Stage Whispers November/December 2012

In this issue 9

6 10

Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight ............................................... 6 Sondheim and Rush on their way to the Forum.

David Hobson ............................................................................... 10 Operatic tenor turns his hand to musicals.

Theatre Programs .......................................................................... 14 Who needs them? Who wants them?

Boys Will Be Boys (And Girls) ......................................................... 18 Sasha Regan on her new all-male Pirates of Penzance.

Brett Sheehy .................................................................................. 22 Meet MTC’s new Artistic Director.

Hot Tickets in 2013 ....................................................................... 24 Twelve months of Musicals, Plays and Operas.

18

Stage Monologue.......................................................................... 36 Delia’s Clothes by Lucy Bell.

2012 Helpmann Awards................................................................ 38 Simon Burke meets the spirit of the Bobbys.

30

27

In Memory of Carolyn .................................................................... 44 Dad builds regional theatre in memory of daughter.

Sets On A Budget .......................................................................... 48 Designing and building big musicals on a tight budget.

39

Regular Features

58

68

History Feature .............................................................................. 40 Tragic end for Queen of the Stage.

70

Broadway & West End

20

CDs and DVDs

32

On Stage - What’s On

50

Reviews

58

Showbiz Puzzles

89

Choosing a Show

91

Musical Spice

92

2 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

To make the most of our exciting new online interactions you will need a QR code scanner.

If your smartphone doesn’t have http://bit.ly/gYbnAN one installed, browse your app store, or try one of these free options. http://bit.ly/zw8t5l

THE NEXT ISSUE OF STAGE WHISPERS IS FOCUSSING ON THE UPCOMING 2013 COMMUNITY THEATRE SEASONS.

Editorial Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, Stage Whispers has come of age this edition.

Yes, we’re 21 years old.

It’s an achievement to be proud of when you consider the short life expectancy of Performing Arts magazines.

Our online audience has also grown, reaching more than half a million visits to www.stagewhispers.com.au in the first ten months of 2012.

We thank all our hard working contributors and the publicists who have helped since 1991.

Sadly, the doyen of Melbourne publicists, Suzie Howie, lost her fight against cancer on the eve of the opening of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, for which she was publicist.

Suzie was a great friend of Stage Whispers. We will miss her enthusiasm and the sparkle in her eyes on opening night.

Suzie helped promote many of the biggest shows that came to Australia.

A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from the Stage Whispers team to all our readers.

And if you are still working on Christmas gift list for a theatre-loving friend, check out page 33 for our special suggestion.

We look forward to seeing you in a theatre foyer soon.

Yours in Theatre,

Neil Litchfield Editor

Cover image: Christie Whelan and Hugh Sheridan in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. Photo: Jeff Busby. See our article on Geoffrey Rush’s journey to Forum on page 6.

CONNECT PLACE YOUR AD BY NOVEMBER 26 CONTACT (03) 9758 4522 OR stagews@stagewhispers.com.au

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012. VOLUME 21, NUMBER 6 ABN 71 129 358 710 ISSN 1321 5965

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DISCLAIMER All expressions of opinion in Stage Whispers are published on the basis that they reflect the personal opinion of the authors and as such are not to be taken as expressing the official opinion of The Publishers unless expressly so stated. Stage Whispers accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any opinion or information contained in this magazine.

LIMITED BACK COPIES AVAILABLE ADVERTISERS We accept no responsibility for material submitted that does not comply with the Trade Practices Act. CAST & CREW Editor: Neil Litchfield 0438 938 064 Sub-editor: David Spicer Advertising: Angela Thompson 03 9758 4522 Digital production: Phillip Tyson 0414 781 008 Contributors: Merlene Abbott, Sara Bannister, Cathy Bannister, Emma Bell, Stephen Carnell, Heather Cook, Karen Coombs, Ken Cotterill, Gail Denver, Ray Dickson, Coral Drouyn, Greg Eccleston, Whitney Fitzsimmons, Graham Ford, Lucy Graham, Simon Greer, Frank Hatherley, John P. Harvey, Peter Kemp, Neil Litchfield, Ken Longworth, Rachel McGrath-Kerr, Jay McKee, Roger McKenzie, Karl McNamara, Peter Pinne, Martin Portus, Leann Richards, Suzanne Sandow, Kimberley Shaw, Tammy Shmerling, David Spicer, Aaron Ware and Carol Wimmer. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 3

Online extras!

Check out the launch of King Kong by scanning the QR code or visiting http://youtu.be/DKCw1WNbdi4 Above: Principal cast members of King Kong Live on Stage which opens at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre in June 2013. Richard Piper (Captain Engelhorn), Adam Lyon (Carl Denham), Esther Hannaford (Ann Darrow), Queenie van de Zandt (Cassandra) and Chris Ryan (Jack Driscoll). Photo: James Morgan.

Read more on the Stage Whispers website: http://bit.ly/TIuyWk Rob Mills (Warner in Legally Blonde) keeping Stage Whispers a secret.

4 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Jane Clifton and Mark Mitchell in More Sex Please … We’re Seniors!

by John-Michael Howson, playing at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre.

Stage Briefs

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www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 5

Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight!

A funny thing happened to the Stephen Sondheim musical ‘Forum’ on its way to Broadway success. It looked very shaky until a hit song was added.

Fifty years on Geoffrey Rush has joined the show’s history by starring in a new production at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre. Coral Drouyn reports on how all roads have led to Rome for the show and the star.

One of the most delicious elements of life is that we never know the road we will travel until we’re actually on it; and the destination is rarely where we think it will be.

That’s true for an out of work actor; a film superstar, or even Australian of the Year; and Geoffrey Rush has been all three. When Geoffrey was starting primary school in Brisbane, Stephen Sondheim was half a world

Online extras!

Watch Stage Whispers on set with the cast. Simply scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/QC1JC1EBtrs 6 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

away, busily writing the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.

When Sondheim had a hit on Broadway, Geoffrey was having fun in the sandpit, and neither one had ever heard of the other. Nor did there seem very much chance of that happening.

Karma; Fate; Kismet…they weren’t on the radar back then.

When Geoffrey started high school, Stephen was frantically trying to save A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to

the Forum (you’re starting to see where this is going, aren’t you?).

It was the first Broadway-bound musical for which he wrote both music and lyrics, and, to Sondheim at least, his entire future depended on it. He had written the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy, which were huge hits, but this was his Broadway breakout, the chance to go solo…. “Music and Lyrics by…”.

The show was doing miserable business at out-of-town previews. Phil Silvers (the beloved Sgt Bilko) had turned it down because (it’s reported) he couldn’t wear his glasses and was so short-sighted he was afraid he would fall into the orchestra pit.

Milton Berle had pulled out early in rehearsals. As third choice, Zero Mostel, a Jewish comedian and award winning actor who had been blacklisted in the McCarthy witch-hunt, signed on to play Pseudolus, but it didn’t look like being a long run.

Then Jerome Robbins was called in

by Hal Prince to help figure out what was wrong. He identified the opening number “Love is in the Air” as being the culprit. The show was a bawdy comedy, and needed an opening number to reflect that. So Sondheim wrote the delicious “Comedy Tonight”. It’s the only song anyone really remembers from the show, but it’s so great that it arguably saved Sondheim’s career.

Forum is still Sondheim’s most

commercially successful musical, even though he was probably the only one involved who DIDN’T get nominated for any awards. It settled in to a three year run on Broadway, unaware that a smart, slightly geeky, schoolboy on the other side of the planet was already taking the first step on a collision course.

Geoffrey Rush had never heard of the show at that stage, he was busy making his way through high school: a high school that had no drama or music programmes, in fact nothing to stimulate an introspective teenager.

Rush, and some of the others who needed a creative outlet and liked showing off, took to making up plays in the lunch and mid-morning breaks, acting them out for fellow students.

Eventually the group legitimised itself as a Drama Club and, by the time Geoffrey was 16, he was the treasurer for the drama club, responsible for the Year 11 production of Arsenic and Old Lace.

It was a portent of things to come when he started producing films. Those early forays into acting became an obsession. This was what he wanted to do; NEEDED to do.

University did nothing to steer him away from the calling. He immediately joined the drama club, and even sang with the a’capella group. I’m reliably told there was even a stint as a singing telegram boy (remember those?).

Gradually word spread and when the Queensland Theatre Company was forming in 1970-71, a certain young G. Rush was on their list of new actors to see, and wound up making his debut in 1971…. Yet another step on that road to Rome.

In 1972, in a 10th anniversary Broadway revival, Phil Silvers DID get to play Pseudolus…with his glasses on. Not that it mattered to Geoffrey Rush. He was starring in his first musical at QTC, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, as Snoopy.

He delighted audiences, myself included, with his tail wagging buffoonery (surely the tallest dog of all time, towering over the other cast members when upright) and the magic he brought to the song with such lines as “Isn’t it remarkable that things turned out so well.” If only Snoopy had had a crystal ball, he would have seen how remarkably well things would turn out in the future. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 7

Flash Forward: Sondheim had a hit song with “Send in The Clowns” and wrote some of the greatest musicals ever seen on the stage… A Little Night Music, Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Into the Woods…we all have our favourites (mine is Company).

Sondheim was the undisputed doyen of Musical Theatre by the 1990s.

And in Australia, after returning from two years in Paris studying mime (not much to say about mime) Geoffrey Rush was earning a name for himself as one of our best character actors.

But great character parts don’t grow on trees, no matter how well you cultivate the soil. Then came the offer of Shine - a film with the character role of a lifetime: David Helfgott. For Director Scott Hicks and writer Jan Sardi there was no other actor to even consider once they had seen Rush. But that commitment made the project doubly difficult to get up, because they needed overseas distribution to bankroll the film, and no-one wanted to finance a difficult subject with an “unknown” actor….especially when there were so many “stars” available. (Can you

imagine, theatre and film lovers, anyone…and I do mean ANYONE… other than Geoffrey Rush, giving that performance?) Hicks stuck to his guns “No Rush….no Film” and the rest is history. Geoffrey even had a gentle dig at the non-believers in his Golden Globe speech.

Hang on….what about the Road to Rome?

In 1996, when Geoffrey appeared on Sondheim’s radar for Shine, Geoffrey, himself, was in America accepting every award for great acting ever invented. And he just happened to take a night off to go to the theatre.

The show he saw was A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum, with Whoopi Goldberg replacing

Nathan Lane. It struck him what a great non-gender comedic role it was…a joyous part to play.

So here we are in 2012, the 50th Anniversary of the original Broadway opening. Geoffrey Rush is now a true superstar, but still a man willing to forgo the millions in favour of the quality of the work.

Some pursue money and fame….others pursue excellence. And his extraordinary generosity towards the Australian industry means we all benefit from that.

From the moment Geoffrey and Sondheim met by chance in a lift in a London hotel, there was only one way to travel to Rome … together. Producer John Frost and Director Simon Phillips made it happen, at least that’s what we all celebrate. But I prefer to believe that Calliope, Terpsichore, Thalia and the other muses of theatre and music were having a party some fifty years ago and said… “What’s the most fun you can possibly imagine in theatre? Take your time…there’s no Rush.”

We’ll all get to share the joy of what the Gods set in motion over the next three months.

After a forty-year acting career, it’s surprising to learn it is possible to astonish the Triple Crown actor (with Academy, Tony and Emmy awards to his name), and yet the first preview was something of a revelation for Geoffrey Rush.

“As we discovered, when you have 1800 people [in this theatre] they bark. They bite back at us with an energy that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced at quite that level,” Rush mused. “The show’s got some ingredient that’s above and beyond what’s on the page. It kind of ignites in the house and it gets a bit out of control. It felt like a rock n roll stadium the other night. People were clapping along in the first number. I’ve never experienced that.”

While Stephen Sondheim’s planned patronage of the Melbourne-only season has been delayed by medical advice after a broken wrist, Geoffrey Rush has relished the chance to engage directly with the show’s creator.

“It’s a great opportunity to talk straight to the horse’s mouth, you know, ‘What does this, mean this gag here?’

And he’d say, ‘Oh in the original production it happened like that,’ etcetera etcetera, so its been very good.’

According to Rush, Sondheim regards the Melbourne production as the ‘global 50th anniversary official production’.

‘It was nice to be accoladed in that way,’ said Rush.

And Sondheim has given permission for ‘as yet unperformed lyrics’ to be included in the production.

The 61 year-old actor revealed the song in question is ‘one of the major numbers, which has always traditionally been done as a choreographed dance number for all the courtesans in the brothel. [Sondheim had] originally written verses for them to sing. So Simon [Phillips] said, ‘We’re going to reinstate that.’

As to why the preview audiences had been so tickled pink, the Australian of the Year has a theory.

“Theatre is a public space. In our newspapers and blogs and tweets and facebook, the public discourse has become very manicured and very polite, annoyingly tragic, and uninspiring. I think people are ready to laugh at the preposterous and at how ridiculous everything can get.”

Ask for Mr Rush’s favourite moment in the show? Hmmm, well he dances quite a bit, including a ‘bit of tap’, and has pulled out a few old tricks, but no.

“This is a burlesque, show tunes score, and particularly when the great brass players we’ve got here let rip and when you’re down stage, feeling that behind you, it’s pretty special.”

Lucy Graham

STOP PRESS!

8 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

‘World’s Best Vocal Coach’ Heads Down Under When the Festival of Voices in Hobart asked Kris Stewart to head Tasmania’s largest winter cultural event and Australia’s premier celebration of the human voice, they knew they’d be getting someone with a great passion for music theatre.

Adrienne’s student list reads like a who’s who and features past and present stars: Cher, Ann Reinking, Mary Tyler Moore, Christine Baranski, Kenneth Branagh, Armand Assante, Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Krakowski, Cybill Shepherd, Jason Alexander, Joel Gray, Best known in Australia as the Swoosie Kurtz, Joan Jett, Sheena director of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the Sydney Fringe and Easton and Bridget Fonda.

New Musicals Australia and the Bernadette Peters, another one of resident director of the musical Adrienne’s angels, attributes her own vocal success to Adrienne, calling her Wicked, Kris was excited to add a “the best voice teacher in the world”. musical theatre workshop to the “She taught me how to sing,” said festival’s slate, which in previous years has included international guest artists Ms Peters, which is high praise indeed, leading workshops across multiple and good reason not to miss what is genres including gospel, a cappella and going to be Adrienne’s only trip to Australia. choral singing, spoken word and Adrienne will be running a five day contemporary folk.

So who is Kris bringing to Hobart in workshop at the Festival, with July 2013? performance and focused learning as a In a coup for this country, the part of it, so this is a great professional development opportunity for Festival of Voices will be featuring Australian performers. You’ll be a key Adrienne Angel, undoubtedly one of part of the festival, and enjoy the the most celebrated vocal coaches in Broadway history. range of concerts, cabaret, free events

and tourist opportunities available in this jewelbox city.

The Festival of Voices is quickly becoming one of Australia’s most treasured festivals, with audiences coming from across Australia to join international guests at the heritage Salamanca Arts Precinct, and enjoy the beauty of Australia’s great southern city, at the base of the majestic Mount Wellington with views of the great southern ocean.

You can join Adrienne for six days of intense learning and performance as part of the Festival of Voices From 5 - 14 July 2013. www.festivalofvoices.com

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 9

Opera Star Turns Key To Musicals

10 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Better known as an opera star, lyric tenor David Hobson is making the crossover to music theatre with the Australian production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which opens at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre in November.

“It’s a big departure,” Hobson told Stage Whispers, “but musicals have been looming large in the background for the last few years now. This is the one that came along at the right time, and the right situation.”

Hobson’s big break came when he played Rodolfo in Baz Luhrman’s now famous 1990 production of La Bohème, subsequently recorded for television and released on DVD. “It was a very successful production,” Hobson said, “and it had wide implications back then, particularly when we filmed it. It became very well known all around the world. It was a good show back then, and a different way of approaching opera.

“In many respects I never intended on being an opera singer, so it was curious that it worked so well.

“I was thrown into opera. I was basically immersed in learning everything about it. There were languages and roles to learn. It’s such an amazing amalgam of all the art forms.

“I wasn’t focused on a career. I’ve never been the kind of singer or performer who says, ‘I’ve got to sing Otello by the time I’m 40.’ Doors have kind of opened for me without me knocking on them, then I threw myself into opportunities once they arose.”

Thrown into opera sums it up to perfection. In the early to mid 1980s, David Hobson was far more interested in composing.

“I’d written a music theatre version of Macbeth. I was hawking around a tape and the backers became the Victorian State Opera and the Victorian Arts Centre. Ken

McKenzie-Forbes, who was the General Manager of Victoria State Opera, heard my voice, because I sang all the roles on the demo tape.

He convinced me to sing for the opera while putting on my production. The first thing I did was The Pirates of Penzance. He got me to cover the role of Frederick in a summer season of the Broadway version (1986). I wasn’t interested in being a performer back then, but he said it would be good for my writing and to find out more about theatre.

“It kind of snowballed from there. I went on as Frederick, and all off a sudden he’s got me doing opera roles, Mozart and Puccini, and suddenly I’m an opera singer.

“Even then, I thought I was only performing for money to supplement my composing.”

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang represents yet another door that has opened without David Hobson knocking.

“I’ve always loved musicals. I’ve just been so immersed in opera and all my other projects that it’s never been the right time, or the right role. So here we are, in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

While Chitty Chitty Bang Bang isn’t David Hobson’s first musical, he’s followed many musical paths before returning to the genre.

“I did a couple of musicals when I was a kid, growing up in Ballarat. My very first show, which I did with my dad, was Oliver! I was The Dodger and he was Fagin. He was a very good singer and that’s what he should have done.

“But when the hormones kicked in, I thought that music theatre was daggy, so Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and heavy rock became my genre, then I got more into Jazz.

“I was always writing music to a degree, even though I studied Commerce and Law at University. I’d stay up late writing songs, and I was in a band at the time as well, then I had a fixation with Macbeth, and thought that I could write a stage adaptation of it. This is before I found out that Verdi had written one. So the first opera I saw was Opera Australia doing Macbeth in the Princess Theatre, Melbourne (1983).”

Early in rehearsals it was probably too soon to ask about the varying challenges of singing opera and performing in music theatre, but David offered a few thoughts.

“For the moment the obvious difference is we don’t use microphones in opera, and if we do, we use them subtly, like in operettas, where there’s dialogue. Also, we don’t do eight shows a week. Maybe there’s a slightly different vocal production. However, having said that, I’m pretty sure it’s

not going to be that much different when I get out on stage and start doing it.

“They’re two different demands, but equally taxing, and they require their own sorts of technical proficiencies. I think with a musical, oftentimes, and I could be wrong, the performance comes out of acting more so than it does in opera, where there’s more of a focus on the tone. In musical theatre, tone is a consequence of the action beforehand.”

Is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang likely to represent a change of career path, or just a diversification?

“I have no idea. Literally two months ago I did Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, and I did Schumann’s beautiful song cycle Dichterliebe. Now I’m doing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and I’ve got a Celtic recording coming out next month as well. I’m pretty diverse aren’t I? “If there were roles in musicals, and the time was right, and people wanted me, I’d love to do another one. I’m really enjoying it thus far. This is a fantastic cast. We’ve got Rachel Beck, who is a great music theatre star; then there’s Peter Carroll who’s a bit of a hero of mine with that beautiful mellifluous sound of his, and he’s a great actor; Alan Brough, a very funny man from a totally different discipline, although he has done musicals; George Kapiniaris, a great comedian, and Jenny Vuletic, who although she’s done musicals, has a different edge to her.

It’s a really interesting mix of people, in this kind of wacky show. You don’t usually get that type of mixture in opera.”

While he has a flying car in the show, David Hobson’s own cars have been fairly conventional.

“The kids in this show are the same age as my kids, and they’re a girl and a boy. I have a girl, 14, and a boy, 11, and I’ve just bought a new Audi, so I’m going from one parallel universe into the other.”

Online extras!

David has a new album to be released in November. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/Q7gID_MsCFQ www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 11

“I had an old Passat before that, an old Honda, and before that an old Celica, a Torana - I’ve had many cars.”

Is he good at the mechanical and repair side of things?

“Hopeless! Hopeless! My technical acumen is with musical equipment - computers and musical programs - my man shed is really my computer and my piano and guitar, and all my synthesizers, but when it comes to cars, and tools, and hammering nails, forget it.”

And have any of his cars flown?

“Maybe my last car looked like I’d tried to fly it, or put it through water, because it was pretty bashed around. My kids tend to despair of my driving a bit.”

Being a composer himself, what is David’s take on what makes the songs in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so enduring?

“In the title song itself they have captured the essence of what a motor does; the rhythmic aspect and the alliteration of the words is really clever. To write something simple is more difficult than to write something complex, and for some reasons those guys have achieved that in most of their works, whether it’s Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I’m not sure how they’ve arrived at that kind of writing and wordplay, but there’s a simplicity and a superstructure which is hard to achieve.

“There’s something about knowing how to write for a voice that speaks to the common man, and you can purportedly do it eight times a week. Some of the modern

musicals that I’ve heard, albeit they’re very good, are going to tax a voice beyond what it’s meant to do.

Does David relate to his character, Caractacus Potts?

“He’s very focused about his work. To the outside world there’s an eccentricity because he is so focused on what he does. He’s a widower and I’m assuming that his wife has died about 18 months previously. He has a father who is quite eccentric and he has inherited that eccentricity. He’s always trying to find the next new invention, and it’s not about how he can become the next great thing, or feed the children, but it’s more about enjoying trying to work out the problem and get to the solution.

“But his number one priority is to look after and to love his kids. Ostensibly he’s a family man. He tries to work out how to feed the family through his inventions, and when that doesn’t work out he tries to get by on his invention and his wit.

“He’s a nice character. He lacks the social norms and graces, so it’s a bit of a hero’s journey, where he learns how to take control towards the end of the show, whereas beforehand he’s so engrossed in his own world that he doesn’t know how to relate to the rest of the world. But then eventually there’s a little bit of a transformation.

“And it’s a love story as well. I’m still finding him.”

When asked about a favourite song, David indicated a couple at this early stage, for very different reasons.

“We’ve just done ‘Me Ol’ Bam-Boo’, and I’m not a dancer at all, so I’m enjoying that immensely because I’m surrounded by these absolute gun dancers. I got a bit of a head start because I’ve been doing a lot of preparation for it, but I must admit the thing that’s frightening me the most is the dancing. I did Dancing with the Stars because I’m not a dancer. There’s a kind of abandon I’m trying to find within his movements.

“Musically my favourite number would be ‘Hushabye Mountain’, which is a lovely lullaby which he sings to the kids. At the moment I’m trying to discover the best way to do it in this setting, because you don’t want to over-sing it, and try to keep it intimate. It’s a beautiful, haunting melody, so you don’t want to make it to melancholic. It’s a really interesting song, and I find it rather curious because I find it’s almost like a reflection of his departed wife as well.”

In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang David plays an inventor, but if David Hobson himself was an inventor, what would he invent?

“I would invent a coach who could get Melbourne Football Club to win a premiership before I die.”

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has its Australian Premiere at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on November 17, 2012 with a Melbourne season at Her Majesty’s Theatre from January 30, 2013.

12 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Searching For Hit Australian Musicals Are you sitting on the next blockbuster musical, but don’t have the tools to make it happen? The Victorian College of the Arts may have the answer. It’s offering up to $70,000 in cash and in-kind support to turn ideas and partly developed works into hit shows.

bottom of this page.

There have been several attempts to set up an infrastructure to support new Australian musicals in recent years…with mixed results.

Arts Centre Melbourne received a grant for its Carnegie 18 program over the last two years. A number of new works Industry Consultant and Lecturer in Music Theatre at the were performed at the centre.

VCA, Martin Croft said, “the two-year project involves expert New Musicals Australia was also established in Sydney. It industry mentoring and creative development workshops held a number of workshops for writers and showcased many new musicals by well-known and emerging writers. through to a fully financed showcase production in a commercial venue performed by graduating VCA Music The Australia Council appears to have dropped funding Theatre students. for both programs after only three years.

“There will be input from professional directors, choreographers and musicians which could help transform a promising work into a major commercial success.”

They include Director Simon Phillips, Rick Elice, the co-writer of Jersey Boys, and Luke Hunter, the Musical Director for The Rocky Horror Show and The Addams Family.

“We’ve done a lot of research with producers and often ideas get up too quickly. Suddenly it’s on stage and over before its ready to seen.

Still going strong is the privately funded Melbourne “The main thrust of this is mentoring and giving the theatre company Magnormos, run by the energetic Aaron creatives the luxury of writing time.”

Joyner, which has been showcasing Australian musicals at He said musicals are much more difficult to get right than concerts and putting on new work for many years. plays.

Sydney producer Neil Gooding has workshopped and “There is so much to bring together. The book writer, staged a number of new musicals in recent years, including lyricist and composer have to share the same vision, whereas The Hatpin, without any Government support. a playwright can work with a dramaturg. Once you start The biggest support came from Jeanne Pratt who offered workshopping you might find a song doesn’t work, which writers of new musicals up to $80,000 for the Pratt Prize. A means the book writer might need to write a new scene. It’s number of winners went on to have their musicals staged much more of a jigsaw puzzle.” professionally but the Pratt Prize changed direction in 2008 The program has been financed by the Victorian State after organisers were discouraged by the standard of work Government. As well as first prize of $30,000 (which may be being sent in. split), there are other grants of between two and six Martin Croft says the VCA has an advantage in thousand dollars. developing new musicals in that it has both excellent To be eligible the production can have a story which is facilities and a pool of acting talent on tap. based on an existing work, but it must have original music.

“We’ve got these great students and new funding. The Martin Croft also says it does not have to be a linear actors will get experience of working with new writers and musical in the mould of South Pacific but can be also be a maybe having a song you love taken off you. It will be a dance musical production or a work which is only partly great learning experience.” written at this stage.

His aim is for graduating students to stage a classic Submissions for New Work Australia Music Theatre Broadway hit and a new Australian musical every year.

Project are due by December 3 at the contact details at the Its sounds like it might not be too far off into the future.

Download the outline of the three stage development process - http://bit.ly/RTSe4L Download the conditions for submissions http://bit.ly/Vnfjh3 Submission enquiries should be made to: Martin Croft, Industry Consultant and Lecturer in Music Theatre at the VCA. Email: vca-musictheatre@unimelb.edu.au Submissions must be made by email or direct mail to: Lois Robinson, Funding Initiatives Officer, Faculty of VCA & MCM, The University of Melbourne, Building 860, Level 2, 234 St Kilda Rd, Southbank, Victoria 3006.

Email: loisr@unimelb.edu.au www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 13

Get With The Program Theatre Programs: Who Needs Them? Who Makes Them?

So, you’ve spent $279.80 on two tickets for Legally Blonde at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre. Paid for parking and dinner. Oh, and Ticketmaster charged you a $7.45 ‘Handling Fee’ on behalf of their hardworking computers. ‘Let’s get a program!’ says your date. Kerching! ‘That’ll be $20 extra, please.’

Yes, $20 is the standard price of a musicals program these days. And, you’d better believe it, the $25 program is coming for some big attractions next year - War Horse, for instance.

Who makes these increasingly expensive items? Who writes them?

Are they value for money? Frank Hatherley investigates the making of programs for professional and community theatre.

1500 copies of the first edition so the management had an opportunity to change the running order, depending on the popularity of the various acts.”

The Tivoli job wasn’t enough. He had his eyes on the largest theatrical firm in Australia, J.C. Williamson. “I rang Peter Morrison [then Head of JCW’s Public Relations] every day for a year,” he says. “Then one day the The Program King woman who had done their programs Brian Nebenzahl remembers for ages didn’t turn up for work the place of programs in a and he said, ‘okay, come in and 1950s Sydney theatre night meet [Managing Director] Sir out. “The deal was that you Frank Tait’. bought your girlfriend a “So I fronted Sir Frank with a corsage, a box of Winning contract. He looked up at me Post chocolates and, of course, over his glasses: ‘what size will the type be in?’” a program. When we started at the Tivoli, Nebenzahl laughs programs cost a merrily at the memory. shilling.” That’s 10 “Of all possible cents in today’s Brian Nebenzahl questions, I wasn’t ready for that one, but I money!

Nebenzahl went on to co-found said, ‘9 on 10 point Times Roman’. It Australia’s leading publisher of was all I could think of quickly. He said, programs, Playbill. At 77, he remains ‘you’ve got to understand us oldies Executive Chairman. can’t read all that well.’”

He and ex-schoolmate Lance Peters So the deal was done. “It was very got the Tivoli program job from exciting. Our first JCW program was for another ex-schoolmate, Lloyd Martin, Maurice Chevalier at the old Empire who had taken over the running of the Theatre, and the next was for My Fair Tivoli Variety Show Circuit after his Lady. Now that was Big Time.” father died. “Previously, making the He confesses to appropriating the programs had been an extra duty that name Playbill from the US firm that no one wanted,” Nebenzahl says. had been printing theatre programs “Every eight weeks they had since the 1880s. another show. We could only print 14 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

“I really knocked their name off,” he says cheerfully. “We’ve got it registered throughout Asia, the United Kingdom, South Africa. Their words to me were, ‘as long as you don’t get into our cabbage patch we don’t care.’ When we publish in America we call ourselves Platypus Productions, a good Aussie name.”

