Stage Whispers May/June 2024 edition

In This Issue

Editorial

Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, Were you ever involved in a production where makeshift lighting was created using globes in catering-sized food cans?

There were some pretty dodgy improvised control set-ups too.

I am, of course, showing my age and the number of years I’ve been involved in theatre.

Still, I dread to think now of the OH&S implications of that sort of jerry-rigging, while being amazed that no lighting person electrocuted themselves during one of those shows.

Of course, the effects that could be achieved by those lamps were damned primitive too. Effectively lights up, lights down.

Those were rare experiences, of course, and back in the 1970s we were mostly illuminated with trusty Strand lamps and dimmer systems.

Online extras!

Fifty years on, proofreading the technical supplement in this edition, it’s thrilling to be reminded of the level of sophistication which modern lighting and technology can bring to the design of a production. While I’d seen the stage production of The Dictionary of Lost Words, it was more the overall feel of the production that I’d noticed, and not the subtleties and nuances of lighting design which had gone into creating that marvelous stage adaptation of one of my favourite novels.

Like me, I’m sure you’ll be fascinated by Trent Suidgeest’s discussion of his design for that production, and his collaboration with the designer and director to unobtrusively achieve the production’s remarkable storytelling.

I loved reading about the hard work behind the theatrical magic.

I hope you enjoy yet another edition of Stage Whispers.

Yours in Theatre,

NeilLitchfield Editor

Cover image: John Waters and Daniel MacPherson in The Woman In Black Read Coral Drouyn’s interview with John Waters who plays Arthur Kipps in this spine-chilling thriller on page 6.

Photo: James Reiser.

Annelise Hall (Sandy) and Joseph Spanti (Danny) lay their eyes on the Grease feature in Stage Whispers.

Australian acting legend John Waters, now in his midseventies, and about to return to our stages in the classic thriller The Woman in Black, talks to Coral Drouyn.

If a “Legend” is someone whose name everyone knows and is part of our entertainment history, then surely John Waters qualifies on every count. Star of numerous iconic television shows, and musicals like Hair, Oliver!, and They’re Playing Our Song, Waters, at a time when many would be content with gardening or doing the Grey Nomad thing is reprising his role as Arthur Kipps in Susan Hill’s suspense-filled ghost story The Woman in Black. Of course, for many of us, he is synonymous with the ABC’s legendary children’s show Playschool but that is more than thirty years ago, and it shouldn’t surprise any of us to learn that he is now a grandfather.

So why not take it easy and just bask in the glory of celebrity? It’s a question I have to ask him.

“Well, first of all, if I am a celebrity, I’m certainly not rich enough to bask. That only happens in places like Hollywood,” says John self-deprecatingly.

“I’m a working actor, and I do need to earn a living. Yes, I have amazing grandkids, but I also have three teenagers at home, and they have years to go before they are self-sufficient.”

And the second reason?

“Well, it’s not really second,” John responds. “It’s equal first if you like. I LOVE the play and I love the part of Arthur Kipps. So, the chance to do it again, now that I’m almost two decades older, is exciting. You don’t often get a chance to re-visit a character and explore his reactions from a different perspective. And audiences have also

changed in that time. The world has changed; it’s going to be a genuine thrill to see how they react to what is a simple, but chilling, ghost story.”

Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black started life as a story, but now is the second longest running play in West End history (The Mousetrap is the first). I ask John why he thinks it still has such appeal after decades of phenomenal success.

“Well,” he responds, then pauses to think … “it’s a period piece and because of that it doesn’t date like some more contemporary plays. There’s also a fascination with the past, a period we’ve heard about but haven’t experienced. And at its heart it’s about isolation, and fear, especially of the unknown, and we’ve all experienced that

at times in our lives. It’s also probably true to say that we all like the adrenalin rush of being scared out of our wits occasionally.”

But we don’t all believe in hauntings and ghosts, I challenge, and John laughs.

“That’s where stagecraft comes in and creates its magic,” he answers.

“You know, they made a film of it with Daniel Radcliffe [Harry Potter] but, to me, it just didn’t work. If you actually see everything laid out in front of you, you take away the element of imagination. A ghost story must be about what you feel, not what you see. The feeling of fear is far greater than any visual. The way an individual

(Continued on page 8)

John Waters and Daniel MacPherson in rehearsals for The Woman In Black

Photo: Jade Ellis.

Black

(Continued from page 7)

in this case Kipps reacts to horror is palpable. That’s why it works so well on stage; there’s just me and Daniel McPherson Stephen Mallatratt’s decision to make the play a two-hander was inspired and the rest is up to the audience.”

Certainly, the play has its fans around the world and is lauded as a classic example of Gothic horror, and John relishes it, having previously played the role in 2006. He’s excited as he tells me, “It is genuinely frightening. We feel it on stage and the audience shares that with us. It’s compelling.”

As with Arthur Kipps in this play, John likes to develop deep insight into his characters. Nowhere was that more apparent than in his brilliant John Lennon tribute Looking Through a Glass Onion, which played to critical acclaim in both London and the USA as well as touring for more than two years here in Australia.

“That was a real labour of love, because it was so much a part of me and my roots as a teenager,” he explains. “I was in my teens in London when I discovered Lennon and part of me believed I could be that person who musically conquered the world. I was already living in Australia and in my early twenties when The Beatles broke up for good, and suddenly the world seemed unconquerable again.”

Although John’s father had been a supporting actor in British films for most of his life, John never trained or took an acting class.

“Acting just wasn’t on my radar,” he explains. “I think I was obsessed with music, being in a group, chasing the big break. Music seemed to me far and away more exciting than learning lines and being told where to stand.”

He was only 16 when he made his professional debut as a musician, with British Blues group The Riots, but he was already looking forward.

“I came to Australia for a holiday,” he tells me. “I brought the guitar with me in case I could pick up some gigs to help pay my way. Remember, it was the late sixties and perhaps we hadn’t really recognised the value of local talent. It was an advantage back then to have come from overseas even if you were nobody but, rightly, not so now.”

He met a lot of people and, before he had turned twenty, he heard that Hair, the controversial musical which had opened in April ‘68 on Broadway, was coming to Australia. It sounded interesting to the teenager, anarchic and with lots of contemporary music, so John put his name down to audition, not expecting too much, and continued gigging. Miraculously he was called back from the audition and initially given a part as a member of the tribe, later graduating to take over from the original Claude, Wayne Matthews.

“That was a turning point for me,” he explains, “because I had no idea whether I could act or not, but I knew I could handle the songs. And yes, I got my kit off at the end, along with everybody else.”

But John still saw himself as a singer who could act a bit, rather than an actor who could sing.

“I thought the show would be a one off for me and I would still pursue music as my future,” he recalls.

So, what happened to change his mind?

“Well, two people made me offers,” he recalls. “One was Harry M. Miller, who was a producer of Hair. He wanted to manage me as a musician a singer and recording artist which had been my burning ambition. The other was perhaps Sydney’s best-known theatrical agent at the time Gloria Payton. She saw something in me that made her believe I had a future as an actor. She

The Woman In Black

Playhouse QPAC, Brisbane from Apr 30 to May 11.

Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide from May 15 to 26.

His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth from May 30 to Jun 9.

Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne from Jun 13.

Canberra Theatre Centre from Jul 9 to 14.

IPAC, Wollongong from Jul 17 to 21.

Civic Theatre, Newcastle from Jul 23 to 27.

Theatre Royal, Sydney from Jul 30 to Aug 18. thewomaninblack.com.au

John Waters in rehearsals for The Woman In Black Photo: Jade Ellis.

Cover Story

raised possibilities I had never thought of, despite my dad’s [acting] background.”

He pauses for a moment.

“But here’s the clincher,” he continues. “Harry M wanted to take 20% of all my earnings as my manager, but Gloria only wanted 10% commission as my agent. I have a Scottish background, and I guess I was stingy enough to want to save 10%! So, I became an actor who could sing officially!”

John’s amazing list of acting credits prove that he made the right choice and he’s still had a singing and recording career to satisfy his original ambition.

And we get to see him in what is possibly his last stage appearance though I wouldn’t bet on it when he and Daniel McPherson open the play at QPAC before embarking on an extensive tour. And there is another reason John is looking forward to this reprise.

We all know that as we get older our long-term memory is stronger, but our short-term memory doesn’t work as well. John is acutely aware of that.

“I’m not sure I would want to learn a lengthy script like this from scratch at this stage in my life,” he tells me. “It does get more difficult to retain lines. But once you’ve done a play, especially in a long run, it’s much easier the second time around. Actors have a recall which is like muscle memory, so revisiting the script will hopefully be like checking in with an old friend.”

And that’s as exciting for us as it is for John.

John Waters and Daniel MacPherson in rehearsals for The Woman In Black

Photo: Jade Ellis.

Neil Simon’s classic play about two divorcees who flat together is being revived in Melbourne and Sydney, with Shane Jacobson (Oscar) and Todd McKenney (Felix) in the lead comic roles. David Spicer spoke to both actors, who have more in common than you might imagine.

Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? That is the question posed at the outset of The Odd Couple, which was written just on 50 years ago and still resonates.

The answer is no. The old friends

Oscar Madison, a slovenly sportswriter, and Felix Ungar, a fastidiously neat photographer drive each other to distraction.

Many brilliant acting combinations have played those lead roles. Walter Matthau and Art Carney on Broadway in 1965, Jack Lemmon and Matthau again on film, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall on TV, whilst Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick stepped into the Broadway revival in 2005.

Shane Jacobson, the original dunny cleaner in the movie Kenny, and Todd McKenney, the original star of The Boy From Oz, certainly look the part but looks can be deceiving.

In the play, Felix peeks under Oscar’s bed and notes that “There are things growing under there!”

This is something which you would never actually find if you looked under Shane Jacobson’s mattress.

“I’m a lot cleaner than people would expect. I’m not a clean freak, but I do find comfort in having an orderly house. I grew up in a house that was kept very neat by my mother. We made our beds every morning before we left to go to school. So, by nine o’clock it was already perfect,” Shane told me.

Todd agrees that Shane is not a Felix Ungar slob, but clearly stamps himself a neat freak by observing that Jacobson occasionally has what he describes as a messy dressing room.

Whereas McKenney knows “where everything goes on my dressing table. I know where every piece of makeup

Todd McKenney and Shane Jacobson in The Odd Couple

Photo: Hugh Stewart.

is. My dressing room table is so precise I could operate on it.

“I get to the point where I aggravate myself with my neatness. I can’t go to bed at night until my house looks like a hotel. I am forever cleaning up as dinner parties are in full swing.”

Todd says there are other aspects of Felix’s personality which he can’t identify with.

Felix Ungar: Everyone thinks I’m a hypochondriac. It makes me sick.

“I’m not a drama queen,” insists Todd. “I’m not a hypochondriac, but I can obsess about things. If something gets in my head, I need to solve it before I can sort of move on.”

Shane says he can identify with the relaxed personality of Oscar. “I guess there’s a casualness to me that rings true, that makes me identify more with the character, but I said yes to this role not because of my similarities with Oscar, but because it’s great writing by Neil Simon.”

The two characters are written as straight men, but aspects of Felix’s personality (his love of opera and effete mannerisms) have led to speculation that he could be gay. This is something which has crossed Todd’s mind.

“Well, you’d have to wonder, and actually when you Google that, there’s a lot of forums on the internet asking that question about this role in this show.

“It’s one of the questions we asked the Director Mark Kilmurry, because Australian audiences know the narrative and they know me and Shane. There is some dialogue in there that has homosexual connotations.

“So, our question to Mark is, do we lean into that? Or do we not? So, we’re going to sort of play around with that.

“My take is that maybe you say those lines and just let a beat go, where Shane and I just give each other a little glance, and then move on. So, the audience knows that we know, but without kind of breaking the fourth wall and turning it into something else, because I think you’ve got to stay true to the script.

David Spicer invited Shane and Todd to provide him with three questions for each other, which he then asked on their behalf.

Todd: Why were you once refused service at an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant?

Shane: Because they considered that I could eat more than a normal human could eat. At the front desk the screen came up, your table is under review.

Shane: Where do you keep your wallet in your dressing room?

Todd: [aside to David] I keep it in my drawer under my make-up desk. Why did he ask that? Does he want to nick it when I’m on stage?

Todd: Tell him I change it every show so that he doesn’t find it.

Todd: Why have you got a giant gnome in your front yard.

Shane: Why haven’t you got one? My goodness. If you don’t have one, then something’s wrong in your life. Everyone should have a seven-foot garden gnome ours is called Gary.

Shane: Do you continue to work with me just to find my flaws?

Todd: Pretty much, we have been friends for years because you have so many of them. Not really. Shane’s flaws are his charm.

“Lines like ‘come into the kitchen and I’ll sit on you’, and ‘nobody likes black meat’, and there’s a scene in the play where he is massaging me because I’ve got a nerve spasm in my back. These are the sorts of things we’ll have fun with.”

The pair have a good on-stage chemistry, which Jacobson says is helped by their friendship.

“On paper, we shouldn’t be friends,” says Shane.

“I’m the kind of knockabout Australian bloke who’s into the cars, rode dirt bikes, and did boxing. And Todd McKenney, Australia’s musical theatre royalty, is probably the opposite of all that.

“Like Todd is into art and I’m into art a bit. We both love cars. I have lots of cars but Todd likes old English ones, so we talk about that.

Todd: Tell us the story of when we both went to see Mariah Carey at a concert in Las Vegas?

Shane: Mariah Carey spent so much time walking on and off stage getting her wardrobe changed, talking to a sound guy about what she wanted with a microphone, then talking to people side stage about the temperature of her water, that literally it was terrible.

We’ve never seen anyone with such little empathy. We got so frustrated that she wasn’t giving us a proper show. At the end of the performance, when everyone was applauding, we yelled out ‘give the ring back’ because we knew she had recently split with James Packer and had kept the engagement ring. Although I would not have thought she heard us over the rest of the crowd.

Shane: Is it okay that I tell everyone that we’re best friends?

Todd: Oh yes, I’d be honoured. We became friends the minute we met. We just clicked the second we met each other.

“I think opposites can attract as long as they have a shared sense of humour. As long as you find the same stuff funny then you are away.

“But the truth is I tap danced for my kids. And, you know, the most comfortable place you’ll find me is on stage in a theatre. One thing we do share is a similar sense of humour and that makes a great friendship.”

Todd recalls meeting Shane when they were preparing to work on the television series The Full Monty

“We became friends the minute we met. We just clicked. I was in a coffee shop and then in came this hurricane which was Shane, telling this story about his son. I was thinking, oh my God this is a lot.

“And then I kept listening to his brilliant story and we just never

(Continued on page 12)

The Odd Couple

Comedy Theatre, Melbourne from May 18. Theatre Royal, Sydney from June 27. theoddcoupleplay.com.au

(Continued from page 11)

stopped talking. We just sort of knew each other from the moment we met, and never had a cross word. He’s always got my back. He makes me laugh. I make him laugh.”

The two have completed several television specials and appeared together in The Rocky Horror Show, but their on-stage partnership brought the house down in Hairspray the Musical during the song ‘Timeless to Me’.

Shane was in a dress as Edna singing a sweet duet to her husband Wilbur (Todd). They had a licence to do a little ad-libbing and “some nights it would get out of control.”

“Todd and I are clearly very confident on stage, and we both knew that we were in safe hands. If he threw a line at me, I had a comeback, and anything I threw at Todd came straight back. It was like a game of great tennis.”

But don’t expect the two to veer off the script in The Odd Couple

“Some of the subject matter is very

old, but I think if you changed one or two things, you’d have to change too much. It has to stay exactly as it is.”

Todd says he is relishing not having to sing for his supper, which he describes as heaven.

“In a musical (there is dialogue which leads) towards a song. In this play there are moments which feel like a song.

“What’s dawned on me is you just feel that it’s been really fine-tuned. You can tell everything is just polished and the writing just has a great rhythm to it. There are gags all the way, but the show never stops for the sake of the joke.”

McKenney said learning the lines was a challenge because they are so rapid fire, “like a ping pong match”, and his character often leads the conversation with new thoughts.

“I am picking topics out of the air, so I just hope I remember which subject is next, otherwise everyone will be going home early.

“Once we get in the room, I think it’ll flow quite quickly. I think it is the writing which is the hero. Everybody

can relate to two polar opposites.”

Shane says, “we’ve all had either brothers or sisters, or lived in shared apartments or been on tour, when you’re in a room with someone that’s different from you.

“Even with young couples. They can move into a house together and then discover little things that drive each other mad. And let’s be honest, it doesn’t have to be much.

“I mean, literally, if someone has a repeated habit, and it’s as small as leaving a coffee cup on a table, over time, what starts with a coffee cup becomes like a like a tornado of emotions.

“It’s like, my kids cannot accept the concept of taking a wet towel back to the bathroom and hanging it up; it seems impossible for them to do it. And it confuses me so much, but that isn’t after 1000 times of being told.

“So, I think watching that on stage is what this play is about. But it’s also about friendship, and as much as these little things drive each other mad, they are friends at the bottom of it all.”

Todd McKenney and Shane Jacobson in Hairspray (2022)

Photo: Jeff Busby.

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As Tim Draxl assumes his biggest musical theatre challenge to date, the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard opposite Sarah Brightman, Les Solomon his former manager reflects on the actor-singer’s brilliant career.

Tim Draxl’s mother, during a low point in his life, reminded him that he was given a gift, and he needed to continue to use it. That gift as a major Australian and international actor/ singer/film star/entertainer has been on display for almost thirty years.

I have known Tim since he was 16 years old, performing as Tom in a production of Away at McDonald College, the acclaimed performing arts high school in Strathfield NSW. From the very beginning, Tim showed incredible versatility, honesty and unique vulnerability. It is these features that have kept his career buoyant ever since.

Tim made a further impression while still at school by playing the title role in McDonald College’s production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which was so acclaimed that the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford

Foundation produced a five-night season at the Independent Theatre.

From that moment, it seems, Tim has never been out of work. His unique ability as a singer a dramatic interpreter of lyrics started him off and less than six months later (at 17!!) he had a contract with Sony Music, who began to produce his first album.

Acting as his manager, I remember the next few years were a blur of endless activity a trip to New York, a season at Eighty-Eights, the famous intimate NYC cabaret venue. Within a very short period Tim was nominated for, and consequently won, “Best New Talent” at the esteemed MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabaret) awards presented to him by Liza Minnelli. A picture of Liza and Tim appeared on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald the next day.

From that point, Tim’s career just took another step forward. We all know the best way to get noticed in Australia is to get international recognition, so he was offered the role of Rolf in The Sound of Music with Lisa McCune and John Waters.

So, it went on. Another CD was in the works, which turned into a superior project as it was musically directed by the late great Peter Matz. Matz had been the long-time MD for Barbra Streisand and his past associations included Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland. His reputation was legendary, and Tim recorded that second album in the hallowed halls of Capitol Records in L.A. with many of the musicians who had worked with Matz on recordings by those musical legends.

It turned out to be Matz’s last completed album, a memory of which Tim is very proud. Soon he was a

Tim Draxl in Freeway: The Chet Baker Journey (2015) Photo: Gavin Andrew.

guest on the Rosie O’Donnell Show promoting his CDs the world was at his feet.

Around this time Tim recalls an agent who suggested he needed to broaden his horizons to film and stop performing live.

“I don’t agree with that advice today,” Tim says. “I have grown to realise, as Barbra Streisand said in the song ‘Where is it Written’, that there should be no restrictions to where one’s talent should go.”

Yet at the time Tim did listen to the advice and gave up singing for four years, which, it seems, has helped him today to have the unique ability (for Australia) to move seamlessly between film, TV, music theatre, cabaret and recording.

During that time Tim lived in L.A. and made a series of movies. He talks fondly of famous American casting director Mali Finn (who cast the 1997 hit film Titanic).

“Mali was a great champion of mine,” says Tim. “She helped me achieve so much in those years.”

Finn originally pursued him through the many rave reviews his cabaret shows gathered in New York and tried to cast him in the Michael Douglas film The Wonder Boys

He lost that role to Tobey McGuire, but what followed was series of small budget but wellregarded films, the most memorable being Ivory, in which he co-starred with Martin Landau, Peter Stormare and Travis Fimmel. Playing the leading role of a talented pianist, it was supposed to be the big international

role that would launch Tim’s movie career.

Unfortunately, it failed at the box office, owing to production issues, with its release in Australia limited to DVD.

