788.

They’ve arrived from across country and lead warriors on the ready to give resistance. But first, passing the message stick, they hold a formal council of elders.

Another plan eventually wins support: they really pity these ugly looking visitors and, expecting that they pine to return their own country, will welcome them, briefly, to theirs.

Standing amongst the trees and shadows of Lisa Mimmocchi’s beautiful landscape, amidst the sounds of sea, wind and bush (Phil Downing), the elders are dressed in suits, denoting their status.

One in fact is a youth representing an elder. He develops a wrenching cough, caught no doubt from getting too close to the visitors - in a poignant touch of fate. There are other good human elements of pride, banter, disrespect and anger as the varied elders repeat and contend the arguments.

This circular repetition and an occasional stiltedness in language does impinge on Frederick Copperwaite’s production for Moogahlan Perfoming Arts, but the tension certainly holds, even as everyone waits, and the ships stay anchored offshore.

The generally accomplished cast, not identified to roles, is John Blair, Damion Hunter, Colin Kinchela, Nathan Leslie, Leroy Parsons, Glenn Shea and Kerri Simpson.

Martin Portus

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Stage Whispers 75

Crunch Time

By David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Mark Kilmurry. Feb 14 - Apr 9.

THE Ensemble Theatre is packed to the gunnels. Its favourite son, the writer David Williamson, author of over 50 plays, 24 of them staged here, watches as the lights come up on the very last, Crunch Time. After 50 years of play writing, this is officially the end, finis, the final curtain.

Crunch Time is like most of his plays, a family saga with plenty of good jokes. But this one’s about assisted dying, with a father (played by John Wood) who, when assured that his time is up, demands the right to die with dignity. He has a pliant wife (Diane Craig) and two sons, the self-labelling Obsessive Compulsive Luke (Guy Edmonds), married to Lauren (Emma Palmer), and father’s favourite, the ‘golden boy’ Jimmy (Matt Minto), who is having a hard time with his demanding wife Susy (Megan Drury).

Assorted scenes zip along on the Ensemble stage, in front of a door, a splendid modern painting, a blue 2seater sofa, an uncomfortable green seat, a wooden chair, a sideboard with drinks, and a cello that doesn’t get played until much, much later. Director Mark Kilmurry keeps the action flowing.

The father’s need for death-delivering Nembutal sends Jimmy to Peru. ‘I can’t let myself become a skeleton’, says Dad, and ‘before I waste away’, which is highly unlikely when you consider his girth.

But John Wood’s warmth of character gets us over this. And the whole family of actors work hard to make this a successful production. Particularly good are Guy Edmonds as the troubled, scatty Luke, and Megan Drury as the stridently forceful Susy.

There is much sustained beating of the palms as the whole house rises to the tall, bashful Williamson. A short heartfelt speech from director Kilmurry, and the great man is gone.

Frank Hatherley The Rise And Disguise Of Elizabeth R

By Gerry Connolly, Nick Coyle and Gus Murray. Music by Max Lambert. Sugary Rum Productions and Hayes Theatre. Directed by Shaun Rennie. Feb 13 - Mar 1.

THERE has been so much real-life drama swirling around the Royal Family that my first thought about this production was that Gerry Connolly wouldn’t know what material to leave out. Indeed, when I had the good fortune to sit next to him at another production, he quipped that he had a truck load of material to sort through.

However, much to my surprise, there was only a sparse reference to Harry and Meghan (nobody asks me how I’m doing) Markle and Prince Andrew in this production.

Rather than the experience being like an audience before Dame Edna, or the structured sketch format of the Wharf Revue, the creators of this work did something more ambitious. It was a play within a play, or to be more accurate, a musical within a musical.

76 Stage Whispers

The Rise And Disguise Of Elizabeth R. Photo: Kate Williams.

The premise was the tension between an actor famous for his portrayal of one character and her looming demise.

The question posed was - what will Gerry Connolly do once Prince Charles ascends the throne and becomes King George VII? Going by the dazzling talent Gerry displayed, he won’t have trouble finding work. When we finally got to see the Queen on stage it was like a joyous rain (or perhaps reign) after a drought. Connolly’s mangling of the Queen’s Christmas messages was priceless.

Perhaps the highlight was his impersonations of Australian Prime Ministers and their audiences with HRH. Did the musical treatment of the production work?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Overall a little more Regina and a little less navel gazing would have been more pleasing.

Still, there was much to enjoy. Playing a number of different characters in the musical within the musical were Rob Mallett and Laura Murphy. Their abundant talent kept the pace moving. In particular a duet between (the first) Queen Elizabeth and QEII was a scream.

The Hayes Theatre has a reputation for stunning looking sets and this one did not disappoint. Designer Jeremy Allen created a gorgeous James Bond movie opening like look for the stage and was given a moment to show off with the Queen in full regalia.

This production is likely to join the long list of Hayes Theatre productions that are being seen around Australia.

David Spicer

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Reviews: Plays

War Horse Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford in association with Handspring Puppet Company. Regent Theatre, Melbourne. Jan 14 - Feb 8, and touring.

THE story is simple, but it grabs you by the throat because of the way it is told - and the horses.

Albert (Scott Miller), only sixteen, calls a foal ‘Joey’ and the two are soul mates, bonded forever. Suddenly it’s 1914, there’s an urgent need for horses - and Joey is sold and gone. Albert is heartbroken, lies about his age, enlists and sets off to find his horse amid the explosions, the terror, the fire and mud, the chatter of machine guns the clash of old and heartless new.

The Western Front is almost overwhelmingly created

by Tom Morris’ and Marianne Elliott’s direction, Toby Sedgwick’s movement of a huge cast, Rae Smith’s design and drawings, Christopher Shutt’s sound design and Paule Constable’s lighting. We witness connections between ‘enemies’, and a British cavalry charge - Joey and another horse, Topthorn in the lead - against German machine guns and barbed wire. Only in Act II, as Albert searches, does German Captain Müller (Christopher Naylor) understand the madness and, in a kind of despair, values the horses over blinkered or mad, doomed humans.

But the wonder of this show is the horse puppets. The puppeteers - five to a horse - move them, including Joey as a foal, in a way that goes beyond ‘lifelike’. They supply

War Horse at the New London Theatre.

Photo: Brinkhoff Mögenburg.

horse sounds too, so beautifully that it is like language.

We forget that the puppeteers are even there; the ‘horses’ become characters who think, assess, feel, react, are happy, angry, terrified, tender.

It was a prescient decision by the National Theatre to adapt Morpurgo’s slim 1982 children’s book - but we respond to horses in an emotional, almost visceral way.

The 2007 gamble has paid off over and over. With Warhorse, the puppets make Joey and Topthorn characters in their own right and more than equal to the humans.

Michael Brindley Anthem

By Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves, Christos Tsiolkas and Irine Vela. Directed by Susie Dee. Sydney Festival, Arts Centre Melbourne and Performing Lines. Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney. Jan 15 - 19.

TWENTY-ONE years after creating Who’s Afraid of the Working Class, four playwrights and a composer have come together again. They’re now firmly established as some of our best and they’re working on a grander scale.

While Anthem doesn’t carry the same punch as their 1998 work, it offers an important chance to stop and think about ourselves and our divided society.