The Australian Playbill has just about cornered the market for professional companies. “These days we do almost all the subsidised companies. We do the MTC, the STC, Musica Viva, the six state orchestras, the Opera, the Ballet.” Plus independent producers like Cameron Mackintosh and John Frost.

“We’re a publisher, not just a printer. We take the commercial risk and pay a royalty on all program sales to the producers and theatre companies. This represents a significant income stream for them.”

Happy in his family trade - son Michael is Managing Director, wife Jocelyn is Editorial Director - Brian Nebenzahl doesn’t wish to discuss the cost of programs to theatregoers.

“There’s always someone who thinks they should be free,” he shrugs, before listing all the other showbiz costs that keep going up - admission prices, venue hire, wages (onstage, front and backstage), travel and transport, etc.

Why wouldn’t program costs go up, too? he implies.

Who decides the editorial and pictorial content of a program? “It

varies.

Sometimes producers leave it to us. The subsidised companies often have a resident team that does all that. If they don’t, we do it. Recently Playbill and the Sydney Theatre Company reappraised their program content and they appointed a journalist. Now the look of it is totally different with lots of interesting stories.”

the World of the play’, where we offer suggestions for the audience to take the experience further. I gather these ideas from the rehearsal room, from their process.”

The Sex With Strangers ‘World’ suggests 3 movies to watch (including When Harry Met Sally), 2 books to read (including The Lover by Marguerite Duras), and 4 writers to seek out (Simone de Beauvoir, etc). There’s even a suggested wine to go with the play (‘A crisp Californian white’).

Has there been any increase in program sales since her arrival? She

can’t say for sure. “Playbill controls the printing and the sales. But we’ve been having some really good feedback, which is great.” [Later Playbill confirmed that STC program sales have indeed risen.]

A sign of the times is that the enthusiastic Lalak also manages the complex digital side of the STC’s information outreach. She edits regular subscriber newsletters, an online magazine with videos, podcasts and a blog.

“Considering the changes that are happening throughout the newsprint

The Program Editor Alex Lalak has edited STC programs since being recruited 18 months ago from The Telegraph where she was Arts Editor. A self-confessed “absolute theatre nut” she had been writing reviews as well as interviewing stage and cinema personalities.

Her arrival as Content Manager sparked intense discussions. “We talked a lot within the company about what we wanted from a program, if we even wanted to continue having programs. And we got some positive feedback from our patrons through a survey. So then it was, well, how do we make programs more valuable and worthwhile? That was our starting point.

“We think of our programs now in terms of something that will be useful and interesting for the audience when they’re here, but also as something they will read through after they leave the theatre. For the last 12 months we’ve been including a 1500 word essay that I’ve commissioned, mostly from academics or from experienced journalists, on a topic or interesting angle connected to the show.”

At a recent performance at the STC’s Wharf Theatre this poster was on display in the foyer: ‘Enhance your Experience of Sex With Strangers Purchase a Program, $10’.

“And we have another new section,” says Lalak, “called ‘Discover www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 15

media, with Arts sections getting smaller and smaller, I think companies need to be producing more and more of their own content.” Starting with their programs.

It’s a digital world here, too.

Program makers in the 1990s would be amazed at the speed of Ken’s work and the double page spread of fulldress show photographs in the program ready for the opening night The Friendly Local Printer audience.

Ken Hind is the owner of the “GMS shows open on a Friday Gosford (NSW) Snap Printing franchise. night. A professional photographer Robust and friendly, he’s well known does a shoot during the final dress locally as the printer (and often rehearsal on the previous Monday. All designer) of programs for community the rest of the program will be ready theatre groups. He produces the by then. I can give them a first run of outstanding glossy 16-page A4 200 programs that’ll cover Friday and programs for the Gosford Musical the two shows on Saturday.

Society and the more modest 8-page “If everybody’s happy I’ll then send black and white A5 programs for the the file off to a trade printer and get a Woy Woy Little Theatre. bulk run done for the next three weeks.

“Each production team handles their own program content. As coordinator, I make sure they have it proofread and ready on time.”

How many GMS programs are regularly sold? “At a full house [the Laycock Street Theatre seats 392] between 20% and 35% of the audience buy a program. A show does 15 performances. Sales definitely vary from show to show. Our biggest selling programs were for Cats and for The Boy From Oz. Recently the Chorus Line program didn’t sell so well.”

Does anyone complain about the $7 price? Ken doesn’t think so. The actual unit cost averages out at between $3.50 and $4, he says, but they regularly give away 150-200 copies “for the library, the committee, for all the volunteers”.

He remembers when the price went up from $5 in January 2010. “The sales haven’t varied since then,” he says.

“The Boy From Oz had more content images and stuff they got from a trip to Tamworth and Armidale - so they called it a souvenir edition and sold it for $10. That didn’t affect the volume of sales at all.”

Don’t Forget the Merchandising To supplement their program sales, Playbill has branched very firmly into merchandising. During my visit to Playbill HQ, Brian Nebenzahl shows me an impressive display of their current offerings.

“It’s the big musicals that have kept us going,” he says, proudly showing a wall of branded clothes, toys and knickknacks. His top-selling Mary Poppins collection, for instance, includes Umbrellas, Beach Towels and a Musical Snowglobe (for $65).

Mamma Mia! was said by The Age to have generated ‘several million dollars in merchandise sales’.

“It’s a very big area,” he says.

“We’ve sold container-loads of stuff over the years. People love it. We’ve got Legally Blonde on the deck at the moment.”

So, after you’ve bought your $20 program, now you can purchase a Pink Cap for $25, an’OMIGOD You Guys’ Singlet for $40, and a Pair of Legally Blonde Yoga Pants for $75.

16 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

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Boys Will Be Boys (And Girls) Memories of a school Gilbert and Sullivan production inspired director Sasha Regan’s hit allmale production of The Pirates of Penzance, currently touring Australia. It originated at London’s intimate Union Theatre, formerly a derelict paper warehouse. Sasha spoke to Neil Litchfield.

Long before High School Musical or Back to the 80’s, school productions of Gilbert and Sullivan were de rigueur. Boys dressed as girls, and vice versa in predominantly single sex schools. English director Sasha Regan remembers them fondly.

“I went to an all-girls school and we did a production of HMS Pinafore,” she said. “It’s just that thought in the back of your head of what your school productions were like; how those young voices sound, and the innocence of it all.

“Gilbert and Sullivan can sometimes be a little bit hammy and laboured. By having these young boys playing it, it’s almost as though they’re in a school and they’ve found a treasure chest and a pile of old costumes, and they decide to put a production on.

So it has a very innocent charm, and not much set - there’s a couple of big old wooden crates that we’ve had built and some big cartoonish clouds on a big blue background.

“It’s to give it a new lift and energy, so that we can get new young audiences in, enjoying Gilbert and Sullivan again, because they’re so witty and the score is phenomenal. When you hear the cast of 18 singing ‘Hail Poetry’ in these six-part harmonies, it’s absolutely stunning. You can’t tell that it’s men singing, the falsettos are so strong. It’s beautiful music, and I think a lot of the young people who have been along to the show aren’t really aware that this Gilbert and Sullivan piece is well over a hundred years old.”

18 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Gilbert and Sullivan tradition used to be such a sacred cow until the copyright ended. I asked if there had been any mixed reactions?

“I didn’t want to show any disrespect to the piece or the music, because they’ve got a massive (traditional) Gilbert and Sullivan fan base in London. We do the score and the script exactly as written, and the vocals are absolutely beautiful. (Sasha later acknowledged they’ve kept one or two cheeky lines that started as ad libs, but otherwise the show is performed as written).

“We’ve got Michael England, who’s been conductor of Phantom of the Opera, Les Miz and all of the huge West End shows, and he makes their voices sound absolutely stunning.

When the Gilbert and Sullivan Society come in to see it, you’re all really nervous, but I think they love it. They love that we’re attracting new audiences and young people.”

Sasha, clearly, is coming from a place of genuine of affection for the pieces, with a fresh approach.

“Absolutely. When I’m going to do a new one I get the CDs, and play them in my car on the way to work. I visualize things quite filmically in my head. So with Pirates, I had pictures in my head, like the design of the costumes, and what sort of choreography and what the boys should look like. You’re not influenced by what you think it should look like. If you wanted to stage a production of Cats for instance, everyone’s seen the DVD and you know the cats come through the audience, or A Chorus Line; how do you do a production without that choreography.

Online extras!

Sasha Regan discusses The Pirates of Penzance. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/C5rl7QEmGxQ

“The joy of Gilbert and Sullivan is that you can play with it a little bit, as long as you’re respectful with it.”

I’m intrigued by the fact that ideas for the production sprang into Sasha’s mind’s eye as she was driving to work, listening to the CD, and asked if she could share one of those filmic moments.

“You’ll see with the Policemen that they’re very stylized.

Because it’s obviously the same people doing all three - the pirates, the women and the police - their physicality is very important. So the pirates are very ‘Lost Boys’, throwing themselves around and being as butch as possible, then we’ve got very elegant women when they come on as the girls. “ I suggested to Sasha that in many ways Pirates is more about the male characters than the women anyway.

“With this production you come away remembering the women because they’re such strong characters on stage. I imagine the girls’ supporting roles in a traditional production of Pirates would be quite wet, in that ‘Oh I’m just a simple lady, and would someone come and rescue me’ type thing, but these women hold their own, with good comic timing.”

Having gone with an all-male cast in Pirates, is there any G & S Sasha would consider taking in the other direction, with an all-female cast?

“This Pirates would probably still be a good production if it had women in it - a beautiful looking Gilbert and Sullivan, but when those boys come in through the

auditorium, and they’re all in white petticoats and white corsets, and as they travel up the steps onto the stage, with the audience clapping as these girls … boys as girls … walk up and turn around to face the audience. I don’t think I could take it out of the show. It’s just so funny to watch, and you wouldn’t get that reaction if it was just girls doing it.”

“But I would love to do a musical next with some girls in it.”

It’s been a long journey for this Pirates, from London’s fringe Union Theatre, which Sasha founded in a former paper warehouse in 1998, through its transfer to Wilton’s Music Hall, and now touring to the other side of the world.

The first night in Australia, in Canberra, surprised and delighted the company.

“There must have been about 700 people, and they were clapping and laughing from the first few minutes. We were having reactions like we’ve never had in London; it was absolutely phenomenal. Mabel had to stop at one moment. She was standing on stage just waiting for people to stop clapping.

“It’s a very big journey we’ve taken, and some of the guys were in that original production, and last night there were a few tears - like I can’t believe we’re here and we’ve travelled to the opposite side of the world, and the audience are so friendly and inviting of what we’re doing.

It’s a wonderful feeling.”

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 19

B

roadway uzz

By Peter Pinne

Kate Baldwin, Brian d’Arcy James and P.J. Griffith star in the Public Theater production of Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson’s musical Giant, based on Edna Ferber’s oil-gushing novel set in Texas in the 50s, currently in previews. James plays wealthy cattle man Bick (played in the movie by Rock Hudson), Baldwin, his wife Leslie (the Elizabeth Taylor role), and Griffith steps into the shoes of Jett (the James Dean part). Baldwin and Griffith originated their respective roles in a Dallas Theater Center production in 2011, directed by Michael Greif. Greif, whose previous credits include the original direction of Rent, Grey Gardens and Next To Normal, is again on-board for the OffBroadway outing.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has released a list of the most produced plays of its member theaters during the 2012-2013 season. David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People, set to have 17 productions, tops the list. The play concerns a single mother in desperate financial straits who visits a now-well-off old boyfriend in the hopes of landing a job. Following closely behind in the number of productions are Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park with 15, Mathew Lopez’s The Whipping Man with 14, and Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s musical Next To Normal with 13.

Theresa Rebeck’s new play Dead Accounts begins previews at the Music Box Theatre, November 3, with Norbert Leo Butz, Katie Holmes and Jayne Houdyshell. The plot involves Jack (Butz) making an unexpected return to his family, which prompts serious questions from his sister (Holmes) regarding a large sum of money he brings with him and the whereabouts of his missing wife.

Three Broadway musicals began their national tours on October 2. Catch Me If You Can started previews Oct 2 at the Pullo Center, York, Pennsylvania, with Stephen Anthony

20 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Katie Holmes and Norbit Leo Butz in Dead Accounts

Online extras!

Director Jack O’Brien discusses the Dead Accounts storyline. Click or scan to view http://youtu.be/RjSvwAQQW9g as con-man Frank Abagnale Jr. Ta’rea Campbell stars as lounge-singer Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act which began Oct 2 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto, while Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox kicked off a tour of Jekyll and Hyde at San Diego’s Civic Theatre, Oct 2. The Jekyll and Hyde production is expected to bow on Broadway in April 2013. “American Idol” finalist Maroulis won a 2009 Tony playing Drew in Rock of Ages.

Two major Aussie stars will be playing New York over the holiday season. Anthony Warlow stars as Daddy Warbucks in the new production of Annie which opens at the Palace November 8, while Caroline O’Connor, along with Dan Lauria, Erin Dally and Eddie Korbich, feature in A Christmas Story, opening November 19 at the LuntFontanne Theatre.

The play Killers: A Nightmare Haunted House profiles up -close 11 historical serial killers who include Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer, and as one reviewer put it, “not only does Killers scare the crap out of its patrons but it also gives them some insight into the motivations of their subjects.” The Halloween-themed show, which is playing at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, also features a Jeffrey Dahmer dream ballet!

Rupert Holmes’ musical whodunit The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based on the unfinished noel by Charles Dickens of the same name, will get its first Broadway revival when it opens at Studio 54, November 13. The 1985 Tony winning music-hall pastiche stars Chita Rivera, Jim Norton, Stephanie J. Block, Will Chase and Gregg Edelman, with direction by Scott Ellis.

Critics called Adam Rapp’s new play Through the Yellow Hour “unremittingly bleak, yet consistently compelling.” It’s set in an apocalyptic world and is filled with violence and gratuitous nudity, with descriptions of torture related in grisly detail. It plays at the Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater.

London Calling

By Peter Pinne Over the past two years Sheridan Smith has shown her amazing range of talent in everything from Elle Woods in Legally Blonde - The Musical to a chirpy ex-barmaid in Terrence Rattigan’s Flare Path, and is now dazzling audiences again with her take on the ‘female Hamlet’ of roles in Ibsen’s classic Hedda Gabler. According to the critics, Smith gives “an exceptional, mesmerizing performance,” and performs the role with “commendable ease and agility”. Adrian Scarborough, as her husband George, also received excellent notices, as did Darrell D’Silva, Daniel Lapaine and Fenella Woolgar. The production plays the Old Vic. The Old Vic also joins forces with Chichester Festival Theatre for the Trevor Nunn revival of Cole Porter’s musical version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew which plays The Cut Theatre from December 3 through March 2, 2013. It stars Alex Bourne as Fred Graham/Petruchio, Hannah Waddingham as Lilli Vanessi/Kate and Adam Garcia as Bill Calhoun/Lucentio.

Trevor Nunn’s other recent West End entry is a highprofile revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s 1984 comedy A Chorus of Disapproval, which has generally been dismissed by the critics - “Surpisingly leaden”, “stilted”, and

“uncharacteristically awkward”. They also thought it hadn’t aged well with a story that now seems dated about a timid widower who joins an amateur light opera society. Nigel Harman plays the widower, with most of the kudos going to Daisy Beaumont as the local vamp.

Viva Forever! The new musical comedy which uses the songs of the Spice Girls, opens at the Piccadilly Theatre, 11 December and is booking until June 1, 2013. The musical, produced by Judy Craymer (Mamma Mia), has a book by Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous), direction by Paul Garrington, and stars Sally Ann Triplett and Hannah JohnKamen. The plot revolves around a beautiful, talented girl and her best friends who get swept up in the obsession of today’s TV celebrity culture.

From November 14th, the Olivier Theatre at the National begins previews of a revival of Arthur Wing Pinero’s classic comedy-of-manners The Magistrate. The cast is headed by TV and Broadway star John Lithgow, and also features Nancy Carroll and Joshua McGuire. Direction is by Timothy Sheader.

Tamsin Greig has received nothing but rave reviews as the mother Hilary in Jumpy since the play opened. It’s about a mother struggling through the minefield of teenage angst with a 15-year-old daughter. The Daily Telegraph called it “the funniest new play the West End has seen in ages”, with the Evening Standard saying “Jumpy is worth seeing for Greig alone”, while The Guardian weighed in with “how often do you get a West End play that’s intelligent, funny and puts contemporary mid-life women centre stage?” It was written by April de Angelis and originally appeared at the Royal Court Theatre in October 2011. This first West End production plays the Duke of York’s Theatre.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 21

New Horizons Same Quest

Online extras!

Watch Brett Sheehy as he discusses his philosophies online. Scan or visit http://youtu.be/UB4kALcQ2Yw 22 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Well known across Australia as the successful Artistic Director for Festivals in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, Brett Sheehy has just launched his first season as the Melbourne Theatre Company’s new Creative Director. But not everyone is excited by the prospect, as Coral Drouyn discovered when they talked theatre.

There are many words I’ve heard used to describe the very genial and enthusiastic Brett Sheehy: Manic, hyperactive, driven, workaholic, a powerhouse. All of them may be partially true but they don’t describe what struck me within five minutes of talking to the former Melbourne Festival Director and the new Creative Director of the MTC. Brett Sheehy has a nuclear core of energy which is fuelled by all things theatre in the quest for excellence. It’s better known as passion, and it colours all his decisions and choices. There may well be intellectual and analytical components in the mix (there have to be in his administrative capacity), but if Sheehy doesn’t feel the passion, it isn’t going to happen.

Despite a highly successful twelve years as Artistic Director for International Arts Festivals across three Australian state capitals and the prolific amount of new Australian works he has commissioned, he is still viewed with suspicion in some quarters over his new appointment to MTC. Why? Well, because he’s “clearly not a creative” (I do hope the facetiousness is obvious in the type face). But he has broken the boundaries of the obvious and artistically safe, and confronted us with works we might otherwise never have considered: Surely that counts as creative?

‘Er…..well maybe but, dammitall, he’s not a director, he’s not an actor, he’s not a playwright. He doesn’t understand that a Festival is for Arty-farty aficionados; a state theatre company is for all people.’

Hmmmm. Is there any truth in that, I wonder? And so we talk, and I try to be challenging, truly I do. If only he didn’t make so much sense.

Coral Drouyn: So let’s deal first with the obvious differences between festivals, which bring to us a variety of offerings from elsewhere, or new and experimental local work; and are about provoking and challenging the audience, and a State theatre company.

Isn’t the latter all about obligation to the perceived National Identity over an entire season? Most of the audience want theatre they can relate to, and without that, isn’t there a danger of not getting the bums on seats?

Brett Sheehy: Yes of course, and I’m very conscious of that. I’m not about to swan into MTC and put together programmes that theatregoers can’t relate to, and say “Like this, because I said so and it’s art!” I know that a State

Theatre Company sits between the festival audience and the blatant commercial theatre world. The latter usually doesn’t push boundaries enough for my taste and some theatregoers are never going to be satisfied with “fast food” theatre.

It’s essential to know your audience and find the balance.

CD: So is that the criterion - pushing audience boundaries?

BS: No, it’s not. You can push audience boundaries and still end up with something which is…well….let’s just say it isn’t satisfying to anyone. I don’t want anyone in the MTC audience feeling like they have to take an IQ test and pass before they’ll be let back in. I want them to feel exhilarated, flushed, passionate, and hungry for more theatre, whether they’ve seen a comedy or an emotionally charged drama. I want them to go out of the theatre elated and discussing the play all the way home, and even the next day. There is only one real way to do that.

CD: By challenging them?

BS: No. They pay their money to be entertained. If we don’t do that we fail. We do it by giving them excellence. I think it’s because I’m not a director or an actor that I have something different to offer MTC. I can bring an artistic overview. The people I want to challenge are the artists themselves, the playwrights, the directors, the actors. I want them to feel passionate and totally committed to the projects that we choose for a season, and I want to be able to facilitate their vision. Yes of course we all commit to any artistic endeavour, but without real passion for a project, there will never be real excellence. And even with passion, not everything is going to be as we hope.

CD: I have a saying…Better a noble failure than a mediocre success.

BS: Absolutely. Yes, yes, that’s it. Excellence is the Holy Grail for me. That’s why I’ve challenged everybody working on the 2013 season to find their passion.

CD: How does that work exactly?

BS: Well, for example. I wanted Nadia Tass to direct for us. So I asked her what play she had seen that moved her passionately, that she would love to direct more than anything in the world. She didn’t hesitate to say The Other Place. She’s so passionate about it that she will give her all in the pursuit of excellence. It will be very special.

Likewise with David Williamson, who will give us a new play this year. We talked about all the domestic dramas which he can now write in his sleep. Then I asked him, “What is the one subject that both excites and frightens you; that you would kill for a chance to write about?” He has strong opinions about abuse of power in the media, and the relationship between the media and politics. He started straight away on Rupert. It’s going to be electric, hopefully something that MTC can facilitate sending out to the world.

I truly believe finding a director or a playwright’s passion is the surest road to excellence.

CD: So you give playwrights and directors a chance to indulge their passion? Isn’t there a danger then of that becoming…excuse me…a wank? Someone obviously was passionate about Queen Lear…but pet projects can get out of hand.

He laughs.

BS: Yes they can, and especially if you have a director or playwright as the head of a company. There could well be an agenda to put on the list “six plays I’m dying to direct” and that could get out of hand. That’s where I come in. I won’t direct, but I will be across the progress of rehearsals, keeping a production focussed, on path, searching for the excellence, inspiring those who create. That’s my sole purpose in being there.

CD: Or maybe your “soul” purpose?

He looks perplexed so I spell it for him…and he nods and agrees.

CD: You’re still bringing in an overseas production though, One Man, Two Guv’nors?

BS: Well, it’s a fantastic show.

CD: I have seen it. Hilarious.

BS: And it does show that there are productions which can be National or State Theatre initiated and yet cross into the commercial theatre space with every seat full every night.

CD: Is the plan to export one production for every import?

BS: There’s no set quota - just as there’s no set quota in revivals or premieres. But if we have something exceptional, why wouldn’t we export it? That’s another area where I can give something different to the MTC. All those years of Arts Festivals have given me incredible contacts overseas. It isn’t any longer just a case of taking productions to New York or London. We can look at Prague, Berlin, even Beijing as possible areas of exposure provided we commit to having the best of everything in each production.

I’m often asked about the differences in audiences between states in the festivals. Honestly, I think it’s negligible…and it’s negligible even globally. Audiences understand excellence - they relate to it. They relate to universal stories exquisitely told. They may not understand every nuance of ethnicity, but if they are touched emotionally, they get it.

CD: Yes, a universal story …like Romeo and Juliet…can be performed on Mars, and the Martians would cheer.

BS: Well if they’re up there, that’s another potential audience to tap in the future. But you’re right. The plan is to make each season more exciting than the last and raise the standard every year.

CD: So, in each production, what percentage is Art, and what percentage is Craft.

BS: I would expect it to be 100% BOTH. CD: I knew you’d say that. Thanks so much for your time…this has been exhilarating.

BS: It’s been fun for me too. Let’s talk more when the madness dies down.

The “madness” is Brett winding up his final festival this month and moving fulltime to MTC. We also talked about his initiative for encouraging new women playwrights (I put my hand up); the pros and cons of a possible touring company; and a significant gay play production now that HIV is on the rise again. Sheehy is the kind of man you could spend 24 hours with in conversation and come away as elated as he hopes the MTC audiences will be. He’s a true creative with vision and passion. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 23

Hot Tickets In 2013

Before both King Kong and those dancers swing into action The Addams Family is the first major commercial musical entry for the year. It opens at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre in March 2013, fresh from its 18 month run on Broadway with an original cast that including Nathan Lane as Gomez.

Australian audiences will have just as much fun: John Waters has been cast as Gomez Addams, with Chloë Dallimore as Morticia Addams.

Jersey Boys returns to Melbourne for a strictly limited 14 week return season at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre from January 10, 2013.

Neil Litchfield wrote of the King Kong production development. Set model of Kong at Time Square Theatre. Credit: Peter England Sydney production, “The hits of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, like “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Rag Doll”, “Oh What a Night,” “Walk Like a Man” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, combine to create a terrific score, while a more than The big musical event of 2013 is already shaping as usually substantial book (for a juke box musical), strong on Global Creatures’ production of KING KONG Live On Stage, characterization and cutting in its wit, doesn’t try to gloss which has its World Premiere at Melbourne’s Regent over darker side of the Italian / American quartet, including Theatre in June 2013. mafia connections and criminal history.”

An extraordinary team has been assembled, combining Tim Lawson’s production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, live performers, aerial circus, puppets and animatronics, the stage musical based on the MGM Motion which Global Creatures has mastered in its famous Picture, opens at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on November 16.

Dinosaur and Dragon shows.

A Melbourne season follows at Her Majesty’s Theatre from Director Daniel Kramer told Stage Whispers, “The January 30, 2013. logistics of this are enormous. The only way we can It’s sure to be a crowd pleaser for the family market. A rehearse is with a life-size working model of Kong, albeit custom made car is flying out (or is being shipped out) not the finished creature, and on the stage of the Regent from the West End production.

Theatre itself. We have a six month rehearsal period and It has a cast that will please grown-ups. Playing the role we’ll need every day of that.” of Caractacus Potts will be one of Australia’s best-known But it’s not just the seven metre Gorilla that excited singers and recording artists, tenor David Hobson, while Stage Whispers’ Coral Drouyn at the official launch in Rachael Beck will play the role of Truly Scrumptious.

October. She reports that this production has a Legally Blonde the Musical, which opened at Sydney’s commitment to the love story, and to a script with Capitol Theatre in October, seems set to tour nationally. characters that engage us. The book is by Craig Lucas, a It has shopping, a cute Chihuahua, lots of pink and Pulitzer Prize nominee for Prelude to a Kiss and The Dying plenty of hunks on display.

Gaul, and a Tony Award nominee for Light in the Piazza.

Neil Litchfield wrote, “The smile didn’t leave my face The music is by Marius de Vries, whose credits include the from start to finish, during this feel-good escapist musical.” movie Moulin Rouge!

The high-energy tap dancing spectacular Hot Shoe King Kong is too big to leave Melbourne. It’s being Shuffle will tour Australia for the third time in 2013. skyscraper tested for the big leap to Broadway.

Created by song and dance man David Atkins and Global Creatures is also behind the keenly anticipated choreographed by Dein Perry, the musical has been a smash musical adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s hit 1992 movie hit in Australia and West End. Strictly Ballroom, based on the story of a championship “Hot Shoe Shuffle has had a phenomenal journey to ballroom dancer who is breaking all the rules. date, having played literally to millions of people all around While it’s scheduled to open in September 2013 at the world,” said David Atkins. “We are creating a brand Sydney’s Lyric Theatre, auditions for the lead characters new production for its return to Australian theatres and are Fran and Scott, announced for September, were postponed on the hunt for our new and exciting triple threat cast. to early next year. This led to industry speculation that the We’re sure the 2013 production will wow old fans and production has been delayed, but there is no official word create a whole generation of new ones.” yet.

The dance musical features glorious music including

Musicals In 2013

24 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

‘Putting on the Ritz’, a Fats Waller Medley, ‘Song and Dance Man’, ‘The Rug Cutter’ and ‘Name in Lights’ by Peter Allen.

Opera Australia’s hit production of Rogers and Hammerstein classic South Pacific begins its Brisbane run at QPAC from December 17. There will be an encore Sydney season at Sydney Opera House in September 2013.

Reviewer Lucy Graham has sung it praises.

“Rumours may abound of a cast romance (between the sweet leading lady Lisa McCune and the oak like baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes), but this production needs no such thing to attract the hordes.

“The Music: wonderful songs that do laps in your head for days after. Comic choreography: some of the most precise I’ve seen. Terrific set design, set manipulation and costuming. And the rest.

“Just get a ticket.”

Geoffrey Rush and the cast of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum will continue their farcical antics into January at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne.

Disney’s The Lion King will return to Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from December 2013.

John Frost’s production of Annie, which has played across Australia since premiering Sydney’s Lyric Theatre in January 2012, now crosses the Tasman for an Auckland season.

Stage Whispers has also been told that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels will open at the Theatre Royal in Sydney in 2013. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels opened on Broadway in 2005 and is based on the 1988 film of the same name.

John Frost has two new musicals in the works.