Yet Tim’s movie career since he returned to Australia has been busy he co-starred with Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis in Swimming Upstream, with Olivia Newton-John in A Few Best Men, played the lead in the ABC mini-series The Shark Net and several other movies of that era, most notably Travelling Light with Heather Mitchell.

“It took me four years to return to cabaret,” says Tim, “yet when I did it was so fulfilling.”

He had a short season at El Rocco Café and Theatre in Sydney which kept being extended. This resulted in his taking the show Back for Seconds to New York, where critics acclaimed him all over again. Next magazine wrote that “Tim Draxl is a star whose time has come.”

It has been an illustrious career as he has continued to move between all the mediums, including theatre roles with Belvoir St, Griffin, the Hayes and the Ensemble.

In recent years Tim’s four season lead in Foxtel’s A Place to Call Home won him a whole new audience and this year he was nominated for two AACTA awards for his work in the miniseries In Our Blood and Erotic Stories. In the last two years Tim has also had great music theatre success, with his leading roles in Jagged Little Pill and Belvoir’s Into the Woods.

One of his most notable cabaret shows was a tribute to Chet Baker. The show that flowed from that Freeway gave Tim his Opera House debut.

The former arts editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Bryce Hallett, recalls the show which he and I created with Tim.

Bryce says, “The thing I loved about Freeway is that it brought into play Tim’s skill and resourcefulness as an actor, and his smooth, silky vocals. He is by far one of finest interpreters of Chet Baker repertoire you are likely to find. Tim has developed into a hugely gifted performer, full of purity and passion. He’ll be brilliant as Joe Gillis.”

So, to Sunset Boulevard. Tim says working on the show has been one of the highlights of his career.

“I am such an introvert, that the way I express myself is through my work and someone else’s words. Sunset gives me the opportunity to bring all the skills I’ve learnt and been working on for so many years together. It’s the perfect culmination of everything. The movie is one of my all-time favourites, so to bring ‘Joe’ to audiences is extraordinary. I’ve never worked so hard, but it’s worth every minute.”

Tim Draxl is the ultimate Australian superstar, adored and admired internationally and locally. He brings a rare ability to investigate lyrics in a song. This has been his skill since he was 16. Sunset Boulevard, I am sure, will prove to be another triumph in a career already packed with success and praise.

L-R: Paul Hanlon, Robert Grubb, Silvie Paladino, Tim Draxl, Ashleigh Rubenach and Jarrod Draper in Opera Australia’s Sunset Boulevard. Photo: Ben King.

In Sunset Boulevard, Joe (Tim Draxl) becomes enmeshed in a love triangle with Norma (Sarah Brightman) and Betty (Ashleigh Rubenach). David Spicer spoke to Ashleigh ahead of the show’s premiere.

When I caught up with Ashleigh, she was rehearsing for Sunset Boulevard by day and performing in Groundhog Day the Musical by night.

David Spicer: What’s fresh about this production of Sunset Boulevard?

Ashleigh Rubenach: Usually in Australia we stage a replica production from overseas that already has all the blocking and everything in place. We’re doing a brand-new version of Sunset Boulevard, with a whole new set and costume design.

DS: Can you describe it a little for us?

AR: We’re leaning into the classic Sunset Boulevard that people will know and love. We’re honouring the style and grandeur of the original

show but with a few tricks up our sleeve.

DS: So, a grand look of old Hollywood?

AR: It’s definitely in the old Hollywood style expect a huge set design, with incredible 1940s costuming.

DS: Is there anything you particularly like about the new production?

AR: I’m enjoying the experience as an actor to be able to discover who my Betty Schaefer is and be able to make decisions about where and how I move.

DS: Tell us about your character.

AR: Betty is a reader in the script reading room at Paramount Studios.

She’s quite a revolutionary woman for her time and she speaks her mind, which catches the attention of the writer Joe Gillis, who is at the centre of our story. Betty represents the hopeful ambition of Hollywood.

DS: So, what’s your relationship to the central character of Norma?

AR: Well, unbeknownst to my character, Joe gets caught up in a bit of a love triangle with Betty and Norma and then becomes a pawn in her scheme.

DS: What is the age difference?

AR: Norma, being a star of the silent film era, is around her 50s while Betty says she’s 22.

DS: So, Norma wouldn’t like Betty very much?

AR: No, not a fan.

DS: How do the sparks been fly between Sarah Brightman’s Norma and your character?

AR: On the studio floor, when we’re Betty and Norma, all of the unnecessary drama is there. Sarah as a performer brings so much heart and vulnerability to what she does. But the second we’re off the studio, Sarah Brightman is an absolute delight and has such a beautiful English accent. As someone who grew up listening to The Phantom of the Opera, it’s pretty mind-blowing to be working with the person Christine was written for.

DS: Has she dropped any pearls of wisdom that you’ve learned from?

AR: The fact that I’m performing in Groundhog Day the Musical

concurrently means I’m rushing off to the theatre every time we’re off the rehearsal floor, but I’m looking forward to having more opportunities to chat.

DS: How have you coped doing two shows at once?

AR: I am working pretty hard, and there are long days, but I am finding similarities and differences between the two characters. That’s been really fascinating.

DS: What are those differences?

AR: The character of Nancy (In Groundhog Day the Musical) is a woman in contemporary times in in America. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Betty Schaefer, who was around in the 1940s when there was an expectation of women behaving in a certain way. But she has no filter and she speaks her mind. I think that’s so exciting and refreshing too, to see that kind of dichotomy of being a woman from both perspectives, and how the characters in each of those shows react to those women speaking their mind.

DS: Les Solomon notes that Tim Draxl is one of the rare musical actors who also has a career in film and television. Do you agree that it’s difficult to traverse both fields?

AR: Yeah, I do. There does seem to be a bit of a separation. I think it’s exciting when you have actors Hugh Jackman’s a perfect example who manage both mediums.

Film and TV is something that I’ve always been interested in. I’ve been very fortunate up to this point to be a little bit busy.

Tim Draxl is another perfect example of someone who’s managed to traverse both, so I’m excited to pick his brain.

DS: How do you find working with Tim?

AR: Tim is an absolute legend. I adore him. He’s such a present and reactive actor and a real delight to work.

DS: And a nice person be involved in a (theatrical) love triangle with?

AR: I’m very, very lucky.

Online extras!

Meet Ashleigh Rubenach, Tim Draxl and the stellar cast of Sunset Boulevard youtu.be/PY5j_1BrjFE

Sunset Boulevard

Princess Theatre, Melbourne from May 21. Sydney Opera House from August 28. sunsetmusical.com.au

Ashleigh Rubenach in Opera Australia’s Sunset Boulevard. Photo: Ben King.

What a hectic month June promises for cabaret fans and artists, with both Adelaide and Perth to host festivals showcasing a diverse mix of local and international talent.

Broadway star Patti LuPone will headline the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June with Patti LuPone: A Life In Notes, followed by concerts at the City Recital Hall, Sydney (June 21 & 22), Hamer Hall, Melbourne (June 24 & 25), and QPAC, Brisbane (June 27).

Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director, Virginia Gay says, “Patti LuPone is an icon, a titan of the industry. And the voice, my friends, the voice! Immediately identifiable, totally unmistakable, iconically her an artistic calling card of spectacular weight and beauty. We are beyond thrilled that Patti is starting her tour at Adelaide Cabaret Festival.”

“There are bucket-list artists who I have dreamed of working with, and Patti LuPone has definitely been one of them,” says producer Michael Cassel. “She is one of the most extraordinary performers in the world and it is an honour to bring her to Australia and share that power that she has become so famous for with audiences here.”

Meanwhile the Perth International Cabaret Festival is headed by an array of local and visiting cabaret artists at His Majesty’s Theatre, beginning with a collection of powerhouse women including Caroline O’Connor, Vika & Linda Bull, Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier and finishing with the Tom Burlinson and the world-class line-up of the Closing Night Gala.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival highlights include Lisa Simone

Caroline O’Connor.

Photo: Steven Grace.

performing iconic classics of her mother, Nina Simone, in Keeper of the Flame; there’s a celebration of Olivia Newton-John in Hopelessly Devoted, featuring David Campbell, Jess Hitchcock, Georgina Hopson and Christie Whelan Browne, alongside Adelaide Symphony Orchestra; while Missy Higgins celebrates the 20th anniversary of her ARIA award winning album The Sound Of White Gillian Cosgriff performs Actually, Good winner of Most Outstanding Show at the 2023 Melbourne International Comedy Festival; Christie Whelan Browne teams up with comedian Lou Wall in her brand-new bubblegum pop cabaret, Life in Plastic; Kate MillerHeidke and Keir Nuttall present Catching Diamonds a showcase of original hits, musical numbers, unexpected covers; and Rhonda Burchmore tells her Tall Tales and wicked and wonderful stories of the rich and famous, from Presidents to Hollywood stars.

First Nations singer Jess Hitchcock presents A Fine Romance Songs That Made Me, merging her operatic voice with soaring pop moods in homage to the jazz, blues, opera and rock that have shaped her genre-defying voice, while Noongar and Gumbaynggirr woman

(Continued on page 20)

Patti LuPone.

Photo: Douglas Friedman.

Gaye struggles to articulate her introduction to Patti LuPone

(Continued from page 19)

Emma Donovan will launch her new album, Til My Song is Done and sing stories of Country and community.

Virginia Gay says, “Cabaret is beguiling in its simplicity. It’s stories into song, right? Simple! But magic. So, we’ve tried to see how elastic that formula can be. We have bonkers improvised musicals and exceptional musical comedy; inventive theatrical experiences, and live cult podcasts; multi-award winners from home and abroad; and performers you’ve never heard of…but once you have heard ‘em, you’ll never forget ‘em.”

In Perth, Caroline O’Connor’s World Premiere, My Musical Life,

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2024

From June 7 to 22 at Adelaide Festival Centre. cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

Perth International Cabaret Festival

From June 10 to 23 at His Majesty’s Theatre. perthcabaret.com.au

Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra; while Kooma Koort, a free family event from Gina Williams AM & Guy Ghouse, will be presented in part Noongar and part English.

highlights the musical theatre legend’s global career spanning Australia, Broadway and the West End; Vika and Linda Bull will premiere An Evening With Vika & Linda, accompanied by Cameron Bruce on piano; Deborah Conway & Willy Zygier appear in Songs from the Book of Life; Simply Brill: The Teens Who Stole 60s Rock n Roll, features Amelia Ryan, Michaela Burger and Michael Griffiths in a celebration of teenage songwriters like Carole King and Neil Sedaka, who wrote iconic hits of the 1960s in New York’s Brill Building; Tom Burlinson’s Still Swingin’ highlights a montage of swing classics made famous by superstars such as

Kristal West pays tribute to her late grandparents and sings to their fight for black rights and their pride for language, culture and identity in Tribute to Dr. Eddie and Dr. Bonita Mabo

“I couldn’t be more proud to have helped bring these artists together under one majestic roof and look forward to celebrating 10 extraordinary nights of cabaret with you in June,” says Michael Griffiths, Perth International Cabaret Festival Artistic Director.

That’s just the tips of the icebergs, though, for these two exciting festivals. Check out the many other established, emerging, and eclectic artists at alternate and pop-up venues created for both events.

Casey Donovan in Sister Act.

Photo: Benny Capp.

Vika and Linda Bull in An Evening With Vika & Linda Photo: Lisa Businovski.

Online extras!

Join the celebration of Olivia Newton-John in Hopelessly Devoted youtu.be/4iCkF4VedyQ

Catherine Alcorn in The Divine Miss Bette Photo: John McRae.

Carla Lippis in Dark Rituals Photo: Samuel Graves.

David Campbell and Christie Whelan Browne in Hopelessly Devoted. Photo: Nico Keenan.

RBG: Of Many, One

Heather Mitchell is reviving her award-winning virtuosic performance in RBG: Of Many, One by Suzie Miller. Newly published by Currency Press, and available for sale at Book Nook, the play is about the woman who changed the face of the American legal system: the indomitable Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Here is the opening of the play.

[1993 Sunday June 13. Washington DC. Oval Office. Back in time that Sunday. RUTH walks into the Oval Office wearing navy slacks and a blouse. PRESIDENT CLINTON stands before her behind his desk.]

RUTH: ‘Mr President.’ You’re kidding me? He’s wearing a suit and tie.

[RUTH’s eyes watch the PRESIDENT stand.]

RUTH: All six-feet-two inches of him! And all five-foot-zero of me (!) is wearing my weekend travel gear! Oh, I’m gonna kill Bernie! Not a great start. No time for regrets, that’s what you’d say, Momma. Smile my best smile, disarming.

CLINTON: ‘Mrs Ginsburg, thank you for coming in.’

RUTH: ‘Thank you so much for seeing me, President Clinton.’

[RUTH reaches forward to shake hands but can’t manage.]

RUTH: ‘Yes, Mr Clinton, it was all rather amusing. Quite the cloakand-dagger entry. Bernie Nussbaum snuck me in through the side door.’

CLINTON: ‘I hope this morning wasn’t too early for you, Mrs Ginsburg.’

RUTH: ‘No, not too early at all, Mr President.’ Well that’s an outright lie.

[The PRESIDENT registers RUTH’s outfit.]

RUTH: Gotta address it. ‘Mr President, I’m so sorry, Bernie Nussbaum assured me the attire was casual, otherwise I would never have ’

CLINTON: ‘You look marvelous to me.’

RUTH: ‘Thank you, Mr President.’

CLINTON: ‘Ruth, please call me Bill.’

RUTH: ‘Oh Sure. Thank you Bill.’ So time for some small talk?

RUTH: ‘Bernie Nussbaum’s gone back to my apartment to join the vetting team. My husband Marty Ginsburg’s going to cook them all a gourmet lunch.’ He’s nodding, smiling. Such white teeth. He remembers Marty.

CLINTON: ‘Indeed, wasn’t it Marty who lobbied to have your name on my shortlist?’

RUTH: ‘Yes it was. That’s right, he did, Mr Bill. Oh, he’s a brilliant tax lawyer, quite a different slant to my specialty.’

CLINTON: ‘Shall we begin?’

RUTH: ‘Yes, let’s do.’

CLINTON: ‘So ah, tell me about your pervading value system as a judge.’ He’s leaning back in his chair. He is enjoying this.

RUTH: ‘Well sir, I strongly abide by the separation of the judiciary and the executive. The constitution can only work its magic, democracy can only be maintained, if we never meddle in the affairs of each other.’

[The PRESIDENT laughs.]

CLINTON: ‘Except for right now where I must appoint a judge and therefore, I have my nose right in the business of the judiciary!!’ Oh god, he thinks I’m preaching to him.

RUTH: ‘Oh yes, of course, Mr President I fully understand Oh, you’re joking!’ He winks at me, smiling.

CLINTON: ‘I’ve read many of your judgments, Ruth, they are quite brilliant pieces of writing.’

RUTH: ‘Thank you, sir. I am honored you’ve read them.’

CLINTON: ‘Listen. You are clearly well qualified, but tell me about yourself, Ruth?’ Huh?

RUTH: ‘I’m sorry, what, sir?’

CLINTON: ‘Where you are from?’

RUTH: ‘Oh you want … Well, I was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family during the depression. It certainly wasn’t easy. My mother though, Celia, she was wonderful she talked politics and books, and in spite of being poor she was the first person to take me to the opera. It has been a great love of mine ever since. Are you an opera lover, sir?’

CLINTON: ‘No I can’t say I am, Ruth.’

RUTH: ‘Oh well, there’s always time.’

CLINTON: ‘Tell me, does Marty go with you to the opera?’

RUTH: ‘Marty? Oh yes he enjoys it too. Our apartment is right by the

Purchase this playscript for just $24.99 from booknook.com.au/product/rbg-of-many-one

Kennedy Centre, the home of the Washington National Opera.’

CLINTON: ‘I think you’ve met my wife, Ruth, Hillary. Are you familiar with her work?’

RUTH: ‘Oh yes, very much familiar. Indeed, I admire Mrs Clinton very much. She’s an extremely intelligent lawyer. When your second term is

served perhaps, she might even consider running for president?’

CLINTON: [laughing] ‘Yes she is the over-achiever in our family.’ I don’t quite know how to respond. He looks right at me, it’s intense, his face creases in a smile. I can see why everyone finds him so charismatic. And yet such a decent

Script Extract

man, such a strong, committed unit with his wife. He’s talking about how Hillary had to fight at law school for everything she did. I nod in agreement.

CLINTON: ‘I admire strong women, Ruth.’

RUTH: ‘Well that’s a very commendable position, Mr President.’ God did I just say that out loud? Standing up, he’s standing up. Oh, he’s walking to the door

CLINTON: ‘I will be making my decision on this tonight.’

RUTH: ‘Tonight. Oh. Well, if there’s anything else you need… ’ That smile again. I need to ask

[RUTH hesitates.]

RUTH: ’ …So, someone might call my apartment tonight then? One way or the other?’

CLINTON: ‘There will be a call one way or the other, Ruth.’

RUTH: ‘Right. Well. Thank you, Mr President. It’s been a privilege.’ What! I have to wait until tonight? I remind myself of my momma’s words. ‘Patience in all things, Ruth. Patience.’

[RUTH bows and leaves the Oval Office.]

RBG: Of Many, One

Playhouse, Arts Centre

Melbourne until May 12.

Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane from May 16 to 26.

Riverside Theatres, Parramatta from May 30 to June 2.

Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of W.A., Perth from June 13 to 23.

sydneytheatre.com.au

Heather Mitchell in STC’s RBG: Of Many, One. Photo: Prudence Upton.

An Authentic Parade

The Tony Award winning musical Parade opens in Sydney in May after a successful season in Melbourne. Based on a notorious miscarriage of justice, the production raises issues both of racism and authentic casting in theatre. David Spicer spoke to the actor in the lead role, Aaron Robuck.

In 1913, Leo Frank, the manager of the national pencil company in Atlanta, Georgia, was put on trial for the murder and rape of thirteen-year-old factory worker, Mary Phagan.

The Brooklyn-raised Jew was up against public opinion, a sensationist publisher, and the false testimony of a janitor, who historians believe was the guilty party.

The court case and Leo’s ultimate fate fuelled the development of the anti-racism movement: The AntiDefamation League on one side, and the Ku Klux Klan at the other end of the political spectrum.

In the central role of Leo in the Sound Works production at the Seymour Centre is Aaron Robuck, reprising the part which he took on last year at Chapel off Chapel.

“There’s something very interesting about this show that I think sets it apart, which is the relationship between the story and the audience,” said Aaron.

“The whole point of the of the show is to challenge the audience. It’s not just entertainment; there’s no way to not consider, what do you feel about your life, while watching this.”

The musical, with a book by Alfred Uhry with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, won the Tony Awards for best book and musical score in 1999.

“There were moments in Melbourne, when a song finished, and half the audience didn’t know whether they’re allowed to clap. Not in terms of whether the

performance deserved applause, but about whether they felt good about supporting certain people and what they were doing.”

So, does the audience feel awkward about acknowledging a performance of a song performed by a character who is repugnant?

“Yes, and at the end of Act One the audience is basically considered to be the jury in the trial. There’s a sense of they’re responsible, and they’re being watched.”

Whilst Leo Frank is a famous victim of prejudice, Aaron sees him as a flawed person who did himself no favours.

“He does put a target on his back because he’s so unwelcoming to everyone, saying (at one stage) that the people in the community belong in zoos, because they’re so uncivilised. He is an irritable person, and that’s no doubt noticed by people.”

Frank’s personality problems gave the false accusations more credibility.

Aaron says the message from the musical, at the end of Act Two, is that history can repeat itself.

“That is where that kind of 2024 moment lands. We haven’t re-written the ending, but it is clear to the audience that we’re thinking about (contemporary antisemitism).

“It is set in the early 1900s, well before the creation of the State of Israel. So, I think when it comes to the actual events in the Middle East, there is not a relevance. But in terms of (how that conflict) is affecting Jews around the

Photo: Matthew Chen.

Online extras!

Parade

Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre, Sydney from May 9 parademusical.com.au

world, and the relationship between Jews and non-Jews, that’s something that that will resonate.”

Aaron is a big believer in having representation of actors in productions with the lived experience of the characters.

“There are three roles for people of colour, which are cast authentically, and myself and the actress who plays my wife Lucille Montana Sharp are both Jewish actors.