Like the original play, Anthem weaves together four stories about Australians who haven’t enjoyed the benefits of the country’s prosperity. It’s set largely on Melbourne’s trains: a struggling young mother hits out at

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Stage Whispers 77

The Deep Blue Sea. Photo: Daniel Boud.

Online extras!

The Deep Blue Sea is a beautiful, complex drama about loss and longing. https://youtu.be/bHhU3Cksmog passengers and a ticket inspector; a successful man returns home to see his less fortunate siblings and two workers confront the capitalist system that has trodden them down. Their encounters are tough, revealing huger differences in class and identity.

The cast is universally wonderful. None more so than Ruci Kaisila, who plays a busker, belting out anthems like “Waltzing Matilda” and telling everyone to “pay up, pay up”. For the privileged audience, it hits home.

Anthem is at its best when dramatising rather than explicitly discussing its ideas. As the play ends, and things fall apart, we feel for those who can’t enjoy the country’s promise and who suffer in these difficult times. This play is often bleak but somehow rousing too.

Peter Gotting

exasperated he can’t love Hester enough. Hester continues to crumble, the daughter of a clergyman unable to find the intense physical love she craves.

Self-righteous neighbour Philip (Brandon McClelland) isn’t much help, but his gossiping wife (Contessa Treffone) finally shows true care, while Vanessa Downing shines as Hester’s tender landlady.

Charlie Gerber is Freddie’s mate, and Paul Capsis (as Paul Capsis!), playing the enigmatic, campy “doctor” from upstairs, is inspired casting.

Paige Rattray’s problem is that most actors are in different plays and countries, with a range of accents which defies the play’s very British idiom and attitudes.

David Fleischer’s huge set pieces on rollers wonderfully crowd Hester as they reassemble every act, but the airy set lacks claustrophobia and oppression. The cast, while The Deep Blue Sea strong, also give way to some signal acting.

Best at centre is the magnetic Marta Dusseldorf as

By Terence Rattigan. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre. Feb 4 - Mar 7.

Hester, nervy and anguished, her long frame often folding THIS portrait of class, shame and lost love, which to the floor, but still with her masks and voices of lover, centres on a suicidal woman who leaves her marriage to a wife and smart rectory girl. judge, only to be abandoned by her alcoholic lover, was a Martin Portus West End hit in 1952, and beyond.

Terence Rattigan shows himself a master of dialogue Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? and slowly unfolding plot in this neat three-act story, as

By Edward Albee. Butterfly Theatre. Holden Street Theatres. Jan 22 - 26. over one day characters parade through Hester Collyer’s crummy London flat.

SET in 1962, this commentary on destructive Her cool, fond husband, Sir William (Matt Day), is relationships within marriage is also thought by some to perplexed she won’t return home, while Freddie (Fayssal reflect Albee’s view of the political turmoil and threat of Bazzi), a former RAF test pilot lost to booze and noise, is annihilation present in the USA at the time (the Cuban 78 Stage Whispers

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nuclear crisis). Even the university name reflects a place of destruction, with the Carthage of ancient times known for such a fate.

Brant Eustice gives a towering and sustained performance as George in one of the most memorable and nuanced characterisations I have seen in theatre for many a year.

As Martha, Bronwyn Ruciak is also excellent. Martha’s self-destructive nature, her derisory putdowns of George, her use of sex as a weapon and eventually, her vulnerability, shine through.

Robert Bell is very good as Nick, the young academic who tries to go head to head with George and Martha.

Nick’s gradually dawning realisation that he has stumbled into a spiders’ web that will impact his own marriage is very well performed by Bell.

Madeleine Herd is superb as naïve Honey, who in less talented hands could easily come across as a bimbo. In Herd’s hands, Honey’s nervous, brittle laughter and willingness to please give way to graphic and heartbreaking realisation that she has been betrayed. A fine performance.

Directors Angela Short and Matthew Chapman use the minimalist set well. Tape on the floor is intended to designate a boxing ring and action is often ‘corner to corner’, as occurs in such a ring.

Two intervals help relieve the pressure for the audience but also contribute to the play’s long duration. However, the sensational performances of the cast make the sustained pummelling of the narrative worth every minute.

Lesley Reed

keyboard - with Lachlan Davidson on reeds and bass guitar, and John Clark on percussion. Nicolas Reich’s subtle sound design has just enough ‘atmosphere’ to provide context and credibility. Justin Nardella’s set is all black and very simple, and Malcolm Rippeth’s brilliant lighting design achieves everything from an intimate, shadowy moment to the glare of lonely exposure on stage.

Great credit must also go to Joanna Murray-Smith’s writing, which is not just insightful but generous to the nobodies and the somebodies alike. A well-deserved revival that is much more than a vehicle for Bernadette Robinson.

Michael Brindley

Barbeque

By Daryl Peebles. Mates Theatre Genesis. Directed by Tereska Hart. Redland Museum. Jan 25 - Feb 9.

BARBEQUE is a comedic look at the class system in our lucky country and whether or not money can buy happiness. According to the well-to-do matriarch of the McKenzies, Judith (Suze Harpur), it certainly can’t buy taste. Her character sneers down her nose at the Coopers, your friendly neighbourhood bogan Lotto winners.

Daniel Baker plays all-round good bloke Colin Cooper with a warmth of spirit that rings true to life. He and wife Connie (Ann Leung) have won a fortune and moved to the fancy side of town, where they are trying to fit in with the affluent locals by hosting a neighbourhood barbeque.

Few can stoop so low as to attend - aside from the aforementioned McKenzies, Colin’s mate Kevin (Andrew McArthur), and two accidental guests in the form of Mormon missionaries Jonathan (Taine Harding) and Leroy Songs For Nobodies (Josh Welter).

Book by Joanna Murray-Smith. Songs by various. Directed Comedic moments are waiting around every corner of

by Simon Phillips. Duet Productions. Melbourne Arts the script. The farcical aspects aren’t too overplayed.

Centre, Fairfax Studio. Dec 18 - Jan 5.

Tereska Hart has the cast play it straight, which makes for FIVE ‘nobodies’ have unforgettable encounters with better comedy in this instance. Teamwork is very strong in famous 20th century singers - Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, the production - the cast do well to elevate one another.

Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas. The theme is a Barbeque is one of those ‘laugh now, think about the not unpleasant, wistful sadness. Beatrice, one nobody, deeper issues later’ experiences. The characters are tells us: recognisable and easy to relate to, making for some “In this country [the USA], people are always talkin’ palatable light entertainment that’s still got brains. Good about dreams. You can be your dream. You can have your looking and intelligent? Yes it is. This play is a lovely dream. You can live the dream. But that’s just a clever lesson in how to treat others as equals and approach life way of gettin’ people to shut up and stop complainin’.” with an open heart and mind.