Dreamlover, based on the life and music of Bobby Darin (written by the Australian team of John-Michael Howson and Frank Howson) was workshopped by director Simon Phillips. No news yet of an opening.

Frost has also announced he has joined forces with the producer of the award winning Australian film RED DOG, Nelson Woss, to explore developing the Red Dog story into a musical production.

The Australian flag continues to fly on international stages. Anthony Warlow is recreating his performance as Daddy Warbucks in Annie on Broadway, while Australia’s biggest international musical hit Priscilla Queen of the Desert commences its US tour in 2013.

The Boy From Oz will have its South American premiere in May 2013 in a beautiful theatre in Peru.

Blockbuster Plays In 2013 Australia will see some blockbuster plays in 2013. For those who want star power there is a lot to get excited about.

War Horse The most breath taking drama event of 2013 will no doubt be War Horse. At the launch in Melbourne Lucy

Seasons 2013 The Addams Family

Online extras!

Check out the hottest shows of 2013 by scanning the QR code or visiting http://bit.ly/ShuFoU Graham reports the media pack were literally gasping when the life size puppet of Joey made his entrance.

Crafted from cane and stretched georgette, three puppeteers manipulate Joey: one at the head, one at the heart, and one at the hind. Strong enough to be ridden, Joey is semi-transparent and a little ghostly.

Passers-by in St Kilda Road stood entranced as Joey stood beside a flesh-and-blood horse called Charlie, in the bright sunshine on the Arts Centre lawn. Animal behaviourists have reportedly advised the creative team on how horses react and respond to various stimuli, right down to the pivoting ears, and tail twitches.

Nick Stafford’s stage adaption of Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel War Horse is about Joey, the beloved horse of a boy, Albert, sold to the cavalry in World War 1.

Shipped to France, Joey is involved on both sides of the fighting. But Albert can’t forget Joey and sets out to bring him home.

The West End and Broadway hit opens on December 31, 2012 at Arts Centre Melbourne’s State Theatre followed by a Sydney season at the Lyric Theatre from March 23, 2013 and a Brisbane season at Lyric Theatre from July 11.

Driving Miss Daisy There’ll be so much star power in this production you may need sunglasses.

A timeless American play which inspired the beloved Academy Award® winning film, Driving Miss Daisy tells the affecting story of the decades-long relationship between an www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 25

Online extras!

Check out a preview of War Horse by scanning the QR code or visiting http://youtu.be/eBOcN1NMHrw elderly Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her compassionate African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn.

Driving Miss Daisy stars acting legends Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines. Their mantelpieces groan under the weight of Tony Awards.

Fresh from sell out seasons on the West End and Broadway, it opens in Brisbane and will tour to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Australian audiences to see three of the finest actors in the world today, Broadway and Hollywood royalty, in one of the most enduring and popular stage plays of our time. Rarely in our lifetime do we get to see such experience, such talent, on an Australian stage,” says Producer John Frost.

One Man, Two Guvnors The National Theatre of Great Britain’s hit production of Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors will tour Australia in 2013.

Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, One Man, Two Guvnors, is a huge British slapstick hit, One Man, Two Guvnors

26 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

War Horse

directed by Nicholas Hytner.

In the glorious tradition of British comedy expect a fabulous on-stage band, satire and slapstick as Francis Henshall deals with cross-dressing mobsters, star crossed lovers, falling trousers and flying fish heads while trying to keep his two guvnors apart.

The Adelaide season will be part new Adelaide Festival Artistic Director David Sefton’s first festival program.

“I’m a firm believer that art doesn’t have to be ‘high’ to be great. Great entertainment and great art are about execution, quality and excellence. One Man, Two Guvnors is an example of something that is excellent, hilarious, and incredibly accessible for everybody,” said Sefton.

It will premiere at the Adelaide Festival between February 28 and March 9, 2013, then playing at the Sydney Theatre Company from March 30 to May 11, before a Melbourne season from May 17 to June 22 at Arts Centre Melbourne as part of the 2013 MTC season.

Local Blockbusters Australia’s flagship state theatre companies are also rolling out their own blockbuster productions with big stars.

The Sydney Theatre Company is rolling out one blockbuster after another in the final year under the joint artistic direction of Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. Sure to sell out is Waiting for Godot starring Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh, while Cate Blanchett returns to the stage herself, head to head with acclaimed French actress Isabelle Huppert in the psychosexual thriller The Maids by Jean Genet.

Melbourne gets its opportunity for star-gazing when David Wenham stars opposite Anita Hegh in the MTC production of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece The Crucible. Sure to get international attention will be David Williamson’s take on the greatest media mogul of all time in the world premiere of Rupert. This political fantasia commissioned by MTC and directed by Lee Lewis is guaranteed to hit the headlines.

Mainstage Theatre Seasons 2013

Sydney Theatre Company’s The Maids

Seasons 2013

By now nearly all the season brochures for mainstage theatre companies in Australia are out. Of course you can’t see everything. Who has the time or the money? To help, Stage Whispers asked the theatre companies to select two shows for different theatre ‘types’.

Theatre Tragics. For someone who goes to the theatre often, and wants to see a stand out production.

Something Edgy. For theatregoers whose priority is challenging and innovative theatre.

Just Entertain Me. Lots of laugh please.

Younger Audiences. I’m 21 or younger; speak to my generation.

Sydney Theatre Company Andrew Upton - Co-artistic Director Theatre Tragics: The Secret River and Waiting For Godot.

Stunning casts in great writing, realised by internationally acclaimed directors, Neil Armfield and Tamas Ascher.

Something edgy: Laser Beak Man and The Maids. Two of the most significant theatrical innovators - Bruce Gladwin and Benedict Andrews - working absolutely in their element with wonderful casts.

Just Entertain Me: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and One Man, Two Guvnors. Two great comic directors, Simon Phillips and Nick Hytner, grappling with two hilarious writers and featuring great casts.

Younger audiences: Romeo and Juliet and Mrs Warren’s Profession. Exciting young directors, Kip Williams and Sarah Giles, with classic material tackling the generation gap head on.

Sydney Theatre Company’s Waiting for Godot

Black Swan State Theatre Company Kate Cherry - Artistic Director Theatre Tragics: I have wanted to direct Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz for several years now. It’s a moving, revealing, compassionate drama with a sharp eye for US politics and society. And Shrine, the third play by Tim Winton. It’s excavates the joys and perils of being young, and is deeply entwined with the landscape and coast of Western Australia.

Something edgy: Try The Motherf**ker with the Hat. It’s a hip, foul-mouthed comedy that is as contemporary as it gets. And Midsummer [A Play with Songs] will be a fabulous, madcap evening of theatre with lots of music this play has been a hit around the world.

Just entertain me: You can’t go past The Importance of Being Earnest, the quintessential Edwardian rom-com with some of Oscar Wilde’s most sparkling bon mots. And also don’t miss Day One, A Hotel, Evening, the new comedy by Joanna Murray-Smith. Directed by the iconic Bruce Beresford, this play will be a gem!

Younger audiences: I think everyone - especially young people, should see classics like Death of a Salesman at least once in their life, so I’d definitely recommend this timeless father-son drama. And in contrast, my second choice www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 27

would be The Motherf**ker with the Hat (again) - that play Just Entertain Me: The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet is simply written for them. of Stars is a shamelessly sentimental and hilarious rom com by the normally fiery and political Van Badham. It’s State Theatre Company of South Australia incredibly playful and will be directed by Griffin’s new Geordie Brookman: Artistic Director Artistic Director, Lee Lewis.

Theatre Tragics: One of Australia’s great actors playing And Girl in Tan Boots. This is a charming story set very one of theatre’s great roles, Alison Bell in Joanna Murrayfirmly in Sydney. It combines a love story, a detective story Smith’s contemporary adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and a magic act. and Adelaide legend Paul Blackwell in the title role of John Younger audiences: Beached by young writer Melissa Doyle’s new play Vere, our co production with Sydney Bubnic has a razor sharp comic wit and a very gen y Theatre Company. sensibility. Here she takes on reality TV and morbid obesity Something edgy: Living legend Barry Otto in Sue Smith’s and the results are hilarious and moving. adaptation of Tolstoy’s ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’. The piece will Also This is Where we Live. This is an explosive and be created in a purpose built venue inside our scenery poetic immersion into the lives of two teenagers in the workshop with a score developed by Gabriella Smart. And tradition of Silent Disco. Like that play, it also won the The Dark Room by Angela Betzien. An excellent chance to Griffin Award. see some brilliant new Australian writing and to connect with some of the best the SA independent sector has to Melbourne Theatre Company offer.

Brett Sheehy - Artistic Director Just Entertain Me: For pure theatrical inventiveness and Theatre Tragics: David Williamson takes on the greatest the chance to see a world famous company - Kneehigh’s media mogul of all time in the world premiere of Rupert. production of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter and Imara This political fantasia commissioned by MTC is guaranteed Savage’s anarchic production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy to hit the headlines. of Errors, our national touring co-production with Bell Robyn Nevin stars in Other Desert Cities by American Shakespeare. playwright Jon Robin Baitz, creator of the hit TV series, Younger audiences: Debbie Tucker Green’s heart Brothers and Sisters. This play - an Australian premiere stopping and brilliant monologue, Random, starring Zindzi mixes a nation’s politics with a family in crisis Okenyo and one of the most exciting new voices of the Something edgy: In a first, MTC will present Zeitgeist. A Australian stage, Rita Kalnejais, with her heartbreaking but space has been deliberately kept open to bring audiences uplifting play Babyteeth. the freshest Australian or international work hot off the playwright’s desk.

Griffin Theatre Company Two unlikely people meet in a single moment sparking Sam Strong - Departing Artistic Director infinite possibilities as quantum theory hits the stage in Theatre tragics: I would recommend The Floating World.

Constellations.

This is a neglected masterpiece of Australian Theatre, last The Cherry Orchard, Simon Stone’s radical re-working of staged at the SBW Stables in 1975. It’s a unique a Chekhov classic. combination of rowdiness and power, comedy and tragedy.

Just Entertain Me: One Man, Two Guvnors - two Also Return to Earth. Lally Katz has been guvnors means two meal tickets and two pay days, only if carving out an impressive reputation Frances Henshall can keep them apart! Direct from lately but so far only Melbourne London’s West End. audiences have seen this great Melbourne Theatre Company’s example of her wonderful The Book Of Everything imagination.

Something edgy: Dreams in White deals with the darker parts of human nature, in particular the secrets people keep from those closest to them. But it’s completely thrilling think Speaking in Tongues on speed.

And Summertime in the Garden of Eden. Think Tennessee Williams in drag on acid and you’re about half way there. This is our version of a Christmas panto.

Griffin Theatre Company’s In Dreams

The world premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s new play True Minds is a witty story about love and dysfunctional family relationships.

Younger audiences: Richard Tulloch’s stage adaptation of Dutch author Guus Kuijer’s classic book, The Book of Everything.

Seasons 2013

Malthouse Theatre Marion Potts - Artistic Director Theatre Tragics: Hate, Back to Back’s new production Laser Beak Man and Shadow King. These productions represent an extremely diverse series of ideas, aesthetics and talents sure to satisfy any theatre lover.

Something edgy: Persona, White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, Bloody Chamber and Dance of Death. Dealing with topics such as identity, censorship, feminism and marriage, and working across a range of genres and art forms, these productions will all push the boundaries of live performance.

Just entertain me: The Dragon features comic trio Tripod, who have created original songs to accompany the production, Hard Rubbish is a fantastic new family show, and Stories I want to Tell You in Person is written by created, and stars the hilarious Lally Katz.

Younger audiences: Created by the award-winning object puppeteers Men of Steel, Hard Rubbish will be an exciting and innovative family production that sees an entire lounge room come alive!

Company B Belvoir Artistic Director Ralph Myers was on holidays when our survey was underway. Here are Stage Whispers’ recommendations.

Theatre tragics: Simon Stone directs Hamlet, with Toby Schmitz in the title role and Eamon Flack will direct both parts of Angels in America, a piece of such breadth and ambition that it commands two nights in the theatre.

Something edgy: Ros Horin has spent the last 18 months with an extraordinary group of African women who now call Australia home. Their story, Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe, is the result.

Just Entertain Me: Lally Katz will appear on stage in Things I Want to Tell You In Person.

Young Audiences: Artistic Director Ralph Myers kicks off the year with Peter Pan, a work for adults and children alike with a team of fabulous clowns.

Malthouse Theatre’s Laser Beak Man Barry Otto in The State Theatre Company of South Australia’s The Kreutzer Sonata

Bell Shakespeare Theatre Tragics: King Henry IV - John Bell directs this new production and stars as Shakespeare’s greatest comic creation, Falstaff - Lord of misrule, life of the party, corrupter of youth. And his Australian take on English history, with its monarchy, class system and civil unrest teeters on the edge of anarchy. This age-old story of a rebellious son and a domineering father is bursting with dramatic tension interspersed with riotous, bawdy comedy, music and violence set to recapture the boisterous atmosphere of Shakespeare’s Globe for a modern audience.

Something edgy: Peter Evans directs Racine’s tragic love story Phèdre, from Ted Hughes’ passionately wrought www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 29

Online extras!

Check out the hottest shows of 2013 by scanning the QR code or visiting http://bit.ly/ShuFoU translation. Love, betrayal, humiliation, despair and death in this fresh look at one of the most important tragedies in French theatre.

Youth and Entertain Me: Imara Savage takes on one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, The Comedy of Errors, with style. Sharp banter and comical word-play lure us into a contemporary world where characters are reinvented, individuality is fluid, and bigger themes lie just below the surface. Over the course of this fast-paced comedy, truths are increasingly unstable, accidents more unfortunate and the boundary between what’s real and what isn’t becomes even more tenuous.

Ensemble Theatre Theatre tragics: Frankenstein - a spine-tingling new adaption of the classic Mary Shelley novel by British playwright Nick Dear, and a smash hit sellout success for the National Theatre in London, which will tour nationally after its Sydney season. Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry describes Frankenstein as “Thrilling, moving, scary and beautiful - a man born as an adult has to survive on his wits, learning fast. This is a rollercoaster ride of a story, fast, furious, haunting and entertaining… a Frankenstein with a mission.”

Something edgy: Liberty, Equality Fraternity by Geoffrey Atherden. Director Shannon Murphy says, “What Geoffrey does so cleverly is put Australian politics and culture under the microscope - but of course he does this in a very comedic way. It’s one of the most fascinating reads I’ve had in a long time; it raises so many questions that are very contemporary. It’s the kind of show that’s going to leave people buzzing in the foyer, talking about all the different issues in the play for a long time afterwards.”

Just Entertain Me: Happiness by David Williamson.

30 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Queensland Theatre Company’s Mother Courage

Director Sandra Bates says “It’s very funny - you’ll laugh and laugh - but you’ll also empathise with the characters. What I love is the irony of this professor of happiness surrounded by unhappiness when he’s done everything right. Only David can bring us this kind of irony.”

Younger audiences: A Year with Frog and Toad. Director Anna Crawford says, “ A Year with Frog and Toad is the only children’s musical ever to be nominated for a TONY for Best Musical in the Adult Category, and I think that really speaks of how touching this show is for kids but also for adults as well. It’s funny and charming - there’s a lot of singing and dancing and it’s just a really sweet bit of escapism that teaches really good values about friendship and courage. I just can’t wait to work on it again.”

Queensland Theatre Company Wesley Enoch - Artistic Director Theatre Tragics: A 7-play subscription package!

Something edgy: Definitely the season openers - The Pitch and The China Incident; and of course TROLLOP in The GreenHouse.

Just entertain me: End of the Rainbow - starring Christen O’Leary as Judy Garland in her final days. Powerful and poignant with 11 classic Garland songs.

Younger audiences: Wow we have a heap here - Venus in Fur; The Pitch and The China Incident; Design for Living; Mother Courage and Trollop.

But if you must choose only two, Stage Whispers notes Wesley’s own words making special mention of “RED - that won six Tony Awards including Best play in 2010, as well as the Drama Desk Award for Most Outstanding Play and Other Desert Cities was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, plus has five nominations for Tony Awards this year, including Best Play.”

Opera In 2013

Melbourne is the place to be for Opera in 2013. The newly renovated Hamer Hall is the venue for the keenly anticipated Ring Cycle.

If you haven’t got a ticket already, it’s too late…unless you book through an international travel agent.

Opera Australia announced recently that ‘due to extremely high demand we have removed tickets from sale while we allocate seats to customers who have already applied.’

Neil Armfield says directing the four opera epic is daunting.

“I have never faced a challenge that comes anywhere near the challenges of the Ring. It is perhaps the greatest single work of the human imagination. I hope to bring to it simplicity and clarity, a playful love of story, a meaningful sense of spectacle, and an utterly ravishing theatricality.”

The conductor will be Richard Mills. He is also the Artistic Director of the Victorian Opera, which has programmed what might be considered Australia’s most fascinating season in 2013.

It includes the world première of Richard Gill’s Sleeping Beauty and the world premiere of The Magic Pudding - the opera by Calvin Bowman and Anna Goldsworthy.

For grown ups there is Nixon in China, one of the most influential pieces from the second half of the 20th century; Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and then in a collaboration with Leigh Warren & Dancers, it presents Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires, a tango opera.

Sydney Opera buffs might be crimson with jealousy, but a glance at Opera Australia’s 2013 season brings some solace.

The spectacular success of Opera on the Harbour last year has a sequel. Gale Edwards will direct Bizet’s Carmen.

La Traviata audiences were dazzled by the giant chandeliers. What is in store this time? A giant Toreador’s hat?

To mark the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth, five of his operas will be staged in grand style. Most striking is likely to be a new production of A Masked Ball in a co-production with Opera companies in Buenos Aires, Brussels and Norway by the La Fure Dels Baus company. Other Verdi operas on the menu are Il Trovatore, Falstaff, La Traviata and The Force of Destiny.

Song and dance man Todd McKenney will also make his Opera Australia debut in Jonathan Biggins’ adaptation of Orpheus in the Underworld.

John Bell will make his debut as an opera director with Puccini’s Tosca.

Opera Queensland is also celebrating the Verdi Bicentenary. Johannes Fritzsch, Chief Conductor of Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Graz Opera, will make his long-awaited Opera Queensland debut in a bold new production of Otello created by Simon Phillips.

“As a theatre director, Shakespeare is my first love. But in the case of Othello, the opera surpasses its source. The irrational extremity of Othello’s jealousy and Iago’s hell-

Seasons 2013

WA Opera’s La Bohème

bent destruction seem somehow better suited to the soaring dynamics of opera,” he says.

Also expected to set off fireworks will be a new coproduction of Rossini’s Cinderella, staged in conjunction with NBR New Zealand Opera.

It’s described as quirkily eccentric, characterised by pyrotechnic arias, breathtaking musical ensembles and a huge heart. Kiwi opera buffs will have to wait a few years to see this production.

In the meantime the NBR New Zealand Opera is expanding its reach in 2013 as three main-stage operas are presented, in Auckland, Wellington, and for the first time, Christchurch. Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman will show off the art form at its very best.

With many of Christchurch’s theatres still being rebuilt in the wake of the series of earthquakes, the venue for Don Giovanni will New Zealand’s largest indoor sporting facility, the CBS Canterbury Arena.

Star male opera singers are the focus of West Australian Opera’s 2013 season. They’ve called it the ‘Year of the Divo’. Their season brochure has some of the campest looking men this side of the Sydney Mardi Gras.

But those images are just for show. On stage is some heavyweight opera talent led by Teddy Tahu Rhodes in Don Giovanni and Alfredo Rosario La Spina in La Traviata.

The State Opera of South Australia was yet to announce its season when we went to press, but Stage Whispers understands the season comprises Madama Butterfly, Salome and La Forza Del Destino. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 31

Sweet Little Devil (PS Classics PS-1207).

PS Classics have really delved into the archives for this latest release, a show from the 1920s written by George

By Peter Pinne Gershwin with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva.

The Sapphires (Sony 88725422172).

It’s the world premiere recording of The soundtrack to the runaway feelthe score, which has been good film of the year is a collection of painstakingly restored by producer Tommy Krasker from the original Robert Russell Bennett classic soul standards from the late orchestrations for the road tour. A terrific cast headed by 60s and early 70s, and as sung by Jessica Mauboy and her co-stars Rebecca Luker and Danny Burstein have enormous fun in Juanita Tippins, Jade MacRae and delivering this score, which is in the style of Jerome Kern’s Mahalia Barnes is infectious pop. The early Princess Theatre Shows, Leave it To Jane and Very song-stack includes “I Heard it Through Good Eddie. The show produced no hits, but the songs are the Grapevine”, “What a Man”, “I Can’t Help Myself”, and highly melodic, with lyrics that have a bundle of internal “I’ll Take You There”. Mauboy is particularly good on Merle rhymes. Like his recent Follies release, Krasker also includes Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again”, with Juanita some linking dialogue to help set the scene.  Tippins shining centre stage on “People Make the World a Better Place”. There are also some original tracks from the Release Me - Barbra Streisand era by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sam and Dave and The (Columbia). Barbra Streisand has also dug deep into her private vaults for Emotions and a traditional song, “Ngarra Burra Ferra”, sung in Yorta Yorta language.  this new release. Songs recorded for various albums during her career, that Rock of Ages (Water Tower Music). The for one reason or another did not soundtrack of this hit jukebox musical make it onto the final CD, are featured. is every bit as good as the original Of particular interest to show music fans are tracks intended for The Broadway Album (1985) Broadway cast album. The movie’s stars, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zetaand Back To Broadway (1993) releases. The singer is in allJones, Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin, stops-out diva mode for “Home” from The Wiz, and makes and newcomers Diego Boneta and a perfect medley by coupling “How Are Things In Glocca Julianne Hough, are all up to the Morra?” from Finian’s Rainbow with “The Heather On The challenge and deliver potent Hill” from Brigadoon. Other show songs include “Being performances of this collection of 80s rock. Zeta-Jones Good Isn’t Good Enough” from Hallelujah Baby, and an scores with “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, Brand and unreleased single version of “With One More Look At You” Baldwin do well with “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, and Cruise, from the movie A Star Is Born. Sound is excellent with most a vocal revelation as Stacee Jaxx, eats up “Paradise City”, tracks taken from first generation masters.  “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “I Want To Know What Love Is”. Boneta and Hough as the young lovers also make Silver - Pot Pourri (Move MCD 459). To their mark with “Waiting For a Girl Like You” and “More celebrate their 25th Anniversary, vocal Than Words.”  group Pot Pourri have had a line-up change, with Jon Bode and Rebecca My Funny Valentine - Tim Draxl Bode joining original members Tania (Fanfare 008). This CD features songs de Jong and Jonathan Morton. The from Tim Draxl’s cabaret musical new singers have added warmth and Freeway - The Chet Baker Journey, music-theatre theatricality to the and is without doubt the best album group’s sound, which is a good this performer has ever recorded. With thing. Jon Bode delivers on “Bring Him Home” (Les accompaniment by a four-piece group Miserables) and “The Music Of The Night” (The Phantom of led by Ray Alldridge on piano and the Opera), likewise Tania de Jong on “La vie en rose” and Eamon McNelis on trumpet, Draxl Rebecca Bode on “Stars and Moon” (Songs for a New moves effortlessly through the Chet Baker songbook, from World). Together they all sing a very good version of Sting’s the swinging “Let’s Get Lost” and “There Will Never Be “Fields of Gold” and a very grand version of Rodgers and Another You”, to the quiet introspection of “Born To Be Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (Carousel).

Blue” and “The Thrill Is Gone”. Best track is “These Foolish Accompaniment is mostly piano, finely played by Rebecca Things”. These songs fit Draxl like a glove. It’s a great Chambers.  collection of 50s jazz and an album to be played often.  Rating  Only for the enthusiast  Borderline  Worth buying  Must have  Kill for it

Stage On Disc

32 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

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International Broadway South American Style Broadway is like an octopus, with tentacles that reach to the far corners of the earth. Peter Pinne discovered there is a lot to enjoy away from the Great White Way. To see a familiar Broadway show in a foreign language is something every musical theatre tragic should experience at least once. It was my luck to see two on a recent trip to Lima, Peru.

Kander and Ebb’s Chicago was playing at the Teatro Municipal, a grand theatre in downtown Lima that had been extensively refurbished following a fire. As a venue it was not unlike a small European opera house, with four balconies and stalls that were raked.

34 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

The musical was produced by a company called Preludo, whose previous productions included Latin versions of The Sound of Music, A Chorus Line, The Wiz, Jesus Christ Superstar, Man of La Mancha and Cabaret.

The production of Chicago had already played Buenos Aires,

Argentina, and Bogota, Colombia, and was to tour to other South American cities.

All performers were highly skilled and could sing, dance and act.

Denisse Dibos as Roxy Hart had trained in California. Gabriela Garcia, the choreography advisor, had spent ten years as a member of the Broadway company. Carlos Arana, who advised on the production, was a Broadway producer with his most recent credit being a co-producer on The Scottsboro Boys.

I was knocked out by the standard, a carbon-copy of the current Broadway production, with dancing and vocals as good as the original, overlaid with a Latin ambience. One aspect I really liked was the orchestra and its use of a piano accordion in the underscore.

Marco Zunino as Billy Flynn was a true triple threat star - manipulative and oily but always keeping the audience on side with his humor and vocals. And what vocals they were.

His voice was to die for. He’s inked to top star next year in a Latin tour of The Boy From Oz and on his Chicago performance the Peter Allen role could not be in better hands.

The first-ever Spanish language production of The Boy from Oz: “El Chico de Oz” has been confirmed for Saturday, May 25th, 2013 at the beautifully restored Teatro Municipal in Lima Peru.

Marco will be temporarily relocating to New York early in 2013 to learn how to play the piano, how to sing and dance while playing the piano, and how to kick as high as a Radio City Rockette.

The other show treading the boards was Hairspray, which was playing at the Teatro Peruano Japones (Japanese Theatre). Peruvian television has local sitcoms with men in drag, so the idea of having one of the main characters in a dress was no stretch. And as a good marketing ploy the role of Edna Turnblad was played by TV favorite Sergio Galliani.

The sets were colorful, the costumes smart 60s retro, and the performers never missed a laugh. The average age of the orchestra was late teens and their enthusiasm and professionalism just made the show that much more enjoyable. The production also used two pit singers to help give the vocals some heft.

Both shows were hits and playing to capacity.

So, next time you’re travelling, do yourself a favor, be brave, and go see a Broadway show in a foreign language. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 35

Stage Monologue: Delia’s Clothes Federation Press has released a new book of monologues for High School students - called No Nudity, Weapons or Naked Flames. Each monologue has excellent staging notes for performers. Delia’s Clothes by Hilary Bell was inspired by a forensic police photo taken in the 1940s, depicting a woman’s outfit laid out on the station floor.

The hose I wash every night, my only This is what I was wearing when I stood on the corner of Palmer and pair.

William Streets.

And the skirt … I got it second-hand at the Inverell Humane society. I These are the clothes a stranger don’t know where it come from unbuttoned, unbuckled, unlaced, before that. unclasped.

These are the clothes I was wearing when I got off the train at Central station and tried for a job In the tea-room Custard powder factory Babysitting Selling shoes In the post-office As a cleaner

Delia opens her suitcase and unpacks her clothes. She folds them as she Because they were the only ones I speaks, as if putting them away. had.

These are the clothes I was wearing when I got on the train at Inverell.

The jacket I made myself, run it up on the tech sewing machine. That’s good wool, I saved up for that for two months. I can’t do pleats yet, so my teacher helped a bit.

The girdle belonged to my sister before she had twins.

The blouse I got when I turned fourteen, still fits.

They’re what I wore to church when my savings run out, asking Our Blessed Lady to intervene.

What I wore to the soup kitchen.

The clothes are now neatly folded.

People do talk to you sometimes. This lady come up to me once or twice, ask if I need anything.

‘No thank you.’

‘Something to make you feel better?’

‘No thank you.’

‘Little bit of snow take all the shame away.’

Pause ‘Snow?’

And what I left in when they said You’d think in clothes this familiar to welfare was for unfortunates, not me … How is it I come to not girls who spoke nicely and knew how recognise myself? know every stitch, to sew. every stray thread, but not the girl inside them?

Several beats I started seeing her the way other

Online extras!

Published by The Federation Press, © Hilary Bell. Purchase this book at http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/books 36 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

I’d never been undressed by anyone except my mum.

people did, people who looked away when she caught their eye.

I started hating those people.

That’s a terrible feeling.

But a little tiny bit of snow, the lady’s right, makes it not so bad.

I need a little more snow to cool the hot shame.

Stage On Page

Waiting for the moment. Squeezes my hand as he pulls the cord and All these months I’ve been saving up strokes my cheek and says the cocaine’s starting to ruin my for my bridal frock, so now I’m really burning up: I blow the whole lot complexion, but soon I won’t need And then one day everything any more. in one great blizzard. changed.

Walk through the muddy grass, Hands shaking, face twitching, I wait looking for a secluded spot.