“In Melbourne, we had a great outing as a cast to both a Synagogue on Friday night for a service and then we also went to Christian service, as there is a memorial hymn in the musical.”

Jewish roles are regularly given to actors from a nonJewish background.

A recent article in the Times of Israel pointing out that “while casting directors are becoming more and more careful not to miscast minority roles relating not just to race but disability, sexual orientation and more Jewish characters are still regularly, if not predominantly, played by non-Jews. And it has virtually always been this way.”

Bradley Cooper attracted controversy by wearing an embellishing prosthetic nose in his portrayal of Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Helen Mirren played Golda Meir. In

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, a Jewish comedian was played by Rachel Brosnahan, who had attended “hundreds” of bar-mitzvahs etc., but was a non-Jew.

Closer to home the lead character in the musical Rent is Jewish but the most recent national tour cast a non-Jew in the role, attracting criticism from Jewish actors.

One of Aaron’s jobs is as a cantorial singer at Sydney’s North Shore Emanuel Synagogue.

Aaron draws some parallels between his life emigrating from the United States to Australia from a religious minority with Leo moving from New York to the deep south. His character spends a lot of time in prison awaiting trial, and he brings authenticity to the role by singing a Jewish prayer and adds Jewish harmonies to the music.

“These are things a non-Jewish actor not would know about. In general, there are certain stories that you can’t learn. You can’t learn the character without sort of knowing that part of them.

“I just go to the text if the actual script is speaking about certain experiences, and especially if it’s marginalising them in certain ways; I think that it requires someone to be in the room in that role owning that experience.”

Parade Photo: Matthew Chen.

Grinning From Ear To Ear

Full of ideas and ambition

Aleksander Vass a glass manufacturer by day, and venue operator/producer by night is just what the theatre world needs.

A few years ago, I met him for lunch, and his brain waves at the time included saving the world by using glass to capture solar energy and setting up a national lottery for the arts. Whilst those two ideas have not come off (yet), his dogged persistence in being a venue operator is bearing fruit.

Home to a cinema until 2014, The Alex Theatre in St Kilda was relaunched in 2015 to include two 250490 seat theatres and several multipurpose spaces. One of the spaces has been re-purposed for live to air television and is used by community Channel 31 for an Arts program.

Aleksander is very keen to support new work.

“We love Grease and Mamma Mia!, but when is someone going to bring in something new,” he asked. “Let’s take a chance I say. Where else do you get a pro show for an average of $60 a ticket?”

In a coup for the Alex Theatre, along with The Salty Theatre, it secured the Australian premiere of

The Grinning Man which opened on May 2.

Based on the novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo (Les Misérables), it’s described as a wildly different fairy tale set in a world of pitch-black humour, magic, mayhem and alluring romance.

Its set at Trafalgar Fair’s freak show, where one of the exhibits is the character Grinpayne, who has a hideous smile. In the grim and blackened streets of Trafalgar Square, with the help of an old puppeteer, his pet wolf and a blind girl, Grinpayne’s tale is told.

Alex describes the music as “to die for. It took off in West End. We are first outside of [the] UK to do the show. It’s dark, it’s comic, light, with a fabulous ending.”

The production includes projections and puppetry. It requires a cast of 14, some of whom have to sing, dance, act and manipulate puppets. Whilst the original season used the designer behind War Horse, the Melbourne performance has permission to stage something fresh.

“The puppetry is quite phenomenal. It re-animates what happened in the past with the three leading characters of the show. There is a wolf that keeps re-appearing.” Director Miranda Middleton snapped up one of the last seats to a performance of the musical in London’s West End.

“My friend had seen it and thought that I’d like it, so along I went, on a whim not knowing that I was going to walk out of that little West End theatre vowing to one day direct it,” says Miranda.

“The Grinning Man is a big, beautiful beast of a musical. It features puppets and swordfights, pleasure-seeking royals, and a nefarious clown. There’s just as much hilarity as there is heartache, darkness as there is magic…and when London reviewers called it the ‘best British score in years’, they weren’t joking. The music is nothing short of magnificent.

“Our production will take a slightly more abstract path than the original, drawing inspiration from the shapes

The Grinning Man

Playing at the Alex Theatre until May 19. alextheatre.au/the-grinning-man

Aleksandar Vass is persisting with his vision of offering Melbourne affordable premiere productions of professional theatre from his Alex Theatre in St Kilda. David Spicer reports.

Maxwell Simon in The Grinning Man

Photo: Jodie Hutchinson.

and shadows of German expressionism, whilst using carnivalesque lights and video projection to transport audiences from the world of Trafalgar Fair to the royal palace (and everywhere in between).”

In the role of Grinpayne (The Grinning Man) is Maxwell Simon, who was most recently standby for the male lead Christian in Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Performing the romantic lead role of the sightless young woman who holds the secret to Grinpayne’s past is Helpmann Award nominated Luisa Scrofani. Seventeenyear-old blind musician and singer Lilly Cascun is making her professional debut in the role of Young Dea. Aleksander is hoping that The Grinning Man will be first in a series of musicals staged every year at his venue, which he hopes will become a hub for new work.

Last year the venue hosted the world premiere of the musical Not Finished With You Yet. The next planned premiere is Victorian

Online extras!

Watch the show’s cast perform live at Melbourne’s Luna Park. Scan or visit youtu.be/29mhWbb_a40

premiere of The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter.

“It’s been a 10-year project to make this venue viable, and we couldn’t be prouder of how far we’ve come. It’s not an easy task to open a new theatre. Now the groundwork has been laid, we plan to stage our own new productions while

continuing to provide opportunities for a diverse range of producers, artists and locals.

“We’re currently working on a range of new musicals that will premiere in the second half of 2024. Our goal is to present six musicals a year in the main theatre,” says Aleksander.

The cast of The Grinning Man Photo: Nicole Cleary.

South Pacific On The High Seas

The entire company of a community theatre in Sydney was invited to perform on a luxury cruise liner. Carina Herbert, President of the Rockdale Musical Society, reports.

Rockdale Musical Society has recently made waves in the theatrical world with a remarkable staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless classic, South Pacific in Concert, aboard the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship.

Not only were we the only musical society to ever be engaged on this luxury ship, but it was promoted by the cruise line Cunard as “the first performance of this classic musical at sea”.

This extraordinary performance coincided with the 80th anniversary of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s legendary partnership and the 85th anniversary of our company.

Following the success of our May 2023 production at the Rockdale Town Hall, the society had already begun preparations for our next

endeavour when an unexpected opportunity arose.

A representative from Cunard, having witnessed our performance of South Pacific, extended a surprise invitation for the production to grace the stage of the Queen Elizabeth during a voyage from Sydney to Tokyo.

It came out of the blue, and at first the committee thought it was going to be too difficult. The logistics were daunting, from securing the original cast, to accommodating the demands of rehearsals and performances amidst busy schedules.

A pivotal Zoom meeting was convened to gauge interest and it resulted in an overwhelming response from most of the original cast, including standout performers such as

Simon Militano, Nicole Buttler, and April Neho.

Rehearsals commenced at the studios of Opera Australia in midJanuary under my direction, with Val Hull as Musical Director and choreography from Caitlin Dennis.

The cast not only prepared for South Pacific in Concert, but also crafted three revue-style concerts featuring classic musical theatre numbers, all to be showcased during the 18-day voyage.

The embarkation on March 9th at Circular Quay marked the beginning of an exhilarating journey for our cast and crew. Upon boarding, we immersed ourselves in an intensive four-hour rehearsal, meticulously finetuning every aspect of the production in the ship’s 800-seat Crown Theatre.

Rockdale Musical Society prepares to embark on their journey.

The excitement was palpable as the ship set sail, with our cast leading a spirited sail away party, enchanting guests, and crew alike.

Despite initial challenges, including a bout of seasickness among some cast members, the show went on. With determination and resilience, the cast found their “sea legs” in time for a memorable matinee performance of South Pacific before a full-house of 800 guests.

As the Queen Elizabeth charted its course along the east coast of Australia and into the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, the magic of South Pacific unfolded on stage, captivating audiences, and leaving an indelible impression.

Guest Gary Corben expressed his admiration in a heartfelt letter to the Rockdale Musical Society, echoing the sentiments of many aboard the ship.

Beyond the main performances, the Rockdale cast delighted guests with an array of engaging activities, including Musical Theatre-themed trivia competitions, sing-alongs, and dance classes.

Rockdale Musical Society’s next production is 9 To 5 The Musical from May 3 to 11. The company is open to offers to tour this to an office! rockdalemusicalsociety.com

These additional offerings showcased our talent and the camaraderie of the society but also enriched the overall cruise experience for passengers.

Simon Militano who played Emile enjoyed working with the professional 18-piece orchestra (plus a harpist from Rockdale) and technical crew.

“We had a very short rehearsal period just one day and we were on,” he said. “When you get on stage it is exactly the same as being at the Rockdale Town Hall; the only difference is [keeping your stability] when the boat moved from side to side.”

The cast used the same choreography as their original performance but in the slightly cut down concert edition of the musical.

When off-duty, Simon enjoyed propping up the bar at the Commodore Club.

“I was asked to sing Some Enchanted Evening a number of times.”

While the voyage may have concluded, the memories of this extraordinary experience will endure for the 25 dedicated volunteers of Rockdale Musical Society.

Our journey not only strengthened bonds within the cast but also underscored the invaluable opportunities offered by community theatre.

Rockdale Musical Society’s South Pacific

The cast of Rockdale Musical Society’s South Pacific

Ode To The Tivoli Theatres

A glittering array of Australian theatres once shared the same name. Susan Mills, archivist with the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, investigates why just one remains standing.

Why is ‘Tivoli’ a seemingly popular name for theatres, worldwide? The name derives from the resort town of Tivoli in Italy, located just outside Rome. Famed for idyllic lush gardens, it consequently became associated with pleasure and entertainment.

The Jardin de Tivoli in Paris, established in 1795, and the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, opened in 1843, are named after Italy’s Tivoli. In London, the Tivoli Beer Garden and Restaurant opened in 1876 on the Strand, to feed audiences of the nearby Adelphi Theatre, and in 1890 became the Tivoli Theatre of Varieties in its own right, a popular music hall venue until its closure in 1914. After World War I, the popular Tivoli Picture Theatre was built on the site.

The venue which was to become Australia’s first Tivoli Theatre was built in Sydney in 1890, at 79-83 Castlereagh Street, and was first

called the Garrick Theatre. It was in 1893 that Cockney comic singer Harry Rickards took over the lease for his company of vaudeville variety acts and renamed it the Tivoli Theatre. The theatre was bought and subsequently rebuilt by Rickards after being destroyed by fire in 1899.

Rickards’ Tivoli, a Sydney vaudeville fixture until the Great Depression, was briefly bought by all-round entrepreneur Hugh McIntosh in 1928.

It failed to meet structural requirements of having exits into two streets and this, along with the popularity of the talkies, led to its closure in 1929. The building was mostly rebuilt in 1934 by new owners British Cinema Ltd, operating as a cinema, the Embassy Theatre, until its closure in 1977, before its eventual demolition in the 1980s.

An example of a programme in the Foundation’s archive for Rickards’

Tivoli introduces the vaudeville acts assembled for the week commencing Saturday 31 January 1903. A particular favourite on this bill was the ‘mental calculator’ Jaques Inaudi, an Italian shepherd turned mathematical prodigy with astounding calculation abilities.

The billing for the show explained, “Mr Harry Rickards invites the audience to prepare problems in multiplication, subtraction, division, &c., and Inaudi will give correct solutions without the use of the blackboard.”

The line-up also featured American Comedian Gracie Emmett and her comedy company, English concertina player John ‘Professor’ Maccann (and inventor of the ‘Maccann system’ for this accordion-like musical instrument), Gilbert & Sullivan baritone Wallace Brownlow, and ventriloquist J.W. Winton,

accompanied by his droll sidekick McGinty.

The final programme for the original Tivoli is for the last shows, beginning the week of 23 September in 1929. The programme begins with a farewell as the Tivoli prepares to ‘close its doors forever’.

It goes on, ‘No other theatre has such a history. No other theatre is tenanted by ghosts of such talent.” The ‘Tivoli Follies of 1929’ revue included ‘jovial’ Lancashire comedian Jack Edge, dancers ‘The Fallow Twins’, and talkie interludes. Extra special was the appearance each night by Tivoli old time performers in ‘The Tivoli Old Brigade’.

A sidenote about the Tivoli (touring) Circuit, which had grown out of Rickards’ original Tivoli of 1893. After Rickards’ passing in 1911, the lucrative circuit, which also covered Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, was taken over for £100,000 by sporting entrepreneur Hugh D. McIntosh, then sold three further times, finally to David N Martin in 1944.

In Adelaide, Rickards had leased the Bijou Theatre in King William Street in 1900 and renamed it the Tivoli. In 1913, Rickards’ Tivoli Theatre moved to Grote Street, where the building still stands, now known as Her Majesty’s Theatre. It is the only Tivoli Theatre building still standing and operating as a theatre.

In Bourke Street, Melbourne, Rickards’ New Opera House was renamed the Tivoli when it joined the Tivoli Circuit in 1912 under Hugh D. McIntosh. It eventually closed in 1966.

In Brisbane, the Tivoli Theatre opened across from Brisbane City Hall in Albert Square in 1915, and was converted to cinema in 1927. The building was demolished in 1965. In 1988 another art deco building in Fortitude Valley Brisbane was restored and re-named The Tivoli Theatre. It is still going strong as a concert venue.

What was to become Sydney’s second Tivoli,built as the Adelphi Theatre in 1911 on the same street as the original, this time at 329 Castlereagh Street.

When Benjamin Fuller took over in 1916, he renamed it the Grand Opera House. In 1932, husband and wife entertainers and producers Mike Connors and Queenie Paul and their Con-Paul Theatre company took over management. The theatre was then renamed the New Tivoli Theatre, in honour of Rickards’ original Tivoli.

Opening night on 23 July 1932 featured Roy ‘Mo’ Rene and a cast of entertainers, as well as a blinding £4000 installation of modern neon lighting. In 1934 it became part of the Tivoli Circuit. This Tivoli (the ‘New’ was soon dropped) lasted until its closure and inevitable demolition in 1969.

The last production at the second Tivoli was Hadrian VII, starring Barry Morse, which opened on 23 May 1969. The flyer contains a ‘letter’ from the Director and General Manager of J.C. Williamson Theatres Limited to celebrate the soon to be demolished theatre.

“The Sydney Tivoli has had a long and varied history … Margot Fonteyn has danced there; it has twice housed the famous ensemble now known as The Royal Shakespeare Company, and some years ago Laurence Olivier, one of the greatest actors of our age, appeared there with Vivien Leigh…”

The Old Vic Theatre Company’s tour of Australia for the British Council in 1948, featuring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, visited

Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Hobart before moving on to New Zealand.

As part of the tour, they played an eight-week season at the Sydney’s Tivoli Theatre, consisting of 18th Century comedy of manners School for Scandal, modern comedy-drama The Skin of Our Teeth (both produced by Olivier), and Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Richard III

The season opening night included police herding a crush of onlookers in the foyer, and six curtain calls. Vivien Leigh thanked the audience from the stage, saying “I hope the audience really liked us as much as they seemed to.”

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Nicole Scherzinger stars as the immortal Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard youtu.be/Vj-jtKO2cPs

As we head to the printers, it’s just ahead of the April 25 cut-off date for Tony Award nomination eligibility for the 77th awards, which will be hosted by Ariana DeBose at the Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater on Sunday, June 16, 2024. With the usual rush of productions opening in the last-minute countdown some of which will have come and gone depending on the results of the Tony nominations, awards, and the resulting box office response by our next edition let’s look a little further forward at shows coming to the Great White Way, and postpone talking about the awards and their consequences until then.

After its flurry of Olivier awards, Jamie Lloyd’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard arrives at the St. James Theatre in September, with Nicole Scherzinger making her Broadway debut as Norma Desmond (for which she recently won an Olivier). She will be joined by Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaefffer and David Thaxton as Max

Von Mayerling, repeating their West End roles.

In July, after 42 years of parodying Broadway Off-Broadway, Forbidden Broadway on Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song finally makes it to Broadway’s Hayes Theatre in July, with its spoofs of recent shows and Sondheim musicals. How will The Great Gatsby, The Notebook, Water for Elephants, Hell’s Kitchen and Back to the Future fare under Gerard Alessandrini’s microscope.

In October, Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart arrives at Studio 54 as jazz legend Louis Armstrong in A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical, telling his story from the perspective of his four wives.

Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer winning classic Our Town returns to Broadway in September. Directed by Kenny Leon, the cast of 28 actors at the Barrymore Theatre will be led by Kenny Leon, Jim Parsons, Zoey Deutch, Katie Holmes and Ephraim Sykes.

In Fall, Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher are set to star in new play Left on Tenth, based on the bestselling memoir of the same name by Delia Ephron (You’ve Got Mail), directed by Susan Stroman. Screen stars Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler will also arrive on Broadway this fall in a new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Directed by Sam Gold, it will feature music by Grammy winner Jack Antonoff.

Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day, set in a private California elementary school, arrives at Broadway’s Samuel J Friedman Theatre in November following its successful London run. The school’s Board of Directors values inclusion above all else that is, until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school’s liberal vaccine policy. As cases rise, the board realises with horror that they’ve got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won’t please absolutely everybody. Anna D. Shapiro directs.

Broadway Buzz

Nicole Scherzinger in Sunset Boulevard

Photo: Marc Brenner.

Online extras!

Watch Sarah Snook in the trailer for the West End’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. youtu.be/1Z456zhLBdU

Australians Sarah Snook (Best Actress) and designer Marg Horwell (Best Costume Design) took out 2024 Olivier Awards for Kip Williams’ production of The Picture Of Dorian Gray, originally staged by the Sydney Theatre Company. The modern reworking of Oscar Wilde’s only novel employs an interplay of video and theatre through an intricately choreographed collection of on-stage cameras, bringing to life 26 characters, each portrayed by Snook.

Sunset Boulevard was the big winner at the Royal Albert Hall on April 14, with seven awards including Best Actress in a Musical for Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond, Best Director for Jamie Lloyd, and Best Musical Revival. Dear England (Best New Play), Operation Mincemeat (Best New Musical), and TV show prequel Stranger Things: The First Shadow all took out two awards each. Vanya took out the best play revival.

The UK premiere of Yve Blake’s Australian musical Fangirls opens at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre on July 13. Jasmine Elcock plays Edna, with Miracle Chance as Brianna, Mary Malone as Jules, Gracie McGonigal as Lily and Terique Jarrett as Salty. Original Australian director Paige Rattray is again at the helm. Back home, Rattray’s production of Into the Shimmering World plays at the STC’s Wharf 1 until May 19.

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss follow up Six in August with Why Am I So Single? at the Garrick Theatre. Their new show follows two hopeless singletons and musical theatre writers, who are procrastinating writing a musical by deciding to figure out why they’re single.

New British coming-of-age musical Babies opens at The Other Palace on May 31 (until July 14). With music and lyrics by Jack Godfrey and a book by Martha Geelan (who also directs), it follows nine Year 11

classmates given the task of keeping a fake baby alive for a week after a rise in teen pregnancies starts to concern the school.

New musical The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story about a man who is born old Jethro Compton (book and lyrics) and Darren Clark (music and lyrics) will transfer to the Ambassadors Theatre in October, having played the Southwark Playhouse in 2023.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express (lyrics by Richard Stilgoe) opens on June 8 at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre’s purpose designed Starlight Auditorium, starring Jeevan Braich as Rusty, Kayna Montecillo as Pearl, Jade Marvin as Momma McCoy, Al Knott as Greaseball, Eve Humphrey as Dinah, and Tom Pigram as Electra. Luke Sheppard directs, with new choreography by Ashley Nottingham.

Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin’s Mean Girls plays at the Savoy Theatre from June 6. Casey Nicholaw directs a cast including Charlie Burn as Cady Heron, Georgina Castle as Regina George, Elèna Gyasi as Gretchen Wieners and Grace Mouat as Karen Smith.

Tom Holland (Romeo) and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers (Juliet) lead the cast of Jamie Lloyd’s production of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, at the Duke of York’s Theatre from May 11.

London Calling

A revival of Jerry Girls, celebrating the songs and shows of Jerry Herman, opens at Menier Chocolate Factory on May 18 for six-week season. Olivier Award winner Cassidy Janson stars. Hannah Chissick directs, with choreography by Matt Cole.