Bernadette Robinson plays all these characters Kiesten McCauley flawlessly - and sings quintessential songs of each of these famous women. But she goes beyond mere mimicry, Romeo And Juliet showing us why these artists have touched some inner

By William Shakespeare. Sport for Jove. Bella Vista Farm, place in each of us. With Judy Garland, she brings out Dec 21 - 30, and touring until March. that ever-so-slight quaver of pathos. When Edith Piaf belts THE outdoor setting in front of Bella Vista Farm out that she regrets nothing, it’s defiance from someone equipped with a balcony on a two-storey building, a who has plenty to regret. And a betrayed Maria Callas separate adjoining farmhouse with steep stairs, a cuts to the heart. courtyard and a softly descending garden - is a delicious Director Simon Phillips keeps things briskly but stage for this classic. unhurriedly moving along, allowing room for the Director Damien Ryan set Romeo and Juliet in a village emotions Ms Robinson evokes in the audience. Musical in Italy in the twentieth century, tangled by long lines of Director is Ian McDonald - arrangements, piano and rope strung in different directions with clothes pegged to Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 79

them. In marched returning soldiers who sang to celebrate their homecoming and wept for a colleague who did not make it. The homecoming provided only a brief respite from the frantic on-going gang warfare between the Montagues and the Capulets.

By the time the birds had finished screeching at around 8.30, so too had the more overt Italian aspects of the production, which included a smattering of dance and language.

A striking aspect of the production was the youth of the leads. 16-year-old Oliver Ryan as Romeo displayed the full benefit of having “grown up in the theatre” under his father’s tutelage. He was passionate, angry and desperate in the right doses.

Also blessed with actual youth was Claudia Elbourne as Juliet. She burned up the stage as a teenage tearaway overcome by love. Having a real balcony to recite Shakespeare’s poetry from, climb up and swing from was a joy for the young lovers.

An even younger Ryan (14-year-old Max) was cast as Mercutio and also showed great acting maturity.

There were many thrilling aspects of this production swashbuckling fight scenes under the direction of Scott Witt, original music composed by Drew Livingston and Naomi Livingston, brooding lighting, and clever choreography of Juliet in a mobile bed, being pushed in and out of the frantic last scenes.

David Spicer

The standout is the music, performed by a duo on guitar and clarinet.

I’m sure Brisbane Immersive will gain a dedicated following for their theatrical flair and fun.

Beth Keehn

Any Number Can Die

By Fred Carmichael, directed by Theresa Dolman. Tea Tree Players Theatre, Surrey Downs, SA. Feb 5 - 15.

IMBUED with the spirits of a hundred “whodunnits”, this comedy-mystery presented by Tea Tree Players is a pastiche of intrigue and intricacy, delivered by a twelvestrong cast well-packaged by director Theresa (Lilly) Dolman.

An estranged family and other hangers-on gather in an old mansion on a stormy island off the American coast to hear the reading of a will (at midnight, obviously).

There is mystery aplenty and the plot is held together by a duo of first-case private investigators - Ernestine Wintergreen (Lesley Main) and Hannibal Hix (Rick Mills); these two know how to keep an audience close, immersing the audience in the action and carrying them along with their telling of the story.

The director’s set design is fantastic: there is incredible detail in the musty and dusty old house, yet nothing is wasted; everything has its purpose. There are so many ways on and off the stage in this play but their introduction is clever, and, even when you know it’s coming, often unexpected in its execution. It’s lit well by The Midsummer Carnival Robert Andrews and Mike Phillips.

Brisbane Powerhouse. Jan 24 - Feb 8.

The unravelling of murder-mysteries is well-worn PRESENTED by Brisbane Immersive Ensemble and the territory for stage plays but even though this is a Brisbane Powerhouse, The Midsummer Carnival is a mix of deliberate parody of those, Tea Tree Players builds the daring carnival feats, sideshow alley tricksters, gypsy jazz tension well and releases only just enough with each and audience participation. This short adaptation of reveal that there’s sufficient surprise for the audience to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream transports gasp at the final exposé.

Mark Wickett that famous tale to a local travelling show.

The Brisbane Immersive talents are many and varied from acrobatics to singing, to sword-swallowing. The The Feather In The Web

By Nick Coyle. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre. Red Stitch, East atmosphere is fun and engaging.

The Bard’s parallel stories - the fairies, the lovers, the St Kilda. Feb 5 - Mar 1. players - are placed in three distinct performance spaces: AT first The Feather in the Web seems like a series of a sideshow alley; a fortune teller’s tent; and a stage area. comedy sketches, but that’s deliberately misleading - as is Colourful-costumed fairground performers mingle with much that follows. Playwright Nick Coyle sets up a the audience. It becomes apparent that other performers narrative that keeps us wrong-footed. We follow the are in our midst. journey of Kimberly, a young woman in search of The energetic Patrick Shearer as Puck takes us into an somewhere to belong - or just to fit in. She is played by intriguing atmosphere where it is up to you how much Michelle Brasier in a controlled, riveting performance. you gain from the performances. The enigmatic Stephen Perhaps she is an alien, perhaps she is an elf, or perhaps Hirst is a strong theatrical presence, leading us as master she is just a lost but very literal minded young woman of the three-ring mayhem that includes the vocal talents with Asperger’s Syndrome. Director Declan Greene never of Meg Hamilton as a bewitching Titania. The fairies flit in softens the contradictions or allows ‘psychology’ to make and out of proceedings, performing circus tricks. The things palatable. lovers (Zoe Harlen, Ben Walton, Brooke McElligott and Brynna Lowen’s set is all-purpose functional and works Jackson McGovern) are fresh and funny, interacting with perfectly - helped enormously by Clare Springett’s lighting the crowd, lost in Puck’s spell. The Rude Mechanicals have that provides drama, alienation, the supernatural and the fun with the play-within-a-play and showcase their comic passage of time - completely in keeping with the mode skills, especially Johanna Lyon who is a hoot as ‘The Wall’. and tone of the text.

80 Stage Whispers

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Online extras!

Step into rehearsals of Queensland Theatre’s Emerald City. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/DYWOR0qBn7c

Nadine Garner, Jason Klarwein and Rhys Muldoon in Emerald City.

Photo: David Kelly.

While we might laugh at Kimberly’s actions, she never does. Her interventions send up and skewer the mores of our contemporary world. She finds an objective when she appears at an engagement party for handsome narcissist Miles (George Lingard) and winsome airhead Lily (a touching, painfully awkward Emily Milledge). Miles’ mother (brisk and brusque Belinda McClory) naturally assumes Kimberly is wait staff. We can see Miles is a waste of space (Mr Lingard with great restraint never suggests he’s anything else), but Kimberly cannot. Willing to do anything to please him, she becomes lonely Lily’s friend. But if Kimberly can only escape by change, by learning about the world, she might also miss what is right in front of her and that - in another unexpected twist - leaves us suddenly struck by the waste and sadness of the world.

Michael Brindley

Melbourne to Sydney in the hope of getting his career back on track. His fiercely Melbournian wife, Kate (Nadine Garner), a book editor, holds only disdain for the harbour city. When Colin is seduced by the thought of riches to be made in the U.S. market, he joins forces with a skirtchasing shyster and soapie writer Mike (Rhys Muldoon).

Kate believes he’s sold out and lost his artistic integrity.

It’s a scenario of art-house versus commercialism that doesn’t have a lot of heat in it for the general audience, but David Williamson peppers the script with enough one -liners to satisfy.

Kate also has her own drama when an Aboriginal book she is touting is denied publication, but through Mike’s intervention gets published and goes on to be short-listed for the Booker Prize.