Ted’s a copper. Started by moving me outside the school. I whisper, Yes, I’ll say, oh yes, and I’m so excited along, ended in a moonlit ride on ‘something bad’s going to happen to I can hardly breathe. the Neutral Bay ferry. your father, girls, if you don’t let Pause He’s crazy about me, and I like him him go.’ enough. The more he talks, the more She slightly adjusts the laid-out Pause I start to wonder if I might still have clothes to create a forensic some sort of a chance?

It works! photograph image - like a body lying Some sort of a life? awkward on the ground.

She lays out the clothes as if Maybe, preparing them for tomorrow’s outfit.

The way he talks, The jacket was found half-buried in Maybe I really could, the sand.

Ted comes over all dressed up and ‘til I’m hoping so hard that I see not a says, ‘We’re going on a picnic, there’s The girdle stuffed under a log. man so much as a rope thrown me One stocking flung over a lemon something I want to ask you.’ in deep water, and I hang on just as myrtle, the other nowhere to be He’s got a basket with a bottle of tight as I can. found. beer, there’s cake and boiled eggs.

The blouse was half-burnt.

The future I ran away from - my The skirt floating in the water.

‘Ask me?’ mother’s life - now I’d give anything to be at the sink all day, bunions, only He smiles.

She packs them back in the suitcase.

I know what it is. Yes. Oh yes, as I put putting lipstick on when there’s I won’t go back to Inverell. Not now. a christening to go to. I don’t need to on the blouse, my sister’s girdle, the Not with my bad skin, my shoes Humane society skirt, that excited I be a fashion model, all I want is a missing, the shame … No. can hardly do the buttons. home and a canary and a bit of I don’t know where I’m supposed to greenery.

And he’s shy as we walk up to go.

The more I think about it the realer it Wynyard, sweet and quiet on the bus But I’m packed and ready. to Lane Cove. Waiting till we’re alone. gets, until the whole time while I’m working, I’m actually watering my roses.

Ted’s happy to let me dream.

He’s married, that’s all right: it’s not serious with her. He tells me every visit, ‘I’m bored with her.

She’s bored with me.

It’s only a matter of time.’

‘That’s wonderful, Ted.’ ‘You’re wonderful, Delia.’

But the weeks grind on, and I start to wonder, When is it time?

I ask him and he talks about folkdancing.

I ask him and he stops coming round.

Stage Whispers Books Visit our on-line book shop for back issues and stage craft books

I ask him and he talks about his wife.

I ask him and he tells me to stop.

www.stagewhispers.com.au/books www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 37

2012 Helpmann Awards The 2012 Helpmann Awards®, celebrating excellence and achievement in 41 categories of live performance in Australia, were announced at a Black Tie ceremony at the Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, on September 24.

Online extras!

Watch Simon’s 2012 Helpmann’s opener now by scanning the QR code or visiting http://youtu.be/HwaSchLRYUw

Just a year after Nancye Hayes was recognised with a J. C. Williamson Lifetime Achievement Award, she picked up the 2012 Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, in Grey Gardens. It was one of three awards The Production Company picked up for its Australian premiere, stealing the limelight from the big budget musicals. A Chorus Line took out the Best Musical ‘Bobby’.

The STC’s Gross und Klein (Big and Small) scored two awards for Best Director (Benedict Andrews) and Best Female Actor in a Play (Cate Blanchett while Paul Capsis and Griffin’s Angela’s Kitchen took out the Best Male Actor in a Play and New Australian Work awards. Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, presented by Back to Back Theatre and Malthouse Theatre, took out Best Play.

Both Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on the Harbour La Traviata and the State Opera of South Australia’s Moby Dick took out multiple awards. Moby Dick was recognized as the best Opera production, while La Traviata shared the Best Special Event Bobby. Emma Matthews took out Best Female Performer in an Opera, her seventh Helpmann Award.

Simon Burke hosted his seventh Helpmann Awards Ceremony, opening proceedings with a musical sequence about his Helpmann Award nerves, based on ‘Another Opening, Another Show’, and A Chorus Line, supported by appearances including Bobby Helpmann, channeled by Helpmann winner Peter Carroll. The lyrics, printed below, are courtesy of Simon Burke, David Mitchell and Helen Dallimore.

SIMON DISCOVERED ONSTAGE TINKLING I feel like a noON PIANO AS IF IN REHEARSAL ROOM talent bum I need some SIMON: Another op’nin, another show help The Helpmann magic’s about to flow I need a sign A chance for stage folks to say hello I need my mum Another op’nin of another show.

HELPMANN APPEARS ON THE STAIRCASE DANCERS ENTER IN REHEARSAL UPSTAGE CLOTHES HIGH FIVING ALL FRIENDLY BRINGING ON PROPS/FURNITURE HELPMANN: Mummy can’t help you INCLUDING DRESSING ROOM ‘MIRROR’ now, Twinkle Toes. Stop your nonsense.

THE SIZE OF A DOOR FRAME You’ve got a job to do

HELPMANN’S OPENING Heavenly choir over aerial shot of Opera House

LOOKING DOWNSTAGE THROUGH THE ‘MIRROR’

STAGE MANAGER: (VOICEOVER) Mr Burke this is your 5 minute call. 5 minutes to Act 1 Beginners.

38 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Another year when we join as one Salute some winners and have some fun Another time for goodwill to grow Another op’nin of another show.

DANCERS DRILLING A ROUTINE Four weeks you rehearse and rehearse Three weeks and it couldn’t be worse DANCERS START TO NOTICE SIMON IS STUFFING IT UP One week will it ever be right?

I’ve gotta relax How can I relax?

DANCERS EXIT. SPOOKY LIGHTING SIMON: (TO THE TUNE OF AT THE BALLET) They said you’ll be great coming back to the Bobbys That’s what they said, that’s what they said.

I jumped at the chance but forgot to remember That’s it’s been a little while between drinks And though I am packing death Though I am packing death Though I am packing death.

I’m doing it.

Being a host really needs preparation Training the voice and the bod To me in the mirror I’m younger than springtime But really I’m older than God I need to be charming unflappable funny

SIMON: Bobby? Bobby Baby? Bobby Booby? (appropriate Company stings) HELPMANN: Sir Robert SIMON: Sir Robert HELP-MANN HELPMANN: Shhhhhh (sings) Everything is beautiful at the Bobbys.

Fairy dust accompanies a star SIMON: you mean Everything is beautiful at the Bobby’s?

HELPMANN: But of course dear they’re named after “moi” HELPMANN CONTINUES HIS THESIS AS PAS DE DEUX COUPLE DANCE TOGETHER BEAUTIFULLY AWAY FROM BAR Excellence must always be applauded Though employment’s never guaranteed Failure is a word that’s simply sordid A little fairy dust A little fairy dust SIMON: (spoken) A little fairy dust??!!

HELPMANN: That’s all you need SIMON: Easy for him to come out of the ether And tell me to conquer my fears The five minute call and I’m already dying That f…..’s been dead thirty years The jokes are no good and the chorry’s a shambles I don’t know my left from my right What bastard said That it’ll be Right on the night?

Feedem Fighters After wowing them in Sydney, Origin Theatrical is pleased to announce the signing of a new and talented playwright Dorian Mode (pictured). Many of you may be familiar with the humorous novels of Dorian Mode. What’s different about Dorian’s writing is he writes from left field. His work is aimed squarely at suburbia: i.e. people who normally

Online extras!

Get behind the scenes video of Feedem Fighters. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/cvGrqSybbaM don’t frequent the theatre or air kiss at art galleries. So his earthy comedy will appeal to regional audiences.

Dorian’s inaugural play canvasses the dichotomy between our obsession with ‘food porn’ television such as MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules and extreme weight loss shows like The

Biggest Loser or Extreme Makeover, all within an befuddled hour of prime time. Have we gone mad? Or are have we reached the nadir of western affluence? www.origintheatrical.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 39

Lonely Death For Queen Of The Stage Leann Richards reports

Australian actors of this era were extremely versatile and Myra was no exception. During her stint with the Victoria, she performed in burlesque, pantomime, comedy, drama In 1873, outside the Melbourne Theatre Royal, a fair young girl, with a face surrounded by reddish gold hair, and Shakespeare. approached manager Mr Harwood. In a sweet voice,

By March 1878 Myra’s slight figure was a fixture of the tinged with a slight Irish brogue she asked, ‘Please sir, can Sydney theatrical scene. When she returned to the Theatre I be an actress?’

Royal that year the audience greeted her with long and The young girl was Myra Kemble. In three decades she loud applause. It was at the Royal that she began to take reached the heights of colonial fame and the lows of a leading roles, such as Lady Teazle with Wybert Reeve in A lonely death.

School for Scandal.

Myra was born Maria Teresa Gill These were great years for Myra in Sligo Ireland around 1857. Her professionally and personally. In parents brought her to Australia December 1878 she married James when she was seven years old and Whitehead, also known as James she was immediately enrolled in a White. James was known as Geelong convent. She was ‘diamond Jim’ the straightest scheduled for a music lesson when bookmaker in Sydney. She had her she approached Mr Harwood on first benefit performance in 1879 and that fateful day in 1873. was proclaimed an ‘actress of the He gave her a part, a small part first rank.’ in a pantomime, and she made a In Melbourne she starred in New very attractive Venus. She continued Babylon and toured South Australia, in small roles but her youth led to Tasmania and Victoria. In October many mistakes, which included 1882 Myra gave birth to a baby girl. nervously lapsing into an Irish She was well loved by the public, her brogue at inappropriate moments. family was growing and she was The habit amused many audiences, successful in love and life. However but did not impress managers. things changed very rapidly.

Myra persisted and she In March 1883, Myra committed eventually arrived in Sydney. At Christmas 1875 she herself to the Northcote asylum for inebriates. The home appeared in a pantomime at the Theatre Royal. She was was a private sanatorium for alcohol dependency and part of that theatre’s company for almost a year and Myra had signed for six months. It was run by a doctor mostly played decorative roles. who was one of the first people to treat alcohol In 1876 she moved to the rival Victoria Theatre and dependency as a medical rather than as a moral issue. In was part of the Centennial Burlesque Company with a June 1883 her husband applied to a court to have his young Bland Holt and his future wife, Leni Edwin. wife removed from the home. He was unsuccessful because the doctor refused consent.

Myra was eventually released but announced she had retired from acting. She and James travelled to New Zealand and she volunteered, through the newspapers, to act for local amateur theatres. Nobody accepted this offer, but the reporter commented favourably on her ‘prepossessing physique and ladylike demeanour’.

Soon it was reported that she had ‘relapsed’.

It was not until late 1884 that she returned to the boards, and her talent and name ensured continuing fame.

She was a fixture of the Sydney social scene, and in 1887 one newspaper 40 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

commented favourably upon her ‘perfect fitting and beautifully draped dress of plain green cloth without a particle of trimming.’

In 1888 her portrait was hung at a prominent art gallery. The same year a short and complimentary biography appeared in the Illustrated Sydney News which described her as a ‘lovable, warm hearted woman’.

In 1889, having conquered Sydney, Myra travelled to England to try her luck.

A large benefit performance was held to farewell her.

A distinguished list of Sydney’s leading players performed.

They gave her a gold bracelet as a memento of the occasion.

In London, the Queen of the Australian Stage was greeted warmly and feted heartily by expat Australians, but the English critics were lukewarm. They were too sophisticated for a colonial Irish actress and, disheartened and dispirited, Myra returned to Sydney.

Before leaving London, Myra proved herself an astute businesswoman. She purchased the Australasian rights to a farcical comedy called Dr Bill. When she returned to Australia she joined with the Brough and Boucicault Company and toured the play around the country. It was a phenomenal success.

In 1890, Myra was one of the first people in Australia to have their voice recorded on a phonograph and the recording was played to an appreciative audience at the School of Arts. In 1893 she was voted the most popular actress on the Australian stage in a newspaper poll.

The depression of the 1890s hit the White family hard and in 1894, despite a popular tour of New Zealand, Myra was in some financial distress. She again decided to perform in England. The trip was a disaster. Myra was ill and hospitalised at Guys in London for 17 weeks.

According to New Zealand papers, she had ‘internal cancer’. She returned to Australia as an invalid.

However, she still gave interviews. She was happy to trade gossip with one Sydney journalist, who described her as being cheery, despite being unable to stand and in constant pain.

The theatrical community rallied to her side and organised a major benefit concert. On May 7, 1896, at the Lyceum Theatre, all the major theatre managers and

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Stage Heritage

owners joined to raise money for the star. The show included JC Williamson’s company and the Tivoli Orchestra. Every famous name in Sydney attended and the performance was immensely popular.

The programme stated that Myra was ‘debarred from ever again appearing on the stage.’ But Myra did not agree with this assessment. She made a miraculous recovery and toured Australia with her own company in 1897 and 1898. However in 1900 she disappeared from the stage and by 1902 she was living in a private hospital in Melbourne.

Myra died in 1906 at Melbourne Hospital. Her death certificate recorded no next of kin. A New Zealand theatrical critic noted that her death had been caused by alcohol dependency, a vice that had ruined her health and her career.

Myra was one of Australia’s earliest and most popular actresses. She was an entrepreneur, a star and a warm hearted Irish woman. Once the toast of Sydney, her lonely death proved the inconstancy of fame. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 41

Above: The Venetian Twins at New Theatre (Newtown NSW) from November 13 to December 15. Photo: Matthew Nolan / fStop Sydney.

Right: Susie McCann (Glinda, the Good Witch) in the MLOC production of The Wizard of Oz at Phoenix Theatre, Elwood (Melbourne) from November 9 to 17.

Online extras!

Keep up-to-date with the Community Theatre scene online. Scan or visit http://bit.ly/RlvDRj

42 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Right: Carol Owen and Gavin Baker in Eltham Little Theatre’s end-of-year dinner and show Murder at the Music Hall, from November 15 - December 8, offering a generous serving of murder mystery garnished with a touch of jazz and soul. For more info visit www.elthamlittletheatre.org.au

Stage Briefs

Community Theatre Awards Music Theatre star Ian Stenlake, former Prisoner Queen Bee Val Lehman and song and dance man Jack Webster will be guest presenters at the 4th Annual Gold Coast Palm Awards. Productions staged by 14 theatre companies and seven schools in the Gold Coast region are vying for the music theatre and drama awards.

Eight judges saw a total of 60 shows.

Dress up for the awards on December 4 at the Paradise Room, Arts Centre Gold Coast.

This year’s Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Bruce Awards will be held in Geelong. The big night is the December 8 at the Costa Hall at Deakin University. 35 junior/school theatres as well 60 theatre companies have taken a part in the awards of excellence.

Right: The Williamstown Musical Theatre Company is staging Next to Normal from November 9 until 24.

Below: Rajah Selvarajah as Judas Iscarot, Cameron Anderson (Jesus) and Whitney Erickson (Mary Magdalene) in Ashfield Musical Society’s November production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 43

In Memory Of Carolyn, A Theatre Grief can be a surprising animal. After Andrew and Mary Beale tragically lost their daughter in an horrific car accident, they built a community theatre and gallery. $600,000 later Carolyn Theatre in Cororooke - in south-western Victoria - bears their baby’s name, and is a throbbing success. Lucy Graham travelled to Cororooke to meet the philanthropist behind the project.

Travelling over undulating hills, past cattle and lush pasture northwest of Colac, Red Rock Arts Gallery and Theatre is the first building to greet the traveller in Cororooke. With a population of 383 this pretty township seems an unlikely place for a theatre, yet this small dairy centre boasts an art gallery too.

Andrew Beale, the philanthropic force behind the town’s newest facility, is a striking figure and nothing like I expected. Wearing a hat (that I learn he’s rarely without), the local dairy farmer’s big-hearted eyes look out over a rampant beard.

Friend and fellow project designer, Kelvin Harman of Power Stage, says Andrew, who lives ‘just down the road’, is a guy who refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer.

‘Andrew bought the church and rang me,’ recalls Harman.

‘Initially I came down here to tell him to forget it, until I realised how serious he was. He knew he’d have to spend a lot of money and I thought, count me in. It’s a really fabulous project and good fun.’

After purchasing the disused Uniting Church in July 2011, Beale’s vision, persistence and work ethic saw the facility ready for opening just five months later. Touring the significant extension, renovation and fit-out, it is salient to recognise 44 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

how much was achieved in such a small time frame.

A generous extension links the old church, circa 1903, with the old hall.

The church has been transformed into a ravishing art gallery, and the hall into the Carolyn Theatre, with tiered seating, state of the art technology, projection facilities, disabled access, and an 80-seat capacity.

‘Andrew doesn’t take “no” for an answer, from the council, from anybody,’ laughs Harmen. ‘He just kept going. He decided to get a bobcat in and start digging holes, and the council would say, You cant do that, and he’d say, Well its my block I

can dig a hole. And then he’d say, Its my hole I’m gonna fill it with concrete.

Most of us wait for planning approval, but Andrew had it half-built before council came around and said yes it’s OK.’ One suspects Beale’s drive was at least in part due to the personal circumstances surrounding the project.

After the tragic death of 18 month-old daughter Carolyn in a car accident in 2007, the Beale family had determined the theatre would be dedicated to her memory.

‘We were travelling back from a school concert over in Angelsea, and got cleaned up by a car coming through an intersection,’ says Beale.

‘We sort of sat on our bums for a while trying to recover. There were five of us in the car and all of us were admitted to hospital with multiple fractures.’

‘Once we got up and going again I [asked] a real estate agent in town to keep his eye out for a place [for the theatre]. There was one that came up out at Beeac, but I wasn’t really happy about where it was situated. There was nothing in Colac. Then just by chance this came up and it was the (Continued on page 46)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 45

thanks are directed towards Kelvin Harman, with whom he worked closely. But Harman’s involvement extends well beyond his business interest in staging and tiered seating.

‘We did a lot of work on the acoustics of the building, and rendered the whole thing, which has kept it live but taken the echo out,’ explains Harman. ‘It’s beautiful for music recitals now. Its all state of the art computer lighting, lighting desk, full audio system, full talkback backstage and down the wings, and projection.’

A higher-than-usual ceiling in the original hall left ample space for rigging, and width enough for wings.

On stage are eight entry points, and the provision of white or black backdrop. A digital projector enables the screening of films and projected images. best of anything, the way it lent itself run entirely by volunteers across four ‘If you take the curtains out you can being made into a theatre.’ management arms. fit an eight meter box set in here,’ says Hurdles included heritage Beale, a father of nine, dreamt up Harman, ‘the same size as you can on considerations and council approval the concept after his life-long the Playhouse stage in Melbourne.’ and registration of the changed of use involvement in the local amateur group ‘We had good consultants, Geelong of building. The facilities and amenities the Colac Players, who’ve planned to based MultiTek. They really got behind were updated to meet fire and health stage their next production at the the project, helped us out with price, and safety requirements, and provision Carolyn Theatre rather than the usual and they did the fit out and all the made for wheelchair access. But Beale Colac Performing Arts Centre. hard-wired stuff.’ has only warm things to say about the ‘I enjoy art, and my kids are ‘The whole time we planned on Otway Shire Council. involved in music and art,’ Beale dedicating the building to Carolyn,’ ‘I think the community and council explains. ‘It was just something I felt says Beale. could see it was a worthwhile project was lacking in this area - a community Backstage is generous, with change and didn’t put a lot of blockages up facility that was affordable and rooms, a technical room, professional there,’ he says. ‘They supported the accessible.’ lighting system with 48 channels, project the whole way.’

During construction Beale was full- showers, toilets, and a meeting/green And the community support time on site, seeing a ‘bevy of tradies’ room. continues. The not-for-profit project is come and go. His warmest words of

46 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Performers and patrons alike are voting with their feet. In the nine months since opening, 2,000 visitors have attended eight productions and Carolyn Theatre now hosts a newly formed film society, drawing members from 30 - 40 kilometres around.

The Uniting Church is ‘ecstatic’ about what has happened to the old church, and patrons include those who’ve been visiting these buildings since childhood.

Currently exhibiting on the theme of the volcanic plains, a delightful gallery space is the other half of the complex. Only open on weekends, it also boasts 2,000 visitors in nine months and provides artist development opportunities.

‘A week before this gallery opened, Andrew decided it needed something.

A chandelier! And then he and I put it up,’ gasps Harman. ‘I’ve never had a more stressful day. I’ve never been so scared in all my life.’

Red Rock Arts Gallery and Carolyn Theatre is clearly a source of pride for the whole community, and successfully supports local arts. But the

Andrew Beale and Kelvin Harman

community’s embrace is only possible because of Beale’s graciousness. His heart and soul have created a community hub, yet he’s not totally invested in it.

‘He basically built this and delivered it to the community,’ says Harman.

‘Now he’s on the committee, and he doesn’t agree with everything they’re doing. It’s not his now, but he’s still part of it. ‘ www.redrockarts.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 47

Designing And Building Sets On A Budget When you attend a big musical, opera or major play the set can make you swoon. But how can you be just as effective on a tight budget? Sydney set builder and designer Simon Greer has some of the answers.

When I started at NIDA our lecturer asked us a critical question at our first lesson. What is the most important thing about a set? We came up with lots of answers. Location, size of stage, mood, budget, how many scenes, and how many fly lines, were some of them.

The correct answer is … what is the story about? Everything flows from that. Every decision has to come back to what’s the play or musical about. The set designer works closely with the Director to support this vision.

The tradition in the 18th and 19th centuries was for lots of scenery. There were drops everywhere that were painted beautifully. There was scenery for scenery’s sake. There was a lot of spectacle and people could see where their money went.

Then in the 20th century there was a movement in some quarters to more minimalist sets. To get rid of all that excessive material to make sure what is on stage really contributes to what the play is about.

You may do a play which is set in a living room. You might think, we’ve

got to have a wall there, window here, furniture, TV, couch etc.

But if you analyse what the play is about, you might find this is about family relationships breaking down.

That is what the story is about. So to symbolise this, instead of building a beautiful house with flats and doors you may just need two actors separated by a crack on the floor.

If it is set in the 1950s and all you can afford is one chair, then make sure it is spot on for the period. Don’t just get one from the rehearsal room.

Get something fantastic. You might turn it over so it doubles as a table that they can eat off. If you have a small budget everything on stage has to enhance the story.

Likewise if it is set in London you may not need the whole backdrop of London - maybe just a tube sign is all that is needed, or a London phone box, to tell the audience where you are.

Of course it is not possible with every production. If you are staging Noises Off for instance then you need a two story set with ten doors and windows that open and close

- all set on a revolve. But for many other productions a minimalist set is possible.

Building and designing a set is a collaborative project involving the costume and lighting designers, and, of course, the director.

Some directors have a very strong idea of what they want. They might say I see a chair here or a window there. With a director with very strong ideas, take that on board as long as it tells the story but put your foot forward to arrive at a happy medium.

I still build models. People ask me whether models will be overtaken by computers. But models will always be good because you can play with them like a dolls house.

You can sit there and slide things down or turn it upside down. You can’t play with a 3D computer program.

Most models I use are at a ratio of 1:50 - which means they are exactly one 50th the size of the set.

In professional theatre the industry standard is 1:25. Also be wary that in professional theatre the painters may exactly copy the model box.

I helped paint a show for the Sydney Theatre Company. The show had backdrop scenery. The designer came in to approve it. He walked over and asked, ‘What is this brown spot here? The painter said, ‘It’s on your model.’ As it happened he had spilled coffee on his little set model and

Simon Greer

48 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Snow White

they painted it exactly - incorporating the coffee drop into actual set.

At the other end of the spectrum I have built sets on minimal budgets.

I built a set for a modern production of Snow White for Macquarie University. The budget was $300. It was made from mesh with coloured objects in it to symbolise trees. It had a little house to signify the dwarf’s home. It had a mirror which was just a curtain which was pulled back when the mirror spoke to the Queen.

The large size of the mirror also helped tell the story.

For a school I built a set for Seussical for $2000.

I had to fit 80 kids on stage and every grandma needed to see their child. So I made the set very wide and deep. This was the most expensive component - a rostrum that I rented for $1500. The scenery bits were made from cardboard and electrical conduit to resemble a Truffula tree.

There are tricks you can do to save on cost. For a production of the Glass

Sunset Boulevard

Menagerie by Tennessee Williams I had to build the set inside a very small theatre and had to give the impression of looking down the street.

So I lifted the whole house up a bit on a tilt and set it in a blue brick box.

This was to suit the story of an isolated little family that had trouble dealing with the rest of the world. It was almost like a floating house. It was to convey that something was not very nice and not quite right in the world. I built it from an old fence so it had a weathered, slightly deteriorating look.

For a production of The Little Mermaid I had a tin curtain which lifted when the scenes went underwater.

For a production of Aida I had a yellow floor and four columns on wheels. By turning the columns it created a different world. On the reverse were glass cabinets displaying objects at a museum. I used blue material to signify the Nile.

Sometimes Simon gets some real money to spend. His budget for the

Seussical

The Little Mermaid

Glass Menagerie

Aida

Sunset Boulevard

Willoughby Theatre Company NSW Premiere production of Sunset Boulevard in November this year is $10,000.

Sunset Boulevard is about a fading silent movie star so it is built inside a big tin structure resembling Paramount Studio 18. Everything in the show fits into that.

The famous Hollywood sign will glow for the whole night. There is no flat wall at the back. The presence of Hollywood is almost always there. It will take three weekends to build it.

Everything is made from standard size stock flats, re-used from other productions.

I never just build for the current show but am thinking how can I use it again.

Sunset Boulevard opens on November 16 at the Concourse, Chatswood.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 49

On Stage A.C.T.

A.C.T. & New South Wales

Private Lives by Noël Coward.

Belvoir. Nov 21 - 24. The To Kill a Mockingbird by Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Harper Lee. Free Rain Theatre Centre. 6275 2700.

Company. Until Nov 4. The Courtyard Studio. (02) 6275 Finucane & Smith’s Glory Box. 2700.

The Burlesque Hour Meets Pandora’s Box. The Street Bare Witness by Mari Lourey.

Theatre. Nov 28 - Dec 9. (02) The Street Theatre. Nov 6 6247 1223.

10. 6247 1223.

RENT by Jonathan Larson.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Everyman Theatre. Dec 6 Monte Carlo. Nov 6 & 7.

15. The Courtyard Studio.

Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 (02) 6275 2700.

2700.

New South Wales Diva Sheila, The Eco Diva by Kate Hosking. The Street Legally Blonde The Musical by Theatre. Nov 8 - 10. 6247 Laurence O’Keefe, Nell Benjamin and Heather Hach.

1223.

Lyric Theatre, The Star, Short + Sweet Dance 2012.

Sydney.

The Courtyard Studio. Nov 8 LegallyBlonde.com.au 11. (02) 6275 2700.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Improbable Fiction by Alan Music and lyrics by Richard Ayckbourn. Canberra M. Sherman and Robert B. Repertory. Nov 23 - Dec 8.

Sherman. Adapted for the Theatre 3. 6257 1950.

50 Stage Whispers

stage by Jeremy Sams and Ray Roderick. Based on the MGM Movie. From Nov 15.

Capitol Theatre, Sydney.

Theatre, Wollongong, (02) 4224 5999.

Between Two Waves by Ian Meadows. Griffin Theatre Hansel and Gretel by William Company. Until Nov 17. SBW Ford. Young People’s Stables Theatre. (02) 9361 Theatre. Until Nov 17. Young 3817.

People’s Theatre, Hamilton Medea by Anne-Louise Sarks (Newcastle). (02) 4961 4895 from Euripides. Belvoir. Until Fri 4-6pm, Sat 9am - 1pm.

Nov 25. Belvoir Street Sex With Strangers by Laura Downstairs Theatre. (02) Eason. Sydney Theatre 9699 3444.

Company. Until Nov 24.

Miss Julie by August Wharf 1 Theatre. (02) 9250 Strindberg, adapted by 1777.

Christabel Sved and Kate Box. Great Expectations by Charles Darlinghurst Theatre Dickens. ATYP/Bakehouse.

Company. Until Nov 11.

Until Nov 17. ATYP Studio 1, Darlinghurst Theatre. (02) Wharf 3 / 4, Hickson 8356 9987.

Rd. 9270 2400.

Becky Shaw by Gina Private Lives by Noël Coward. Gionfriddo. Ensemble Belvoir. Until Nov 11, Belvoir Theatre. Sydney Premiere.

Street Theatre, (02) 9699 Until Dec 1. (02) 9929 0644.

3444 and Nov 14 - 17, I.M.B.

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

On Stage

New South Wales

The Mikado by WS Gilbert and AS Sullivan. EUCMS (Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society). Until Nov 10 Eastwood Uniting Church Hall.

Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher. The Guild Theatre, House. (02) 9250 1777.

Rockdale. Nov 2 to Dec 1.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Guild Theatre. (02)

by William Shakespeare.

95216358.