Heathers The Musical returns to the West End for six weeks from May 22 at London’s @sohoplace.

Bartlett Sher directs Cole Porter’s backstage musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate (book by Bella and Samuel Spewack), at the Barbican from June 4. Adrian Dunbar and Stephanie J Block lead the cast as Fred Graham/ Petruchio and Lilli Vanessi/Katharine. Anthony Van Laast will choreograph.

A revival of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! will open at the Gielgud Theatre in December, with Simon Lipkin as Fagin, Shanay Holmes as Nancy and Aaron Sidwell as Bill Sikes. Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne, the production opens at Chichester Festival Theatre in July, ahead of its West End transfer.

The Devil Wears Prada The Musical opens at the Dominion Theatre in October with Olivier Award winner Matt Henry as creative fashion director Nigel. Vanessa Williams will star as Runway magazine Editor-in-Chief Miranda Priestly. It features a score by Elton John, lyrics by Shaina Taub, and book by Kate Wetherhead, with direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell.

Sarah Snook in The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Photo: Marc Brenner.

My Name Is

Barbra Barbra Streisand (Century)

Barbra Streisand is an icon, and this book, at 1000 pages, tells us, in her own words, how she became one. In a career spanning over seventy years, with credits for fifty-plus albums, more than a dozen starring roles in movies, three films as a director, and a plethora of awards from an honorary EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), three Peabodys, eleven Golden Globes, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom she has earned that status.

Born into middle-class Brooklyn in 1942, her father died of respiratory failure when she was only 15 months old. With the family struggling with poverty, her mother remarried a man called Louis Kind, who was far from kind to Streisand. To escape his cruelty, she spent a lot of time at the Loew’s Kings, Flatbush, dreaming of being a movie star.

Obsessed with being an actress, Streisand got a part in The Insect Comedy, where she played a butterfly in the first act and a moth in the second. It ran for three nights and one of the other actors was Barry Dennen. She was drawn to him. He was smart, spoke French, and was 22years-old. He had a vast collection of old records from the 1930s and 40s, and got her hooked on Lee Wiley, Ruth Etting, Helen Morgan, and songs

of the period. He invited her to stay with him, but they were not lovers. Streisand thought he was gay, but he had a son so was most probably bisexual. Dennen liked her voice and often recorded it on his Ampex tape recorder. It was Dennen who told her about The Lion, a small gay bar across the street and their weekly singing contest. She entered and won with A Sleepin’ Bee, a Harold Arlen song that ended up on her first album.

Streisand then graduated to the Bon Soir, a small fashionable Village boite. She’d been picked up by Columbia, and they agreed to record her ‘live,’ but that recording wasn’t released at the time, though 60 years later Live at the Bon Soir became her tenth ‘live’ album.

Her first acting gig was in summer stock in The Boy Friend, playing the French maid Hortense. Off-Broadway followed, in the revue Another Evening With Harry Stoones, before she finally got to play Miss Marmelstein on Broadway in I Can Get It For You Wholesale. That was where she met her first husband Elliot Gould, a relationship that produced a son, Jason.

Wholesale was where she first encountered director/writer Arthur Laurents. Miss Marmelstein was a secretary and had a song of the same name. Streisand wanted to sing it sitting on an office chair moving

around the stage like she had at the audition. Laurents didn’t want her doing that, but what he suggested wasn’t working either, so he finally relented and let her do it her way. It stopped the show. She thought he’d be happy, but the next day he got her aside and said viciously, “You’re never going to make it, you know. Never! You’re too undisciplined.” He did write The Way We Were for her many years later, but the hurt never healed.

By the time Funny Girl opened on Broadway, she had three hit albums and a bucketful of accolades. The show not only made her what she was destined to be a star it also provided her signature song, “People”, and her first ever single success.

Streisand’s first TV special aired on April 28, 1965, eliciting rave reviews including “a pinnacle moment of American show business.”

Director William Wyler only did the movie version of Funny Girl because Streisand was in it, and Hello, Dolly!, despite everyone saying she was too young for the part, consolidated her grip on Hollywood. She met a slew of stars, but none touched her as much as her childhood idol, Marlon Brando. One time in her kitchen he called and said, “sing me a song.” “What do you think I do, sing around the house?

That’s like me asking you to recite a soliloquy from Hamlet.” To her amazement, he proceeded to recite a soliloquy from Hamlet. So, she had to sing him a song and settled on Rodgers and Hart’s “Nobody’s Heart Belongs to Me.”

She always wanted to play Juliet and a few years later she got the chance, for Lee Strasburg at the Actors Theatre in Hollywood. She had a clear concept for the part. The scene was where Juliet has sent her nurse to meet Romeo to find out if he’s going to marry her. She and friend Sally Kirkland rehearsed it and then did it for Lee. They didn’t invite friends, but word got out and they were packed to the rafters. When Lee gave his critique for the performance, he never said anything to Streisand. She did not know if he liked it or not. It wasn’t until many years later Kirkland

Barbra Streisand and Larry Schiller during filming of Funny Girl

told her Strasburg said, “Barbra, you’ve just done the best Juliet I’ve ever seen.”

Her Hollywood career encompassed screwball comedy, What’s Up Doc?, which she nailed brilliantly, and romantic heart-string puller The Way We Were. For a time, Robert Redford was not going to do the latter because his role was “shallow and one-dimensional”, but Streisand knew he was right for the part. Marvin Hamlisch’s theme won an Oscar and a Grammy, and the film became Columbia’s second highestgrossing movie at the time. The first was Funny Girl.

In 1971 she made a conscious effort to introduce more contemporary work into her repertoire, which resulted in the Stoney End album and songs by Laura Nyro and Randy Newman.

Jon Peters was a hairdresser, part Cherokee-Indian, drove a red Porsche, and was handsome, and controlling. He also became her lover and the producer of her remake of A Star Is Born, in which she starred opposite Kris Kristofferson, and won an Academy Award for Evergreen, a song she penned with Paul Williams.

Opening her mind to newer musical influences also found her working with Barry Gibb, resulting in

her most successful album ever, Guilty.

Then came Yentl, a project that had taken her fifteen years to get up the story of a young Jewish woman in 19th century Poland who wants to learn the Torah. Streisand was to star in the gender-switch role.

Despite fierce opposition, she eventually wrote the script, and starred in, produced and directed the movie the first time a woman had done all these things. She showed Stephen Speilberg a first cut and he said, “Don’t change a frame.” She was elated.

The only blot on the Yentl experience was Mandy Patinkin. A few weeks into the shoot, he “wouldn’t look me in the eye when we were doing a scene.” She pulled him aside and asked what was going on. Why was he so angry? He confessed he thought they were going to have an affair. She replied, “I don’t operate that way,” and tears started to roll down his cheeks.

She had come full circle when she released The Broadway Album. The attitude of the “Columbia Suits” (“you must be crazy”) was successfully skewered in the opening number, a Stephen Sondheim rewrite of his “Putting It Together”.

Stage On Page

She’s been happily married now for over twenty years to James Brolin. They live a quiet life, but she still manages to micro-manage her projects.

She never drank alcohol, and except for a time in her teens when she stole her step-father’s cigarettes, she has never smoked.

Finally, there’s her mother, a woman who missed most of her opening nights. A woman who believed you should not give a child too much affection. At an award night in 1984 that honored her father for his commitment to education, her mother started screaming in the Ladies Room, “Why are the honoring her? Why aren’t they honoring me? I’m the mother?” And there you have it. She was jealous of her daughter’s success.

It’s a wonderful read that’s as honest as her “truth in performance” mantra. If 1000 pages isn’t enough, then there’s always the audio-book version which at 48 hours goes into even more detail and is the longest audio-book in the publisher’s catalogue.

The book comes with a marvelous collection of photos, but no index.

Peter Pinne

Barbra Streisand in Hello, Dolly!

In The Spotlight With Les Solomon

Helpmann Awards

I have been asked a lot by clients in recent weeks about what happened to the Helpmann Awards. They were dropped after the pandemic and have never re-emerged. It seems such a shame, as they were an integral part of our industry. There does not seem to be any likely sign of them reemerging.

Yes, we have local (some would call them parochial) awards, but they do not fill the gap.

There are the Sydney Theatre Awards, the Green Room Awards in Melbourne and the Matildas in Brisbane. Broadway World has their own local awards, but these are suspect as they are based on voting by the public.

The Helpmanns had a true national vision, but they were not

without their problems; there were too many rules, and productions having to pay to submit their work to get a possible nomination was always a sticking point.

The area that was not served well by the Helpmanns was the Independent sector. What was considered Independent, small professional theatre and co-ops was a very blurred line.

The best model is from the Tonys, where a production was considered “main” or “off-Broadway”, as designated by the number of seats in the theatre.

If ever the Helpmanns return, this would be the way to go. Also, do away with fees so a panel could choose which productions should be nominated.

Out And About

The last two months have been a very busy time for musicals. The superb new production of Wicked (albeit a blow-by-blow reinterpretation of the original), the newly interpreted Beauty and the Beast, Chicago (again but now with a splendid cast) and Grease have been jumping between states with great success.

I was fascinated by Mackenzie Dunn in Grease as Rizzo. This role always gets the lion’s share of attention but Dunn gave it even more.

A young star in the making (she already had a successful run in Hairspray), most in the industry know Mackenzie is the granddaughter of legendary performer Jill Perryman. Jill’s daughter Trudy Dunn (Mackenzie’s mum) is also a force to be reckoned with in the industry as a director.

A perfect choice for a new production in Australia would be a new revival of Funny Girl fashioned for Mackenzie as Fanny Brice, the role her grandmother made her own back in 1966. Now there would be an idea.

Grease itself has met with generally favourable reviews. Director Luke Joslin (also a successful actor) is gaining a reputation for his fine skills, and he managed to keep the rather tired old show buzzing along nicely.

There will always be cries of horror at the way the script treats the character of Sandy when she changes her image to keep boyfriend Danny happy, but short of giving her a stunning glamorous look to perform “You’re the One that I Want”, I doubt the payoff of the finale of the show would work as well.

Of other productions, Zombie the Musical set in the backstage of a community theatre company has been a huge hit at the Hayes. Personally, not to my liking, it certainly appeals to young audiences, I found its in-theatrical joke mentality rather tiresome after a short period of time. Hopes are high for another season. In the meantime, another musical that has huge youth appeal, Ride the Cyclone, is about to invade the theatre.

Mackenzie Dunn and Annelise Hall in Grease Photo: Jeff Busby.

The Lehman Trilogy was a great artistic triumph at the Theatre Royal and I mostly enjoyed Holding the Man at Belvoir, even though the high jinks of the first act and the serious nature of Act Two did not sit well.

More Revivals Coming

I wonder how long before Annie rears her curly red, while I hear a revival of JC Superstar is on the way? At least we have new productions, Sister Act and Beetlejuice (2025) coming.

The last two years since Covid have mostly been dominated in the commercial sector by revivals of musicals, yet when I look at New York and London, I don’t see a lot that would make an easy transition to Australia.

The Tony Award winning musical of 2023 Kimberley Akimbo just doesn’t seem to be an easy show to get a big production here (the Hayes could do well with this show). Of the new musicals elsewhere Opening Night, based on the old John Cassavetes movie, has had a ruinous

series of reviews from the British critics.

Across the pond, The Notebook has had luke-warm reviews and the only new musical on Broadway that could make an easy Australian transition is Water for Elephants which had a rave in the New York Times. Local producer Rodney Rigby has a hand in that one, so we can hope we will see it here in the next couple of years. And another local producer Neil Gooding is expected to be involved in any transfer of Back to the Future the musical

The Self-Tape Issue

I’ve written about my dislike of actors being asked to submit self-tape auditions in past editions. The cause now has a new champion Olivia Coleman who describes the practise as being ‘disrespectful’ to actors. I could not agree more. I’ve had my say both here and with the Casting Guild on my thoughts about self-tapes, so I won’t go on about it, except to say to those who say, “Well Olivia will never have to audition

anyway”, that it is an irrelevant point. It takes a star of this calibre to come out and really slam the procedure to get the matter the attention it deserves.

And Finally, A Word About Movie Musicals

Audiences, it seems, are confused by the recent spate of stage to screen movie musicals sharing the same name as the original non-musical films they were based on, specifically of The Color Purple and Mean Girls Neither film had the success of the original, but what many audiences miss is the fact that these are new movie versions of stage musicals readapted back for the screen, and not revival screenings of the originals.

No wonder the recent movies have had a big walk-out out factor when people’s favourite characters unexpectedly burst into song.

If stage musicals Back to the Future and The Outsiders are ever made into movies, producers need to make it clear they are musicals.

Theatre On A Volcano

What’s it like staging a performance in a thermal wonderland?

David Spicer attended the 64th Musical Theatre New Zealand conference in Rotorua to find out and to explore what is happening across the country.

Tourists are warned not to walk around at night in known thermal areas of Rotorua because of the risk of slipping into a geothermal pool and being boiled alive.

The striking feature of the town, which is built on a dormant volcano, is the smell of sulphur and frequent gushing of hot steam.

I was staying at a hotel near Whakarewarewa The Living Maori Village, and told that if I walked at night that I might not be able to see a thermal pool that had opened up and could disappear down it.

The unique environment poses special challenges for staging theatre. The biggest theatre in town is the spectacular Sir Howard Morrison Centre, which has recently re-opened after five years of renovation.

The interior is largely carved from the hardwood of the local area and includes a 1000 seat venue and several smaller spaces.

The challenge for the venue is that it is built on top of “a very active geyser” that requires a cap to contain the volcanic fumes.

Technician Jonty Robinson told me that “we have the challenge of hydrogen sulphide, which is a noxious gas that can cause quite a few issues for both humans and equipment.”

A precious grand piano is kept sealed in a big container that has purified air pumped into it. Equipment exposed to the elements needs to be replaced more frequently than in other places.

Humans risk passing out if they absorb too much.

“So below stage we have in-house gas monitoring units. To be able to access underneath the stage, we’re required to send gas monitors down first to tell us if it’s within a safe bounds,” he said. If levels get too high (which happens occasionally) “we’re required to ventilate for as

long as possible, and then test every half hour.”

The President of the Rotorua Musical Theatre Company, Bobby Mihi Howard, says, “we do have to check our people are safe, particularly near hot spots.”

She also notes ruefully that in her town “everything corrodes”.

“Sound and production techies know that everything needs an extra buffer around it, usually in the form of a silicon spray.”

On the weekend of the conference, Bobby was not focussed on the rust, but rather the razzle dazzle of the company’s first big show in years.

The company was bumping in a set for The Phantom of the Opera at the Sir Howard Morrison Theatre.

It is a testament to how well organised musical theatre companies are in New Zealand that the company, in a town of just 80,000, was using a

Champage Pool at Waiotapu, Rotorua.

set that must have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build. There was a huge chandelier ready to drop, a three-story staircase, giant props to wheel on and off and an array of spectacular costumes.

The Phantom ‘kit’ is one of ten or so production sets that are paid for by a consortium of community theatres and shipped around the country for re -use, sometimes for over a decade.

The Rotorua Musical Theatre company sold close to 5,000 tickets during their season, which is a very large number for a small regional town.

The heart of the community theatre company is their headquarters, known as the Casa Blanca Theatre because of its Spanish facade. RMT uses it for rehearsals, making costumes and props, and for staging smaller productions.

“The company has been around since 1945. It started off in an old Returned Services Association building. Members put on a performance which drew a good audience and a lot of people thought, ‘let’s create a theatre.’”

More than 40 years ago the company moved into its current premises, in an industrial area, on the back of volunteers who helped fit out the building brick by brick.

Online extras!

“Theatre was their life,” notes Bobby.

The Rotorua Musical Theatre Company struggled during the pandemic and went into debt.

“Now we are building up our reserves and we want to be back delivering high quality shows using sets from the consortium.”

Across New Zealand, community theatres are still making up for losses incurred during the shutdowns. The number of delegates attending the conference was down on previous years, with some theatres tightening their belts.

It remains a dynamic weekend of seminars, meetings and socialising. There is the traditional parade of conference first-timers (who used to be called conference virgins) on the Friday night and the Saturday night fancy dress ball. The theme this year was come dressed as your favourite character from a musical.

There was an orderly transition of leadership with Helen Horsnell retiring as President of Musical Theatre New Zealand, succeeded by teacher and producer Emma Bishop.

She believes that companies are on the way back to peak performance.

“On the whole I’m seeing a lot more shows selling out. I think people

are a little bit more appreciative of theatre when it happens,” she said.

“However, I think there are still some societies struggling with what do you do when someone is sick. Back in the days before COVID-19, even when you had flu, you’d quite often still go to rehearsal.

“Now as soon as you sneeze, you can’t go to rehearsal. So, I think there’s had to be some practices put in place to make sure shows can still go ahead.

“I think clubs are slowly getting shows on that are making money to build up reserves.”

One company in Auckland (North Shore Theatre) had to postpone a production of Wicked twice but is now moving forward with a season of Matilda. In Palmerson North, Act Three Productions had three false starts with its season of We Will Rock You, but finally got there.

Community theatres in New Zealand tend to be stronger than in Australia because of their welldeveloped venues and following, plus the absence of competition from long professional musical theatre seasons.

Gone are the days of Australian producers routinely including stints ‘across the ditch’ on their schedule.

Hamilton touched down in Auckland for a short season in an arena, while cut-down international touring professional seasons of Shrek and Madagascar have been the major pro shows in the country.

The country’s biggest theatre, the Civic in Auckland a magnificent atmospheric theatre sister to Sydney’s Capitol Theatre has no longrunning fully professional musical theatre scheduled this year. Its biggest show of the year is a pro-am season of Matilda.

In Wellington, the biggest season of the year sees a largely community theatre cast from the Capitol Theatre

(Continued on page 40)

Bobby Mihi Howard.

(Continued from page 39)

trust staging We Will Rock You at the St James.

In Christchurch, The Court Theatre has the most ambitious professional musical theatre offerings, staging Something Rotten and Strictly Ballroom The Musical over the next twelve months.

Emma Bishop says the proliferation of pro-am productions is seeing more demands for payment in community theatre.

“There’s a really big push in New Zealand now about paying for services. More community theatres are aware that we do need to also be paying for services such as ‘techies’.

“The actors are still volunteers and, in most cases, the directors and those in the artistic teams are as well. But you know, we’re also trying to be proactive around making sure that people aren’t too out of pocket, because the cost of living is what it is.”

But Emma says the most rewarding times in the theatre can be

watching shows where there is a modest budget, and everyone is a volunteer.

“I get to see quite a bit of community theatre, and it’s amazing what you see around the whole country.”

She nominated a junior season of Seussical the Musical that she saw last year in New Plymouth as a recent highlight.

“It had lots of facades, and it was all 3 dimensional and very Dr. Seuss. It was fantastic, on a very low budget.”

The 2025 Musical Theatre New Zealand conference will be held in Palmerston North.

Online extras!

Discover the newly reopened Sir Howard Morrison Centre youtu.be/dQRl0hO4eN8

Sir Howard Morrison Centre.

MTNZ traditional fancy dress dinner. Annie

David Spicer as Tony Manero from Saturday Night Fever.

Fairy Tale Designs

Stage productions are becoming more spectacular than ever as designers combine animation, LED light projection and traditional set pieces in new ways. Beth Keehn speaks to the creatives of a large-scale Disney musical blockbuster (Beauty and the Beast) and a pro-am community show in a regional venue (Cinderella) to compare what new and old tools they use to create magic on stage.

Beauty and the Beast

Stanley A. Meyer has been working in stage design for nearly four decades. From small regional theatres, Stanley moved to national stages across the US before joining the world of rock and roll stadium tours and theme park outdoor spectaculars. His work for the Disney Theatrical Group started with a nervous pitch with costume designer Ann Hould-Ward to Disney, presenting stage designs for Beauty and the Beast in 1992.

Beth Keehn (BK): How does it feel to be part of something as wonderful as Beauty and the Beast?

Stanley A. Meyer (SM): It’s amazing because it all started with 140 black and white storyboard sketches I created to pitch the show. At the end of the presentation, we were shocked because the Disney executives just said ‘yes!’. And here we are, 30-something years later, and this is the tour de force Disney show running for 13 years on Broadway, and seen in countries across the world.

BK: How have your designs evolved between 1995 and 2023?