Klarwein’s performance as Colin brings out the frustrations and disillusionment of a writer who’s trying to recapture a winning streak, but it’s Muldoon who shines as the sleaze-bag Mike. When his girlfriend Helen (Megan Emerald City

By David Williamson. Queensland Theatre. Director: Sam Hind) arrives, his immediate request for two coffees is a not-too-subtle comment on the position of women in the Strong. Playhouse, QPAC. Feb 8 - 29.

EMERALD City, a satire on the Melbourne / Sydney arts pre #MeToo era. Garner, whose career encompassed rivalry and the film and television industries, premiered in teenage roles in movies of the 80s, brings all her experience to bear in a performance that is energetic and 1987. Sam Strong’s revival is classy and deftly lifts the material. gutsy. Downey is an acerbic and martini-dry hustler who knew how to work the cocktail parties.

Colin (Jason Klarwein) a successful, but currently Peter Pinne artistically stalled, screenwriter has moved from Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 81

Australia Day.

Australia Day

By Jonathan Biggins. Maitland Repertory Theatre, at its theatre. Feb 5 - 23.

JONATHAN Biggins’ comedy, based on his own experiences over several years as a Federal Governmentappointed Australia Day Ambassador, is tongue-in-cheek, but the show led me to recall that I had once been a member of an Australia Day committee and that there were sharp words between those present.

Directors Col Kirkman and Robert Comber and the actors certainly made this an amusing and very down to earth show, with the first half showing the interactions between the committee members at several meetings in the six months before the holiday. And the second half is set at the celebration, with many things not going the way they were meant to.

Ian Robinson’s Brian Harrigan, the mayor of the rural town, was very recognisable, as he wants to use the event to get him chosen as a Liberal Party candidate and elected to the Federal Government. But while he wants everything to go his way, the other members have different concerns.

The younger deputy mayor, Robert Wilson (Ronan Barrett), hopes to take over the council; the town’s CWA president, Maree Bucknell (Emma Saxby-Tisdell), wants no changes to the celebration; Helen McInnes (Emma Campbell), a Green from Melbourne, has moved to the town in the hope of being elected its federal member; Wally Stewart (Matt Robinson), a builder who is hopeful that he will get to construct a shopping centre that no 82 Stage Whispers

one else wants; Chester Lee (Andrew Wu), the Australianborn son of Vietnamese refugees; and Sheila (April Foster), a volunteer who tries to make everything work properly, were certainly people I have encountered.

Ken Longworth The Actress

By Peter Quilter. Director: Carryn McLean. Stirling Theatre, Morris Pl, Innaloo, WA. Feb 7 - 22.

PETER Quilter is known for plays about theatrical women, including End of the Rainbow, about Judy Garland, and Glorious, about amateur opera diva Florence Foster Jenkins. The Actress’ central character is the fictional Lydia Martin, but is another wonderful role.

Jane Sherwood delivers a layered portrayal of this famous actress on the evening of her retirement, as she deals with conflicting emotions, and the needs of those around her, while completing her final performance. A challenging role, and Jane handles it with depth and grace.

The supporting roles are well written and well performed. Carole Wilson is efficient and convincing as Katherine, Lydia’s Dresser, with Lara Brunini very believable as daughter Nicole. Claire Westheafer nicely creates the not-very-likeable company manager Margaret, while Karin Stafflund is excellent as Lydia’s rather unfortunate agent. Gordon Park does a great job as former husband Paul, while David Young provides comic relief and is an audience favourite as Lydia’s elderly husband-to-be Charles.

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The set design, by Doug Mclean and Ian Wilson, is particularly strong, managing to create a spacious dressing room, while allowing for some stage space for the performance of the show within the show. Set decor and floral arrangements help to set the scene beautifully.

The Actress was a great chance to see a lesser-known Peter Quilter play, well directed and performed.

Kimberley Shaw

keeping secret their attraction to other people in the team.

The actors and production team made good use of the setting - an upmarket hotel lounge-room suite that has bedrooms on either side, with the singers and the women in their lives hiding there or trying to get those they find lovable to join them in one of the bedrooms.

Dudley Horque amusingly brought out the stern nature of Henry Saunders, the company’s demanding manager; Robert Tesoriero briskly switched between two The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

By Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by Noah Smith. Castle lookalike tenors, Tito and Beppo; Tito’s hot-blooded wife, Hill Players. The Pavilion Theatre Castle Hill. Jan 31 - Feb 22. Maria (Janet Gillam), found Beppo to be just as attractive; THIS adaptation is a chilling science fiction thriller that Saunders’ assistant, Max (Stewart McGowan), was keen demands meticulous direction, precision acting and split- to become a paid tenor; Tito’s daughter, Mimi (Katie second sound and lighting operation. Achieving theatrical Blaxland), was passionate about Carlo (Guilherme teamwork such as this relies on trust, dependability and Noronha), a rising young tenor; and an elegant female confidence.

Russian singer, Tatiana (Melissa Bannister), who makes an unexpected appearance, attracted all the men.

Director Paul Sztelma’s production achieves all three.

The action is fast - exacting. The characters are strangely Ken Longworth disturbing. The lighting and sound effects (Sean Churchward and Bernard Teuben) are menacing - sinister. Picnic At Hanging Rock Sztelma sets the play along a tall, dark, diagonal wall. Adapted by Laura Annawyn Shamas from Joan Lindsay’ Eerie, angled light shines through high windows. Wooden novel. Lindsay Street Players and Newcastle Young People’s Theatre. Feb 8 - 29. crates, three chairs and a laboratory bench are the only furnishings. The stage is gloomy, bathed in an eerie haze.

JOAN Lindsay’s Australian novel has become a global Two doors symbolise Jekyll’s dual personality - and the classic since it was published in 1967, and this production places it leads him. of the theatrical version by America’s Laura Annawyn The cast is carefully rehearsed, their characters clearly Shamas showed how timeless and engaging the story is, as the 19 actors, mainly in their late teens and early 20s, delineated. Their ethereal faces emerge from shadows with an unnatural glow. The atmosphere they create is kept audience members continually engrossed. scarily surreal.

The story, which is set in 1900, and has two very Dimitri Armatus plays Jekyll - and Hyde - transforming different teachers from a girls’ school near Victoria’s on stage in a series of contortions and cries that are Hanging Rock taking 12 girls to that hill for a Valentine’s alarmingly unnerving. Sustaining two such disparate Day picnic, with four of the girls and one of the teachers characters is a challenge that Armatas meets with strong, disappearing, makes many demands on the performers. convincing realism.

But this staging, by directors Riley McLean and Rylee O’Rourke, had them handling its many twists and changes Nicole Hardwood and Robert Snars work in perfect tandem as two gothic chorus characters who move the very well, with an unexpected twist at the end of the first grisly tale along, setting the necessary pace of the action. act having watchers on the edge of their seats.

The story is set over several years, with people’s diverse Jekyll’s friends are played by Hamish Macdonald, Jonathan Burt, Adam Garden and Vanessa Purnama. Each reactions to things that happen on the rock as time passes has flaws that come to light with the effects of Jekyll’s shown. Two young males, for example, a titled transformations. Faith Jessel is Cybel, a feisty, socially Englishman who has moved to Australia and a coachman aware prostitute who is Hyde’s champion. who transported the picnic-goers to the venue, were Sztelma’s production is indicative of the creative talent attracted to a pair of girls and continually go back to the that abounds outside the mainstream theatrical scene. hill to see if they can resolve the mystery. And others, who Carol Wimmer were related to the girls, move well away when they can afford to do so, hoping that they will be able to live A Comedy Of Tenors normal lives.