Garnet Productions. Nov 2 25. Belvedere Amphitheatre, Calamity Jane. Adapted by My Private Parts by Deborah Centennial Park. 0410 037 Ronald Hanmer & Phil Park Thomson. Stories Like These. 034. from the stage play by Until Nov 17. The Reginald Charles K Freeman. Lyrics by Dusty - The Original Pop Diva Theatre (Seymour Centre).

Paul Fancis Webster. Music

by John-Michael howson, (02) 9351 7940.

by Sammy Fain. The Hills David Mitchell and Melvyn Musical Society. Nov 2 - 10.

Grease by Jim Jacobs and Morrow. Chatswood Musical Don Moore Community Warren Casey. Gosford Society. Nov 2 - 10. Zenith Centre. 8004 2966.

Musical Society. Until Nov 17. Theatre Railway Street, Laycock Street Community Chatswood. (02) 9777 7634. Jerry’s Girls by Jerry Herman.

Players Theatre, Port Theatre. (02) 43 322 322.

Tell Me On A Sunday by Macquarie. Nov 2 - 25. (02) Fully Committed by Becky Andrew Lloyd Webber and 6584 6663.

Mode. Castle Hill Players.

Don Black. Phoenix Theatre.

Until Nov 10. Pavilion Nov 2 - 17. Phoenix Theatre, Brigadoon by Lerner and Loewe. Queanbeyan Players.

Theatre, Castle Hill. (02) 9634 Coniston. (02) 4226 2224.

Nov 2 - 17. The Q 2929.

Secondary Cause of Death by (Queanbeyan Performing Arts Signs of Life by Tim Winton. Peter Gordon. Wollongong Centre). (02) 6285 6290.

Sydney Theatre Company / Workshop Theatre. Nov 2 Black Swan Theatre A Touch of Silk by Betty 17. (02) 4225 9407.

Company. Nov 2 - Dec 22.

Roland. Henry Lawson Theatre, Werrington. Nov 2 17. (02) 4729 1555 (9-5).

Sylvia by A.R. Gurney. Theatre on Brunker. Nov 9 - Dec 1.

Theatre on Brunker, Adamstown (Newcastle). (02) 4956 1263.

2 One Another. Sydney Dance Co. Nov 9 & 10. I.M.B. Theatre, Wollongong. 02 4224 5999.

The Servant of Two Masters

by Carlo Goldoni, Nick Enright and Ron Blair.

Theatre on Chester (Epping).

Nov 9 - Dec 1. (02) 9877 0081.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Linda Woolverton. Coffs Harbour Musical Comedy Company.

Nov 9 - Dec 2. Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour. (02) 6652 8088.

Caravan Burlesque. Finucane and Smith. Nov 13. Cessnock Performing Arts Centre. (02) 4990 7134.

Finucane & Smith’s Burlesque Hour - Glory Box Edition. Nov 15 - 24. York Theatre, Seymour Centre. (02) 9351 Saint Joan by George Bernard 7940.

Shaw. Genesian Theatre. Nov Sunset Boulevard by Andrew 3 - Dec 1. (02) 8019 0276 Lloyd Webber, Don Black and (10am to 6pm, Mon - Fri).

Christopher Hampton.

Dimboola by Jack Hibberd.

Willoughby Theatre Richmond Player’s Theatre Company. Nov 16 - 24. The Restaurant. Nov 3 - 24.

Concourse, Chatswood. 9020 Richmond School of Arts.

6968.

9671 7249.

Sidekicks by Stephen Vagg.

Nov 3 - 8. Old 505 Theatre, Surry Hills.

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Sutherland Theatre Company. Story by Alan Janes. Ballina Players. Nov 16 - Dec 8. 6686 Nov 4 - 17. (02) 95881517.

2440 (bh).

Return to the Forbidden Carpe Jugulum by Terry Planet by Bob Carlton.

Pratchett. Glenbrook Players.

Campbelltown Theatre Group. Nov 9 - 24. Town Hall Nov 16 - 24. Glenbrook Theatre, Campbelltown. (02) Theatre. 47391110 .

4628 5287.

Beautiful One Day. Created

by Sean Bacon, Magdelena The Sunshine Boys by Neil Blackley, Kylie Doomadgee, Simon. Hunters Hill Theatre.

Paul Dwyer, Eamon Flack, Nov 9 - 24. 9879 7765.

Rachael Maza, Jane Phegan, Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 51

On Stage Harry Reuben & David Williams. Belvoir, Ilbijerri Theatre Company & version 1.0. Nov 17 - Dec 23. Belvoir Street Theatre. (02) 9699 3444.

Only An Orphan Girl by Henning Nelms. Maitland Repertory Theatre. Nov 17 Dec 9. Maitland Repertory Theatre. (02) 4931 2800.

An Absolute Turkey by Georges Feydeau. Newcastle Theatre Company. Nov 17 Dec 1. Newcastle Theatre Company, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4952 4958.

New South Wales & Queensland

16. King Street Theatre, Newtown. (02) 9119 3739.

Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

Arcadians Theatre Group.

Nov 23 - Dec 8. The Arcadians’ Miners Lamp Theatre. (02) 4284 8348.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol by Neil Bartlett. Castle Hill Players. Nov 23 - Dec 15.

Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill.

(02) 9634 2929.

Move Over Mrs Markham by Ray Cooney and John Chapman. Nowra Players.

Nov 24 - Dec 8. (02) Christmas Melodrama Dinner 44210778 or 1300662808.

Show. Maitland Repertory Theatresports Cranston Cup Theatre. Theatre Restaurant.

Final. Impro Australia. Nov Nov 19 - Dec 11.

24. Enmore Theatre.

Rapid Write by Tim Roseman.

Griffin Independent. Nov 21 Dec 15. SBW Stables Theatre.

(02) 9361 3817.

The Share by Daniel Keene.

Peter Gahan in association with five.point.one. Nov 21 Dec 8. The Reginald Theatre (Seymour Centre).

(02) 9351 7940.

The Mirror by Shelley Wall.

DamShel Productions / Emu Productions. Nov 22 - Dec

52 Stage Whispers

Les Miserables by Alain Boubil & Claude-Michel Schonberg based on the book by Victor Hugo. Roo Theatre Co. Nov 28 - Dec 8.

Harbour Theatre. (02) 4225 9407.

Don’t Take Your Love to Town by Ruby Langford Ginibi. Belvoir. Nov 29 - Dec 23. Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre. (02) 9699 3444.

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis De Sade by Peter Weiss. Regional Institute of Performing Arts.

Nov 29 - Dec 2. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

The Three Musketeers - Le Panteau! by Richard Lloyd.

Stanwell Park Arts Theatre.

Dec 8 - 16. Stanwell Park Arts Theatre. (02) 4294 4060.

The Drowsy Chaperone book

by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. Regional Institute of Performing Arts. Dec 20 Rent by Jonathan Larson.

23. Civic Playhouse, Shire Music Theatre. Nov 30 - Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Dec 9. Sutherland Memorial Queensland School of Arts. (02) 8230 A Tribute of Sorts. Inspired by 0668.

Edward Gorey’s The A Christmas Carol by David Gashlycrumb Tinies. Four of Holman, from Charles Five. La Boite, Roundhouse.

Dickens’ novel. Hunter Until Nov 10. 3007 8699 Region Drama School. Dec 5 Carmen by Bizet. Opera - 9. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Queensland. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. Until Nov 10. 136246 Managing Carmen by David Uninetown The Musical by Williamson. Ensemble Greg Kotis & Mark Hollmann.

Theatre. From Dec 6. (02) Coolum Theatre Players Inc. 9929 0644.

Until Nov 11. Coolum Civic Scruffy Rufkin’s Christmas Centre. 5446 2500.

Tale by Richie Black and The Music Man by Meredith Jodine Muir for children.

Willson. Beenleigh Theatre Pymble Players. Dec 7 - 15.

Group. Until Nov 10. 3287 1300 306 776 1377 City Of Newcastle Drama Awards. Dec 7. Civic Theatre, Hairspray by Marc Shaiman, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977. Scott Wittman, Mark

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

On Stage

Queensland & Victoria

O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Spotlight Theatre, Benowa. Nov 2 - 24. 5539 4255.

Phil Zachariah brings to life over 20 characters in Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre from 5 to 9 December. In 2012, the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth, this production, performed each Christmas for the past 10 years in Melbourne alone, is touring the world, with stops in 9 or 10 countries, across 3 continents.

Dora the Explora - Dora’s Pirate Adventure by Chris Gifford. Arts Theatre. Nov 3 Dec 22. 3369 2344 The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie. Centenary Theatre Group. Nov 3 - 24.

Chelmer Community Centre, Chelmer. 0435 591 720.

Potted Potter by Daniel Clarkson & Jefferson Turner.

Playhouse, QPAC. Nov 6 - 11.

136 246.

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Cairns Little Theatre. Nov 9 24. Rondo Theatre. 1300 855 835.

Amigos by Davd Williamson. TML Enterprises. From Nov Townsville Little Theatre. Nov 16. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 136 246.

7 - 10. PIMPAC. Spring Awakening by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater.

Javeenbah Theatre Company.

Nov 9 - 24. 5596 0300.

A Tomb with a View by Norman Robbins. Nambour Lind Lane Theatre. Nov 9 16. 5441 1814.

The importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Nash Theatre. Merthyr Road Uniting Church. Nov 10 - Dec 1. 3379 4775

Diary of a Scoundrel by Alexander Ostrovsky.

Villanova Players. Nov 16 Dec 8. The Theatre, Morningside TAFE. 3899 9962

The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown. The Arts Centre Gold Coast / Golden Apple Theatrical Productions.

Dec 8 - 15. The Arts Centre Gold Coast. (07) 55884000

South Pacific by Rodgers & Hammerstein. Opera Australia / Lincoln Center Theater. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Gold Coast Little Theatre. Nov Dec 27 - Feb 3. 136 246.

17 - Dec 8. 5532 2096.

Victoria

Miracle on 34TH Street by Meredith Willson. SQUIDS Theatrical Inc. Gold Coast Arts Centre, Nov 23; Mueller College, Rothwell, Nov 30; Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Civic Centre, Gympie, Dec 8; Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Nov Queensland Conservatorium, 10 - Dec 15. 3369 2344.

Southbank, Dec 14-15 & The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Cultural Centre, Noosa, Dec Berthold Brecht. Malanda 21-22. 0408983203.

Theatre Company. From Nov The Sleeping Beauty. Ballet by 11.

Francoise Klaus & Children of War by Chris Tchaikovsky. Queensland Buckley. La Boite & Danger Ballet. Playhouse. Dec 1-19.

Ensemble. Roundhouse 136 246.

Theatre, Brisbane. Nov 14 The Princess and the Dec 1. 3007 8600 Enchanter by Enid Blyton.

A Chorus Line by Marvin Townsville Little Theatre. Dec Hamlisch & Edward Kleban, 5 - 9. PIMPAC.

Theatre, Melbourne. 136 100.

Bond-A-Rama! Chapel off Chapel. Until Nov 9. (03) 8290 7000. mothersmilk by Joanne Trentini. The Other One Productions. Until Nov 11. fortyfivedownstairs. (03) 9662 9966.

42nd Street by Michael Stewart, Mark Bramble, Al A Funny Thing Happened on Dubin and Harry Warren. the Way to the Forum by Bert NOVA Music Theatre. Until Shevelove, Larry Gelbart and Nov 11. Whitehorse Centre.

Stephen Sondheim. Gordon 1300 305 771.

Frost Organisation. Until Jan The Laramie Project by 13. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Moisés Kaufman and Melbourne. 1300 795 012.

Members of The Tectonic South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Opera Australia/ GFO. Until Nov 25.

Princess Theatre, Melbourne.

More Sex Please … We’re Seniors! by John-Michael Howson. From Oct 31.

Comedy Theatre, Melbourne.

Ticketmaster.

La Soirée. Featuring the stars of La Clique. Melbourne Festival. Until Nov 18. Forum

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

Theatre Project. Mockingbird Theatre. Until Nov 11. Chapel off Chapel. (03) 8290 7000.

The Duckplucker’s Son by Andrew R Kelly and Paul Fergus Morris. Swan Hill Theatre Group Co-op.Ltd. Until Nov 11. Swan Hill Memorial Theatre. 0438 006 274 or 5032 9405 A.H Elling, adapted by Simon Bent. Melbourne Theatre Stage Whispers 53

On Stage Company. Until Dec 8. The MTC Theatre, Sumner. (03) 8688 0800.

La Muse & If These Walls Could Talk. Impro Melbourne Theatre. Nov 1 -3 & 8-10.

The Space: 5 Carlton Street, Prahran.

The Glazed Look by Terence Journet. Malvern Theatre Company. Nov 2 - 17. 1300 131 552.

AIDA by Elton John, Tim Rice, Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang.

Mountain District Musical Society. Nov 2 - 10.

Maroondah Secondary College, Croydon.

0431940984 Secret Bridesmaids’ Business

by Elizabeth Coleman.

Brighton Theatre Company (Vic). Nov 7 - 24. Cnr Wilson

54 Stage Whispers

Victoria

and Carpenter Streets, Brighton. 1300 752 126 Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Lilydale Athenæum Theatre Company. Nov 7 - 24. (03) 9735 1777.

Strassman - Careful What You Wish For. Nov 7 - 25.

Athenaeum Theatre, Collins Street, Melbourne. 132849 / 9650 1500.

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth.

Southern Peninsula Players.

Williamstown Theatre. Nov 8 - 18. Rosebud Memorial Hall.

(03) 5982 2777.

Variety Show. GSODA Junior Players (Vic). Nov 8 - 10.

Geelong Performing Arts Centre. (03) 5225 1200.

Next to Normal by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt.

Williamstown Musical Theatre Company. Nov 9 -

24. Williamstown Mechanics Institute. 1300 881 545.

Me and Jezebel by Elizabeth Fuller. Peridot Theatre. Nov 9 - 24. Unicorn Theatre, Mt The Drowsy Chaperone. Book Waverley. 1300 138 645 (toll

by Bob Martin and Don free - landlines) 03 9898 McKellar and music and lyrics 9090 (mobiles) 10.00am by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. Fab Nobs. Nov 9 - 5.00pm Monday - Friday.

24. The Fab Factory. 0401 Moonlight and Magnolias by 018 846.

Ron Hutchinson. Mordialloc Theatre Company. Nov 9 Wild Surmise. Based on the 24. Shirley Burke Theatre, verse novel by Dorothy Parkdale (03) 9587 5141.

Porter, devised by Jane Montgomery Griffiths.

Malthouse Theatre. Nov 9 Dec 2. Beckett Theatre, Malthouse. (03) 9685 5111.

At The Water’s Edge. Seven short plays celebrating 85 years of the Palais Theatre St Kilda. Nov 14 to 20. The Grand Foyer of The Palais.

Music by Barry Oakley.

Melbourne Theatre Company. 136 100.

Nov 9 - Dec 22. Arts Centre Madama Butterfly by Melbourne, Fairfax Studio.

Giacomo Puccini. Opera (03) 8688 0800.

Australia. Nov 14 - Dec 8.

State Theatre, Arts Centre Private Lives by Noël Coward.

Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Mount Players. Nov 9 - Dec 1. Mount View Theatre. 1300 Murder at the Music Hall by Mary McMahon. Eltham Little 463 224.

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

On Stage Theatre. Nov 15 - Dec 8.

Eltham Performing Arts Centre, Research. (03) 9437 1574.

Nov 16 - Dec 9. Merlyn Theatre. (03) 9685 5111.

Margaret Fulton: Queen Of The Dessert by Doug Macleod The 39 Steps by Patrick and Yuri Worontschak.

Barlow. 1812 Theatre. Nov Present Tense / Theatre 15 - Dec 8. (03) 9758 3964. Works. Nov 16 - Dec 1.

Theatre Works, St Kilda. (03) The Dixie Swim Club by Jessie 9534 3388.

Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. Williamstown Bombshells by Joanna Murray -Smith. Warrandyte Theatre Little Theatre Inc. Nov 15 Company. Nov 16 - Dec 1.

Dec 1. (02) 9885 9678.

Mechanic’s Institute Hall, 13! A New Musical by Jason Warranydte. 0488 333 575.

Robert Brown, Dan Elish and Midsummer by David Greig Robert Horn. CentrStage, Geelong. Nov 15 - 18. and Gordon McIntyre. Red Courthouse Theatre, Stitch Actors Theatre. Nov 16 Geelong. (03) 5224 2815.

- Dec 15. (03) 9533 8083.

Murdered to Death by Peter Gordon. Frankston Theatre Group. Nov 16 - Dec 2. Mt Eliza Community Centre.

1300 665 377.

Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti. Opera Australia. Nov 19 - Dec 15.

State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Pompeii, L.A. by Declan Greene. Malthouse Theatre.

2 One Another. Sydney Dance Company. Nov 21 -

Victoria & South Australia Dec 1. Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse.

1300182183.

PLOS Musical Productions.

Frankston Arts Centre. Dec 31 - Jan 5. 9788 1060.

Arsenic and Old Lace by South Australia Joseph Kesserling. Heidelberg Jersey Boys by Bob Gaudio, Theatre Company. Nov 22 lyrics by Bob Crewe and book Dec 8. (03) 9457 4117.

by Marshall Brickman and Hay Fever by Noël Coward.

Rick Elice. Adelaide Festival STAG (Strathmore Theatre Centre. 131246.

Arts Group). Nov 22 - Dec 1. The Unexpected Guest by Strathmore Community Hall. Agatha Christie. Therry (03) 9382 6284.

Dramatic Society. Until Nov Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring. Heidelberg Theatre Company. Nov 22 Dec 8. (03) 9457 4117.

10. The Arts Theatre, Adelaide. 8410 5515 (10am to 5 pm weekdays, noon to 7 pm Saturdays).

Man The Balloon by Matt Cameron. Torquay Theatre Group. Nov 22 - Dec 1. (03) 5261 5449.

My Romantic History by DC Jackson. University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Nov 3 - 17. Little Theatre. 131 246.

The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett. Geelong Repertory Theatre Company. Nov 23 Dec 8. Woodbin Theatre (03) 5225 1200.

Normie The Musical by Peter Sullivan and Graeme Johnstone. Old Scotch Music & Drama (OSMaD). Nov 23 Dec 1. Geoffrey McComas Theatre, Scotch College, Hawthorn. (03) 9514 2091.

Salome by Richard Strauss.

Opera Australia. Dec 1 - 15.

State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol. Eagle’s Nest Theatre. Dec 5 - 9. The Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne. (03) 9650 1500.

War Horse. Based on a novel

by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, in association with Handspring Puppet Company. National Theatre of Great Britain / Global Creatures. From Dec 23. Arts Centre Victoria.

1300 182 183.

In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl.

State Theatre Company of SA. Nov 3 - 24. Dunstan Playhouse. 131 246.

The Drowsy Chaperone by Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison, Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The Hills Musical Company. Nov 9 - 24. Stirling Community Centre. 131 246.

‘Allo ‘Allo by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft. Blackwood Players Inc. Nov 9 - 24.

Blackwood 21. 1300 658 522.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen adapted by Simon Reade. Independent Theatre Company. Nov 9 - 17. Odeon Theatre, Norwood. 131246.

Star Quality by Noel Coward.

Adelaide Repertory Theatre.

Nov 15 - 24. The Arts Theatre, Adelaide. 8212 5777

The Snow Queen by Tina & Robert Burbidge. Kapunda Musical Society. Nov 16 - 24.

The Secret Garden by Marsha Chapel Theatre, Kapunda.

Norman and Lucy Simon.

Bookings: Kapunda Visitor Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 55

On Stage

South Australia, Tasmania & Western Australia

Information Centre & Australia Wide Badges.

Arts Centre, Launceston. (03) 8-11. Regal Theatre Perth.

6323 3666.

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Tales of Kabbarli by Geoffrey Sykes, starring Robina Beard as Daisy Bates, plus screening of Angels over Kangarilla.

Nov 21 - Dec 2. The Studio, Holden Street Theatres. (08) 8225 8888.

Bare Witness by Mari Lourey.

La Mama Theatre / fortyfivedownstairs. Nov 21 & 22. Theatre Royal, Hobart.

(03) 6233 2299.

The Rink by Kander and Ebb Playlovers. Nov 9 - Dec 1.

Musical set in roller rink.

Hackett Hall, Floreat. 0415 777 173.

Rock Revolution with Jon English. Nov 23, Devonport Santa in Space Pantomime by Entertainment and Paul Reakes. Tea Tree Players. Convention Centre; Nov 24, Nov 23 - Dec 8. Tea Tree Princess Theatre, Launceston; Players Theatre. 82895266.

Nov 25, Theatre Royal, Hobart.

Humbug! and a Christmas Variety Show by Fraser Dumb Blonde - The Genius of Charlton and Pam Tucker.

Dolly Parton. Tasmanian SALOS. Dec 6 - 9. Tower Arts Theatre Company / Cascade Centre, Pasadena. 8294 Indie Program. Dec 5 - 9.

6582.

Theatre Royal Backspace Theatre, Hobart. (03) 6233 Tasmania 2299.

Back to the 80’s by Neil Western Australia Gooding with original musical adaption by Scott A Chorus Line by Michael Copeman. Old Nick Theatre. Bennet, James Kirkwood and Until Nov 3. Theatre Royal, Marvin Hamlisch. Until Nov 4.

Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

Quintessential backstage musical. Burswood Soulmates by David Theatre, Perth. Ticketek.

Williamson. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Until Nov 10. Madam Butterfly by Giacamo Playhouse Theatre. (03) 6234 Puccini. West Australian 5998.

Opera. Until Nov 3. In Italian with English surtitles. His Everything Must Go. Majesty’s Theatre, Perth.

Tasmanian Theatre BOCS 9484 1133.

Company / Cascade Indie Program. Nov 7 - 11. Theatre Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen. Class Royal Backspace Theatre, Act. Until Nov 3. Subiaco Arts Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

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Come Back Little Sheba by William Inge. KADS. Nov 9 Dec 1. A couple’s life is disrupted by boarder. Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda.

9293 1412.

I’ll Break My Own Heart by Rose Grayson. Tasmanian Theatre Company / Cascade Indie Program. Nov 7 - 11.

Theatre Royal Backspace Theatre, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

The Best of Rodgers and Hammerstein by Rodgers and Hammerstein. West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Nov 2-4. Featuring vocalists Jacqui Scott & Andrew Halliday. Perth Concert Hall. 9484 1133.

Crapunzel. Bawdy Panto. Nov 13 - 17. Theatre Royal, A Wake in the West by Hobart. (03) 6233 2299.

Michael J. Ginnelly. Irish Theatre Players. Nov 7 - 17.

Sweeney Todd by Stephen Irish comedy. Irish Club, Sondheim and Hugh Subiaco. 9401 0964.

Wheeler. Encore Theatre Company. Nov 15 - 24. Earl Sleeping Beauty. Imperial Russian Ballet Company. Nov 56 Stage Whispers

Christmas Show. Tivoli Club of WA. Nov 9 - Dec 16.

Singing, dancing and comedy. Tivoli Club of WA, Applecross. 9364 5463.

Managing Carmen by David Williamson. Black Swan State Theatre Company & Queensland Theatre Company. Nov 10 - Dec 2. Heath Ledger Theatre in the State Theatre Centre, Perth. Ticketek.

Random Musical. Perth Theatre Trust, Subiaco Arts Centre and Troupe de Jour.

Nov 10-17. Improvised Comedy. Subiaco Arts Centre.

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themes. Roleystone Theatre, Brookton Hwy, Roleystone.

9397 5730.

My Favourite Things by Alinta Carrol and Craig Skelton.

Agelink Theatre. Nov 21.

Tribute to Julie Andrews. Don Russell Performing Arts Centre, Thornlie. 9493 4577.

Sleeping Beauty.

Choreographed by Evgeny Amosov. Russian National Ballet. Nov 21. Crown Theatre Perth. Ticketek.

Sunset Boulevard by Don Black, Christopher Hampton & Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Wanneroo Repertory. Nov 22 - Dec 8. Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo. 9571 8591.

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth. Garrick Theatre. Nov 23 - Dec 15. Uplifting true story.

Garrick Theatre, Guildford.

9378 1990.

Christmas Show. Goldfields Repertory Club. Nov 23-30.

Brookman Street Theatre, Kalgoorlie. 9088 6900.

Disney Live, Mickey’s Rockin’ Road Show. Feld Entertainment. Nov 23 - Dec Go Back for Murder by 9. Children’s Agatha Christie. Stirling entertainment. Riverside Players. Nov 16 - Dec 1.

Theatre, Perth Convention Murder mystery. Stirling and Exhibition Centre.

Theatre, Innaloo. 9440 1040. Ticketek.

Scrooge by James Leisy.

Melville Theatre Company.

Nov 16 - Dec 1. Roy Edinger Theatre, Melville. 9330 4565.

Eurobeat by Craig Christie and Andrew Patterson.

Murray Music and Drama, Nov 16 - Dec 1. Australian Musical based Eurovision.

Pinjarra Town Hall. 0458 046 414.

Avenue Q by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty.

Roleystone Theatre, Nov 16 Dec 1. Musical with adult

A Wet and Windy Night by Declan Cleary. Darlington Theatre Players. Nov 23-Dec 8. Farce. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount. 9255 1783.

The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky interpreted by Ivan Cavallari.

West Australian Ballet. Nov 23 - Dec 9. Family Christmas show. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. Ticketek.

The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow. Old Mill Theatre. Nov 30 - Dec 15. Farce adapted from the book and film. Old

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

On Stage Mill Theatre, South Perth.

9367 8719.

Western Australia & New Zealand

Mackintosh. Continuing. The Civic, The Edge, Auckland.

Ticketmaster.

Ladies for Hire by Alison 0508 484 253 / (04) 974 Quigan. Howick Little 4111.

Theatre. Nov 10 - Dec 1. (09) Wild Things by Emma Avenue Q by Robert Lopez, 534-1406.

Humphreys. Climbing Vine Me and My Girl. Book and Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty.

Theatre. Nov 30 - Dec 2.

Lyrics by Douglas Furber and Saucy Jack and the Space Abbey Musical Theatre, Dance & movement driven L. Arthur Rose and Music by Vixens by Charlotte Mann, Palmerston North. Nov 22 fantasy. Perth Town Hall.

Noel Gay. Centrestage Michael Fidler, Jonathan Dec 15. Abbey Theatre. (06) Ticketek.

Theatre Company. Until Nov Croose and Robin Forrest.

355 0499.

10. (09) 426 7282.

Blenheim Musical Theatre.

The Ash Girl by Timberlake Breaking Up is Hard to Do. Wertenbaker. Harbour Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Nov 9 - 24. 520 8560.

Featuring the Songs of Neil Theatre. Nov 30 - Dec 15.

Menken and Howard Blackadder - The Tudor Years. Sedaka. Rotorua Music Cinderella story directed by Ashman. Auckland Theatre Detour Theatre, Tauranga.

Theatre. Nov 23 - Dec 8. Casa Peter Kirkwood & Nicola Company. Nov 1 - Dec 2. Q. Nov 14 - Dec 1. 5777188.

Blanca Theatre.

Bond. Harbour Theatre. 9433 (09) 309 3395.

Scary Xmas 2. Tauranga Footrot Flats. Book by Roger 6260.

Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Musical Theatre. Nov 16 Hall. Music Philip Norman.

The Velveteen Rabbit. Based Menken and Howard Dec 8. Westside Theatre.

Lyrics: AK Grant. Whangarei on the book by Margery Ashman. Hawera Repertory TicketDirect.

Theatre Company. Nov 23 Williams. Spare Parts Puppet Society Inc. Nov 1 - 10.

Dec 8. The Riverbank Centre.

Once Upon a Time by Paul Theatre. Dec 3 - 14. Story of Hawera Memorial Theatre. 06 (09) 438 8135 Barron and Sarah Dyson. a boy’s most cherished toy.

278 8599 MATS Musicals. Nov 16 - 14. The Mousetrap by Agatha Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Into the Woods by Stephen Majestic Theatre. 027 Christie. Titirangi Theatre.

Fremantle. 9335 5044.

Sondheim and James Lapine. 2102308.

Nov 27 - Dec 8. 817 7658.

Little Red Riding Hood.

North Shore Music Theatre.

All Shook Up. Elvis Presley Hot Water by Roger Hall.

Traditional. Mutiple Sclerosis Nov 3 - 17. The PumpHouse, music, with a book by Joe Hutt Repertory Theatre. Nov Society of WA. Dec 6 - 18.

Takapuna.

DiPietro. Harlequin Musical 28 - Dec 8. Theatre 108 Pantomime. Subiaco Arts Urinetown The Musical.

Theatre, Howick. Nov 17 Lipstick Dreams by Helen Centre. Ticketek.

Manukau Performing Arts.

Dec 1. iTICKET. O’Connor and Simon New Zealand Nov 3 - 17. Spotlight Theatre.