SM: The design is completely different from the original. My favourite new element is the large scrolls that fly in and move around the stage. While it looks technically amazing, it is the most rudimentary of all the scenery movements: flying in and out, tracking side to side, and rotating. So, we put all three together and it’s a magical way of creating the Beast’s castle.

Today the visuals are over-the-top fabulous with LED technology but nobody has to change a lightbulb.

Disney’s Beauty And The Beast. Photo: Daniel Boud.

Another lighting change is in the ‘Be Our Guest’ number: in the original productions we used real neon lighting. It was flamingo pink, but neon is very fragile. Now that scene is all LED, but it looks exactly like neon and can be any colour you want!

The other thing I’m proud of is the artwork for the dining room, based on French 18th century rooms. We go into the dining room, and it opens up into this beautiful garden it looks like the scenery is splitting apart, but it’s actually an LED screen. Our LED drop of the town scene looked so much like a scrim that one of the reviewers in Sydney said they couldn’t believe the number of hand-painted drops in the show but it was all digital content.

BK: Have audience expectations changed over the decades?

SM: I think they have. But also, I go back and work in small regional

theatres quite a bit, and the audience can still be drawn in and wowed by the simplest thing and that has to do with story. If the story or the musical is good, you can do it in a Black Box with no scenery and it will carry and it will make you emotional.

BK: How has the changing technology affected your skillset?

SM: When we first programmed the deck in 1993, it took five hours. It’s nowhere near that time today. We now use Rhino 3D for 3D computeraided design (CAD) drawings. In the old days, you’d have to lay out every detail and then the shop would have to do drawings now they just take your 3D drawing and they build from it. And, although everything is created in digital format, I still draw. I do some Photoshop work with my own drawings, but I sketch and then I work with one of my associates who is a digital artist. Because I’m drawing

by hand it’s not in a computer the final result is a little more free and that’s represented in the work.

BK: How has the technology affected your design process?

SM: It’s all about the script and a ton of research! I drew on all kinds of things for this production for the initial presentation, we had boards with research images and we just talked about the design. For our concept renderings, we used a mix of hand-sketched drawing, hand-painted and Photoshop images. I’ve also used stop animation to show the team an effect I was trying to achieve.

One part of the process that hasn’t changed is collaboration: I believe that the best idea wins. People have their own forte and I think you get the best product from everybody if you work together. Collaboration involving all of the artists in our show was key to success and how it has thrilled audiences. For me the set is a platter that the rest of the show sits on. It’s not a competition; it’s all about supporting the show and how it works and how the story is told. As you can tell I love my job and am thrilled with how our production finally finished in Australia. And it makes me so happy that our show is inspiring a new generation of theatre artists and audiences.

Cinderella

As Beauty and the Beast was opening in Brisbane, the musical theatre team that has produced community pro-am productions at the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba for 23 years was taking on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, with scenic design by Frances Story.

Frances Story studied Architecture and Dance at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane before starting in scenic design with Iceworks Design in Brisbane, where she has worked for nearly a decade on arena experiences, operas and musicals.

Beth Keehn (BK): How do you start?

(Continued on page 44)

(Continued from page 43)

Frances Story (FS): With research lots of mood images defining and honing the direction. I do a script breakdown and extract the design elements. I then sit down with the director and add notes about how they see the visual show unfolding. It’s a collaborative development with multiple meetings. The next steps include more research finding visual references that are going to speak to the look and feel of the show.

Online extras!

Watch a sizzle reel from Empire Theatre’s production of Cinderella fb.watch/rAx5ZSn45v

BK: How does new technology play a part?

FS: I do use digital technology but for mood images, I start sketching. For me that’s the best way to develop ideas without the constraints of a 3D modelling program. For those programs you really have to know what you want the software to do and manipulate it otherwise you end up with a bunch of boxes that don’t really convey the look and feel of the show. For me, in those initial stages with the director, it’s me sketching it out, because I can convey ideas quickly that way.

Once we’ve got a direction, that’s when I start 3D modelling. Because of my background in architecture, I define the design and deliver all the construction plans so I know exactly how it’s going to be built, and that gives me the most control over the end outcome.

BK: Have you had to train to keep up?

FS: With the addition of technology, the audience experience may have changed, but our job is the same to engage them and communicate the story. When I graduated from university, I came out

The set of Empire Theatre’s Cinderella.

Stanley A. Meyer.

with a skillset of hand drawing and hand rendering but that is not functionally practical in the theatre industry. So, I developed my skills in digital programs. For 3D modelling, I use 3DS Max; for 2D Drafting, it’s CorelDRAW; and image editing software through Adobe Photoshop.

I also partner with experts. At Iceworks Design, we first used projections around 2018 on an arena show of The Wizard of Oz we partnered with the illustrator and Optikal Bloc to achieve the animation for the show. We are seeing more LED lighting and projections, which we

use to augment a physical setting. So, you are seeing that richness of a visual layered storyline a rich tapestry that can add to the layers of the story and audience experience. And we certainly used that in Cinderella to show the magical sense of the story from the Fairy Godmother’s perspective.

BK: What was the main technical challenge in Cinderella?

FS: Cinderella has so many different scenes, the technical challenge was making sure that we made those happen, while also working within the constraints of the

number of personnel the number of flymen, mechanists and the limited time within the number of bars of music that we have to complete the scene transitions. I wanted to design it as a physical set so there is a nostalgia when you experience a set moving on and off stage. We had physical backdrops they are not projected images. For example, the moon is a real piece of stage scenery: it’s not a projection. So, when that changes, it’s happening before your eyes and there is a tangible sense of the magic on stage!

Staging & Theatre Tech

Empire Theatre’s Cinderella. Photo: Atmosphere Photography.

Frances Story.

Orchestra Pit Becomes A River

One of the highlights of the 2024 Adelaide Festival was a production of an extraordinary opera directed by Canadian Robert Lepage, which saw 67,000 litres of water pumped into the orchestra pit. Barry Hall OAM reveals the challenges of throwing singers into the deep end.

The jewel in the crown for the 2024 Adelaide Festival was undoubtably The Nightingale and Other Fables by Igor Stravinsky of the Ballet Russe fame, which was a feast for visual and aural senses.

Every time I thought I had seen everything, there was another astonishing piece of theatre magic.

The first half of the programme featured some little-known gems from Stravinsky three clarinet solos, Pribaoutki, Two Poems of Konstantin Balmont, Berceuses du Chat, 4 Russian Peasant Songs and Renard (The Fox).

These used varying configurations of the orchestra, seated on stage behind the singers with a platform at the back for acrobats performing behind a giant screen.

In the second act, The Nightingale, Stravinsky’s only opera (based on a fable by Hans Christian Andersen) was performed in a co-production from the Opera National de Lyon, Festival D’Aix-en-Provence, Canadian Opera Company and Dutch National Opera, in collaboration with Ex Machina.

This production turns opera on its head. Instead of being in the pit, the orchestra is on stage and the singers wade and float in and on a manmade pool/river flowing in the orchestra pit, as well as the front of the stage. Together with singing, the actors manipulated beautifully detailed rod puppets representing their characters.

I spoke to Bruce Bolton, the Production Manager, about the logistics of turning an orchestra pit into a pool.

I was keen to know how long before the show arrived in Adelaide, he received the staging requirements.

“I started nine months before… they would normally start a year ahead for opera because it’s generally big, and it’s also the first off the bat.

“The bump-in was a week and a half. It wasn’t a huge show physically; it was all about the pit and the pool. The two tricky elements were the water in the pit, and the full changeover of the orchestra seating at interval. Those were the two things that occupied most of my waking life!

We got the change at interval down to 16 minutes.”

When asked about the pool itself, Bruce was quick to point out that, “It’s actually quite a nice build, but very heavy. It’s a jigsaw puzzle of marine ply and framework and came in sections. It’s not a huge build for opera. It came in three containers; one container was all pool. The parts all lock together reasonably easily.”

Having said that, even though several people accompanied the production from Lyon, the opera hadn’t been performed since COVID19 hit and their memories were not fresh.

“We started the pool build, and our mechanists realised there was something wrong, and realised they were building it upside down!”

Lyon sent out two pool liner experts.

“They would put down the pool liner and ‘weld’ it into place with a sort of heat gun. They had a sort of ‘spike’ tool which they would run around the seams to ensure everything had glued properly. That

99% worked, but three hours into filling the pool Oh, my God, we have a leak!”

So, the rest of the day was taken up with getting the pool drained. Once the leaks were fixed (in 20 minutes) all was fine. But that was not the only leak.

“During performances there were a couple of hiccups. There was an ‘infinity pool’ to catch splashes during performance an overflow. That had a leak as well, but that one was easier to fix.”

Just when Bruce thought it was smooth sailing, there was another problem.

“We had to buy a brand-new filter pump. After that, everything was fine!”

Technically, the ‘river’ was run just like a domestic pool, however, “The good thing is being indoors meant that the chlorination level did not have to be as high. There was a pool technician from Lyon there for the whole season, and he looked after that every day.’

The pool was heated.

“One of our local mechanists is a surfer, so he was keen to get into a wet suit and operate the blinds under each side of the pool and help guide the boats ‘off stage’.

“He worked with a mechanist from Lyon who was on the other side.

They were both in wet suits, as were the singers and the puppeteers.

“Everyone in the show was in a wetsuit… we probably needed a double set for when there were two shows in a day, but we didn’t have them, so there were times when they had to put on a ‘wet wetsuit’… The cast were great; we never heard a grumble from them.”

When asked about the singers and puppeteers, Bruce was quick to add his admiration.

“I don’t know how they did it. It’s like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time. I was really impressed with how much they could get out of their puppets, singing at the same time. It’s brilliant!”

Of course, at the end of the run the set had to be bumped out.

“The theatre needed to be turned around for the next day, so we only had one day. There was a lot of pressure. When we finished the show on the Wednesday night, we got as much done as we could with chairs, risers, etc., then the big thing was to have the water out that night. They were pumping till 4.30am. The rest of the next day was to finish and get the pit ready for the next show.”

Bruce summarised the experience wonderfully.

“One of the joys of doing this was meeting director Robert Lepage, who was here for a week. He was such a lovely man, and great to work with.”

The Nightingale and Other Fables was a once in a lifetime theatre experience made even more meaningful by talking to one of its stage creators, Bruce Bolton.

The Nightingale And Other Fables. Photo: Andrew Beveridge.

The Nightingale And Other Fables. Photo: Andrew Beveridge.

Ignite Your Outlook

The Managing Director of Outlook Communications, Jack Jones, explains why he recommends the Beamz Pro range of lighting for venues, bands, schools and community theatres.

When Outlook Communications was acquired by my company, The Big Production Group, last year, I wanted to expand the company’s audio offerings to include a full range of lighting.

With the myriad of brands out there, it was hard to choose one flagship company. I took advice from a trusted supplier, James Pavey from Audio Visual Engineering (AVE), which is a family-owned entertainment Australian business (like Outlook), dedicated to the music, and entertainment industry.

From day one, the relationship between AVE and Outlook has been very successful. James recommended Beamz Pro products because of their quality and affordability. They do the job for a third of the price of other brands, which is great for community theatres and schools which don’t have big budgets. Over the past six months we have acquired over 100 fixtures for sale or hire. Some highlights include:

The IGNITE300 is a powerful Beam/Spot/ Wash moving head with a 300W bright white LED source and super smooth three phase motors. Equipped with two gobo wheels, two effect wheels and a rotating facet prism to make stunning aerial effects in eight colours plus white. The linear motorised zoom allows you to focus a beam up to 7° or open up to 32°, to cover a wider area with ease. Perfect for stage shows, productions, events, DJs, bands, venues, and more.

The WBP1212IP is an aluminum IP65 PAR with built-in battery designed for outside usage with 12 high power six-in-one LEDs giving six colours. The fixture enriches the wash possibilities to ensure a better convergence of light. It’s water resistant with watertight internal gaskets and weatherproof power and data cable in/out

connections. No fan as heat is dissipated via the aluminum housing. It also comes with an Infrared remote control.

The BBP54 is a compact Battery Par for use as accent and uplighting. The light is IP65 rated and hence for outdoor and indoor use. It‘s equipped with 4x super bright 12W RGBAW-UV LEDs and comes fitted with a removable built-in battery that lasts up to 15 hours when fully charged, depending on colours and intensity. An adjustable foot can be fixed in different angles for angular placement of the par. The fixture can communicate by IR remote control and wireless DMX.

The Kratos LED Tubes feature full RGBW color mixing, giving you complete control over your lighting environment. Each of the eight tubes can be controlled individually, allowing you to create complex lighting setups quickly and easily. With its lightweight and durable design, the Kratos Tube LED set is perfect for on-the-go shoots and studio productions. It offers a wide variety of stunning special effects to choose from, for any project, from commercials to musical performances.

In late January our senior management team travelled to Barcelona to visit the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) Expo. We met the Dutch owners of Tronios the parent company for Beamz Pro. This opened a conversation to work together to provide active feedback on new and existing products for the Australian market.

All the products highlighted are perfect solutions for schools and community theatre groups. They are affordable yet the quality is second to none. We absolutely love these products, and you will love them as well. Outlook has all the above in our hire stock, but we are also a sales dealer for Beamz Pro.

Call: (03) 9495 1755

Visit: outlookcomms.com.au

Email: info@outlookcomms.com.au

Creatives’ Collaboration On The Dictionary Of Lost Words

Verity Laughton’s stage adaptation of Pip Williams’ best-selling novel The Dictionary of Lost Words was a technical triumph and commercial success. The novel tells the story of fictitious Esme Nicoll from the age of eight in 1886 through to a thirty-three-year-old woman in 1915, set against the creation of the venerable Oxford English Dictionary.

While the principal stage set is the ‘Scriptorium’ or ‘Scrippy’, the shed where the dictionary editors work there are numerous other locations. The huge time span, unusual for a stage play, also presented creative problems for the theatre makers: Director Jessica Arthur, Designer Jonathon Oxlade and Lighting Designer Trent Suidgeest. They all read the novel and sometimes

referred back to it but their task was to realise Verity Laughton’s complex adaptation script. Their creative collaborations (and a great cast) brought this multi-layered story to life.

Designer Jonathon Oxlade’s inspired set design for the Scriptorium comprised over seven hundred pigeonholes, curved across the whole width of the stage, and fronted by

desks covered with books and papers; it was both utilitarian and suggestive.

Stage Whispers Michael Brindley spoke to Lighting Designer Trent Suidgeest.

Michael Brindley: I’m assuming Jonathon’s basic Scriptorium design was a first step?

Trent Suidgeest: Jess and Jonathon had some time together to work out the concept and over-arching style,

and a pass at the physical structure. Then I began contributing as Jonathon continued to dig into his designs. The idea for anchoring the show inside the Scriptorium and the projected elements is all Jonathon and Jess, then how we morph these elements to keep the show evolving is where we all continued from.

MB: While the basic double height set of the pigeonholes was fixed on stage, your lighting had to suggest or enhance not just the passage of time but a variety of other locations besides the central ‘Scrippy’. There’s the maid Lizzie’s room, various exteriors, the street, the market, a pub, the typographers’ space and the Bodleian Library. How did you approach that challenge?

TS: Yes, I’m not sure I’ve ever designed a play where the lighting requirements were so diverse, but it’s a huge story to tell so the lighting needs to contribute to that in many ways.

Aside from traditional stage lighting from all angles, one of the exciting design concepts for me was the way we lit all of the pigeonholes. The marvellous production team at State Theatre Company of South Australia fitted every pigeonhole with a custom LED pixel chip 770 in total all delicately strung throughout the shelving walls. The pixels are colour changeable and individually controllable, so I use specific pixels to compose suggestions of windows glowing, or gradients to focus our attention.

Those lights are used to transform the basic set into many locations always complementary to the stage action and the projections. [Of which more later.] Some of my favourites are: an oversized tartan wiping across during a transition and the suggestion of a cobblestoned street during an outdoor scene using random intensities of greyscale. We also found a couple of moments for some shadow play beyond the pigeonholes, on their back surface, so we used a material which took light from behind.

I designed two additional layers of lighting from upstage one washy, one to cast shadows of humans to be able to create silhouettes of

(Continued on page 52)

The Dictionary Of Lost Words

Photo: Daniel Boud.

(Continued from page 51)

people, the slips of paper (for introducing ‘found words’) and props in the pigeonholes. Sometimes the backlit shapes of all of those props are more interesting than seeing them lit by the individual pixels internally.

MB: The changes of location especially to the market and the pub were always clear and achieved so efficiently via some furniture movement, minimal props and costume changes. Your job was to add another layer without your work being too obvious.

TS: I was actually sometimes nervous that the shifts in lighting were too overt! I’m always tracking the reveals of the various elements and the depth to which the lighting shifts aligned with Esme’s journey. As the world widens for Esme so too does the degree to which the lighting supports that. The colour and shape in the lighting become richer; more vividly presented.

Once we’re into the pub scene and dressing room we’ve built into full red and amber highlights, which then allows the world of the Scriptorium to be our anchor in versions of bright warms and daylight, and ultimately the stark cold whites come with scenes of pain.

MB: A particularly fine sequence occurs late in Act II, when Esme must tell would-be fiancé Gareth about her

past. It’s beautifully staged by Director Jessica Arthur: it had no words yet was absolutely clear and almost a suggestive dance. The characters became moving silhouettes. What is the role of your lighting in this sequence?

TS: Oooo yes, definitely a crowd favourite! This montage sequence was conceived by Jess as a climax. We have a suspension of reality with all of the key memories of Esme’s life leading up to that moment.

I created an effect with the pixels in the pigeonholes, all pulsing randomly and rhythmically. My desire is for it to feel like the words that Esme has collected along the way and/or various moments in time, are swirling around her. I wanted it to sparkle and shimmer to heighten the magical realism we were pursuing. It is a big theatrical gesture!

MB: There is a staircase too, cleverly hidden in the pigeonholes, to an upper level, a platform principally used as Lizzie’s bedroom (Esme has no room of her own that we see) and

(Continued on page 54)

The Dictionary Of Lost Words

Photo: Daniel Boud.

Trent Suidgeest.

(Continued from page 52)

the lighting there was quite different to that of, say, the Scrippy. Rather cold? Any comment on that?

TS: Interesting you mention that, because that is a direct example of me picking up on that detail while rereading the book during rehearsals: “Lizzie saw it coming, so she scooped me into her bony arms and trotted up the stairs. The room was cold. Lizzie took the coverlet off her bed and laid it on the bare floor like a rug.”

As the show progresses, I warm up the lighting in the bedroom as the relationship between Esme and Lizzie builds and Esme’s collection of ‘forgotten’ words that she hides in Lizzie’s trunk become the heart of the show.

MB: Jonathon’s design restricted Lizzie’s room to just the bed and that very important trunk. Was that an extra burden on lighting?

TS: The bedroom scenes are particularly important for us to focus on the storytelling and relationship with Lizzie, so the clean scenery is useful in that way.

The projected imagery always helps to help support those pillar moments; the pin cushion, the hatpin, the reveal of the scratched title, collected words and the dictionary. There is always a point of interest.

MB: Whose idea was it for the actors to use an overhead projector to project those key images the ‘pillar moments’ from the central desk onto the cyclorama?

TS: The concept came from Jonathon together with Jessica to create transitional scenography using words and ephemera. The objects and compositions developed right through rehearsals, as needed, to articulate places, dates, words, etc.

The actors were choreographed alongside the action to composite the physical imagery together while live projected onto a cyclorama screen above the bookshelves. I love that it’s all tactile. It speaks to Esme’s collecting.

The surface under the camera is a Lightbox internally made up of five gradated sections to allow me to light the more transparent backgrounds of

plastics, silks and lace doilies (for instance) from below, together with hidden lighting within the camera’s shroud from straight down, and sidelight from above in the rig. All the light sources were LED colour changeable, so we could finesse the exact colour and intensity combinations. In being able to light all of the projections live and then have everything cued within the lighting cues helps it move like transitional scenery.

I spent a great deal of tech rehearsals lighting the objects and props under the camera for the projections. It felt like lighting large scale traditional scenery backdrops. I work to find harmony between the lighting of the actors and pulling all of the miniature projected scenery together into cohesive stage pictures.

MB: Well, as an audience member, the harmony and cohesion between all designs really showed. You all did a marvellous job with an expansive and challenging text. Thank you, Trent.

The Dictionary Of Lost Words

Photo: Daniel Boud.