By Ken Ludwig. Newcastle Theatre Company, at its Ken Longworth theatre. Feb 8 - 22.

KEN Ludwig’s comedy, which begins with three male Aurelia opera singers rehearsing for a sold-out concert at a large By Robert Thomas. Tugun Theatre Company, Gold Coast.

Paris football ground in 1936, three hours before the Director: Darren Campbell. Feb 13 - 29. event is due to start, is a very amusing show, as nothing SET in a ‘well-to-do’ home in a small English village, goes right in the rehearsal. Director Michael Blaxland gave Aurelia has more twists than Chubby Checker! each of the two acts the briskness that they need, with Aurelia (Gai Byrne) and her husband (Jon Turley) are the men and the women in their lives either trying to out to swindle the elderly Lady Chalmont (Tracy Carroll) of ensure that the relationships continue or effectively all her worldly possessions - including her life. Caught up Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 83

along the way are innocent bystanders: the maid, Vera (Maria Thompson) and a dear neighbour, Isabel (Rianna Hartley-Smith). Enter the unsavoury Mercer (Noel Thompson), menacing everyone in sight, and you have the makings of an entertaining drama.

The wonderful cast work off each other beautifully with gripping performances all round, the set is effective and the lighting and sound work well, enhancing the tension on stage.

Styled in the 1950’s, the costumes are at home with the surroundings. Scene changes were slick and the music well chosen.

With all the bitchiness and conniving on stage, one could be forgiven in thinking they were viewing the latest episode in a “Real Housewives” series.

The production is an ‘on the edge of your seat’ experience.

Roger McKenzie Viagara Falls And The 70 Year Old Virgin

By Janet Findlay & Alan Youngson. Sunnybank Theatre Group, Sunnybank, Qld. Director: Alan Youngson.

Feb 14 - 29.

FARCE is one of the staples of community theatre and this new title follows the rules of the genre and ticks all the boxes.

Set in the Serenity Retirement Village, Eric (Laurie Webb), a 70-year-old former entomology expert and virgin, is due to wed three-time divorcee and Gran, Fran (Annette Page). In order to perform up to wedding night expectations, Eric has got the doctor to prescribe him some unisex Viagara pills. Hiding them in a sugarsweetener container, the pills end up in the hands of Ian (Ian Ogle), who unknowingly puts them in his tea and ends up giving his wife, Kitty (Gail Payne) a secondhoneymoon. Other characters also unwittingly take them in their tea including a mad Scot, Jock (Alan Youngson), who goes on a spree.

A gay cop (Katie McKeen), an Indian doctor (Richards Edwards) and an interfering busy-body (Lyn Kesby) complete the cast. It’s all silly and larger-than-life but that’s the recipe of farce.

Best performances came from Gail Payne as Kitty, the harassed wife who’d like a little respite from her husband’s bedroom antics, and Richard Edwards as Doctor Sadhu, whose spot-on accent reminded me of Peter Sellers.

The play won’t win any Helpmann Awards, but it does entertain its target audience.

Peter Pinne The Campaign

By Campion Decent. White Box Theatre. 2020 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival. Seymour Centre, Chippendale.

Feb 11 - 28.

THE arrest in 1988 of 100 gay rights protesters at Hobart’s Salamanca markets was a touchstone not unlike the Mardi Gras arrests in Sydney a decade earlier.

84 Stage Whispers

The Campaign.

Photo: Jasmin Simmons.

Campaign Decent’s largely verbatim, thoroughly researched play charts the surprisingly complex strategy of activism and brave confrontation which lead to Tasmania’s gay law reform a full nine years later. Until 1997, gay sex could get you imprisoned for 21 years.

Five agile actors relive the campaign, led by Rodney Croome (Mathew Lee) and partner Nick Toonen (Simon Croker), with each actor leaping through many roles on all sides of the battle.

Decent doesn’t resile from the vile abuse, both organised and personal, and much of it spoken into the parliamentary record.

There’s a nuanced Sir Michael Kirby (underplayed by Tim McGarry) advising against going to the UN (they did and won) and later excusing himself from the High Court case; numerous journalists (Madeline MacRea); and Jane Phegan shines as Croome’s sympathetic mother and Greens Leader Christine Milne.

Martin Kinnane’s design of trestle tables and chairs doesn’t add much and, while the opening was a little undercooked, director Kim Hardwick keeps all the balls in the air. It’s an informative, important play which is also moving, shocking and entertaining.

Backed by Patrick Howard’s compositions, the switch is often thrown to vaudeville, notably in a glorious send up of old Tasmania’s gothic obsession with sodomy.

Martin Portus

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Reviews: Musicals

Online extras!

Catch a Shrek cast performance from Stage Whispers TV’s visit to the set https://youtu.be/QsphFehMLao

Shrek.

Photo: Brian Geach.

Shrek Based on the DreamWorks Animation Motion Picture and the book by William Steig. Book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. Music by Jeanine Tesori. John Frost and Glass Half Full Productions. Sydney Lyric - Opening Night, Jan 5, then Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne & Lyric Theatre, QPAC. A WICKED giggle from a young audience member pierced the Sydney Lyric just after Princess Fiona (Lucy Durack) had a delicious on-stage tantrum, which in turn prompted an echo of giggles like a coo-ee in a canyon.

The young fan had obviously seen a tantrum like that before! The children in the audience were having as much fun as the three little pigs in a barrel of mud.

So, what’s in it for the grown-up musical buffs? Well, whilst Shrek is not a landmark musical in the mould of that other cartoon transformation The Lion King, its charm is the pastiche of musical styles - from rhythm and blues, to ballads, dance and pop. Every now and then there are also loving tributes to classic musicals including Wicked and Les Misérables.

Close to the opening, a motley crew of evicted fairy tale characters descend on Shrek’s swamp to sing Story of My Life. The ensemble in this production was razor sharp, aided by a smorgasbord of exceptional costumes.

Ben Mingay (as Shrek) and Lucy Durack’s goofy acting and cheeky chemistry were delightful to watch - no mean

feat considering that the green hulk is plastered underneath a thick mask and buried in a fat suit.

The mellifluously accented Shrek (Mingay) and his stylish sidekick Donkey (Nat Jobe) make their way to the castle of Lord Farquaad (Todd McKenney), who milked every gag possible as the diminutive ruler.

An old vaudeville trick brought both Todd and the audience to their knees. The image of him flopping around his puppet-like legs is hard to forget.

However, the show-stopper was Marcia Hines as the Dragon. An impressive large puppet swished around the stage, even beating its tail in time to the music with the help of Donkey.

We finally got to see Marcia during the bows with a stunning rendition of I’m a Believer. It brought the opening night audience to its feet, with their toes tapping off into the night.

David Spicer Seussical Junior

By Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Adelaide Youth Theatre. The Arts Theatre, Adelaide. Jan 23 - 26.

ADELAIDE Youth Theatre’s goals are to work with and to inspire young performers aged 7 to 21, giving them wonderful opportunities to shine on stage. There is no doubt that they achieve this with Seussical, based on the words of Dr Seuss and the zany characters from his various stories.