As You Like It by William Hopkinson. Tauranga Mary Poppins by Julian Disco Inferno. Porirua Little Shakespeare. Stagecraft, Repertory Society. Nov 28 Fellowes, the Sherman Theatre. Nov 7 - Dec 1.

Wellington. Nov 21 - Dec 1. Dec 15. Sixteenth Street Brothers, George Stiles and iTICKET Theatre. (07) 577 7188.

Anthony Drewe. Cameron

Auditions

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. Blue Mountains Musical Society (NSW). Nov 23 - 25. 0422 022 560.

Anyone for Breakfast by Derek Benfield. Tea Tree Players (SA). Nov 26 - 28. 0411 091 597.

Cosi by Louis Nowra. Werribee Theatre Co. (VIC). Nov 17 & 18. (03) 97423068 Chicago by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Rotorua Musical Theatre (NZ). Nov 25 & 26. + 64 7 347 8658.

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harding. Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Co. Inc. (VIC). Nov 17 & 18. 0422 441 489 For more auditions, visit www.stagewhispers.com.au/auditions Advertise your show on the front page of www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 57

Rob Mills as Warner and Lucy Durack as Elle in Legally Blonde

Reviews: Premieres

Online extras!

Stage Whispers interviews Lucy Durack.

To watch now, scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/tGEPbWUsECY Legally Blonde The Musical Book by Heather Hach. Music and Lyrics by Lawrence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin. Directed and Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Lyric Theatre, Sydney (NSW). Opening Night: Oct 4.

IT has shopping, a cute Chihuahua, lots of pink and plenty of hunks on display.

Legally Blonde The Musical presses all the right buttons for a demographic which is overwhelmingly female.

It’s based, of course, on the movie about a blonde who enters Harvard Law School in a bid to win her snobbish boyfriend back.

The question is does this adaptation work as a musical?

The answer is Omigod yes.

It has lashings of fundamental silliness. Auditioning for Harvard with a song and dance routine for one and camp reunions in a courtroom for another. These moments are invariably accomplished with very clever lyrics and cute music, if not any tunes you go out whistling.

Just as the musical is weighted towards women - so too are the performances.

Lucy Durack shone brightest as Elle Wood. She won the audience from the outset - waiting hilariously at a posh restaurant for a proposal, then defiantly heading off to Harvard.

Helen Dallimore as kooky beautician Paulette was another stand-out. She milked every joke to perfection.

Also impressive was international fashion model Erika Heynatz, making her music theatre debut as fitness queen Brooke Wyndham.

58 Stage Whispers

Rob Mills looked perfect for the role as the silver spoon in his mouth sleaze-bag boyfriend Warner. However he was a little too nice. As a result we didn’t barrack enough for the real Mr Nice, the character of Emmett, played by David Harris.

Likewise Cameron Daddo as Professor Callahan was a little underwhelming.

But this is a musical where the female characters develop and the men are at times cardboard cut-outs.

Given the weight of drama and music theatre is often in other direction, Legally Blonde The Musical should be celebrated as the ultimate chicks musical.

David Spicer Neil Litchfield adds: The smile didn’t leave my face from start to finish during this feel-good escapist musical. The ‘ultimate chicks musical’, possibly, but as a bloke who loves his musical theatre, this one landed splendidly for me too.

Honed in the West End and on Broadway, Legally Blonde is slick, polished piece, affectionately tongue-incheek and impressively performed by a top notch Australian company.

David has mentioned the ‘hunks’, but the female supporting performers and ensemble rate special mention too. While their work as sorority sisters sets the show off to a sparkling start, the rope-skipping Whipped Into Shape, led by Erika Heynatz is an absolute showstopper.

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Personally, I loved Elle and Emmet’s shopping scene, while the dogs, Bruiser and Rufus, are absolute showstealers.

Delightful musical theatre entertainment!

clothing and face mask. As the journey progressed, it became clear the events were not in chronological order.

In an early scene, for example, a young woman carefully opened a box resembling a jewel case, then ran off without revealing its contents. Soon after, a small girl was seen with Conversation Piece the box, making the happy statement “My mum - she gave A Belvoir and Lucy Guerin Inc co-production. Belvoir me this box before -.”

Theatre, Sydney (NSW). Choreographer/Director: Lucy The unfinished words offered both a happy memory and Guerin. Aug 25 - Sep 16. a dread of the undisclosed events that had led to her THIS is bracing experimental work right at the heart of statement. It also raised the question whether the Sydney’s theatre establishment. It starts with a nightly eight previously seen older female was the girl later in life.

-minute improvised conversation. Six performers, with their Past happy moments were contrasted to those in which iPhones set to the Voice Memo application, then explore people were filled with dread by their current these recorded words, dig for new meanings, swap roles circumstances. And objects were seen again and again. A and present increasingly weird re-imaginings of the original man carried a bird-cage, with the bird inside obviously conversation. Three of the cast are billed as actors, three as dead. A prized teddy-bear carried by a young boy became a dancers, though the distinctions are often blurred. poignant object when it was placed on his body by other The highly original work springs from Melbourne-based survivors in a climactic funeral procession. choreographer Lucy Guerin and is the end product of years The show’s night performances used mainly the ordinary of intense experimentation. The excellent dance sequences street lighting, with effective use of the shadows. Recorded and musical numbers are obviously set pieces, but you’d and live background music boosted the emotional flow at have to see more than one performance to be sure that key moments. each opening conversation was, as claimed, completely Ken Longworth different.

On my night it’s a banal, overlapping chat between the Barassi three dancers (Alisdair Macindoe, Rennie McDougall and

By Tee O’Neill. Alan Jager in association with Hit Harriet Ritchie). Then the three actors (Alison Bell, Megan Productions (Vic). The Athenaeum Theatre. Director: Holloway and Matthew Whittet) enter and, listening via Terence O’Connell. Sep 20 - Oct 14 headphones to the recorded words of their ‘partners’, give AUSSIE Rules football - ‘GUTS, DETERMINATION, FEAR’ an immediate second-hand rendering of the original. This is offer your coach Ron Barassi anything less and you’d better funny and unsettling and, as the 70-minute performance be man enough to cop a spray at half-time - a monstrous proceeds, darker variations reveal unspoken meanings and vocabulary served with the kind of ferocity that just might unexpected undercurrents. There’s an interrogation, even a send today’s sportspeople off for some therapy. mass murder.

VFL/AFL player, coach and legend Ron Barassi expected On my night the experiment is consistently entertaining his players to attack every game with the passion of a grand and just long enough. Taking a well-deserved bow at the final. He stands for old-school; hard work, loyalty, end are the show’s six hard-working iPhones. These clever principles, the kind of values that would ‘take a bullet for little critters are taking over the world. your mates’.

Frank Hatherley It’s Barassi’s passion for life and football that is captured in Tee O’Neill’s script, a story that entails all the elements of Outlast an epic; humble beginnings, rising against the odds, Tantrum Theatre. Staged in Keightley Street, Hunter Mall, incredible talent, and the heartache of love and loss.

Newcastle (NSW). Sep 6 - 9.

Directed by Terence O’Connell, the play commences in IT’S not easy to stage a theatrical work in an inner-city World War II and culminates in the 21st century. It may street adjacent to busy thoroughfares. But when you find sound like a lengthy chronology but it moves at a swift and highly entertaining pace, aided by Jane Clifton as a funny, the occasional noise of nearby trains and accelerating cars annoying, it’s clear you are caught up in the story yet ‘slightly’ jaded, Collingwood supporter-come-narrator. unfolding.

Steve Bastoni embodies Barassi skilfully; perfect in That was the case at the night performance of Outlast sustaining the prolonged scene of grief at his father’s grave. that I attended, where most of the action took place in a Jane Clifton is brilliant and funny, and ex-Melbourne player narrow laneway between two main streets in Newcastle’s Russell Robertson adds a touch of football glamour with a more than capable performance.

CBD. The story, developed by the 11 actors aged 10 to 26 A distinct visual of the play is the slow-motion and a creative team led by director Rachel Jackett, was set choreography by Alana Scanlan that shows off the unique in a post-apocalyptic world where survivors live alone in aesthetics of Australian Rules football and Georgie Minn’s fear and darkness, recalling happier past times. projected film and installation artfully brings vintage The audience members became an observation crew led Melbourne to life. around the site by a scientist dressed in white protective This is an Australian story of a champion of an indigenous game. If you love football, you will love this Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 59

Ryan Corr and Jacqueline McKenzie in STC’s Sex With Strangers. Photo: Brett Boardman

wonder how these two attractive Aussies came to be writing in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

Frank Hatherley

Rowan Atkinson Tribute Show Writers: Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Bordello Theatre, Kings Cross Hotel (NSW).

Sep 5 - Nov 28 (Wednesday nights).

PRODUCING a tribute Online extras! show to one of the Meet the cast and creative team of Sex greatest comics of our With Strangers. Scan the QR code or visit time is a mixed challenge. http://youtu.be/H-Cd2qQh6jY On one hand, you have the advantage of availing show and have fun with the in-jokes. If you don’t love yourself of the genius writing of Richard Curtis and football, you will you still enjoy it immensely. company and the audience goodwill therein. On the other, Karen Coombs you have the daunting task of being compared to Atkinson’s physical brilliance, pratfalls and comic timing.

Sex With Strangers This is a series of sketches in two acts, featuring Gabriel

By Laura Eason. Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company McCarthy in the Atkinson roles and Valentino Arico as his (NSW). Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse. Sep 24 - Nov 24. foil. The production begins with the Devil himself, GENERATION gaps are getting narrower. This welcoming us to Hell. An hilarious beginning included engrossing two-actor drama from Chicago playwright Laura some unfortunate breaking of the fourth wall.

Eason convincingly demonstrates there’s now but a 10-year Stephen Carnell as director has his cast playing to their gap between us and the pre-digital, pre-smart-phones, pre- strengths. The shallow stage does not restrict them. Arico is e-books folk of yesteryear. In a highly realistic production excellent as the straight man; his enunciation and timing from movie director/producer Jocelyn Moorhouse - her first are spot on. McCarthy is more varied. His physicality is work for the stage - the highs and lows, pros and cons of superb, as rubber-faced and sprightly as Atkinson himself. this particular moment of the digital age are absorbingly The dialogue-based scenes do, however, fall short. Most of demonstrated and discussed. Plus you get a sexy romantic the laughs received are a credit to the writing. comedy as well, acted in fine never-off-the-stage style by This is a tribute show and audiences will be rewarded the experienced Jacqueline McKenzie and theatre with a lot of enjoyment. It is perhaps funnier if you are newcomer Ryan Corr. unfamiliar with the original material. One woman in Talented 30-something Olivia (McKenzie) values her particular at the opening night seemed to be suffering from tortured privacy while striving to get her novels into some sort of hyena-related laughing seizure. hardback editions. From the other side of the digital gap Recommended. comes 20something Ethan (Corr), whose very un-private Greg Eccleston online blog covering a 12-month quest to have sex with as many strangers as possible resulted in a book that’s been Potted Potter three years in the Best Seller list. He’s a fast-talking, The Unauthorised Harry Experience. A parody by Dan and persuasive charmer - virtually a stalker - and Olivia, lonely Jeff. Sydney Theatre, Oct 9 - 14, and touring. and vulnerable, is attracted to his sexual energy and, WATCHING a Harry Potter movie in a comfortable seat eventually, to his ideas about internet publishing and at a multiplex cinema has caused me to drift off into manipulation. slumber on occasions.

The play began life in 2010 with Chicago’s great So, I was a little alarmed that the performers in Potted Steppenwolf Theatre Company and for this production - its Potter began their show by warning the audience not to second - writer Eason has already updated it. There is expect to see anything as exciting as they have experienced certainly an exciting sense that Sex With Strangers belongs at the movies. to Now. Initially it felt like a fringe show booked into a ‘fancy The production is both fluid and intense but, for all its theatre’ by accident. realism, American accents have been avoided, leaving us to 60 Stage Whispers

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

The couple sitting next to me lost patience and disappeared from their seats, as though a wand had passed over them, after just 20 minutes.

But the Harry Potter tragics were having a ball...laughing at so many jokes which sailed over my head.

Many came armed with broomsticks for the occasion.

Then the performers Jess Briton and Gray Trainor began to use some of those ‘fancy theatre’ devices and it became a show even Harry Potter sceptics could enjoy.

There was no need to dampen expectations.

Most amusing was a game of Quidditch. There was no flying....but in the style of Slava’s Snowshow, there was audience participation on a grand scale.

It was one of many moments of farce and friviolity, all done with great affection for the seven novel saga.

David Spicer No Child…

By Nilaja Sun. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. As part of the Melbourne Festival. Oct 9 - 14.

ENGAGING, dynamic, powerful. Nilaja Sun is all these things, and so is her one-woman play, No Child…”

Written and performed by Sun, and directed by Hal Brooks, No Child… is a witty theatrical commentary set in the New York City public school system. Sun paints a picture of the Malcolm X High School (located in the Bronx), playing 16 characters to perfection - teachers, students, parents, custodian and security staff, and the college principal. Well-developed mannerisms, physicality, voice and expression make each character a delight. We’ve seen these characters before but they’re not stereotypical Sun fleshes out new angles.

Performed over 700 times around the world, the set consists of five chairs. The lighting plan, whilst simple, requires sharpness to mirror Sun’s transition between characters. Minimalism is evident in Sun’s costume too: blue trousers and a white shirt, versatile for all the characters.

The show touches on neglect, abuse, death, teen pregnancy, gangs, safety, and the state of the American public school system. The learning isn’t limited to the students though. The audience learns to look beyond the attitude and really see the student. It’s quite a journey by the end of the show, and the explosion of emotions is surely what drove the ten minute standing ovation for Sun on opening night.

Anyone that has ever spent time in a classroom would adore this show, finding humour and familiarity in the situations. Truly unique and innovative in its delivery, No Child… is a rare gem.

Tammy Shmerling Murder Most Funny

By Tony Laumberg. Tap Gallery Theatre, Darlinghurst (NSW). Aug 16 - Sep 9.

MURDER Most Funny by Tony Laumberg takes the standard murder mystery plot, adding some comedic spice and a slight twist to produce a solid and entertaining product. The play centres on the most famous children’s

band in the world, ‘The Giggles’, and adds a murder mystery, a love story, a publicist and a policeman.

On the first night there were some nerves and timing problems. An unresponsive audience which seemed to have channelled Sydney’s sudden cold snap added to these.

However, the play was well performed and the three giggles, Jasmin Certoma, Nick Hunter and Seaton Kay Smith, provided some energetic comedic moments. Tricia Youlden played twisted publicist Felicity with style, whilst Peter Talmacs, as Grimley, was effective as the pompous and slightly bumbling chief inspector. Jasmin Certoma did well with a slight part, whilst Nick Hunter’s Corey was an honest portrayal of the young man as cynic. However, it was Seaton Kay Smith who stole the most laughs with his portrayal of Kevin, the clumsy, nanny spouting, blue giggle.

The play’s structure and plot are standard, but this is a solid production of warmth and gentle humour.

Leann Richards The Kitchen Sink

By Tom Wells. Red Stitch Actors Theatre (Vic). Director: Terence O’Connell. Aug 31 - Sep 22.

TOM Wells’ The Kitchen Sink gets the balance just right: narrative, acting, stagecraft. It is engaging despite its slow pace, and warming for its emotional honesty.

Set in the Yorkshire seaside resort of Withernsea, an ordinary working class family are all struggling, either trying to make ends meet (mum and dad), or getting life started (daughter and son). The play is set over one year and, by its own admission, explores people’s capacity to change in small and unforeseen ways.

Acting by Russell Fletcher, Tim Potter, Tim Ross, Christine Keogh and Kristina Brew is excellent. It helps that they’re the face of an award winning play (George Devine Award 2012, Critics’ Circle Theatre Award 2011). Action drives character, and character drives action. Thus rather than the dialogue saying, “I feel…”, we see it. Additionally the actors seek out possibilities for genuine moments. Special mention here goes to Keogh and her comedy background.

The Kitchen Sink demonstrates that change for the working class is especially challenging. These people are limited in their choices. A lack of money affects vision, which affects mentality, which affects relationships, which affects vision.

For all its good points, the play is a little too long, perhaps by 15-20 minutes. Despite this, it’s absolutely worth seeing.

Tammy Shmerling The Sea Project

By Elise Hearst. Arthur and Griffin Independent. SBW Stables Theatre (NSW). Sep 5 - 29.

WHAT if you found yourself washed ashore in a foreign country, rescued by a stranger, with no recollection of your past and an unsettling feeling about your future? That is the premise of the latest offering from Griffin Independent and Arthur.

Although Elise Hearst’s script sounds like a play about the politics of asylum seekers, it really isn’t as such. It’s

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 61

more about the inspiration of renewal and the possibility of reinvention. It’s bold and interesting writing that often leaves the audience on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next.

This is the second time that director Paige Rattray and Hearst have collaborated and it’s obvious that they just simply ‘get’ each other creatively. Rattray’s choices bring out the best in the script and the cast - all of whom are impressive. But it is Meredith Penman as Eva who captivates the audience. The depiction of a woman struggling with remembering her past, but at the same time fighting against it, is particularly intriguing.

Special mention must go to composer and sound artist, Tom Hogan, who played the sound track live, which was so integral to the production he could be considered a fourth cast member.

Yet again Griffin has programmed a strong, intelligent and entertaining piece of new Australian theatre.

Whitney Fitzsimmons

Between Two Waves

By Ian Meadows. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre (NSW). Oct 5 - Nov 17.

GRIFFIN Theatre’s latest offering, Between Two Waves, uses the issue of climate change as the central point for the plot to revolve around. But to think that this is a didactic play trying to prosecute the case for or against climate change would be a false assumption. This play uses the notion of an uncertain future as a way of highlighting our natural anxieties about what will or won’t potentially go wrong - the glass half full versus the glass half empty theory.

Ian Meadows’ writing contains enough information on climate science to make it a credible story without overloading the audience. This is a well-drawn picture of human frailty and at one hour 40 minutes it rolls along nicely under Sam Strong’s steady direction.

The four actors are a strong cast and turn in excellent performances. Ash Ricardo’s Fiona is a standout as the upbeat counterpart to Ian Meadows’ anxiety ridden Falling to the Top climatologist Daniel.

By Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods. Director: Tyler David Fleischer’s design decisions around this Jones. Hackett Hall, Floreat (WA). Aug 24 - Sep 8. production are bold and confident, creating a set that is the THIS brand new show with book and lyrics by Tyler physical manifestation of Daniel’s angst. Steve Francis’ Jacob Jones and music by Robert Woods was directed and sound also moves the story along, punctuating the story’s musically directed by the same pair. Funny, daring and emotional highs and lows. controversial, it was great fun to watch, with lyrics and oneIt must be said that yet again Sam Strong has made a liners that get stuck in your head. (As I write this I can hear wise decision in programming Between Two Waves. It’s a my daughter singing one of the songs.) wonderful end to his stewardship at The Griffin as he heads Taking a satirical look at reality TV stars and their off to the MTC. Sydney’s loss is definitely Melbourne’s gain. subsequent careers, it takes gentle pokes at a plethora of Whitney Fitzsimmons people and although the comedy is unnervingly crude at times, it is never cruel and always appropriate in its context. Water We follow the amazing Divalettes as they attempt to Created by Filter and David Farr. Sydney Theatre. Sep 12 revive their post competition careers. Sweet but talentless 22.

Salli-Ann was sweetly played by Maria Velletri; Fat Feliciabel WATER is one of the most enchanting productions to was beautifully voiced by Kimberley Harris; Breeahn Jones grace the Sydney Theatre stage. It’s beautiful, challenging was very strong as bitchy lead singer FonDue, while Claire and captivating.

Taylor, who has the least to say, deftly stole scene after The theme of water runs throughout the story scene as hapless Tonya. illustrating how something so integral to the existence of The supporting cast were outstanding. Jess Dowson’s human beings also unexpectedly affects our lives. A man Angela Slagmeyer was part narrator, part commentator and grappling with the loss of a father he never really knew and part integral plot point, while the girls’ managers, sweet as a woman trying to save the world from dehydration, while sprinkles Brian (the lovely Chris Bedding) and exceedingly at the same time wrestling with a collapsing relationship. ambitious Spicy Lamangino (an energetic Manuao The intersecting stories are simple portraits, told precisely TeAotonga) were fabulous contrasts. and economically. They are heart-wrenchingly realistic and A tiny ensemble, in the form of David Grey and Joanna cut to the quick of human agony.

Tyler, played many other characters and were an excellent British theatre company Filter aims to expose the process support to the cast. of theatre throughout the production by incorporating the Terry McAuley’s costumes probably broke a record for a technical and stage-management aspects as part of the minimum of fabric used, but were wonderfully evocative, show. It is an intriguing approach and one that is very while Tyler Jones’ set design was well executed by effective. The serenely beautiful last scene is stunning and is newcomer Noel Herbert and David Hardie. a must see.

Falling to the Top is a really funny new musical that Director David Farr and music and sound designer Tim would transfer well to other companies. Music and book Phillips deftly use technology such as Skype, live are clever and the subject matter very topical and a change soundscapes and vocal manipulation throughout the show. from the usual fare.

The cast of three effortlessly jump between characters and Kimberley Shaw story lines with clarity and dexterity.

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Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Water bravely treads into those places we don’t want to go because, like sunburnt skin desperate to be quenched, it hurts. This is not just a play, but a true theatrical experience.

Whitney Fitzsimmons

Michael Whalley and Zoe Carides in Tarantula

Lei Hideaway Created by the cast.

Clockfire Theatre Company. Old 505 Theatre, Surry Hills (NSW).

Sep 25 - 30.

EACH Clockfire production begins with a Online extras! concept and develops Check out an interview with the director through physical of Tarantula. Scan the QR code or visit improvisation. Lei http://youtu.be/BVibP-jJ78k Hideaway was created this way and it incorporates some of the Jacques Lecoq signature elements that have through her young male co-star, the attitudes of society to become part of the performance culture of Clockfire older women.

Theatre Company. A bare stage as the arena for two hinged Valentine merges past and present in carefully screens, which create the wings and back stage for the constructed scenes and transitions. The intense sexuality of performance and move constantly to create reveals and the Montez story is juxtaposed with contemporary humour supercharge the pace of this fast moving story. Yet there is and short, pithy dialogue. However, some soliloquies and always time for a pregnant pause. Each provides brief snatches of modern songs seem an unnecessary distraction. moments for audience reflection. In addition, there is the As both Lola and Gina, Zoe Carides makes the transition clever use of music and lighting; a somewhat bizarre, yet from gently ageing siren to mature, but less assured actor insightful, story, with quirky characters; minimal, but saucy with consummate ease. As Lola she is provocative, dialogue; much movement and an insightful peek into the shameless, flirtatious and aggressive. As Gina she is deep pool of the human psyche. thoughtful, and a little reticent as she faces the almost The story opens with a bored young man working in a misogynist attitudes of her young co-star, Terry. call centre, who suddenly connects with a prospect who As Terry, Folland, and the other four male characters in turns the tables on him and makes him an offer he cannot Lola’s story, Michael Whalley’s vitality and comic timing possibly refuse. He says yes and is taken on a remarkable edge up the pace and energy of the play. He is staid and journey into his own yearnings. The characters he upright as the 19th century characters, and youthfully selfencounters seduce him, challenge him, titillate, cajole and centred but completely disarming as the sexually confident finally expel him. Ah, that’s life. Say no more!

Terry.

Stephen Carnell Nastassja Djalog’s direction is tight. She allows the dialogue to be interspersed with silences, gesture and Tarantula moments of stillness that give the characters more surety

By Alana Valentine. Tredwood Productions. King Street and depth.

Theatre (NSW). Oct 10 - Nov 3.

Carol Wimmer ALANA Valentine is perhaps the most versatile and perspicacious of Australia’s newer playwrights. In Tarantula, Our Shadows Pass Only Once she uses the intriguing life of 19th century performer Lola

By David Temme. Directed by Andrew Holmes. The Street Montez to question why “the answer to older women Theatre Made in Canberra Series (ACT). Oct 11-19. being portrayed as dried up and sexless has been to show TOLD entirely in interior monologue, this poetic and them as ravenous cougars”. abstract work explores emotions within two failing The title alludes to Montez’s famous ‘Spider Dance’, and relationships. With deliberately slow, flowing movement allows Valentine to use the mysticism behind the tarantula - and innovative use of live video, it’s mesmerizing and most pertinently, that the female outlives the male by compelling. twenty years - to create a play within a play, where Gina, a Author David Temme seems to be deliberately leaving mature actor playing Lola in a contemporary expose, the narrative wide open, allowing the audience to guess questions her own perceived sexual repression … and, what is actually happening between the two couples. The two female characters are both fragile and needy, and the Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 63

Tim Dashwood was the star of the night; whether in jocks or frocks his portrayal of the conflicted sports God was dramatically layered, with his second-act comingout-to-the-media-scene rich in believability and pathos. It was beautifully played and beautifully written. John Batchelor’s portrayal of the moneyhungry manager was also hysterical, while Claire Lovering (Jessica) and Anna McGahan (Clara), as the two women in the footballer’s life, were big plusses, as was Greg Tim Dashwood and Greg McNeill in McNeill as the newspaper QTC’s Managing Carmen.

-scribe.

Photo: Rob McColl.

Wesley Enoch’s direction male characters are both bewildered. One of each couple is was clever, with his stage business providing almost as active and the other is passive. Given each couple’s many laughs as the script. Top marks also to Richard interpersonal dynamic, the play is then structured into riffs Roberts’ high-concept revolving set which moved the filmic on 15 different emotional themes. script at breakneck speed and to Trent Suidgeest and Tony It’s made much more compelling by the clever use of Brumpton for their lighting and sound. black and white video of the live action projected onto the I don’t think any AFL player has actually come out as back of the theatre, giving a filmic quality. Sometimes the being a cross-dresser so at this stage the concept is simply a images are visual puns, at other times close ups of the fairytale. The nearest thing we have seen to it is when AFL actors’ faces to emphasise the emotions. The audio design stars don drag in Channel 9’s The Footy Show (It was a nice is haunting and slightly discomforting. touch to show clips from The Footy Show during the actual The play is not always easy to watch, delving as it does production). into dark emotional territory and without a narrative And lastly, let’s say a word of praise for the frocks, framework to give sense and context. However, it’s clever which almost rivalled Priscilla for glitz. Managing Carmen is and creative, with high production values and the feel of an a classy co-production between QTC and Black Swan audio-visual modern artwork, very well performed and Theatre Company, and proves once again why David definitely worth the effort.

Williamson is one of “Australia’s Living National Treasures”.

Cathy Bannister Peter Pinne Managing Carmen

By David Williamson. Director: Wesley Enoch. QTC with Black Swan State Theatre Company. Playhouse, QPAC. Oct 18 - Nov 4. State Theatre Centre of WA Heath Ledger Theatre, Nov 10 - Dec 2.

DAVID Williamson is at the top of his game with Managing Carmen, his new play about a cross-dressing AFL footballer. It’s immensely funny, zips along faster than the NBN, and has a pay-off that’s poignant in its plea for tolerance in our sport-obsessed society.

Brent Lyall (Tim Dashwood), a 23-year-old dual Brownlow medal winning footballer, has a cross-dressing secret, which if it was revealed would not only ruin his career, but put at risk any lucrative endorsement deals.

When reporter Max Upfield (Greg McNeill) sniffs out the secret, Lyall’s manager Rohan Swift (John Batchelor) goes into damage-control with hilarious results.

64 Stage Whispers

Rhonda is in Therapy

By Bridgette Burton. Hoy Polloy and Baggage Productions.

Director: Wayne Pearn. fortyfiveownstairs (Vic). Sep 7 - 23.

RHONDA is in Therapy is a lively, insightful and satisfying play about the lengths gone to by a young wife and mother to remain in the limbo of denial, after experiencing a life-changing trauma that places her in the face of overwhelming grief.

Writer Bridgette Burton displays quite some insight in this skillfully penned and at times surprising play. There is a wicked sense, in this work, that although socially inconvenient and often personally destructive, extravagant dissociative delusions can have a fabulous, exciting and invigorating edge.

In this outstanding production the direction by Wayne Pearn seamlessly incorporates disjointed scenes with competence and grace, smoothly welding the whole together.

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Pearn truly brings out the best in his actors. As Lief, Rhonda’s longsuffering husband, a generous kind man with a grounded sense of self, Ben Grant clearly expresses all the love, perseverance and dedication required to make perfect sense of this role. Jamison Caldwell plays the student as sensitive and caring - irresistible ‘eye candy’. And as the therapist, Kelly Nash conveys a perceptive clinical interest in her patient and cleverly transmits the intense and slightly sickening atmosphere of the Psychiatrists Consulting Room.

Louise Crawford just shines as Rhonda.

Really Good Theatre!

Suzanne Sandow Frank Christie Frank Clarke!