On Stage

Rent continues it’s Australian tour, opening at Canberra Theatre Centre in June following a season from May 11 at His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. rentmusical.au

A.C.T.

Online extras!

Watch the trailer and discover why our reviewers said Rent was unmissable youtu.be/_SB8lPMq4ZY

Canberra Theatre. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Performing Arts Centre. theq.net.au

Billy Elliot The Musical. Book & Lyrics by Lee Hall, Lyrics by Elton John. Free Rain Theatre Company. Until May 5 The QQueanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. theq.net.au

The Actress by Peter Quilter. Canberra Rep. May 2 - 18. canberrarep.org.au

Fourteen by Shannon Molloy. Adapted by shake & stir with Shannon Molloy. May 9 - 11. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

A Taste of Ireland. The Irish Music and Dance Sensation. Pace Live. May 10. The QQueanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. theq.net.au

The Trojan War by A Slightly Isolated Dog. Nicholas Clark Management. May 14. The QQueanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. theq.net.au

Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton. Adapted by Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson May 15 - 19.

Highway of Lost Hearts by Mary Anne Butler, with original music by Smith and Jones. Lingua Franca Production. Jun 6 & 7. The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. theq.net.au

Rent: The Musical by Jonathan Larson. Jun 7 - 15. Canberra Theatre. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Jun 7 - 15. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre. canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. Canberra Rep. Jun 13 - 29. canberrarep.org.au

The Will To Be by Mark Salvestro. Q The Locals. Jun 13 & 14. The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. theq.net.au

Green Day’s American Idiot. Queanbeyan Players. Jun 2029. The Q - Queanbeyan

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

New South Wales No Pay? No Way! by Dario Fo and Franca Rama. Adapted by Marieke Hardy. Sydney Theatre Company. Until May 11. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. sydneytheatre.com.au

The President by Thomas Bernhard, translated by Gitta Honegger. Sydney Theatre Company. Until May 18. Roslyn Packer Theatre. sydneytheatre.com.au

Annie by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan. Parkes Musical and Dramatic Society. Until May 11. The Little Theatre, Parkes. parkesmandd.com.au

Photo: Pia Johnson.

On Stage

The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. New Theatre, Newtown. Until May 18. newtheatre.org.au

Grand Horizons by Bess Wolf. Maitland Repertory Theatre. Until May 12 Maitland Rep Theatre. (02) 4933 2766. mrt.org.au

Lose to Win by Mandela Mathia. Until May 19. Belvoir Street Theatre. belvoir.com.au

Nayika (A Dancing Girl) by Nithya Nagarajan and Liv Satchell. Until May 19. Belvoir Street Theatre. belvoir.com.au

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Bay Theatre Players. Until May 11. Bay Players Theatre, Batemans Bay. baytheatreplayers.com

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth. Wollongong Workshop Theatre. May 3 - 18. wollongongworkshoptheatre.com.au

Esther Villar’s Isolde & Tristan. Translated by Udo Bogert and Laura Ginters. Sport for Jove. May 3 - Jun 1. Old Fitz Theatre. oldfitztheatre.com.au

Jekyll & Hyde. Book & Lyrics by Leslie Brieusse, Music by Frank Wildhorn. Hornsby Musical Society. May 3 - 12. Pioneer Theatre, Castle Hill. hornsbymusicalsociety.com.au

9 to 5 The Musical. Music by Dolly Parton. Lyrics & Book by Patricia Resnick. Rockdale Musical Society. May 3 - 12. Rockdale Town Hall. rockdalemusicalsociety.com

Switzerland by Joanne MurraySmith. Ensemble Theatre. May 3 - Jun 8. ensemble.com.au

Mother and Son by Geoffrey Atherden. The Players Theatre Inc, Port Macquarie. May 319. playerstheatre.org.au

We Will Rock You by Ben Elton and Queen. Tamworth Musical Society. May 3 - 18. tms.org.au

Misery Loves Company by Isabella Reid. Legit Theatre Co. May 3 - 18. KXT on Broadway. kingsxtheatre.com

Death by Chocolate by Paul Freed. Richmond Players. May 4 - 25 Richmond School of Arts. richmondplayers.com.au

Fiddler on the Roof Book by Joseph Stein. Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society. May 4 - 18. Epping Baptist Church. eucms.org.au

The Tin Woman by Sean Grennan. Arts Theatre Cronulla. May 10 - Jun 15. Arts Theatre, 6 Surf Rd, Cronulla. artstheatrecronulla.com.au

Shook. Samuel Bailey. Lost Thought. May 7 - 19. Old Fitz Theatre. oldfitztheatre.com.au

The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh. Lane Cove Theatre Co. May 10 - 26. The Performance Space at St

Aidan’s, Longueville. lanecovetheatrecompany.com.au

Parade by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown. Soundworks Productions. May 9 - 25. Seymour Centre. seymourcentre.com

The Addams Family by Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice & Andrew Lippa. Orange Theatre Co. May 10 - 18. Orange Civic Theatre. orangetheatreco.com.au

The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh. Campbelltown Theatre Group. May 10 - 25. Town Hall Theatre Campbelltown. ctgi.org.au

Jersey Boys. Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Coffs Harbour Musical Comedy Company Inc. May 10 - Jun 2. coffsharbourmusicalcomedycompany.com

56 Stage Whispers

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

On Stage

Heather Mitchell stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Sydney Theatre Company’s touring production of RBG: Of Many, One Catch it at Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne until May 12; at Playhouse, QPAC in Brisbane from May 16 to 26; Riverside Theatres, Parramatta from May 30 to June 2; and at Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre Of W.A. in Perth from June 13 to 23. sydneytheatre.com.au

New South Wales

Online extras!

Watch a clip of Sydney Theatre Company’s RBG: Of Many, One. youtu.be/z_hwSNpM9PI

Ulster American by David Ireland. Ensemble Theatre. May 13 - Jun 8. ensemble.com.au

The Spook by Melissa Reeves. Pymble Players. May 15 - Jun 8. Pymble Players Theatre. pymbleplayers.com.au

Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig. Woy Woy Little Theatre. May 17 - Jun 2. Peninsula Theatre, Woy Woy. woywoylt.com

Jersey Boys Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice. Music by Bob Gaudio. Lyrics by Bob Crewe. Willoughby Theatre Company. May 17 - Jun 2. The Concourse Theatre, Chatswood willoughbytheatreco.com.au

Anything Goes. Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter. Book: Timothy Crouse and John Weidman based on the original by P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse. Engadine Musical Society. May 17 - 26. Engadine Community Centre. engadinemusicalsociety.com.au

Gulls by Robert Hewett. Drama. The Guild Theatre, Rockdale. May 17 - Jun 9. guildtheatre.com.au

Ghost The Musical. Book & Lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin. Music & Lyrics by Dave Stewart & Glen Ballard Blackout Theatre Company. May 17 - 25.

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

Pioneer Theatre, Castle Hill. blackouttheatre.com.au

The Eisteddfod by Lally Katz. May 21 - 31. Old Fitz Theatre. oldfitztheatre.com.au

Ride the Cyclone. Book, Music & Lyrics by Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell. Additional Material by Alan Schmuckler. Hayes Theatre Co. May 23 - Jun 22. hayestheatre.com.au

Almost, Maine. Castle Hill Players. May 24 - Jun 15. Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill Showground, Doran Drive, Castle Hill. paviliontheatre.org.au

Dog by Shayne. We Are Not Producers with support from

White Box Theatre Company

May 24 - Jun 8. KXT on Broadway. kingsxtheatre.com

Oklahoma! By Rodgers and Hammerstein. Dural Musical Society. May 25 - Jun 8. Normanhurst Uniting Church. duralmusicalsociety.org

The Sound of Music. Music: Richard Rodgers. Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein 2nd. Book: Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse. Blue Mountains Musical Society. May 25 - Jun 9. Blue Mountains Theatre bmms.org.au

Never Closer by Grace Chapple. Belvoir, in association with Essential Workers. May 25 -

Photo: Prudence Upton.

On Stage New South Wales

Kirra Lang will star as Eliza Doolittle in Queensland Musical Theatre’s upcoming season of My Fair Lady Playing at Twelfth Night Theatre from June 14 to 23. queenslandmusicaltheatre.com

Jun 16. Belvoir Street Theatre. belvoir.com.au

Seussical the Musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty Hills Musical Theatre Co. May 24 - Jun 1. Model Farms High School Auditorium. hillsmtc.com

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum with music & lyrics by Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg. Background Music by Herbert Stothart, dance & vocal arrangements by Peter Howard, orchestration by Larry Wilcox. Berowra Musical Society. May 25 - Jun 2. Berowra Community Centre. bmsi.org.au

Così by Louis Nowra. Murwillumbah Theatre Company. May 26 - Jun 16. Murwillumbah Civic Centre

Auditorium. murwillumbahtheatrecompany.com.au

Ink by James Graham. New Theatre, Newtown. May 28Jun 29. newtheatre.org.au

Stolen by Jane Harrison. Sydney Theatre Company. Jun 6 - Jul 6. Wharf 1 Theatre. sydneytheatre.com.au

The Ballad of Maria Marten by Beth Flintoff. Hunters Hill Theatre. Jun 7 - 23. Club Ryde. huntershilltheatre.com.au

King James by Rajiv Joseph. Jun 7 - 29. Old Fitz Theatre. oldfitztheatre.com.au

Chicago. Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse, Music John Kander, Lyrics Fred Ebb. John Frost for Crossroads Live, Jones Theatrical Group in association with Barry and Fran Weissler.

From Jun 9. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. chicagomusical.com.au

No Love Songs For Lady Basses by Sheanna Parker Russon. Trans Theatre Collective. Jun 11 - 16. Old Fitz Theatre. oldfitztheatre.com.au

Life Without Me by Daniel Keene. Lieder Theatre Company, Goulburn. Jun 1229. theliedertheatre.com

Footloose Youth Edition. Adapted by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. Music by Tom Snow. Lyrics by Dean Pitchford North Shore Theatre Company. Jun 14 - 22. northshoretheatrecompany.org

Master Class by Terence McNally. Ensemble Theatre. Jun 14 - Jul 20. ensemble.com.au

Wolf Lullaby by Hilary Bell. Wollongong Workshop

Theatre. Jun 14 - 29. wollongongworkshoptheatre.com.au

Ode to Isiah Walsh by Ben Chapple. Jun 18 - 28. Old Fitz Theatre. oldfitztheatre.com.au

Trophy Boys by Emmanuelle Mattana. Soft Tread and Seymour Centre in association with The Maybe Pile. Jun 19Jul 7. Seymour Centre. seymourcentre.com

Oliver! By Lionel Bart. Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society. Jun 21 - Jul 7. Redgum Function Centre, Wentworthville. hmds.org.au

Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes. Conceived and directed by Scott Wittman. Music direction and arrangements by Joseph Thalken. Written by Jeffrey Richman. Jun 21 & 22. City Recital Hall, Sydney. pattilupone.com.au

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

Whispers

Photo: Creative Street.

On Stage Queensland

Queensland

Beauty and the Beast the Musical Music by Alan Menkin Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice Book by Linda Woolverton. Disney Theatrical Productions. Until Jun 9. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. beautyandthebeastmusical.com.au

Aria by David Williamson. Noosa Arts Theatre. Until May 12. noosaartstheatre.org.au

Harvey by Mary Chase. Sunnybank Theatre Group. Until May 11. sunnybanktheatre.com.au

The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow. Toowoomba Repertory Theatre Society. Until May 11. Toowoomba Repertory Theatre. toowoombarep.com.au

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt. Until May 11. Playhouse, QPAC. thewomaninblack.com.au

Carrie: The Musical Music by Michael Gore. Lyrics by Dean Pitchford. Book by Laurence D. Cohen. Phoenix Ensemble, Beenleigh. May 3 - 25. phoenixensemble.com.au

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Brisbane Arts Theatre. May 4Jun 1. artstheatre.com.au

The Haunting by Hugh James, based on the ghost stories by Charles Dickens. Tugun Theatre Company. May 9 - 25. tuguntheatre.org

Dogfight: The Musical Music & Lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. Book by Peter Duchan. Spotlight Theatrical Company, Benowa. May 10 - Jun 1. spotlighttheatre.com.au

Black Box. Book, music and lyrics by Paul Hodge, based on the true story of David Warren. May 10 - 19. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. qpac.com.au

Mr Bailey’s Minder by Debra Oswald Nash Theatre. May 10 - Jun 1. Merthyr Rd Uniting

Church, New Farm. nashtheatre.com

Medea by Kate Mulvany and Anne-Louise Sarks Original concept by Anne-Louise Sarks after Euripides. Queensland Theatre. May 11 - Jun 8. Bille Brown Theatre. queenslandtheatre.com.au

Audra McDonald: Live in Concert. May 15. Concert Hall, QPAC. qpac.com.au

Blue by Thomas Weatherall. La Boite Theatre presents a Belvoir St production. May 16 - Jun 1. laboite.com.au

RBG: Of Many, One by Suzie Miller. A Sydney Theatre Company production. May 1626. Playhouse, QPAC. qpac.com.au

Stepping Out by Richard Harris. Ipswich Little Theatre. May 16Jun 1. ilt.org.au

Merrily We Roll Along. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. Ad Astra. May 16 - Jun 8. adastracreativity.com

Noises Off by Michael Frayn. Centenary Theatre Company. May 18 - Jun 9. Chelmer Community Centre. centenarytheatre.com.au

Bell, Book and Candle by John Van Druten. St Luke’s Theatre Society. Jun 7 - 22. Christ Church Hall, Yeronga. stlukestheatre.asn.au

Coppélia. Choreographed by Greg Horsman, after Arthur Saint-Léon and Marius Petipa. Music by Léo Delibes. Queensland Ballet. Jun 7 - 22. Playhouse, QPAC. qpac.com.au

The Lost Birds. Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Jun 8 & 9. Concert Hall, QPAC. qpac.com.au

Fourteen by Shannon Molloy. Adapted by shake & stir with Shannon Molloy. Jun 12 - Jul 6. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. qpac.com.au

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

My Fair Lady. Music: Frederick Loewe. Book & Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner. Queensland Musical Theatre. Jun 14 - 23. Twelfth Night Theatre, Bowen Hills. queenslandmusicaltheatre.com

Away by Michael Gow. Villanova Players. Jun 14 - 23. The Ron Hurley Theatre, Seven Hills. villanovaplayers.com

Cost of Living by Martyna Majok. Queensland Theatre. Jun 15 - Jul 11. Bille Brown Theatre. queenslandtheatre.com.au

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay. Adapted by Tom Wright. Javeenbah Theatre. Jun 15 - 29. javeenbah.org.au

Crazy Ladies by Devon Williamson. Tweed Heads Theatre Co. Jun 21 - Jul 7. Tweed Heads Civic Centre Auditorium. tweedtheatre.com.au

Waru: Journey Of The Small Turtle. Bangarra Dance Theatre. Jun 26 - 29. Playhouse, QPAC. qpac.com.au

Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes. Conceived and directed by Scott Wittman. Music direction and arrangements by Joseph Thalken. Written by Jeffrey Richman. Jun 27. Concert Hall, QPAC. pattilupone.com.au

Hair. Book and Lyrics by Germone Ragni and James Rado. Music by Galt MacDermott. Gold Coast Little Theatre. Jun 29 - Jul 20. gclt.com.au

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Book by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins. TEG Dainty. From Jun 29. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. tinathemusical.com.au

Shrek The Musical. Music by Jeanine Tesori. Book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. Savoyards. Jun 22 - Jul 6. Iona Performing Arts Centre. savoyards.com.au

On Stage Victoria

ILBIJERRI Theatre Company brings Big Name, No Blankets to Melbourne as part of the 2024 RISING Festival. The rock ‘n’ roll story celebrates the trailblazing music icons, Warumpi Band, inspired by tales from founding member Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher. Playing at Melbourne Town Hall from May 31 to June 2. 2024.rising.melbourne

Victoria Wicked. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman, based on the novel by Gregory Maguire. John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia, Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone. Ongoing. Regent Theatre, Melbourne. wickedthemusical.com.au

A Case for the Existence of God by Samuel D. Hunter. Red Stitch The Actors’ Theatre. Until May 12. redstitch.net

The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver. Melbourne Theatre Company. Until May 18. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. mtc.com.au

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. Until May 11. bellshakespeare.com.au

RBG: Of Many, One by Suzie Miller. Sydney Theatre Company. Until May 12. Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. artscentremelbourne.com.au

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Malvern Theatre Company. Until May 11. malverntheatre.com.au

The Grinning Man. Book by Carl Grose. Music by Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler. Lyrics by Carl Grose, Tom Morris, Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler. Salty Theatre and Vass Productions. Until May 19. Alex Theatre, St Kilda. alextheatre.au

Way by Sally McKenzie theCoalface. May 1 - 12. fortyfivedownstairs theatre. fortyfivedownstairs.com

Kiss Me, Kate! Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Book by Sam and Bella Spewack. Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Victoria. May 25. Alexander Theatre, Monash University. gsov.org.au

60 Stage Whispers

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

Photo: Brett Boardman.

On Stage Victoria

Anything Goes. Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter. Original Book by P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse. New Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman. Bairnsdale Production Line Theatre Co. May 3 - 19. Forge Theatre and Arts Hub. bairnsdaleproductionline.org

World Problems by Emma Mary Hall. Melbourne Theatre Company. May 3 - 22. Southbank Theatre, The Lawler. mtc.com.au

Into the Woods. Book by James Lapine. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Williamstown Musical Theatre Company. May 3 - 18. Centenary Theatre, Williamstown. wmtc.org.au

He by Rodrigo Calderón Theatre Works. May 7 - 18. Explosives Factory. theatreworks.org.au

Lung by Kate Herbert. May 719. La Mama HQ. lamama.com.au

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, dramatised by Christopher Sergel. Peridot. May 10 - 19. Clayton Theatrette. peridot.com.au

Hearth by Fleur Murphy. Mordialloc Theatre Co. May 10 - 19. Shirley Burke Theatre. mordialloctheatre.com

Looped by Matthew Lombardo. The Mount Players. May 10 - 26. The Mount View Theatre, Macedon. themountplayers.com

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling. Beaumaris Theatre. May 10 - 25. beaumaristheatre.com.au

Kaz & Jude’s Menopausal Night Out. Kaz Cooke and Judith Lucy. May 10 - 12. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. cmdy.live/KAJ24Melbourne

Homo Pentecostus by Joel Bray. Malthouse Theatre. May 1025. Beckett Theatre. malthousetheatre.com.au

Billy Elliot. Book and lyrics by Lee Hall. Music by Elton John. CLOC. May 10 - 25. National Theatre Melbourne, St Kilda. cloc.org.au

Rootless Cosmopilitans by Ron Elisha. Monstrous Theatre. May 15 - Jun 2. Chapel of Chapel. chapeloffchapel.com.au

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Adapted by Simon Levy. The 1812 Theatre. May 16 - Jun 8. 1812theatre.com.au

We’re Banking On It! MUST and Bloomshed. May 16 - 26.

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

fortyfivedownstairs theatre. fortyfivedownstairs.com

Hydra by Sue Smith. Brighton Theatre Co. May 17 - Jun 1. Brighton Arts and Cultural Centre. brightontheatre.com.au

Legally Blonde the Musical by Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin and Heather Hach. Warragul Theatre Company. May 17 - 25. West Gippsland Arts Centre. wgac.com.au

Audra McDonald. May 17. Hamer Hall. concertworks.com.au

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia. May 18 - Jun 9. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. theoddcoupleplay.com.au

Meurants Lane. Limelight Department Theatre. May 21Jun 2. La Mama HQ. lamama.com.au

Sunset Boulevard by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Opera Australia & GWB

Entertainment. May 21 - Jul 28. Princess Theatre. sunsetmusical.com.au

Koal by Jacinta Yelland and Trey Lyford. Theatre Works. May 22 - Jun 1. Explosives Factory. theatreworks.org.au

Big Name, No Blankets by Andrea James with Anyupa Butcher and Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher. RISING / ILBIJERRI Theatre Company. May 29 - Jun 2. Melbourne Town Hall. 2024.rising.melbourne

Eclipse. Cerulean and Stone Motherless Cold, Kamarra BellWykes and Carly Sheppard / A Daylight Connection, Willoh Weiland, Miss Ellaneous. RISING. May 29 - Jun 2. Melbourne Town Hall. 2024.rising.melbourne

Happy Coupling by Ross Gumbley. Strathmore

Theatrical Arts Group. May 30Jun 8. stagtheatre.org

Oedipus The King by Sophocles (R. Fagles Translation). Smart Artz Theatre. May 30 - Jun 2. Horsham Town Hall Theatre. horshamtownhall.com.au

Ghosts by Jodi Gallagher after Henrik Ibsen. Theatre Works. May 30 - Jun 15. theatreworks.org.au

Carpet and Sand by Robert Reid / 100 Reasons for War by Tom Holloway. Calamity Productions. May 30 - Jun 16. fortyfivedownstairs theatre. fortyfivedownstairs.com

Sea Symphony by Rawcus, Kate Hunter and Rea Dennis May

On

Stage Victoria & Tasmania

31 - Jun 12. Theatre Works Courtyard. theatreworks.org.au

Julia by Joanna Murray-Smith. Melbourne Theatre Company. May 31 - Jul 8. Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. mtc.com.au

Counting and Cracking by S.Shakthidhidharan. Belvoir / RISING / University of Melbourne Arts and Culture

May 31 - Jun 23. Union Theatre, University of Melbourne.