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Stage Whispers 85

Online extras!

Ernie Dingo hypes the nationwide tour of Bran Nue Dae. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/PZlEXOmQ9zI

I was very impressed with the professionalism of the entire presentation. Expert staging, lighting, costuming, choreography, musical direction, vocal excellence, acting standards and a marvellous live orchestra contributed to a very enjoyable hour of entertainment.

All the cast members were at their best, no matter how large or small their role. Everyone is obviously made to feel that their contribution is vitally important and it was a delight to experience the infectious enjoyment and focus on stage.

The action shifts from The Boy’s bedroom to the Jungle of Nool, where colourful characters sing, dance and bicker, finally ‘reporting’ Horton the Elephant for the crimes of “talking to a speck, disturbing the peace, and loitering - on an egg”. This is some of the best family entertainment to be had and it was obvious the audience was enormously appreciative.

It makes my heart sing to know that there are a number of companies in Adelaide providing excellent opportunities for young people to take part in high quality theatrical experiences. These young performers are, after all, the future of our profession.

Lisa Lanzi Bran Nue Dae

By Jimmy Chi and Kuckles. Opera Australia / Opera Conference. Riverside Theatre Parramatta from Jan 16 Feb 1, then touring nationally.

THIS joyous production - filled with hummable tunes, endearing performances and quirky choreography - hits 86 Stage Whispers

Ernie Dingo with the ensemble in the Opera Conference production of Bran Nue Dae. Photo: Prudence Upton.

the mark and justifies the decision to revive the work, first staged in 1990.

The first act felt a little lumpy, with the transition of song to dialogue not always seamless.

I did also wonder whether the gentle folksy music still resonates in a time when musical theatre is pushing new boundaries in style. But by the second act, the spirit of the musical had won the audience over.

Bran Nue Dae is a coming of age story which follows awkward Aboriginal teenager Willie (Marcus Corowa), who lives in Broome but is sent to Perth for a Catholic upbringing. Corowa had a natural chemistry with his onstage girlfriend Rosie (Teresa Moore).

Willie flees Perth and on a road trip home meets the charismatic Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo).

The gravelly voiced Dingo has now completed the trifecta of performing the role in the original season, the 2009 movie and the current tour. His cheeky charisma glued the production together.

Bran Nue Dae lightly touches on serious issues affecting Aboriginal people, focussing more on a message of inclusiveness and outrageous humour. At one stage, inflated balloon-like objects float down from the ceiling.

Closer inspection reveals their intended purpose.

The dusty bright orange design of the production by Mark Thompson cleverly managed the transition from a Broome cinema to outback road trip and later a church, giving the production a warm rustic feel.

Watching the musical is like sitting on a nice beach in Broome on a warm day and having the gentle waves

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wash over you. The anthem Bran Nue Dae resonated as you left the theatre.

David Spicer 13 Music and lyrics Jason Robert Brown. Book Don Elish and Robert Horn. Spotlight Theatre, Benowa, Gold Coast.

Feb 7 - 29.

SPOTLIGHT’S production of 13 is the result of their senior youth theatre class’s three week intensive school holidays workshop and the cast and crew (under the guidance of a few adults) are responsible for a fantastic show!

What a great idea to introduce young people into all the workings of a major production and have them own the end result.

This production is packed with energy from the moment Evan (Hunter Wall) walks on stage and shares his world with the audience, through to his signing off at the conclusion of the performance.

Hunter is well supported by Liam Lockwood, Tymyka Wines and Michael Fryer (who stepped into the show a week before opening) and the entire all singing, all dancing company.

Credit must go to the Director/Choreographer Hannah Crowther and Musical Director Matt Pearson as well as everyone connected to the production. This is theatre at its best and well deserving of the standing ovation at the curtain call.

What a fantastic experience!

Roger McKenzie Mamma Mia! Music and lyrics by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Townsville Choral Society. Directed by Lindsay Nobile. Townsville Civic Theatre, Townsville, Qld. Jan 30 - Feb 8.

I HAD not seen any productions of this 20-year old jukebox musical before this, and in these uncertain political times, with the country still reeling from the effects of the bushfires and a hesitant first anniversary of Townsville’s floods, Mamma Mia! provided the perfect recipe on a warm and humid tropical night in North Queensland.

Delivered by an enthusiastic, disciplined cast, with songs delivered in faithful Abba-esque fashion, and choreography handled with aplomb, it was played at lightning speed with every comic line and corny situation enjoyed to full effect. Their energy and joie de vivre was infectious.

In the lead role of Donna, Deborah O’Toole’s vocals were outstanding - most notably in “The Winner Takes It All”, which drew significant applause, while (looking for all the world like Olympic athlete Alisa Camplin) Courtney Dibben played Donna’s daughter Sophie with a clear sense of fun.

Compelling, magnetic performer Sandra Neal’s comic version of “Take a Chance On Me” was a highlight, and managing those impossible 70s platform shoes required a

skill all of its own. She was matched every step of the way

by Jodie Bell as the blonde, voracious multi-married maneater.

In the secondary male roles, Luke Reynolds, Andrew Higgins, Glenn McCarthy (with a suitable South African accent) and Sam Stewart all held their own against seemingly ridiculous odds.

The songs in the score proved that there is probably an Abba song for just about every situation, and the 10-piece show band carried the impetus of the entire show - from “Honey, Honey” through to “Waterloo” and all Abba roads in between!

Every member of the audience is guaranteed to have sore cheeks from smiling, aching limbs from toe-tapping and probably even be a bit hoarse from singing along.

Trevor Keeling Mamma Mia! Music & Lyrics by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson. Book by Catherine Johnson. Holiday Actors.

Director: Angela Kenna. Vocal Director: Elana Agnew.

Choreographer: Beth Loft. Musical Director: Nikki Nuske.

Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool. Jan 7 - 11.

ANOTHER outstanding summer show from an onstage cast of 57 performers aged between 13 and 20. The popularity of this 35-year-old company has ensured another sold out season.

High praise to Angela Kenna in her directing debut, who along with her team have achieved a show of very high caliber.

What struck me from the outset was the precision of the 10-piece band under the skilful direction of Nikki Nuske. The Greek island set (designed by Lyle Russell & Angela Kenna) was authentic and scene changes were seamless. Beth Loft’s choreography was innovative and the ensemble had high energy and good characterisations.

Kaitlyn Gust’s (Donna) epic ballad “The Winner Takes It All” drew both tears and rapturous applause from the audience. Zara Lukeis (Sophie) portrayed amiably both the sweet and tenacious nature of Donna’s daughter. Megan Radley (Tanya) and Aislinn Primmer (Rosie) as Donna’s somewhat zany lifelong friends gave standout performances during “Does Your Mother Know” and “Take A Chance On Me”. Keelan Mast (Sky), Demby McKenzie (Sam), Kodey Pfeiffer (Harry) and Harrison Price (Bill) shared the stage with equal talent and appeal.

The night ended with a well-deserved standing ovation.

Jonathan Cox Cats Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics: Based on ‘Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats’ by T. S. Eliot. Additional material: Trevor Nunn & Richard Stilgoe. Young Australian Broadway Chorus. National Theatre, Melbourne.