By Peter Fleming and Allan McFadden. The Performance Hall at the Italian Forum. 2012 Sydney Fringe (NSW). Sep 26 - 30.

LEICHHARDT’s Italian Forum Performance Hall was host to an innovative and entertaining night of theatre when Frank Christie, Frank Clarke! was performed. The musical featured original music and lyrics by lan McFadden and Peter Fleming, and was a remarkable showcase of talent.

The play was presented in a traditional music hall style, with the actors sitting against a wall behind a small music ensemble. Relying solely on hats, wigs and beards with simple props of chairs and tables, they produced the story of bushranger Frank Gardiner with wit, humour and effervescence. Each member of the cast, except main player Brent Dolahenty, took on several roles which displayed their ability to sing, dance and create unique characters.

The show was infused with an infectious joy that brought smiles to the audience. The original songs combined with an insouciant Aussie humour resulted in a rollicking romp which employed physical humour and subtle wit.

Dolahenty was a charismatic Frank Gardiner, Lena Cruz as his love interest, Wu Lin, was a convincing leading lady and Jennifer Reed, as Sylvia, embodied a 19th century diva with a singing voice that boomed beautifully throughout the theatre. John Derum and Laurence Coy were mischievous villains, whilst Timothy Monley and Trent Kidd were a classic vaudevillian song and dance duo.

The writers and director Aime Neeme have produced a quintessentially Australian musical which cleverly intertwines its subject matter with an awareness of theatrical history. Frank Christie, Frank Clarke! deserves a longer run and a wider audience.

Leann Richards.

assistance of her tenants, the dancing Archivist (Lisa O’Neil) and musician Electrocrat (Peter Nelson).

This sophisticatedly costumed (Selene Cochrane), formidably talented ensemble entrance as they bemuse with song, dance and story. The disturbing issues of hoarding that are at the core of RRAMP, though only really touched upon, provoke thought and leave a residue of intrigue. In searching for meaning with regard to this motif there is, amongst other things, a suggestion that hoarding has vicariousness at its heart.

Many will recognize Christine Johnston as the easily lead and rather fragile Kransky Sister, Eve. In RRAMP her ‘over the top’ character, reminiscent of Morticia from The Addams Family, of The Collector allows her to explore and thoroughly entertain with a bemusing and controlling spinster of a different - darker creepy nature.

Musically the work is very satisfying and the lovely, cleverly integrated dancing by Lisa O’Neil is delightful.

We are so lucky that currently this type of vital and inspiring alternative work is being developed, supported and brought to us by our arts bodies. And for our part - we should endeavor not to miss it!

Suzanne Sandow

Kelly

By Matthew Ryan. QTC (Qld). Sept 15 - Oct 20.

THIS provocative, engaging play may become our next Australian classic.

Compact in space and time, the action passes in Ned Kelly’s death-row cell in Melbourne Gaol shortly before his hanging. Brother Dan, whom everyone believed died in the Glenrowan fire, turns up disguised as a Chaplain to seek Ned’s forgiveness and blessing. This possibly apocryphal event provides the opportunity for author Matthew Ryan to examine the brotherly relationship at this critical time.

Tenderness and confusion give way to bitterness that comes to blows as they rake over the coals of their turbulent past. Throughout, however, each sticks to his principles.

Wisely, Ryan uses just Kelly as the title ─ either brother could be considered the protagonist. He draws his characters powerfully, providing grist for the actors to create an engrossing mongoose-and-cobra wrangle.

Leon Cain (Dan) and Steven Rooke (Ned) - both recent Matilda Award winners - commit body and soul to the challenge. Director Todd Macdonald conducted the piece like a grand symphony, tempering light and dark sections adroitly. In that he is ably assisted by Ben Hughes’s tight lighting design and Guy Webster’s inspired compositions RRAMP and sound effects.

The Collector, the Archivist and the Electrocrat. Devised and Hugh Parker makes the most of a thankless part as Gaol Performed by Christine Johnston, Lisa ONeill and Peter Warden, doubling occasionally as third player in some Nelson. Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall (Vic). Sep exploits.

5 - 8.

Go, you’ll expand your knowledge of the Kelly Gang PUT simply, RRAMP is a beautifully produced quirky, legend. This is great theatre! eccentric collection of animated (Ahmarnya Price) love Jay McKee stories, mostly about chooks, seamlessly presented by the extraordinary Collector (Christine Johnston) with the Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 65

Happy Ending

By Melissa Reeves. Melbourne Theatre Company (Vic).

Lawler Studio, Southbank Theatre. Director: Susie Dee. Sep 5 - 22.

FORTY-something Louise (Nell Feeney) is happily married (more-or-less), but has developed an infatuation with her young Chinese masseur, Lu (Gareth Yuen). After months of massages, sometimes two a day, Louise confides in her coffee companion Lilliana (Roz Hammond) that she wants to consummate her desire, and sets about getting closer to Lu. Award-winning playwright Melissa Reeves has crafted a well-balanced and entertaining script, interweaving English and Mandarin dialogue, and highlighting cultural sensitivities and etiquette in both cultures.

Shoji screens are manipulated effortlessly into various configurations, creating a gentle aesthetic. Subtitles appearing on the screens are a wonderful device through which character and cultural dimensions are elevated.

Of particular note is Feeney’s lonely vulnerability, erratic desperation, and then self-assured composure. MTC firsttimer Keith Brockett (Wen/Jun) deftly switches between characters with subtle mannerisms, and in another MTC debut, Gareth Yuen (Lu) demands the audience’s sympathy as the much-desired masseur.

Roz Hammond and Fanny Hanusin (Jie) are radiantly compelling, and sometimes confronting, as the assertive female influences. Christopher Connelly (Alec/Dave), a late inclusion, assuredly commands the space.

Audiences with a political appetite will relish the many entertaining references to contemporary political and media identities in what is a expertly paced drama. Whether the ending is ‘happy’ is a matter for speculation. Happy Ending includes strong language, nudity, sexual themes and peanuts, and was well worth the effort on what was an ugly-weather night in Melbourne.

Lucy Graham Wittenberg

By David Davalos. Director: Jane Montgomery Griffiths. Red Stitch Actors Theatre (Vic). Oct 5 - Nov 3.

THE premise is fresh enough. Suppose the fictitious Dr Faustus and the very real Martin Luther were both professors at Wittenberg University, rivals for the mind/soul of young Prince Hamlet, an under-graduate who procrastinates between philosophy and theology…who would win?

Once you put aside the obvious…that two are fictitious characters, they all “lived” in different time frames, …the stage is set for a great discourse on Philosophy and Religion, exploring the comic value of both. It requires a Tom Stoppard to make such a play cohesive and satisfying and David Davalos is no Tom Stoppard. There are flashes of dazzling wit, thought provoking hypotheses, delicious intellectual arguments, but all that potential falls in a heap in an underdeveloped second act which disintegrates and a resolution which seems borne of desperation; a karaoke version of Que Sera, Sera (Faustus has a nightly gig at a local tavern).

66 Stage Whispers

On the plus side Ezra Bix as Faustus and Josh Price as Martin Luther are outstanding. Their comic business is a credit to director Jane Montgomery Griffiths. They give the play a legitimacy it perhaps doesn’t deserve. Brett Ludeman has a thankless role as the under-written Hamlet but nevertheless seems miscast and Olga Makeeva, an interesting actress, is totally wasted as The Eternal Feminine. This is still worth a look, but, because the potential is there for it to be so much more, ultimately it disappoints.

Coral Drouyn I Want to Sleep with Tom Stoppard

By Toby Schmitz. Tamarama Rock Surfers. Bondi Pavilion (NSW). Aug 29 - Sep 22.

IT began with a delicious irony. The characters ridicule the proliferation of middle class dramas set in a kitchen.... all said in a scene set in a kitchen.

Luke (Tom Stokes) has invited his older actress girlfriend Sarah (Caroline Brazier) to a dinner party from hell at his parents’ place.

Jackie (Wendy Strehlow) and Tom (Andrew McFarlane), like upper class middle characters in a David Williamson play, are into yoga and collecting battleships.

While his parents love going to the theatre, the sparks fly as Tom lectures his son to give up on ambitions for a career on the stage.

He’s told to get a real job. This was somewhat dangerous ground. Was this going to be a festival of navel gazing? Could it be dangerous to have an actor writing a play about acting? A few nonsequiturs in the first act made me think it was heading in this direction.

Thankfully those doubts were swept away by the production, witty dialogue and superb acting which got better as the play progressed.

Caroline Brazier was like a seething volcano. The temptress almost erupted in the second act as she poured forth on the most pretentious daydreams a pompous actress could whip up. It was hilarious.

Firing on all cylinders was Andrew McFarlane. As his wife, Wendy Strehlow handled the straight role with aplomb.

Tom Stokes, as the haplessly torn Luke, crawls into the foetal position from embarrassment in the final scene. The audience wanted to join him on the couch.

A few more tweaks and this play has legs.

David Spicer Widow Bird

By Emma Gibson. The Street Theatre, Canberra (ACT). Sep 8 - 16.

IN this fantasy, a young woman discovers her tears heal people, even from death. She leaves her village to offer her services to the kingdom, but finds herself enslaved and forced to resurrect soldiers in an endless war. This ambitious play explores themes of self-sacrifice, emotions versus rationality, the roles of the sexes, and social power.

Gibson combines elements borrowed from Greek tragedy, medieval morality tale and folk stories to make an

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

His Room is genuinely disturbing theatre, delving into the trauma of an embattled family, and the knock-on impact of their tragedy.

In its broader sweep, the scenario is credible and moving, though at times the dialogue needs to develop more naturally.

For the moment though, His Room is well served by clean, sensitive, purposeful direction from Liane Norman, insightful about the characters’ journeys, with a touchingly ambiguous interpretation of the conclusion. It is well served, too, by a capable cast - most notably for mine Lynden Jones as the long-suffering husband, whose welldeveloped journey resonates most strongly for mine in the play as it currently stands.

Simple effective design by Anna Gardiner, dominated by a neutral curtain drop, facilitating entrances and effective use of projections, evokes the faded ambience of the room in the present, yet is transformed by evocative projections On the Misconception of Oedipus which create a sense of back-story and the contrasting Devised by Zoe Atkinson, Matthew Lutton and Tom Wright. vividness of a happier past.

Text: Tom Wright: Malthouse Theatre - Beckett Theatre In the end, there’s really just a glimmer of hope - play (Vic). Aug 10 - 25. and production don’t attempt to conclusively solve the IN the Beckett Theatre at the Malthouse Theatre, a human issues, just raise the hope of moving on. psychological unraveling is, well, unraveling. It includes Neil Litchfield Oedipus, the man who famously murders his father and marries his mother, and his parents Laius and Jocasta. A The Emperor’s New Clothes A New Musical prequel to the Greek tragedy, On the Misconceptions of

By Alan Schmuckler and David Holstein. Stage Artz Theatre.

Oedipus is an attempt to explore what happened to the Glen Street Theatre, (NSW). Sep 28 - Oct 6. people behind the myth.

THIS was a treat for the eyes, the ears and the belly.

Parallels are drawn between this stage production and Seamstresses and set designers whipped up lavish the Theban plays by Sophocles. The characters analyse their costumes and a cute set including an adorable closet laden relationship to fate and this provides thought provoking with shoes. subtext. They understand that with destiny comes the loss For the ears there were delicious tunes, written only a of free will. few years back for the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.

The production is clumsily divided into three parts: the The composer even flew out from the US to listen to psychology, the murder, the relationship. Each act feels and some extra songs written especially for a large cast and looks different, in lighting, sound, movement and action, seen on stage for the first time. but results in an overall feeling of imbalance. Director As for the belly, it was jiggling on a regular basis. JohnMatthew Lutton does not push this play as far as it could Paul Van Schie was pitch perfect as the Emperor. He was as go. Character backstories do not shed new light on the colourful as the clothes he was wearing. motivations, and really, as a marketed prequel, it’s hardly a His three male secretaries brought on giggles every time “chapter of the myth [that] was never written down”. they stepped on stage.

Still there are powerful moments and interesting uses of The book kept surprising and delighting. It was stagecraft. However to fully appreciate this production, pantomime for 2012, complete with mobile phone cameras knowledge of the Greek Tragedy is vital. Beware the full and internet jokes. nudity, and expect to feel disturbed at least once.

The daughter of the Emperor, played by Shannon McKinn, was the opposite of her father and dressed in jeans Tammy Shmerling and a t-shirt.

His Room She was into gardening and in a Monty Pythonesque

By Wayne Tunks. True West Theatre. Riverside Theatres, moment discovers by accident she is revered by a Paramatta (NSW). Sep 14 to 22. community of moles who live off her vegetables.

A CHILD has been abducted.

It veered off into unexpected directions, including a new 10 years on, a mother clings to hope, turning her son’s twist at the moment when the Emperor appears before his bedroom into a shrine, continuing to progressively subjects with no clothes. withdraw from the world, her husband and her surviving It was a gamble for Director Samantha Neaves to son. discover a script never staged in Australia and stage it on a At Parramatta’s Riverside Theatres, True West Theatre scale. It paid off handsomely.

David Spicer fosters works written or set in Sydney’s west. interesting and creative piece in the tradition of magical realism.

This production is energetic but needs a little work to truly capture the spirit of the writing. Gibson’s script is largely narrated - as is necessary for a fable - and this provides specific challenges and opportunities. Here, the story-telling detracts a little from the action. The effect is almost like a poetry reading interrupted by occasional bursts of activity.

The lighting was interestingly handled, with coloured spots illustrating different moods, and Steven Fitzgerald on the marimbula was excellent. All the acting was strong and competent, but director Joanne Schultz has made a few decisions that might have detracted a little from the material. I could imagine this tale responding well to puppetry, clever audiovisual, or as a radio play.

Cathy Bannister

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Stage Whispers 67

and her timing is exquisite. She is part Joan Crawford, mostly Bette Davis and a one person Baby Jane! (Whatever happened to her?) It’s all wonderful fun.

With the amazing Michael Tyack as musical director, this laughter filled pastiche is a must see.

Coral Drouyn

Reviews: Cabaret

Online extras!

Trevor Ashley discusses Fat Swan. To watch, simply scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/4wdntfkwRjo Fat Swan

By Phil Scott and Trevor Ashley. Fairfax Studio - The Arts Centre (Vic). Sept 26 - Oct 6.

DESPITE winning Natalie Portman an Oscar last year, Black Swan thoroughly deserves the urine extraction treatment given to it by the fabulous Trevor Ashley and Phil Scott in their “naughty” adult panto. Both are clearly Ornithologists. As well as the “swan” of the title, the original is given “the bird”, there’s a lot of “goosing”, a totally “cuckoo” leading lady, lots of performances to “crow” about, plus an homage to “owls”…..the entire show is one hoot after another.

Ashley plays Natalie Portly - a body-dysmorphic ballerina with the mother from hell. He has a great singing voice and a shapely pair of drumsticks. Despite the language (the show is R rated) and the crass bawdiness of it all, Ashley’s Fat Swan Natalie remains endearing throughout and forges a strong connection with his audience through audience participation, last seen in the eighties in various theatre restaurants. Brendan Moar, as the mediocre choreographer, has natural charm and a warm stage presence. Danielle Barnes, as the rival ballerina (whose name I can’t put in print even with disguised spelling), is a dynamo with a great singing voice who could even be a scene stealer were it not for Genevieve Lemon. As Natalie’s mother she is, quite simply, fantastic. Always a fine comedic performer, her two years on the West End stage have given her extra finesse 68 Stage Whispers

May & Alia do Pirates!

Alia Vryens and May Jasper. Revolt Artspace (Vic). Sep 26.

MAY & Alia do Pirates!, and part of the Fringe Festival. It was unlikely to be long or boring, so I trotted along and found it most entertaining. May and Alia burst onto stage and held their pirates pose while they ascertained that they were alone. They’d forgotten to text the rest of the cast of Pirates to remind them they had a show, so they decided to continue without them. I remember a similar concept being used in the show Hats some decades ago.

But they did it well. All the male parts were sung in the original keys and the females an octave down, so some vocals ended up a bit low. Different characters were displayed using hats, wigs and jackets and the highlight was the paradox trio, where they had to constantly change hats and wigs to alternate between the three characters.

Competitive elements between the two also added to the comic effect, particularly as they raced to complete the Major-General’s Song. Of course the tape machine jammed so they had to “coerce” a couple of members from the audience to play keyboard and guitar.

The PA was a bit loud and the mikes cut out occasionally. However, the infectious energy and comic timing of the protagonists carried the day.

Graham Ford Freeway - The Chet Baker Journey Conceived and written by Bryce Hallet and Tim Draxl.

Melbourne Arts Centre (Vic). Oct 16 - 20.

FREEWAY is a stunning cabaret piece which has been rightly acclaimed. I wish I had seen it at a jazz club with a glass of wine, at a rickety table and a sense of intimacy all around. The Fairfax is a small theatre, but it’s still a theatre, and Freeway isn’t yet a theatre show, in spite of its charm.

Co writer Bryce Hallett has said “The tone of the show is understated….relaxed and celebratory.” A noble intent, but it’s well known that the underbelly of Chet Baker’s life was nasty, fraught with craziness and addiction. On the surface, Chet Baker was a lovely singer with a great appeal to the ladies, largely because of his looks. He was an average trumpet player and a good interpreter of other composers’ ballads. “My Funny Valentine”, “But Not For Me”, “My Buddy” - he had impeccable taste in song choices. But the real interest lies in contrasting the sweetness and innocence of Chet Baker’s music, with the bitter taste of his real life.

Consequently, despite the music being lovely, the show lacks dramatic bite and a cohesive thread. Everything plays very much on one level: pleasant, but never exciting, never reaching deep inside of us.

Ray Alldridge is a great pianist and Musical Director, the great Dave Ellis on bass and Ben Hendry on drums do justice to the charts and young Eamon McNelis is a trumpet player to look out for. Tim Draxl is the full package - looks, talent,

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style, and a great voice. His version of “You Don’t Know What Love Is” is spine tingling stuff. But the show may just as well have been “Tim Draxl sings Chet Baker”. I certainly didn’t leave wanting less of Tim Draxl, I just wanted more of Chet Baker the man…and a theatrical experience.

Coral Drouyn Boon-esque: 50 Shades of Cabaret Le Tableaux Burlesque. 2012 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Featuring Bobby and The Pins. The 86, Fitzroy (Vic). Oct 5 13 “REINVENTING the romance novel with a dash of burlesque and barbershop.” How can you resist that pitch!

Playing to a capacity crowd on opening night, these seven talented ladies presented a very different evening of vintage tease, acappella singing and reading from Mills and Boon novels in the form of vignettes. The opening night technical glitches were worked around, and the audience loved it.

The performance by Bobby and the Pins was confident and the singing tight, and the choice of songs supported the themes of historical, intrigue, sweet, desire, sexy, medical, erotic and military, taken from the Mills and Boon books.

Boon-esque: 50 Shades of Cabaret

The ladies of Le Tableaux Burlesque are to be commended - the idea behind this show is great. It could benefit from work on the narrative, and using the story of the finding of “nanna’s secret collection” would help introduce and tie the separate pieces together. I look forward to seeing an expanded version on a bigger stage.

Shirley Jensen Joanne’s Real World The Butterfly Club, South Melbourne (Vic). Director: Petra Glieson. Sep 4 to 9.

JOANNE (Taylor Klas) is a polyester-clad woman with a sharp tongue and withering stare behind her glasses, a public servant with seemingly no compassion for the downat-heel clients she is meant to be helping. Through songs and stories in this clever cabaret there emerges a woman who has sacrificed dreams out of a fear of one day finding herself on the wrong side of her Centrelink desk.

Klas and pianist/co-singer Hanna Silver perform a funny, well-constructed cabaret with songs that capture the frustrations, and sadness, of life inside our national employment agency.

Joanne is quick to judge her clients and ruthless with them when it comes to making sure they have filled out the proper forms and provided the correct ID. But she is not above trying to bend the rules herself, especially when it comes to her son. In one of the show’s funniest songs, she tells of her son, stuck at home with video games, completely uninterested in his education or getting a job.

As Joanne is a dominating presence, especially with Klas’s powerful singing voice, it is a nice contrast when she sings along with Hanna Silver. A highlight of the show is a song about the pursuit of dreams, with the two women singing from different perspectives. The world would fall apart at the seams if we all pursued our dreams, according to Joanne, but it’s not the view of the artistic character played by Silver.

A great comic performance from Klas and catchy songs make this a fun cabaret.

Sara Bannister

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Stage Whispers 69

Reviews: Musicals

The Production Company’s Chess. Photo: Jeff Busby

Chess - The Musical Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus; Lyrics by Tim Rice. The Production Company. State Theatre, Melbourne.

August 18 - 26.

WHEN word got out in 1981 that Tim Rice was planning a musical with the ABBA boys as his composers, there was scepticism and even some ridicule. Of course, those of us who were avid ABBA fans, who knew the musical sophistication of the counterpoint in such songs as “The Name of the Game”, couldn’t wait. The first step was a stunning 1984 concept album (I have it to this day…a great cover with two large black vinyl plates with holes in the middle….they were called records!), which produced two hit singles.

The Production Company’s 2012 version is, quite simply, sensational. Gale Edwards is surely our finest director of Music Theatre and her vision sees a much cleaner storyline throughout. Shaun Gurton’s set is stunning, and Krystal Giddings’ costumes are magnificent. Tony Bartuccio’s choreography is still fresh and impressive stylistically. Sound and lighting are both brilliant and the orchestra under David Piper is superb.

Of the principals, Silvie Paladino shows us why that incredible voice has made her a bona-fide star both here and in London’s West End. In the plot the battle is between two Chess masters, Anatoly (Simon Gleeson) and Freddie (Martin Crewes), and the battle is between these two actors on stage. Crewes’ Freddie is marvellous - 50% Rock Star/50% Tom Cruise…It’s an inspired move - the black leather jacket, white tee shirt 70 Stage Whispers

and dark glasses. Even the walk is Cruise. He wins the acting honours. Simon Gleeson’s voice is so glorious that it takes us to another place, especially during ‘Anthem’. But in the Second Act Crewes’ ‘Pity The Child’ is fraught with pain, passion and heart-stopping anger; wonderful theatre.

We need to be thankful for Jeanne Pratt’s commitment to The Production Company. How else would we see a production worthy of a five year run on Broadway?

Coral Drouyn Anything Goes Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter. Book: Timothy Crouse & John Weidman. Savoyards. Iona Performing Arts Centre (Qld).

Director/Choreographer: Sue Harvey. Musical Director: Ben Murray. Sep 29 - Oct 13.

SAVOYARDS’ production of Cole Porter’s madcap 1930s romp Anything Goes was not only highly entertaining but great fun. The show is full of hoary old (but funny) gags, a wacky plot about mismatched lovers and gangsters on a transatlantic cruise, and a slew of Cole Porter’s most witty and memorable tunes.

Stepping into the wisecracking Reno Sweeney role, originally made famous by Ethel Merman, was the buxom Miranda Selwood. Her performance was a class act. She belted her numbers with true Merman brio, led the tapdancing chorus with frenzy, and landed every laugh in the script. Playing opposite her as Billy Crocker was Savoyards’ first-timer Brad Kendrick, who also added professional class to the production. He brought an appealing sweetness to the role and also sang well, especially on the languid “Easy

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to Love.” Warryn James was a funny Moonface Martin, Harold Littler made a likeable Elisha Whitney, Johanna Toia was pompously arch as Evangeline Harcourt and Angela Clarke as the ditzy Erma pulled off a scene-stealing “Buddy Beware”.

From the toe-tapping overture, to the tap-dancing finale, the orchestra under Ben Murray’s direction never blew a wrong note. But for sheer theatricality and audience enjoyment nothing could surpass the eleven minute tapdancing first-act finale of the title tune. It drew thunderous applause and deserved every bit of it.

Peter Pinne

belief. Their timing, including puppet manipulation, is excellent, too.

You simply fall in love with Bridget Keating’s Audrey; grimace with laughter at Phil McIntosh’s dentist Orin; feel for Chae Rogan’s accident-prone, teddy bear-ish Seymour and shudder at Lloyd McDonald’s lugubrious, insinuating Mushnik. Rebecca Gordon, Tanya Boyle and Ellie McAdams joyfully and sassily bop along with their Motown style harmonies and Johnny Acosta rumbles out a sonorous, gravelly Audrey II. Playing all the other characters, Tyler Hoggard creates animated stereotypes.

Samuel Larielle’s simple, effective choreography seems to blend seamlessly with Ogilvie’s direction, while Peter Side by Side by Sondheim Samson’s band … well it rocks.

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Canberra Theatre It’s a compact, fast-moving night’s entertainment.

Centre and Enda Markey. Canberra Theatre. Sep 21-22 and My reservations are minor - one with the script itself - its touring.

African American vernacular and inflections sometimes feel SIDE by Side by Sondheim recaptured the wit and peculiar coming from white cast members. Technically, the songwriting talent of Stephen Sondheim with old-fashioned microphone used with the dentist’s gas mask needs a flair and style but also included a modern-day narration of better, clearer solution. the context of the songs, courtesy of master of ceremonies On the whole, though, community musical theatre and narrator Jessica Rowe. Rowe’s own elegance and rarely gets better than this one. beautiful speaking voice contributed hugely to the Neil Litchfield audience’s relaxation throughout. Rachel Beck and Geraldine Turner nicely played off the straight-man persona The Hatpin that Michael Falzon mostly projected, all three singing with By James Millar and Peter Rutherford. The Regals Musical ease a range of duets, trios, and occasional solos about Society. St George Auditorium, Kogarah (NSW). Oct 12 such perennials as love, desire, wooing, commitment, and 20. marriage.

ANYONE who likes dramatic musicals dealing in genuine The trio was accompanied nearly faultlessly by pianists human tragedy and telling real Australian stories should Craig Renshaw and Paul Geddys. The show was very lively check out The Hatpin. It tells an infamous true story from throughout, enhanced by the at times stellar lighting, and Australian history of a pair of baby farmers who murder the only the fussiest ear could take exception to beats held for infants they are paid to care for, and the single mother who not quite long enough to keep in time for those of us who fights for justice for her son. were dancing - in spirit, of course.

Directed by Meg Day, this is the darkest interpretation of The jokes, once daring, even risqué, were rendered still the three I’ve seen. Why? surprisingly funny in the hands of these performers, with The role of Harriet Piper, who befriends Amber, is played appropriate help from their accompanying gestures and for empathy rather than broad comedy in Virginia Natoli’s facial expressions. Sondheim’s very clever rhymes, enriched interpretation, though there’s still gentle unforced humour. by alliteration, a kind wit, and sometimes tongue-twisting The portrayal of murderous Charles and Agatha Makin is speed, are one of his trademarks. Such deft creativity, rarely chilling in the hands of Stephen Wheatley and Katherine matched, makes his words as fresh today as when he first Cassidy because these killers seem like such an ordinary, penned them. unprepossessing couple, in pared back performances John P. Harvey without a hint of melodrama.

Tanya Boyle’s Amber Murray hints at a slightly stronger, Little Shop of Horrors less vulnerable heroine.

Changes to the piece itself also contribute to the

By Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Shire Music Theatre (NSW). Sutherland School of Arts. Aug 17 - 26. darkening, as the authors continue to stiffen its spine.

ROMANCE, rock’n’roll, comedy, B-Grade Hollywood An effective multi-level setting of paling fences allows horror movie send-up, sado-masochism and a man-eating for flexible staging and facilitates fluid scene changes, while plant - what more could you ask for in a musical? effectively semi-concealing and accommodating the midKenney Ogilvie’s production is one of those special little sized on-stage orchestra on this smallish space, without community theatre treats. cramping the action. Kane Wheatley’s musicians handle the What makes this production work so well? Apart from a brooding atmospherics of the score admirably. particularly talented small ensemble cast (including capable Despite its harrowing musical theatre journey, The puppeteers), a tight, lively production, a terrific rock’n’roll Hatpin reaches a satisfyingly uplifting ending, or, rather, band and a clever, fluidly effective hinged scenic design, the new beginning. key element is the spot-on comic acting style. Everyone Neil Litchfield plays their strange and eccentric characters with utter Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 71

The production had a stylish set built by Bob Peet. The direction from James Worner was affectionate, the music crisp and choreography from Ste Casimiro was on the swish side.

The five nuns, Leonie Johnson, Renee Bechara, Rozlyn Vidal, Virginia Natoli and Lauren Mellor, dished out plenty of smiles and lashings of good humour.

Delivering audience pleasers with tight direction is a good habit to get into for any community theatre company.

David Spicer Oliver!

Book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. Metropolitan Players.

Civic Theatre, Newcastle (NSW). Aug 15 - 25.

UNLIKE the title character, orphan Oliver Twist, audiences were not asking for more at the end of this firstclass production. They had enjoyed a rich and satisfying staging of Lionel Bart’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel that showed why this musical has been so popular for half-a-century.