2024.rising.melbourne

RISING. Jun 1 - 16. Venues across Melbourne.

2024.rising.melbourne

Blackout Songs by Joe White. Red Stitch The Actors’ Theatre. Jun 1 - 30. redstitch.net

Pastabate by Dani Hayek. Jun 4 - 8. La Mama Courthouse. lamama.com.au

This Room Holds Her Memory by Laura Lethlean and Ariette

Taylor. Victorian Theatre Company and Theatre Works. Jun 5 - 15. Explosives Factory. theatreworks.org.au

The Swallows by Sandra Fiona Long. Kath Papas Productions with Kath Papas and Taka Takiguchi. Jun 6 - 16. La Mama HQ. lamama.com.au

Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Written by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott. Babirra Theatre Co. Jun 7 - 16. The RoundTheatre. babirra.org.au

Jimmie The Beatle by Tim Byron. The Basin Theatre Group. Jun 8 - 22. The Basin Theatre. 1300 784 668. thebasintheatre.org.au

Daniel Kitson Collaborator. A work in progress. RISING. Jun 11 - 23. The Lawler, Southbank Theatre. 2024.rising.melbourne

Girl at the Bottom of a Well by Henry Kelly. A ry presentation. Jun 12 - 16. La Mama Courthouse. lamama.com.au

Cadela Força Trilogy Chapter IThe Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella by Carolina Bianchi Y Cara de Cavalo. RISING. Jun 13 - 15. Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse. 2024.rising.melbourne

Burnout Paradise. Pony Cam Collective and Parrot Ox. Jun 13 - 15. Beckett Theatre, Malthouse.

2024.rising.melbourne

Spellbound. Suhani Shah. RISING. Jun 13 - 15. The Capitol - RMIT. 2024.rising.melbourne

The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder. Essendon Theatre Co. Jun 13 - 24. Bradshaw Street Community Hall.

essendontheatrecompany.com.au

Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton. Cathouse Players Inc. Jun 1423. Kyneton Masonic Centre. cathouseplayers.com.au

The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. Mountain District Musical Society (MDMS). Jun 14 - 23. mdms.org.au

A/LONE by Janine McKenzie, original score by Sheshtin Honey. Jun 18 - 23. La Mama HQ. lamama.com.au

Shrapnel by Natalie Gamsu and Ash Flanders. Kadimah Yiddish Theatre. Jun 18 - 23. fortyfivedownstairs theatre. fortyfivedownstairs.com

The Platypus by Francis Greenslade. Buckets Nijinsky Productions and Theatre Works. Jun 19 - Jul 6. theatreworks.org.au

Blood in the Water by Jorja Bentley. FLICKFLICKCITY. Jun 20 - 30. La Mama Courthouse. lamama.com.au

Lovesong by Abi Morgan. Malvern Theatre Co. Jun 21Jul 6. Malvern Theatre. malverntheatre.com.au

Veronica’s Room by Ira Levin. Mordialloc Theatre Co. Jun 2130. Shirley Burke Theatre. mordialloctheatre.com

The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter. MSD Studio. Jun 22Jul 14. Alex Theatre, St Kilda. alextheatre.au

Son Called Moon by Ari Jacob Jun 22 - 25. Chapel of Chapel. chapeloffchapel.com.au

Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes. Conceived and directed by Scott Wittman. Music direction and arrangements by Joseph Thalken. Written by Jeffrey Richman. Jun 24 & 25. The Palais, St Kilda. pattilupone.com.au

Unestablished by Yogashree. Jun 25 - 30. La Mama HQ. lamama.com.au

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard. Williamstown Little Theatre. Jun 26 - Jul 13. wlt.org.au

Recollection by Georgia Ketels. Potkettleblack Productions. Jun 26 - Jul 7. fortyfivedownstairs theatre. fortyfivedownstairs.com

Suite Surrender by Michael McKeever. Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre. Jun 27 - Jul 13. lilydaleatc.com

Misery by William Goldman. Geelong Repertory Theatre Co. Jun 28 - Jul 13. Woodbin Theatre. geelongartscentre.org.au

Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott. Heidelberg Theatre Company. Jun 28 - Jul 13. htc.org.au

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, GWB Entertainment and Andrew Henry. From Jun 29. Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. redstitch.net

Tasmania

The Hello Girls. Music and lyrics by Peter Mills. Book by Peter

On Stage Tasmania & South Australia

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, Melbourne’s CLOC is bringing the Victorian non-professional premiere of Billy Elliot, The Musical to the stage. Playing at the National Theatre, St Kilda from May 10 to 25. cloc.org.au

Mills and Cara Reichel. Bijou Tasmania. May 2 - 11. The Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. playhouse.org.au

The Trojan War. A Slightly Isolated Dog. May 8, Earl Arts Centre, Launceston, theatrenorth.com.au; May 1011, Studio Theatre, Theatre Royal, Hobart, theatreroyal.com.au

Australian Musical Theatre Festival. May 15 - 19. Launceston. amtf.org.au

Dracula. Launceston Youth Theatre Ensemble. May 2426. Earl Arts Centre, Launceston. theatrenorth.com.au

All The Things I Hate About You Launceston Youth Theatre Ensemble. May 29 - 31. Earl Arts Centre, Launceston. theatrenorth.com.au

Uni Revue 2024: The Rockliff Horror Show. The Old Nick Company. May 29 - Jun 1, Princess Theatre, Launceston, theatrenorth.com.au; Jun 1025, Theatre Royal, Hobart, theatreroyal.com.au

The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race by Melanie Tait. SQUID INC Theatre Company. Jun 68. Wharf Hotel Theatre, Wynyard. squidinc.org.au

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. John Frost for Crossroads Live and Shake & Stir Theatre Co. Jun 11 - 22. Theatre Royal, Hobart. theatreroyal.com.au

The 39 Steps. Adapted by Patrick Barlow from the novel by John Buchan and the Alfred Hitchcock movie. Encore Theatre Company Jun 14 - 29. Earl Arts Centre, Launceston. theatrenorth.com.au

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

Swan Lake. Victorian Ballet. Jun 28, Princess Theatre, Launceston, theatrenorth.com.au; Jun 29 & 30, Theatre Royal, Hobart, theatreroyal.com.au

Festival of Voices. Jun 28 - Jul 7. festivalofvoices.com

South Australia

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Book by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins. TEG Dainty. Until May 26. Adelaide Festival Theatre. tinathemusical.com.au

Living Together by Alan Ayckbourn. St Jude’s Players. May 2 - 11. St Jude’s Hall, Brighton. stjudesplayers.asn.au

Angels in America (Parts 1 & 2) by Tony Kushner. University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. May 2 - 25. The Little Theatre. adelaide.edu.au/theatreguild

The Addams Family. Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Based on characters created by Charles Addams. The Met. May 9 - 18. The Arts Theatre. metmusicals.com.au

Symphonie of the Bicycle by Huh Parham. State Theatre Company South Australia. May 14 - 25 Space Theatre, followed by an outermetropolitan and regional South Australian tour. statetheatrecompany.com.au

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt May 15 - 26. Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre. thewomaninblack.com.au

Murder by the Book by Duncan Greenwood and Robert King.

Photo: Ben Fon.

On Stage South Australia &

Western Australia

Tea Tree Players. May 22 - Jun 1. teatreeplayers.com

Oklahoma! By Rodgers and Hammerstein. The G & S Society of SA. May 23 - Jun 1. The Arts Theatre. gandssa.com.au

Candide. Music by Leonard Bernstein, book by Hugh Wheeler after Voltaire. Lyrics by Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein State Theatre Company South Australia and State Opera South Australia. May 23 - 25 Her Majesty’s Theatre. statetheatrecompany.com.au

Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson. Adelaide Repertory Theatre. Jun 6 - 15. The Arts Theatre. adelaiderep.com

Lilac Time. Music by Franz Schubert. Adapted by Heinrich Berte and arranged by Ronald

Online extras!

Watch a trailer for Bell Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. youtu.be/h9VczTOVMy0

Bell Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is playing at Arts Centre Melbourne until May 11, then at Canberra Theatre Centre from June 7 to 15, and at Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs on June 29. bellshakespeare.com.au

Hanmer, with New English book and lyrics by Phil Park. SALOS. Jun 6 - 9. Domain Theatre. (08) 8294 6582

Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Jun 7 - 22.

cabaret.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em by Guy Unsworth, based on the TV series by Raymond Allen. Blackwood Players. Jun 16 - 29. Blackwood 21 (Blackwood Memorial Hall). blackwoodplayers.com

Patti LuPone: A Life In Note. Michael Cassel Group. Jun 19. Adelaide Festival Centre. pattilupone.com.au

Western Australia

Evil Dead: The Musical by Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris and George Reinblatt. Wanneroo Repertory Club. Until May 11. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo. (08) 9255 3336. taztix.com.au

Evita by Tim Rice

Lloyd

Stirling Players. Until May 11. Stirling Theatre, Morris Rd, Innaloo. trybooking.com

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change by Joe DiPetro and Jimmy Roberts. Murray Music and Drama Club. May 3 - 18. Pinjarra Civic Centre. (08) 9255 3336. taztix.com.au

Jane Austen’s Emma. Arena Arts. May 3 - 11. City of Gosnells, Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, Thornlie. (08) 9498 9414. gosnells.wa.gov.au

Beautiful Burnout by Bryony Lavery. 3rd Year Acting at WAAPA. May 16 - 18. Enright Studio, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University. (08) 9304 6895. waapa.ecu.edu.au

Les Misérables by ClaudeMichel Schönberg, Alain Boubil and Herbert Kretzmer, John Curtin College of the Arts. May

8 - 11. Curtin Theatre. jc.wa.edu.au

Cathedral by Caleb Lewis. Midnite Youth Theatre. May 811. Drama Centre, Christchurch Grammar School, Claremont. midnite.ccgs.wa.edu.au

Saturday Night Fever the Musical by Robert Stigwood, Nan Knighton, Arla Phillips and Paul Nicholas. Drew Anthony Creative. May 8 - 19. The Royal Theatre, Planet Royal, Northbridge. drewanthonycreative.com.au

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert by Stephan Elliot and Allan Scott Stray Cats Theatre. May 9 - 12. Mandurah Performing Arts Centre. manpac.com

We Will Rock You by Ben Elton and Queen. Albany Light Opera and Theatre Company. May 10 - Jun 2. Albany Port Theatre. alotco.com.au

Whispers

and Andrew

Webber.

Photo: Brett Boardman.

On Stage Western Australia

A.B. Facey’s A Fortunate Life by Jenny Davis and Stuart Halusz. Theatre 180. May 10 - 12. Luna Cinemas Leederville. theatre180.com.au

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Stage Left Theatre Troupe. May 10 - 19. Stage Left Theatre, Boulder. stageleft.org.au

Little Red in the Hood. Jally Entertainment. May 11. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana. koorliny.com.au

Sweet Road by Debra Oswald. Melville Theatre Company. May 10 - 25. Melville Theatre. melvilletheatrecompany.au

Disney High School Musical Jr by David Simpatico and Matthew Gerrard. May 10 - 12. John Paul College, Kalgoorlie. trybooking.com/1204445

Rent: The Musical by Jonathan Larson. LDP Productions. May 11 - 26. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au

Elvis: A Musical Revolution Book by Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti. David Venn Enterprises. May 11 - 26. Crown Theatre, Perth. elvisamusicalrevolution.com.au

Cruisin’ All Abroad With Brendan and Elethea by Brendan Hansen and Elethea Sartorelli. May 11 - 12. Venue 180, Burswood. events.humanitix.com/cruisin

The State by Marli Jupiter. Marli Jupiter and Rhiannon Bryan. May 14 - 25. The Blue Room, Perth Cultural Centre. blueroom.org.au

How to Succeed in Business

Without Really Trying by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilber and Frank Loesser. Roleystone Theatre. May 16Jun 1. roleystonetheatre.com.au

The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan. The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of WA. May 16 - 25. Dolphin Theatre,

University of WA, Nedlands. gilbertandsullivanwa.org.au

Girl Asleep by Matthew Whittet. 3rd Year Acting at WAAPA. May 16 - 18. Enright Studio, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University. (08) 9304 6895. waapa.ecu.edu.au

Heathers The Musical by Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe. Jome Club. May 17 - 25. The Jonesway Theatre, Northbridge. thejoneswaytheatre.com.au

Footloose by Dean Pritchard and Walter Bobbie. Aquinas College. May 23 - 25. Subiaco Arts Centre. artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au

Done To Death by Fred Carmichael. Roxy Lane Theatre. May 23 - Jun 9. Roxy Lane Theatre, Maylands. (08) 9255 3336. taztix.com.au

Disney Finding Nemo Jr by Kristen Anderson Lopez, Robert Lopez and Myrna Conn. Western Theatrics. May 2326. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana. (08) 9467 7118. koorliny.com.au

Legally Blonde Jr by Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin and Heather Hach. Western Theatrics. May 23 - 26. Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana. (08) 9467 7118. koorliny.com.au

Back Inn Business by Tash Erbich. University Dramatic Society. May 23 - 25. Centre for Performing Arts at All Saints College, Bull Creek. trybooking.com/1187225

Potted Potter The Unauthorised Harry Experience by Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner. James Seabright. May 23 - 25. State Theatre Centre of W.A. artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au

A Silent Murder. Cluedunnit. May 24 - 25. Downstairs at The Maj, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au

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

Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton. Rodney Rigby and Queensland Theatre. May 28 - Jun 9. The Regal Theatre, Subiaco. gaslightplay.com.au

A Night on the Tiles by Suzanne Hawley. May 29 - Jun 6. University of Notre Dame, Fremantle. trybooking.com/1208331

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Adapted by Stephen Mallatrat. May 30 - Jun 9. His Majesty’s Theatre, Hay St, Perth. thewomaninblack.com.au

Disney’s Mary Poppins Jr. Book by Julian Fellowes. Music and lyrics by Richard M. & Robert B. Sherman, George Stiles & Anthony Drew. Bel Canto Performing Arts, May 31 - Jun 3. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth. oldmilltheatre.com.au

Mamma Mia! Music and Lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Book by Catherine Johnson. Goldfields Repertory Club. Jun 6 - 22. The Repertory Club, Kalgoorlie. goldfieldsrepclub.org.au

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. Garrick Theatre. Jun 622. (08) 9255 3336. taztix.com.au

Under the Table by Sean Guy. KADS. Jun 7 - 23. KADS Town Hall Theatre. kadstheatre.com.au

Head Over Heels by James Macgruder, Jeff Whitty and the GoGos. 3rd Year Music Theatre at WAAPA. Jun 7 - 13. The Roundhouse, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University. (08) 9304 6895. waapa.ecu.edu.au

A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath. Red Ryder Productions. Jun 11 - 25. The Blue Room, Perth Cultural Centre. blueroom.org.au

One Act Season The Bear, The Kitchen and Ashes to Dust By Anton Chekhov, Van Badham and Yvette Wall. Irish Theatre Players. Jun 13 - 22.

The Irish Club of WA, Subiaco. irishtheatreplayers.com.au

RGB: Of Many, One by Suzie Miller. Black Swan State Theatre Company. Jun 13 - 23. Heath Ledger Theatre. (08) 6212 9300. blackswantheatre.com.au

Into the Woods Jr by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Sacred Heart College. Jun 14. RNDM Performing Arts Centre, Sacred Heart College, Sorrento. The World of Musicals. Rokitz Entertainment. Jun 17. The Regal Theatre, Subiaco. premier.ticketek.com.au

Legally Blonde by Neil Benjamin, Laurence O’Keefe and Heather Hach. John Curtin College of the Arts. Jun 1922. Curtin Theatre. jc.wa.edu.au

Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. Darlington Theatre Players. Jun 26 - Jul 13. Marloo Theatre. marlootheatre.com.au

Lamplight Project by the company, product of a threeday devising workshop. Midnite Youth Theatre. Jun 26. Subiaco Arts Centre. midnite.ccgs.wa.edu.au

Hands on a Hard Body by Doug Wright Wanneroo Repertory Club. Jun 27 - Jul 13. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo. (08) 9255 3336. taztix.com.au

Murder at the Manor. Cluedunnit. Jun 28 - 29. Downstairs at The Maj, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. artsculturetrust.wa.gov.au

Hare Brain by Justin Cheek. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Jun 29 - Jul 13. Ellie Eaton Theatre, Perth Showground. sppt.com.au

Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. John Frost for Crossroads Live. Jun 30 - Jul 14. Crown Theatre, Perth. greasemusical.com.au

West Side Story

Book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Opera Australia. Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour. Mar 22 - Apr 21.

SUCH was the intensity of the brilliance of so many aspects of this production that it felt fresh and more detailed than any I have watched before.

Jerome Robbins’ dazzling choreography of the opening fight scene between the Jets and the Sharks was breathtaking on the large outdoor stage, with an ensemble that displayed athleticism and grit as they leapt across the stage in symmetry.

The female ensemble got their chance to shine in the song “America”, which was punctuated by the traditional fireworks.

The set design from Brian Thomson is a series of heavily graffitied train carriages. One was dangerously titled over the edge of the stage. The other revolves to reveal the milk bar.

The full 40-piece orchestra under the baton of Guy Simpson was outstanding. Every note was crisp, and every syllable of dialogue was crystal clear.

Billy Bourchier plays the lead role of star-crossed lover Tony. The tenor, who has served a long apprenticeship as a standby in major musicals in recent years has a dreamy voice, and he soared deliciously to the top notes in his aria “Maria”.

Soprano Nina Korbe sang beautifully too as Maria, but her style leant a little closer to opera than musical theatre.

Small cameo comedic and dramatic roles were nicely performed. Scott Irwin (Lieutenant Schrank), Wayne Scott Kermond (Doc), Joe Clements (Officer Krupke) and Doron Chester (Gladhand) each seized their moments to shine.

David Spicer

A Taste Of Ireland

Presented by Pace Live. Directed by Brent Pace and choreographed by Ceili Moore. The Palms at Crown, Southbank Melbourne. Mar 17, and touring nationally.

THIS delightful performance showcases the unique dance style of Ireland. The extremely talented ensemble of singers, dancers and musicians provides fun-filled entertainment. Irish humour is infused into the show, and this is combined with a captivating youthful effervescence.

The incredible precision and unity in the performances demonstrates great discipline and skill. The incorporation of styles such as tap, and ballet gives the dancing energy and grace and effectively blends different genres. This was all expertly led by principal dancers, Britanny Pymm and Mitchell O’Hara.

The vibrant costumes evoke Irish culture, and this is reiterated in the Celtic references in the set and lighting. Projections of archival images of important social and political events provide a rich backdrop while classic songs such as “Danny Boy” (performed by Tynan Fuller) tug at the heartstrings. Live music also adds to the evocative atmosphere; Megan McGinley on the fiddle and

Whispers

Photos: Lindsay Kearney, Lightbox Photography.

instrumental guitarist, Simon Lace, are given ample opportunity to flaunt their great talent.

Some narrative to contextualise the historical and cultural references would have been beneficial, especially for non-Irish audience members. This performance will appeal to those longing to enjoy the uniqueness of Irish culture and its enchanting ability to captivate and embrace the audience.

Patricia Di Risio

Mother And Son

By Geoffrey Atherden. Rockingham Theatre Company.