Jan 17 - 25.

IF you think that the world’s longest running dance musical has outrun its nine lives, think again! Director

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Stage Whispers 87

Packemin Productions’ Les Misérables.

Photo: Grant Leslie.

Sicari (Bustopher Jones), along with each member of the cast (including a delightful kitten chorus), dazzled the audience with their superb characterisations, vocals and energetic dancing.

A standing ovation ended a wonderful night that will remain etched fondly in my ‘memory’.

Jonathan Cox

Robert Coates’ reimagined production, with 90 performers aged 8-18, is a sumptuous feast.

The oversized rubbish dump has been replaced by a crumbling English Music Hall. In this lavish setting, theatrical cats sing and dance as they gather together for the Jellicle Ball, supported by an impressive 15-piece orchestra under the baton of Ned Wright-Smith.

Sean Rentero’s costumes are exquisite, taking us back to the 1930s jazz era. Dann Barber’s authentic set includes an oversized grand piano, dressing room mirror and other items found in a derelict theatre. Steve Cooke’s sound design ensures that every word is heard clearly.

Jacqui Green’s choreography, fashioned after early 20th century dance styles, is a riveting highlight.

Suzannah Bourke’s (Grizabella) stunning performance of “Memory” received much audience adulation. Declan Ahern (Mr Mistoffelees), Tim Bland (Gus), Harrison Dart (Old Deuteronomy), Ben Gonsalvez (Munkustrap), James Keam (Rum Tum Tugger), Kristen Robertson (Jennyanydots), Patrick Rogers (Skimbleshanks) and Tristan 88 Stage Whispers

Les Misérables Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Original French text by Alain Boublil and JeanMarc Natel. Additional Material by James Fenton.

Adaptation by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. Packemin Productions. Riverside Theatre, Paramatta. Feb 14 - 29.

THIS is a brilliant production! The standing ovation it received on opening night was thoroughly deserved. The direction is brilliant. The voices are superb. The action is dramatic. It is everything a production of Les Misérables should be - and what one expects of a Packemin production.

Victor Hugo’s story of the luckless Jean Valjean, condemned to hard labour for stealing bread for his sister’s starving family, and his journey from prison to redemption pursued by his nemesis, Javert, has been immortalised in this musical theatre drama. This production does it proud.

Musical director Peter Hayward leads the orchestra and Luke Joslin directs the production with impeccable attention to the timing and pace set by the music Daniel Belle brings Jean Valjean to life in a stunning performance that shows the power of the music as well as the growth in strength of the character. His flawless performance of ‘Bring Him Home’ pulls every heart string.

Robert McDougall brings similar conviction to the role of Javert, showing the unwavering conceit of the man in a compelling performance that leads to the agonising notes of his final ‘Soliloquy’.

Fantine is played with pitying poignancy by Matilda Moran, Georgia Burley brings hope and a little joy to the story as Cosette and Emma Mylott’s understated performance finds the touching melancholy of the role of Eponine.

As Marius, Brenton Bell depicts the character’s complex emotions in songs that move from gentle caring to rousing rebellion. That rebellion is epitomised by Noah Rayner, whose expressive face and contained sense of rage and injustice bring believable passion to the role.

The ruthless, bawdy Thénardiers are played by Alex Cape and Prudence Holloway who depict the seedy under -class of nineteenth century France with aplomb.

A very talented ensemble portrays the many French people - from the prisoners who “look down” because they know “sweet Jesus doesn’t care” to the Parisians who “hear the people sing”.

Producer Neil Gooding and the production team have achieved a rousing, yet emotive production, that will echo in the memory for longer than ‘One Day More’.

Carol Wimmer

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Reviews: Fringe Fringe World 2020 Perth. Jan 17 - Feb 16.

Fringe World is the third largest fringe festival in the world, with over 700 shows and 6046 performances, in over 150 venues. Stage Whispers could only attend a fraction of those performances, but here is little of what I observed.

The new Festival Hub, The Girls’ School, a gorgeous historical building, proved very efficient, was comfortable and was generally a very nice place to be. With multiple small theatre spaces, food vans, two bars and a bus to hang out in, this venue also included a secret ball pit and artists services. There were lots of great shows there, including the beautiful A Special Day, a gorgeous theatre piece from Mexican/American companies Por Piedad Teatro & Play Co, where actors Ana Graham and Antonio Vega created a world using a piece of chalk.

The main hall at the Girls School, using tiered seating, is a wonderful space - one of the places where the venue reveals its past, emblazoned with the names of inspirational women from history. The hall hosted the amazingly slick circus show By A Thread, one of last year’s favourites Tony Galatti the Musical, and late-night sellout performances of Cabaret Consultations, among a slew of successful shows.

While Fringe Central was a little slow this year as the museum renovations continue, The Blue Room’s Summer Nights hosted a great variety of local, interstate and international performances. Local standouts included the cute and campy Quokka Apocalypse, the quirky, metaphorical Bite Me and the impactful Aradia. Interstate imports, the very clever Waterloo and the brilliant The Aspie Hour, were very welcome visitors, while international treat Post Mortem was a physical theatre delight. The State Theatre was hosting Fringe shows between its own imports and Perth Festival productions, including an old favourite, local musical The Kildeer and APAN’s musical treat Heathers.

The Woodside Pleasure Garden continued to be a dynamic hub, vibrant and happening at night, but a wonderful family outing on weekend and holiday days.

Favourites here included some great family shows Impromptunes - Tune Your Own Adventure (a wonderful family friendly version of their adult improvised musicals), acrobatic delight Prehysterical and icky but adorable Mr Snotbottom’s Horrible Terrible Really Really Bad Bad Show. For more mature audiences, MissCast Again showed the strength of our local talent - a hilarious and beautifully performed show.

While Yagan Square shows more comedy and variety than theatre, the festival atmosphere in this precinct was palpable, and we loved Perth Cabaret Collectives’ A Very,

Online extras!

Stars of The Aspie Hour Sophie Smyth and Ryan Smedley introduce the show. https://youtu.be/_wU-kztSkJE

The Aspie Hour.

Quokka Apocalypse.

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Stage Whispers 89

By A Thread.

Kiss.

Photo: Dana Weeks.

Find links to all our Fringe World reviews at stagewhispers.com.au Very Good Variety Show in the beautiful Edith Spiegeltent.

LOLs at Lazy Susan’s proved very successful this year, including some great new writing. We enjoyed the very astute world premiere of Death in the Golden Triangle and Are You Kid-ing Me? - both shows from companies that have emerged from university theatres.

Subailicious - the festival at Subiaco - featured a new venue, the Townshend Theatre, whose offerings included the thought provoking Six Minutes - Six Ways, while the Subiaco Arts Centre hosted some joys including the utterly charming Golden Age Girls and brand new musical Kiss.

Stage Whispers bookended Fringe World with shows at Mosman Park’s Camelot - opening with the very clever Bureau of Untold Stories, which deserved a much bigger audience, and closing with the filled to capacity Through Tim Burton’s Eyes - perhaps a metaphor for the growing awareness of Fringe World throughout the four weeks and for the growing popularity of this venue in particular.

A little further from town, Thornlie’s Don Russell Performing

Beep Test.

Photo: Matthew Lister.

90 Stage Whispers

Arts Centre hosted the fascinating theatrical experiment that was the side-by-side productions of The Last Five Years, as well as the family fun of new musical Crookie. A late addition to Fringe World this year, I expect that this theatre will have a bigger Fringe presence in future years.

If I was asked to choose a most outstanding category at this year’s Fringe World, it might well be the single person cabaret. There were so many really impressive shows in this category including the aforementioned Cabaret Consultations, performed with great flair by Dr. Ahmed Kazmi; Discharged! (Number 2’s), written by and starring the gorgeously voiced and funny Zuleika Khan; the lovely nostalgia trip that was Françoise and Friends, featuring the beautiful Sylvia Cornes; the brilliantly laid-back performance of Russell ‘Rusty’ Bell (the alter-ego of the talented Todd Peydo) in She’ll Be Right: A Tradie Cabaret; the beautiful story telling in Eleanor Stankiewicz: Nanna-stasia; the sweetly voiced satire of online dating in Swipe Right and the fantastic vocal strength and performance of fifteen year old Jordan Anthony in Jordan Anthony - This Is Me! It was wonderful to see so many young people performing in this year’s Fringe. There was particularly strong acting in some of the smaller productions, Bed Bug Zoo and Outback Angels, both at the Townshend, and from the central characters in Oakley and Olivia, which also featured enthusiastic ensembles.

The young cast of A Thousand Cranes created an amazing show, which sadly did not translate to decent sized audiences.

Body Rights - a collection of four plays by the West Australian Youth Theatre Company - was solid throughout, with Adam Kelly’s solo work a Fringe World

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highlight - wonderful work from this young “gentleman with autism”. It was great to see actors with disabilities in the talented young cast of JETS’ Once Upon A Fractured Fairy Tale, while DAPAK’s Aladdin the Pantomime included many young people among its cast - all of whom have disabilities.

It was great to see new musicals. While the cast of Sense and Spontaneity The Musical created a new work each night, with great work from Jess Messenger and Esther Longhurst, we also had the pleasure of seeing Western Sky’s Kiss by Greg Lavell, while The Beep Test by Conor Neylon and Jackson Peele, at Paper Mountain, was a wonderful surprise package - a clever, beautifully performed (almost) new musical.

Very impressive new theatre included The Pitch, which had a great venue on the terrace of the Alex Hotel, and The Actors Hub’s The Innocent Pawn. The Actors Hub’s revival of At Affinity’s End also had great impact.

It was nice to see experimental and “different” forms of theatre such as The Lion Never Sleeps, which led its audience parade style through the streets of Northbridge tracing LGBTQI history in the area, and the ‘choose your own murderer’ interview style formatting of Showstopper: An Interactive Murder Mystery.

Fringe World continues to transform Perth city for four weeks in January - February, with the excitement and bustle extending to outer fringe hubs in Fremantle, Bassendean and Kalamunda.

Anecdotally, audiences appear to be up this year, but not always fairly distributed. South Australia’s stunning little show A Thousand Cranes shortened their season at Perth Zoo, after disappointing audiences (perhaps audiences thought they needed to pay zoo entry), and it seemed that audiences outside the Perth hubs could be improved (although long established venue Subiaco Arts Centre is an exception to this).

Fringe World continues to be a huge part of Perth performance culture, and a great opportunity for new work, more experimental theatre forms and new artists.

Kimberley Shaw

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2020. VOLUME 29, NUMBER 2 ABN 71 129 358 710 ISSN 1321 5965

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CAST & CREW Editor: Neil Litchfield 0438 938 064 Sub-editor: David Spicer Advertising: Angela Thompson 03 9758 4522 Digital production: Phillip Tyson 0414 781 008 Contributors: Cathy Bannister, Anne Blythe-Cooper, Mel Bobbermien, Michael Brindley, Rose Cooper, Kerry Cooper, Ken Cotterill, Bill Davies, Coral Drouyn, Jenny Fewster, Graham Ford, Peter Gotting, Frank Hatherley, Jude Hines, John P. Harvey, Barry Hill, Tony Knight, Neil Litchfield, Ken Longworth, Kiesten Mcauley, Rachel McGrath-Kerr, Roger McKenzie, Peter Novakovich, Shannon O’Connell, Peter Pinne, Martin Portus, Sally Putnam, Lesley Reed, Lisa Romeo, Suzanne Sandow, Kimberley Shaw, David Spicer, Penelope Thomas, Anthony Vawser, Carol Wimmer and Mark Wickett.

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Stage Whispers 91

Musical Spice

I have to admit being excited when John Frost and Opera Australia announced they were staging Fiddler on the Roof this year in Sydney and Melbourne.

The twist is that the entire production of A Fidler afn Dakh will be in Yiddish - the language described as a mixture of German and Hebrew - which the good folk of Anatevka spoke in 1905, where the story is set.

The adaptation became an unlikely commercial hit for the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, running on Broadway for almost a year.

Once upon a time (before children) I was a respectable young tenor. I scored one professional gig in the chorus of an opera, won a singing competition and had the occasional lead on the amateur circuit (including Fiddler on the Roof). I even sang a solo song in Yiddish at the Opera House.

After children I have dusted off my voice annually by singing in a synagogue choir. When the audition brief came out, and said that knowledge of Hebrew was an advantage, my excitement built further.

So I started growing a beard and ordered the cast album. Alas, I accidentally missed the deadline for the audition brief, by two days, and my late submission was ignored.

In a way this was expected, as 1000 people had applied including (I surmise) hundreds of seasoned professionals with recent credits. Surely, they are better credentialed than me I thought.

Just as I was about the shave the beard off, in an unexpected turn of events I scored a late audition. Oi vey!

Although I clearly look Jewish and have a respectable voice, I consider myself a long shot at getting in. The brief said dancing skills were important, so I headed off to a Sydney Dance Company “Beginners” level workout. What a joke the word “beginners” is in this context. Most participants had been beginners for decades.

92 Stage Whispers March - April 2020

Online extras!

The New York production sets a high standard to match. See for yourself at https://youtu.be/e7DnxKBTr8s I anticipate that any choreographer would place me in the back row. My only chance to get in, as I see it, is to sing nicely and to carve up the Yiddish pronunciation at the audition.

For the last few weeks I have been working my ‘tuches’ (Yiddish for bottom) off. That is pronounced ‘tukhes’ with the ‘kh’ spoken like you are preparing to spit.

I now have a newly refreshed respect for those singers who memorise entire operas. Slowly the Yiddish is sinking in.

My favourite line is ‘Gol-de zitst in tfi-se’. Try singing that quickly and getting all the consonants in. It’s from the song “The Rumour” and it is about Golde sitting in jail. Another funny line is ‘Shprin-tse pokt un mo-zlt.’ That is ‘Shrpinste got chicken pox and measles.’

As I practised this song I thought yes, it sounds and feels better in Yiddish than English.

Now I can’t tell you how this story ends. My audition was two days after this edition was sent to the printer.

I’m hoping to enjoy the audition, but I’m not holding my breath or, ‘ton nit haltn deyn otem.’

David Spicer

Read scripts, listen to music and order free catalogue at: www.davidspicer.com.au david@davidspicer.com (02) 9371 8458

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