Directed by Helen Brown. The Castle, Rockingham WA. Apr 5 - 20.

ROCKINGHAM Theatre Company performed Mother and Son, based on the 1980s TV series. Written specifically for stage performance, it explores new ideas as Maggie comes to terms with today’s challenges including telephone scammers, FaceTime and mobile phones.

Helen Brown’s set design beautifully creates the Beares’ living room, seamlessly finished with a projected backdrop. The rear screen is used creatively, including Maggie FaceTiming with her grandchildren real-life siblings Liv and Dylan making their stage debut.

Beryl Francis did a lovely job as frustratingly dotty Maggie Beare, making the role her own. Sometimes

though, hesitant delivery, while accurate, killed laughs just within reach. Shaun Griffin somehow channelled Gary McDonald. A picture-perfect Arthur Beare, including bald pate, this performance inhabited the character and reignited it.

Mat Fisher played Rob with believable laid-back selfishness, working well with Helen Brown as Liz. Carlie Drake was pleasant and likeable as Arthur’s new girlfriend.

Lovely to sit among a matinee audience clearly having a ball and being very well cared for by Rockingham’s red jacketed front of house volunteers. A solid production providing laughs and nostalgia.

Kimberley Shaw

Gaslight

By Patrick Hamilton, adapted by Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane. Feb 20 - Mar 3, and touring.

QUEENSLAND Theatre started its 2024 season with a new version of Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight. Lee Lewis directs a co-production between QT and Rodney Rigby at Newtheatricals (Come From Away, Jersey Boys). This adaptation by Canadian theatre-makers Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson streamlines the action to give the story pace. The writers cleverly dispense with several

Rockingham Theatre Company’s Mother And Son

extraneous characters so we can focus on the lady of the house, Bella (Geraldine Hakewill) and the three main suspects in her recent nervous breakdown: husband Jack (Toby Schmitz), housekeeper Elizabeth (Kate Fitzpatrick) and new housemaid Nancy (Courtney Cavallaro). The three women perfectly illustrate the limitations the Victorian era placed on women’s social mobility and aspirations. Courtney’s Nancy is a quick-witted survivor. Kate’s housekeeper is a working-class woman who remains emotionally detached, while allowing her dry wit to sing.

As the lady of the house, Geraldine’s Bella is constantly wavering between dark depths and frivolous highs. Meanwhile, her charming husband, Jack (Toby Schmitz) has social climbing ambitions of his own.

Director Lee Lewis allows her actors to have fun with the new script’s humour. However, while the play captures the class constraints, it seems a bit coy about embracing the era’s gothic horror conventions, including sexual tension. That was achieved by the important gaslights (great lighting design by Paul Jackson, with eerie sound and music by Paul Charlier) which do a brilliant job to create the right atmosphere.

Beth Keehn

Photo: Brett Boardman.

Reviews

Chicago Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse. Music: John Kander. Lyrics: Fred Ebb. John Frost for Crossroads Live, Jones Theatrical Group in association with Barry and Fran Weissler. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. Mar 26 - Jun 2, and touring.

HERE it is again Chicago as sharp, funny, cynical, flawlessly produced and hugely entertaining from end to end. The musical numbers run around in your head for days or maybe forever with their 1920s pastiche vaudeville, honkey-tonk and dance hall, and their punchy, witty clarity.

Its plot is a simple, fast-moving, no fat story pushed at speed by direct to the audience narration and monologues. It’s been called ‘Brechtian’ for that reason, and like The Threepenny Opera, Chicago is a satire with a better plot on the easily manipulated ‘justice’ system and the cult of celebrity.

Bob Fosse’s choreography remains his distinctive, eccentric, wildly energetic schtick seen most clearly in ‘I Can’t Do It Alone’ with its mix of elegant and goofy, superbly performed by Zoë Ventoura as Velma Kelly. Or ‘We Both Reached for the Gun’, where Roxie Hart (Lucy Maunder) as the dummy sits on her lawyer Billy Flynn’s (Anthony Warlow) knee as he ventriloquises her phoney defence for the Press.

The ensemble plays all the link and bit parts and they are blessedly made up of all shapes and sizes. Each one has to speak or sing and they do that as well as they dance.

As for the lead cast new to this production, Asabi Goodman’s Matron ‘Mama’ Morton is somehow both warm and menacing. Peter Rowsthorn as Amos Hart, ‘Mr Cellophane’, is so touching that he makes Roxie seem even more ruthless. Both Maunder and Zoë Ventoura seem tougher and more credibly of the demi-mondealthough both characters have their moments of realisation (‘My Own Best Friend’) and finally the bitter ‘Nowadays’. As for Anthony Warlow’s morally reprehensible Billy Flynn, it’s a totally relaxed but assured performance. When he winks at the audience, he’s got ‘em in the palm of his hand. He makes a character of Billy Flynn.

Yes, you may have seen it before, but that’s no reason not to see it again.

Michael Brindley

37 By Nathan Maynard. Queensland and Melbourne Theatre Company. Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane. Apr 11 - May 4.

FIRST Nation playwright Nathan Maynard has successfully achieved Australian originality in this story about a failing football team in a small country town, touching on all the pros and cons of team membership, and rising to stardom. He includes current issues, explores characters in depth and raises elements of Australia’s complicated history, whilst visiting most scenarios a footy player will experience in the profession.

Lucy Maunder in Chicago. Photo: Jeff Busby.

What is so spellbinding about Nathan’s script is the rich and realistic dialogue, including an abundance of rattling humour which captures the regional flavour with all its anal and penile fixations, rough but fertile dialogue and rapport, all of which flows seamlessly throughout the play.

But what really hits the mark is a sudden change of atmosphere when an ‘Aboriginal-question’ is raised. So as not to include any spoilers, I won’t mention how this is treated suffice to say it is quite riveting in its portrayal and an example of hypnotic and poignant dramatic theatre.

This is a very polished, professional production using ten experienced actors, all well cast. Of note, relative newcomer Ngali Shaw as Jayma gives a most touching performance along with his storyboard cousin, Sonny, stirringly played by Tibian Wyles.

Originally workshopped in Melbourne by VCA students, Director and Co-Choreographer Isaac Drandic has created a tight and engrossing piece of theatre that will tickle your funny-bone but increasingly tug on your heartstrings.

Oozing with teamwork and rapport both behind the scenes and on the stage, this is a worthy addition to the Australian creative billboard and well accomplishes its goal, with more than a few points!

Brian Adamson

The

Lewis

Trilogy

By

Louis Nowra.

Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. Feb 9 - Apr 21.

SCALPED in a brutal boyhood accident, Louis Nowra could barely read until he was seventeen, which is remarkable for one of Australia’s most prolific writers across all forms.

Marking its impending renovation, Griffin Theatre is staging three of Nowra’s most autobiographical plays, forged into a true trilogy and abbreviated down to 90 minutes each, in part by the playwright.

Summer of the Aliens is about young “Lewis”, reared in the Housing Commission paddocks outside Melbourne, obsessed with finding extra-terrestrial life during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In Così, which also premiered in 1992 and is now a classic of our theatre and film, an older Lewis directs the inmates of a local mental asylum in a rousing version of Mozart’s opera.

And in This Much is True, a now aging Lewis sits in his favourite Woolloomooloo front bar fondly observing the gritty stories of locals living on the edge. It premiered seven years ago in Sydney’s Old Fitz pub theatre, while Nowra sat drinking upstairs in that same front bar, presumably with those same characters.

Nowra’s love for outsiders and the dispossessed link all the plays into the trilogy’s powerful theme, with a focus less on an underbelly world but one which runs parallel to

Online extras!

Meet the writer, director and cast as they discuss the staging of 37. youtu.be/Bxkmwz-X0qg

Melbourne Theatre Company’s 37.

Photo: Pia Johnson.

but disregarded by the mainstream. They’re eccentric characters, hilarious and vulnerable, and here brought alive by director Declan Greene’s ensemble of eight, which is notably diverse in colour, sexuality, disability, and transgender. Most excel in a range of roles and are applauded by the end like we were saying goodbye to old friends.

Philip Lynch is perfectly incredulous as young Lewis, leading with a compass of truth and countering some other overacting, while William Zappa brings gravitas as the narrator, a very 70s social worker and the older Lewis. Paul Capsis is a mad delight as the Mozart devotee who knows more than the director, and hits truth as the local meth chemist in the front bar, while Darius Williams triumphs as the sex obsessed teenager in Summer, reborn in the asylum as the sexually fuelled pyromaniac.

Masego Pitso tugs hearts as Lewis’ damaged childhood mate and later as the drug addict in Così, while Ursula Yovich is outstanding as Lewis’ grumpy granny and later as the male, failed debt collector at the bar. Thomas Campbell charms as Lewis’ hopeless Dad and as the pub’s community-minded Cass, while Nikki Viveca plays Lewis’ aggrieved Mum but doesn’t quite convince as the pub’s other moral muse, Venus.

Some emotional impact is lost from the plays being shrunk to a trilogy, especially in the melancholic reveal behind the humour of Nowra’s characters. But the warmth and humanity remain, the quick gags and loud characterisations arguably appropriate in a long trilogy.

It’s totally immersive theatre, easily calling you back for the next 90 minutes of play. Daniel Herten’s sound is moody with songs threaded beautifully; and Melanie Liertz’ costumes are true to period and as unique as those who wear them, all expressively lit by Kelsey Lee.

Set designer Jeremy Allen has stripped back just some of the layers of paint accumulated over 50 years of theatre-making on the corner walls enclosing this famous pocket stage. A ragged proscenium arch works well throughout, just as the distressed walls also speak to the long history of Griffin as the theatre starts making itself anew.

Martin Portus

Adelaide Fringe Festival 2024 Highlights

Skye Scraper: The Life And Times Of A Drag Queen Accountant

Skye Scraper Entertainment. The Bally at Gluttony SKYE Scraper: The Life and Times of a Drag Queen Accountant was a sixty-minute audience with Ethel Merman, Anne Miller, and Joan Crawford all in one woman!

She faced a dilemma of being a corporate accountant (Corporate John), working 9 to 5, then dashing home, getting made up and dressing in drag and scootering to the drag venue at night (Skye Scraper). She soon finds this is not achievable in the long run.

Skye is the quintessential storyteller which she personalised with her audience and had a razor-sharp wit.

Her audience participation section was a riot, with a member of the audience helping her demonstrate the ‘User Guide to Drag Dance’ in eight moves.

An hour of joyous humour, music, and one of the best pair of legs you will see!

Barry Hill OAM

Skye Scraper: The Life And Times Of A Drag Queen Accountant.

An Attempt To Lose Time

Miranda Prag. The Warehouse Theatre.

MIRANDA took the audience on a journey to live life without time it’s her personal story, and her rapid-fire description of schedules and failed expectations were a mirror to the audience. As she escaped the urban rhythm and retreated to an English canal boat, her alarm clocks were replaced by local wildlife.

Between each chapter of her narrative, audio descriptions explained the changes Prag makes to her set copper pipes, bicycle wheels and strings that were taken apart and put back together differently; the accessibility is built into the show.

There was cleverness squeezed into every nook and cranny of this innovative, surreal, yet relatable performance.

Mark Wickett

Willing Participant

By Rob Carlton. The Arch at Holden Street Theatres.

AUSTRALIAN actor and writer Rob Carlton brought his one-man show to his first ever Adelaide Fringe. Both humble and inviting, he welcomed the audience in for an old-fashioned night of storytelling. Directed by Darren Gilshenan, this no-frills production felt like catching up with an old friend.

Carlton delighted in sharing four stories from his life that encapsulate what it is to be human. Each story has a different emotional overtone, but is told with sincerity, wit and charm.

His enthusiasm as he recalls each story was pure joy. Magnetic in his delivery, his retelling of a life well-lived is a great way to spend an hour of your time.

Kerry Cooper

Know Your Role / Our Place

Actually, Acting. Star Theatre

Two at Star Theatres.

ACTUALLY, Acting was created in 2007 with the mission of helping aspiring actors develop their skills and confidence. The choice of Know Your Role, written by Brandi Owensby, and Terry Gabbard’s Our Place, with the bonus of intergenerational actors reflected this commitment to theatre with conscience and purpose. Both were a clever mix of mini-monologues and ensemble pieces traversing the challenges that teenagers face every day.

A boy shared his estrangement from his gender changing father, hitting the audience hard with the messages about love.

A teenage boy grappling to call a girl for a date was witty and very real, a champion female softballer lamented the differences between valuing and supporting boys’ and girls’ sport, a girl battled school clothing regulations, and a large group scene about rules for ‘dating my daughter’ was hilarious.

Jude Hines

Helios

Wright & Grainger with Tom Oliver Productions and Joanne Hartstone. The Yurt at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum.

THE worldwide award-winning Yorkshire storytellers Alex Wright and Phil Grainger presented a new story about the son of the God of the sun: Phaeton (‘a pretty poor name for a teenage boy’ says Wright), and like their other mythological translations, reset it to present-day England.

Wright told of his family, friends and enemies and how he navigated them on the school bus. He shapes just

Reviews

enough of the characters for us to recognise them, then leaves us to fill in the gaps with our own memories.

Wright called on individuals from the audience to be alternative voices, another way the narrative holds us tight in the intimate space. With this beautifully written story, we believe again in the childhood simplicities of wonder, and its opposite complexities of family and friendship.

Mark Wickett

Yoah

Cirquework. The Moa at Gluttony.

CONTEMPORARY Japanese circus company Cirquework wowed audiences with their Australian premiere of Yoah. The tale of a woman on a mystical journey was full of hope with aerial artist and gymnast Tsumugi Masui playing the title role.

Directed by cast member Yusaku Mochizuki, he combined circus feats, music, lighting and video art to bring us a breathtaking and fresh take on the circus genre; not to mention his skill as a juggler.

Diablo or Chinese yo-yo is featured many times; lighting and sound effects took away any chance of it feeling repetitive. Traditional and modern skills were creatively woven together to produce a unique circus experience.

Kerry Cooper

Tender

Cirque X. The Vault at Fool’s Paradise.

EXPLORING the notion of Tender, this production combined the breaking down of stereotypes with some amazing aerial work, acrobatics, and cabaret.

A highlight was the female performer in 6-inch gold heels with platforms flipping without the support of her hands and landing in the jump splits!

Aerial work formed a large part of the production. I particularly enjoyed the aerial silks with a heart stopping ‘death drop’, and what I like to call ‘torpedo spins’.

The BDSM section of the evening was full of tease handcuffs, an ankle spreader bar, gags, blindfolds and more!

Tender was a raw, raunchy and riotous exploration of sexuality.

Barry Hill OAM

Apocalipstik

Reuben Kaye. The Vagabond at The Garden of Unearthly Delights.

REUBEN Kaye gave us a sneak peek into his childhood, his parents, grandparents, and queer uncle.

Strutting the stage like a regal peacock, dressed in a black jumpsuit, a black cape, heels, and with a mike with a long black horse’s tail, he worked the audience with his queer humour, bawdy jokes, and sexual references aplenty. But

behind the makeup, lipstick and luscious lashes lay cutting satire and an incredible intellect.

Kaye is mercurial. He can change the entire mood of the audience with a single look or word and with a voice that hits heights with a powerful chest or a crystal-clear head voice.

Apocalipstik was eighty minutes of hilarity, fun, and most of all a chance to be in the presence of a master of his art.

Barry Hill OAM

After Rebecca The Miscellany Co-Operative and The Garage International. The Garage International at Scots Church.

DU MAURIER’S 1930s novel of whirlwind romance gone wrong is relocated by writer Emma Gibson to contemporary Australia and takes the story in a different direction.

Michelle Cooper tells the story as a monologue, barely catching breath for sixty minutes as she took us on a dirtroad journey of power, coercion, control, and others’ complicity. Cooper was outstanding, with more than spoken words: her body language and nervous tics tell us how uncomfortable she is.

Gibson and Cooper co-direct this vital post-#metoo story, that was riveting, distressing and horrifically recognisable to women everywhere.

Mark Wickett

Reuben Kaye.

It’s A Sin Songs Of Love And Shame

Michael Griffiths. Spiegel Zelt at The Garden of Unearthly Delights.

MICHAEL Griffiths has been delighting Adelaide Fringe audiences for 10 years with his voice and musical talent, with a plethora of shows paying homage to Madonna, Peter Allen and Annie Lennox, just to name a few. He has an incredible knack for reinventing himself and keeping his shows fresh. His charm, stage presence, and talent have made him a popular cabaret performer and accompanist, both here and abroad.

Weaving moments from his own life and giving them relevance through the music of Pet Shop Boys was a wonderful way to spend an evening. Griffiths shares a vulnerable side, as he trusts us with his own coming-out story.

Kerry Cooper

Faulty Towers The Dining Experience Interactive Theatre International. Botanical Room at The Terrace Hotel Adelaide.

THE production is based on some of the 12 iconic episodes made in the 1970s and featured the central characters of Basil Faulty, his wife Sybil and their Spanish waiter, Manuel. In this production they run their restaurant with the audience as their guests.

Everything goes wrong, with the chef being locked in the freezer, Manuel bringing a pet rat to work, Basil trying to redecorate, a fire drill, and strange items being found in the food.

There was barely a moment in the evening when the laughter subsided.

For the aficionados there are the beloved references to the Germans and of course the famous ‘silly walks’.

Faulty Towers the Dining Experience was an evening of madcap fun.

Barry Hill OAM

More reviews can be found at stagewhispers.com.au/reviews

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE

MAY/JUNE 2024. VOLUME 33, NUMBER 2

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After Rebecca.

What’s In A Name?

When I got Todd McKenney on the phone for my Odd Couple interview, he told me he was out walking Nancye Hayes. I was immediately confused as I knew the theatre legend lived in King Cross near the Hayes Theatre (very handy if someone misplaces the keys) and Todd is based on Sydney’s North Shore.

I soon discovered, with a giggle, that Nancye Hayes is also the name of his pet greyhound. The friendship between the two was forged when they were cast together in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

“Nancye loved my last dog, who died, Chrissy, and when we got this dog (an ex-breeder) I thought I wanted to call it after somebody. When I was looking at it, I thought, oh my God, Nancy.”

“So, I rang Nancye and I said do you mind if I name my dog after you? She agreed, but said the pet will be a needy little thing.

“And every now and again, Nancye sends me a text message saying have you fed me this morning? Once I got home and Nancye got onto the couch burying her head in the small of my back.

“Then a friend called and asked what I was doing. I said well you are not going to believe this, but I am sitting on the couch with Nancye Hayes’ nose in the middle of my back.”

I told Todd that I do hope he doesn’t put Nancye down!

“Well, she’s 14 and I don’t know how long she has in this world. The day she goes I will have to make it very clear which Nancye I am talking about.”

In our home we name our pets after food. Toffee, our cavoodle is going strong, Mango our 17-year-old orange cat sadly died whilst I was in New Zealand for the Musical Theatre conference. Other sadly missed late pets include Noodles the cat, Tim Tam the rabbit and Sugar and Spice the parrots.

Lights...Then Camera Action

Shane Jacobson also had a quirky story for me.

“I have a soft spot for Stage Whispers Magazine.

“When I was national general manager for Premier Lighting we used to place articles and advertise with you all the time. In fact, one year we did an upside-down cover on the back page, so that if people picked up the magazine the wrong way, they thought it was the Premier lighting magazine.”

Shane said he was with Premier Lighting (now defunct) for over a decade.

“I was already acting in amateur theatre, singing in bands, tap dancing and stand-up comedy but I had a fulltime job to pay my way. Instead of waiting tables, I did lighting.”

A YouTube video exists of Shane making his television debut doing a promotion video for the company in 1994. In the corporate video, he brandishes a basic par can light for a rock ‘n’ roll gig, then demonstrates where the lead to the lights should be plugged into and what power capacity they require.

“I did moving lights for New Faces with Bert Newton at Channel 10. They were a brand-new thing and the lights were so loud when they were moved that we were only allowed to shift them in commercial breaks.”

You won’t be surprised to hear that Shane has a special appreciation for lighting design.

He named Trudy Dalgleish as his favourite contemporary lighting designer.

“When I was in Midnight The Musical recently, what she did for a brand-new show with the relatively small rig was fantastic. She brings such great mood to it. I think she’s probably Australia’s best.”

David Spicer

Shane Jacobson.

Todd McKenney and the real Nancye Hayes.

Todd McKenney and “Nancye Hayes”.