Director Julie Black, her production team and a fine cast kept the action flowing from the opening scene until the finale.

The first musical number, Food, Glorious Food, gave the tale an engaging beginning as the orphans were marched into the workhouse hall.

Nicholas Thoroughgood’s Oliver won the hearts of audience members as he politely asked those serving the orphans’ gruel for more food.

The variety of the musical numbers is a strength of the work.

Nancy (Rachel Levick), the abused lover of brutal burglar and accomplice of Fagin, Bill Sikes (Mark Lidbury), led a Nunsense. Photo: Grant Leslie, Perfect Images rousing music-hall-style Oom-Pah-Pah, there was a jaunty Nunsense sound to You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two as Fagin (Chris

By Dan Goggin. Rockdale Musical Society (NSW), Bexley RSL Maxfield) and the child gang showed Oliver how they plied Club. Aug 31 - Sep 9. their trade, and a dark threat in Sikes’s declaration of pride THEY don’t make musicals which send up religion like in his villainy in My Name. they used to. In the audience for Nunsense were some realMalcolm Young and Cathy Maughan as undertaker Mr life nuns in civilian dress. They loved every minute of it.

Sowerberry and his wife were chillingly self-centred, and Would the same happen today with Mormon clergy there was also a dark edge to the comic wooing of Tony attending the much sharper and less affectionate Book of Fletcher’s Mr Bumble and Annie Devine’s workhouse Mormon, currently on Broadway? Perhaps not. caretaker Widow Corney.

Being gentle enough for nuns to giggle at without Ken Longworth blushing means that Nunsense lacks a little edge. A great deal of material about the Catholic church is left Rent untouched.

By Jonathan Larson. BuST Co. Director: Rhylee Nowell.

Since making its wholesome off Broadway debut in the Musical Director: Kevin Nguyen. Choreographer: Emma mid 1980’s, it has become a phenomenon, selling more Vaiano. Cromwell Road Theatre. Aug 24 to Sep 1. than 500 million dollars worth of tickets and giving birth to I REMEMBER the Whitehorse production of Rent in the more sequels and spin offs than a good Catholic family 1,000 seat Besen Centre and being swept away by the practising the rhythm method has children. There’s even a music with little understanding of what was going on as Nunsense set in Las Vegas and a Jewish version of few words came across. In the 120 seat Cromwell Road Nunsense set on a cruise to Israel.

Theatre the band was again a bit loud, but the sound was Somehow I have remained a Nunsense virgin up until much better, which made it much easier to follow. now.

Raked seating has been built into an old church hall, to Overall it was an enjoyable evening with plenty of gags convert it to a theatre, and the performers were on a flat and some nice tunes. stage with a couch on a raised area on one side and the 72 Stage Whispers

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band under scaffolding on the other. Tables and chairs were brought on and off as scenes changed.

With the audience so close, the performers were very exposed, but this did not faze them. Many had had professional experience and it showed. The voices were powerful and the acting strong. Some were also exceptional dancers.

The choreography in the crowd scenes was exciting and well coordinated. Matt Bond played an excellent Mark, who narrated much of the show. Robbie Medica and Hilary Cole beautifully captured the sexual tension of the on again-off again relationship of Roger and Mimi. Mark Stefanoff was amazing as the drag queen and Simon Hedt strong as his lover Collins.

If you don’t have sensitive ears, this is a show not to be missed.

Graham Ford

exuberance of the household servants, kicks in to ‘animate’ the show.

Heroine Belle is delightful, ever so sweet and genuine, and the spirited performance of Natasha Hoberigis brings her joyously to life. She yearns for something better than her mundane life, and while the swaggering Gaston doesn’t provide the relief she craves, it’s a real boon for the audience when he bursts on the scene in the form of Lachlan O’Brien, giving the night’s starring turn. He lifts the show several gears, utterly nailing the necessary Disney stage style.

At the Beast’s castle, the well-loved, gradually transforming servants, led by Cogsworth (Jonathan Acosta), Lumiere (Tim Wotherspoon), Mrs Potts (Margaret Short), Babette (Phoebe Wynne) and Madame de la Grande Bouche (Melissa Lammers), inject further fun and energy into the proceedings with endearing portrayals. ‘Be Our Guest’ provides another delightful spike of spirit and energy in Act 1.

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds

By Jeff Wayne and Doreen Wayne, adapted from HG Wells’ Andrew Symes’ Beast captures both the brooding science fiction story. Director: Ron Dowd. SUPA moodiness and awkwardness of the role, and his make-up Productions. ANU Arts Centre. Oct 12 - 27. is extraordinary.

THIS show is a big, gaudy, colourful, old-style over-theGiven backstage limitations, designer / director Bob Peet top progressive rock concert based on an 1898 story, set to has yet again come up with an effective solution to make a classic 1970s music and illustrated with 2000s CGI big musical work against the odds. animation. Supa’s production does it plenty of justice.

Andy Peterson’s orchestra did ample justice to the score.

Director Ron Dowd has a history of taking on ambitious I have little doubt that the production will find the rock spectaculars, like Tommy (2003) and The Wall (2007), greater vitality and energy which some scenes, including the and he’s pulled this one off. opening, lacked on first night.

Neil Litchfield The joint stars are really the fabulous music and the CGI graphics. Supa’s coup was to get a licence to use the original CGI file from the production that toured Australia Into the Woods in 2007. The CGI has aged a little, but it doesn’t detract.

By Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. Hornsby Musical Supa has done a fine job, with high production values Society. Hornsby RSL. Aug 24 - Sep 1. making this a fantastic show. The music is wonderful. The THE music of Stephen Sondheim’s lyrical conflation of fairy tales is intricate and the lyrics carefully conceived and mixing could use a tweak but the musicians and vocalists are talented enough to overcome it. Roy Hukari, in the lead director/musical director Steven Kreamer is to be as George Herbert, is just as riveting as he was in last year’s congratulated on bringing this production together so Blood Brothers, nailing the classic single Forever Autumn. successfully, despite being plagued by technical problems in Joseph Mcgrail-Bateup does a great stand-in for Richard production week. When the cast has spent so long in production, it is disappointing that there is always so little Burton as the narrator, and Simon Stone, Steve Herczeg and Sarah Golding are all very good. Max Gambale, as the time for technical rehearsal. artillery man dreaming of creating a new society The twenty-one characters in the cast are played by underground, has a jaw-dropping vocal range, strength and eighteen performers. emotional presence.

Consensus in this household is that the lighting, music and staging were “awesome”. It’s a fabulous opportunity, not just for aging boomers and Gen Xers to revisit their youths, but also for anyone of any age who didn’t get to experience one of these epic prog rock conceptual concerts the first time around.

Cathy Bannister Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

By Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Linda Woolverton. Miranda Musical Society (NSW). September 19 - 22, 2012.

BEAUTY and the Beast at Miranda comes alive after a slowish start when the broader comedy of Gaston, then the

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Hair. Photo: Family Fotographics.

Amy Perry, as the Baker’s Wife, shows a wealth of performance experience and control, as does Damien Schmitt who plays her husband. Their chemistry and vocal strengths provide the glue that binds the stories and the ensemble.

Laura Sheldon’s Little Red Riding Hood is very twee and amusing and really engages the audience.

Simon Smalley and David Russell play the foolish Princes.

Both have very strong voices and the power and control of their duets were impressive. Brendan Paul, as Jack, made much of the naivety and innocence of the character.

Katerina Vigh is a sweet Cinderella and Elizabeth Chambers a demanding and nasty Witch.

As the Narrator, Stage Whispers’ own Neil Litchfield links events mellifluously and also flits about the stage warning and admonishing as the Mysterious Man. Musical theatre demands much of its cast. What a pity the run is usually so short!

Carol Wimmer Hair Book & lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado. Music by Galt MacDermot. Queanbeyan City Council. Directed by Stephen Pike. Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. Sep 19 Oct 6.

IT must be difficult in 2012 for a cast born in the 1990s to understand the concerns and attitudes of their forebears some four decades earlier. Then, the cold war; the Vietnam war; justified fear of atomic war; and other causes fomented a revolution in attitudes to the demands of the military-industrial complex. Today, that complex is well74 Stage Whispers

embedded in American pop culture and nearly invisible, and would raise hardly a murmur amongst the young except for the new revolution, the Internet.

It would be surprising, then, if a young 2010s cast managed to convey, in dance, in walking, in modes of affection, and in speech mannerisms, what the hippies of the late sixties felt, wanted, and needed - though the dance moves shouldn’t be too difficult for a choreographer to recapture.

The cast playing at the Q did as fine a job as one could expect. Several principals consistently sang well; the band played superbly; and the ensemble singing uniformly sounded good. I never lost the sense that what I watched was a performance, but it was a well-rehearsed, seamless one. Lighting was skilful; sound was consistently clear; costuming was excellent.

Hair was a brave choice; those attempting to portray the mood of two generations earlier will doubtless find the experience invaluable for their future acting careers.

John P. Harvey Chicago Kander and Ebb. Malanda Theatre Company (Qld).

Directors: Gill Harrington and Erin Barrett. Aug 31 - Sep 9.

MALANDA Theatre Company’s Chicago is a stylish production featuring great costumes, a simple but functional set and terrific music. Danielle Riding gets the show on the road with a stunning opening number. From there on, the production is a razzle-dazzle feast of jazz, dance, comedy, intrigue and murder.

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The plot is minimal, with fame-hungry chorus girl Roxie Hart (Jasmin Chapman) jailed for murdering her lover.

While inside, Roxie upsets Velma Kelly (Kirsten Adams), the queen bee of the prison. Roxie looks destined for the gallows until she manages to get acquitted, thanks to her fast-talking lawyer, Billy Flynn (Paul Inderbitzin).

Chapman, Adams and Inderbitzin dominate the stage with their high-energy performances. Chris Hoare gives a sensitive portrayal as Amos, while Marg Procter as Matron Morton and Amelia Benefield as Mary Sunshine, gave strong supporting performances. The chorus, well choreographed by Jan Hannam, moves the scenes along with energy and fun and the on-stage big band, directed by Idris Harries, does not miss a beat.

Directors Gill Harrington and Erin Barrett must be highly pleased with their work and that of their hard working cast and crew.

Ken Cotterill All Shook Up Book by Joe Dipietro with music from the ELVIS era.

Spotlight Theatrical Company, Benowa (Qld). Director / Choreographer: Jamie Watt. Aug 17 - Sep 8.

THIS show had it all! Great cast! Great style! Great entertainment! And a list as long as your arm of Elvis hits.

The production was directed and choreographed by Jamie Watt and had a fabulous energy about it.

In the lead role of Chad, Ethan Jones stood out in a very talented cast. His stage presence was amazing - as were his gyrating hips. This human dynamo won the audience with the first rotation of his abdomen. Tanele Graham, Issac Moody, Melisa Dorge and others too numerous to mention provided strong support.

Multi-talented Jamie’s first venture into directing and choreographing was a memorable production and a fitting tribute to the era of Rock and Roll.

Musical Director Peter Laughton and his groovy orchestra had the audience bopping from the start and humming along to the evergreen songs included in the show.

Roger McKenzie Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

By Stephen Sondheim and Hugo Wheeler. Direction: Dean Mitchelmore. Musical Direction: Ian Nisbet. Altona City Theatre. Sep 21 - Oct 6.

THIS is epic show traditionally pivots around a dark brooding menace in the form of Sweeney Todd, seething because of years of injustice, and with an unswerving desire for revenge. Not this Sweeney. Dave Barclay presented a man who was cold, aloof and seemed dislocated from the world around him.

Barclay was impressive vocally and the highlight of the performance was his rendition of Epiphany. Maxine Montgomery’s Mrs Lovett was rock solid vocally, and gave us a kinder interpretation of a character that is often considered one of Sondheim’s most evil.

Sam McPartlan made a commendable Anthony, the only “normal” character amid a sea of weird, working well with

Lauren Baistow (Johanna) who sang like the proverbial linnet bird. Bradley Storer (Toby), Stephen Frisby (Pirelli), Nick Barker-Pendree (Judge Turpin), Joshua Peterson (Beadle) and Ruth Flynn (Beggar Woman) all gave solid performances.

Musically the orchestra was impressive and the chorus and individual singing very well done - congratulations to the MD on the hard work done to achieve that standard.

The audio balance at times was patchy.

Lighting was dark and brooding as befits the tone of the show, but sometimes too dark on faces. But the lighting around the furnace door was well done.

The set was functional and the realization of the second story barber shop worked well, while other locations were tucked somewhat tightly onto the apron. The highlight of the staging was the barber’s chair (which had its own cheer squad in on the night) - a very classy piece of construction, working well every drop. And in true Sweeney style the blood flowed freely onstage.

Shirley Jensen Essgee’s The Pirates of Penzance Gilbert and Sullivan. SUPA North. Ballina R.S.L. Auditorium.

Director / Choreographer: Jamie Wittingham. Aug 31 - Sep 8.

IN the presence of Simon Gallaher, Supa North’s Pirates set sail in Ballina in search of their next adventure.

For her first production, Director Jamie Wittingham (with assistance from Sue and Paul Belsham) assembled the cream of local performers. Opening night nerves were soon overcome and everyone settled down to this classic piece of G & S. As The Pirate King, Brian Pamphilon applied his comic antics with great effect and the dashing hero, Fredrick (Dean Doyle), won all the female hearts. The experienced supporting cast were true to character and worked well together.

The three SUPAettes (replacing Essgee’s Singlettes) shared the duties of all the daughters and gave us comedy in harmony.

As with any production that Jamie choreographs, the entire cast danced and moved throughout the show and enjoyed their involvement.

Roger McKenzie Fiddler on the Roof

By Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. Gold Coast Little Theatre (Qld). Director: Julanne Shearer.

September 1 - 29.

JULANNE Shearer has given us a wonderful production of Fiddler On The Roof, full of the humour and pathos of life in Anatevka in 1905.

Stuart Lumsden’s Tevye was a finely crafted performance of the long-suffering milkman, with his wit and reverence underpinning his belief in the traditions of his faith. As Golda, Sue Randazzo showed who was the real head of the family and was a good foil for Tevye’s bravado.

The five daughters and their respective love interests delivered enjoyable characterisations, and, together with all

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Stage Whispers 75

the citizens of Anatevka, gave a good insight into village life.

A highlight of the production was Tevye’s dream scene with all the action cleverly depicted in the form of a movie, giving plenty of scope and opportunity for Tevye’s overworked imagination.

Musical Director Mary Walters and Choreographer Tess Blake had a good understanding of the score and provided the production with many poignant moments.

With an effective set and costumes (the men’s Tish Bekishes [black coats] came from New York) this production was bound to be a success.

Roger McKenzie’’ Into the Woods Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine. Pantseat Productions. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle (NSW). Sept 14 - 22.

NOT everyone lives happily ever after in Into the Woods, a musical that transforms fairy-tale characters into human beings. But this production had audiences smiling from the opening long musical sequence that introduces most of the key characters and the wishes they believe will give them happiness.

A baker (Drew Holmes) and his wife (Hannah Wellham) wish for a child and a neighbouring witch (Rachelle Schmidt) promises to lift a spell of barrenness if they bring her four ingredients she needs for a magic potion.

Their mission takes them into nearby woods where they encounter people with the things they want: precocious child Red Riding Hood (Rileigh Schmitzer); unhappy farmboy Jack (Luke Jarvis) with his family’s milkless cow; illtreated Cinderella (Kathryn Sinclair); and the witch’s daughter, Rapunzel (Alison Lobb), locked in a high tower.

Also in the woods are two brother princes (Daniel Kavanagh and Danny Folpp) in search of beautiful maidens, a mysterious elderly man (John Christie), Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters (Khym Harris, Rachel Levick,

Rosie Hayes), a royal steward (Peter Willis), Jack’s mother (Michelle Burnitt), the ghost of Cinderella’s mother (Lynda Jarvis), a wolf and Red’s grandmother.

A narrator links the characters and makes amusing comment on their behaviour. The narrator is usually played by a mature actor but director Daniel Kavanagh astutely cast a young boy (Caleb Jacobs) in the role. Fairy tales are traditionally adult works directed at children. But using a child to tell the story put the spotlight very much on the behaviour of characters who are grown-up or on the verge of adulthood.

The director also made good use of a compact stage, with projections and lighting creating the woods in day and night and the skills of the strong cast enabling audiences to imagine them as being in a bakery or a palace.

Ken Longworth Guys and Dolls

By Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows.Neptune Productions, Tweed Heds. Director and Musical Director: Wendy Fahey. Sep 21 - 30.

THIS evergreen musical is a staple of theatre companies the world over. Its toe-tapping melodies are a hit with young and old and Wendy Fahey’s production continued the legacy.

Casey Fegan and Tammy Dundon (Sky and Sarah) were well cast as were Leigh Harrison and Cherie Goosey (Nathan and Miss Adelaide) with Jay Ahrens and Brock Dunstan as Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Benny Southstreet.

The choreographic duties were covered by Cherie and Tammy also.

The chorus and supporting cast worked hard to recreate Damon Runyon’s New York in the 1950’s, enjoying themselves along the way.

The show had pace and the scene changes were quick.

My only criticism was a photographer in the wings. I found it distracting as did those around me.

Roger McKenzie

Reviews: Youth

Diabolica Jones

By Anna Held. Drop Bear Theatre. Kingston Arts Centre, Moorabbin. Sep 24 - 26.

DIABOLICA Jones, the play, is a spirited and intriguing work, full of imaginative connections and flights of fancy and presented with sparkling fresh energy.

Three actors, one male and two female, traverse from day-to-day office life to the induced fantasy world of the character Diabolica Jones. Several nail-biting events are energetically enacted. Explored are tricky, tenuous relationships and the humdrum of day-to-day existence - juxtaposed with an extravagant fantasy world. In this imagined world, amazing, if not a little unsuccessful and bemusing events, that enhance self-esteem, satisfyingly, happen.

I guess the show’s message is that it is way better to try something and not be great at it than just to do the same old - same old and be boring and shy.

The work is beautifully performed and the title role is filled by a fabulously quirky and kind of smallish but lanky actor Peir Carthew.

I laughed and had a great time at this preview.

Well worth catching with a 4 to 10 year old.

Suzanne Sandow 76 Stage Whispers

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Reviews: Plays Toby Schmitz, Zahra Newman & Eloise Mignon in Private Lives. Photo: Heidrun Lohr

Online extras!

Director Gary Myers discusses Private Lives. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/H1Qfz0J38H8 Private Lives

By Noël Coward. Belvoir Theatre (NSW). Director: Ralph Myers. Sep 22 - Nov 11. (Wollongong, Nov 14-17 and Canberra Nov 21-24).

THIS modern-dress version of Noel Coward’s 1930 masterpiece is alive with contradictions. All of Coward’s brittle dialogue has been retained, but here delivered by 2012 characters. ‘What utter, utter fools!’ says Elyot, ruefully describing himself and his on/off truelove Amanda.

And there is talk of glamorous holidays in Tunis, of watching the Tiller Girls, of sending urgent messages by telegraph.

Never mind the loss in authenticity, it seems, there is everything to be gained by the nowness of the performances. Private Lives is the latest Belvoir reboot of classic plays, following O’Neill’s Strange Interlude and Miller’s Death of a Salesman.

Directed and designed by Ralph Myers, the no-interval production features assured and expert comedy performances all round. Elyot, the defining role Coward wrote for himself, is here the languidly baffled Toby Schmitz. He spars, snaps and steams with ex-wife Amanda, exuberantly played by Zahra Newman. Their shrugged-off partners, Victor and Sybil are Toby Truslove and Eloise Mignon, both at once figures of fun and sympathy.

The setting is very unhelpful. In the first scene it’s a very plain hotel corridor with two doors and a lift; dialogue about the romantic moonlight and the view of yachts in the Deauville bay is unsupported. And when the cast oversee a

minimalist change to Amanda’s unfurnished Paris flat the lift must remain.

Coward’s idle, super-wealthy characters continue to fascinate with their determined superficiality, though their 1920s upper-class attitudes can sometimes hit a sour note.

When Elyot/Coward jokes that ‘certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs’ there were unamused rumblings among the Belvoir faithful.

Frank Hatherley The School for Wives

By Molière, translated by Justin Fleming. Bell Shakespeare. directed by Lee Lewis. THE Playhouse, Canberra, Sep 25 Oct 6; The Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, Oct 23 - Nov 24.

COMEDIES tend to be overlooked as serious theatre offering insight into what it is to be human. Yet look at the power of the comedies of Voltaire and of Shakespeare to reveal us to ourselves.

This production of Molière’s School for Wives is so full of rich, delicious fun - character defects and foibles, webs of deceit, brilliant set design and props, language jokes, even the on-stage musician’s interactions with the players that it’s hard to pinpoint a single reason for guffawing so much.

Director Lee Lewis’s staging of Molière’s comic take on what we recently knew as the battle of the sexes is as creative as Molière’s writing and Justin Fleming’s translation and adaption. The integration of the whole must be seen,

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Stage Whispers 77

Margaret Mills, Anita Hegh and Li-Leng Au in Top Girls.

Photo: Jeff Busby

characters at a fast pace was appreciated and applauded by everyone.

While the pace and movement seemed a little off-key and hesitant to start with, a sense of assuredness and confidence appeared soon.

The second act was considerably stronger than the first, possibly due to the establishment of characters by that point and the increased dramatic tension.

The set is simple, almost Online extras! deceptively ramshackle, yet Go inside the rehearsal room of Top Girls it works very well for by scanning the QR code or visiting entrances and exits http://youtu.be/ahyi3KL4Thw (departing in a huff, fleeing subordinates, at least once, to be believed. Even the delightful live musical pouncing on suspects, not to mention a shocking murder). accompaniment is integrated into the play. The dialogue is Similarly the lighting is simple, changing only when lush with odd references to popular culture that enrich the necessary. play’s cultural richness. Fleming and Lewis have been Rachel McGrath-Kerr masterful in setting the tale in 1920s Paris; and Bell’s accomplished players perform it exquisitely. Andrew Top Girls Johnston’s Fawlty Towers-Manuelesque character Alan;

By Caryl Churchill. Director: Jenny Kemp. MTC Sumner Harriet Dyer’s utterly believable guilelessness as Agnes; and Theatre. Aug 25 - Sep 29.

Jonathan Elsom’s very distinct characters of Henri and a CARYL Churchill is a fine playwright and product of the notary (as well as a waiter of prodigious dexterity) were early feminist movement which saw us burn our bras and especially dear, but every performance was a treat in risk bruised kneecaps, in a futile attempt to prove that credibility. equal meant “same”.

If you see any play twice this year, make it this one. I Set in the 80s - the dizzy days of Margaret Thatcher could have turned around and watched it again on the the play follows the path of Marlene, newly promoted to same evening. Yes, it’s that good. the top job in her company. She celebrates with a dinner John P. Harvey party for “friends” - women who have been outsiders and yet have all broken through in their own way. This first act Catch-22 imagining, or dream, with its combination of mythical,

By Joseph Heller. Director: Morgan Little. National University historical and even fictional women, is the most talked Theatre Society (NUTS). ANU Arts Centre. Aug 22 - 25. about section of the play. But while it sets context, it CATCH-22, Joseph Heller’s best-known novel, was concerns their journeys, not Marlene’s. So, courtesan adapted by Heller as a stage play in 1971. It’s a long, turned Buddhist nun, Lady Nijo, spends half her life in sin, sprawling, convoluted work (and that’s saying it as a fan of half in repentance, but none of it in happiness. Pope Joan the book). How can it be compressed into an evening’s succeeds in fooling men until she gives birth to a baby and theatrical work? And how could it possibly express the is stoned to death for heresy. Isabella Bird, writer and multitude of characters, motivations, behaviours and traveller, never recognises that her symptoms were confusion? boredom and the illness was selfishness.

NUTS managed this. Yes, there has been careful pruning Marlene, our heroine, is also selfish, and director Jenny of characters and incidents, yet the essentials remain, Kemp takes us on her journey in exhilarating yet showing the almost-nightmarish narrative and threatening confronting fashion. The cast is outstanding. Anita Hegh is atmosphere while celebrating the comic oddities and consistently good as the hi-flyer who suppresses any frailties of the characters. In a city of bureaucracy like emotions which might ground her, but she is most moving Canberra it is particularly amusing to see the madness of in the final scene where she loses the chance to “connect” paperwork perpetrating its own daft rationale. with her “dumb” illegitimate daughter. Eryn Jean Norvill as The cast of twelve works as a team. Each actor had the teenage Angie is quite wonderful. Her belief that her moments where their abilities shone particularly bright, and fabulous aunt is actually her mother (true) gives her be assured that the effort of maintaining a number of purpose but not direction. And then there is Nikki Shiels.

78 Stage Whispers

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She gives us the true face of 80s capitalist based feminism, and reminds us of all the things we didn’t like about it.

Facetious, rapier witted, oozing newly released and realised sexuality, she struts the stage with undeniable charisma.

For me, this is the strongest offering that MTC has given us this season, and I don’t see this as a feminist play. It is simply well crafted writing that is beautifully performed and directed.

Coral Drouyn Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

By Ray Lawler. Heidelberg Theatre Company (Vic). Director: Paul King. Set Design: Paul King. Lighting Design: Deryk Hartwick. Sep 13 - 29.

CELEBRATING its 60th Anniversary season, Heidelberg Theatre Company has included one of Australia’s most iconic plays, having first performed ‘The Doll’ in 1992.

Themes of respectability and tradition are explored during the seventeenth summer that Olive (Jodie Symes) has welcomed itinerant cane cutters Roo (Gavin Williams) and Barney (Dan Haberfield) for the off-season. This year Pearl (Tina Bono) replaces Nance, who has married, for many weeks of revelry. But the summer doesn’t unfold as anticipated.

Costumes and props have been thoughtfully assembled with hats, gloves, 1950’s hairstyles and cigarette rolling.

The strength of the attractive and detailed set design was its depth, which was utilised well, and included all the kewpie dolls. Sensitive lighting design included morning light, afternoon shadows, and reflected fireworks.

Physical violence was convincing, although I baulked at the idea of Roo pushing Olive around, and delivery was occasionally too pacey for the required emphasis. Some individual performances were initially ‘acted’, but had settled in by Act 2, and will become second-nature as the season progresses.

Breaks between scenes felt laboured, given the minor set alterations.

Tonight’s audience, dominated by mature-aged patrons, particularly relished the performance of Lena Minto as the ever cynical but ultimately wise, Emma.

Ultimately this is a warmly directed production of a classic play that will appeal to those with an eye for subtle irony.

Lucy Graham Out Of Order

By Ray Cooney. Director: Bob Bramble. Basin Theatre Group (Vic). August 10 - Sept 1.

RAY Cooney is no Will Shakespeare, but he certainly knows how to entertain an audience. Forget about the plot…basically it’s about a government minister who arranges a tryst with an opposition secretary, only to find a “dead” body lodged in the window of the suite at their Westminster hotel. The rest concerns how to avoid yet another government scandal, with mistaken identities and “dead bodies” aplenty to confuse us.

Bob Bramble’s deft hand as a director works on every level and there are some delicious bits of stage “business”

which got the laughs they richly deserved. Brett Hyland as the conniving minister, Richard Willey, is a major force. He truly understands farce and the levels of attack it needs to have credibility. Tyson White is terrific as the hapless PPS George Pigden. It’s a performance to be treasured for its subtlety and comic timing. These two shine in a cast which offers good performances across the board. Ange Ellis as Gladys (the nurse) made a big impact and has a delightful personality onstage. James Macrae (almost 84) is a delight in all respects as The Waiter and Chris Shaw, as the body, was hysterical, stealing almost every scene.

Bouquets to BTG for choosing the play and knowing their audience, and for a terrific night of laughs and entertainment Coral Drouyn Breaker Morant

By Kenneth G. Ross (new version). Centenary Theatre Group (Qld). Sep 14 - 29.

I’LL reveal my bias first: I am a pacifist, largely because of war stories like this one.

This century-old miscarriage of justice, in judiciously skewed courts martial, led to sacrifice of two colonials, in order to save face for their jelly-spined British superiors.

While Ross honoured CTG by granting them first rights to his revised version, the cast of 19 males is a challenge.

With judicious doubling, director Rod Felsh managed an acceptable production with 16 players.

The actors at the core of the drama carried the audience with them all the way to the death shots. It’s a gut wrenching play, with stark final moments played in a stage washed blood red, with a back-projected international headline criticising Lord Kitchener’s complicity.

Cameron Castles (Major James Thomas, lawyer for the accused Aussie Carbineers), Andrew Nathan (the ‘judge’, President Denny), Dennis Fadil (Major Bolton), Guy Smith (Capt Taylor) all excelled. Chris Vaag and Michael Bemrose (as two of the three accused, Lt Peter Handcock and Lt George Witton) gave impressive performances. Sadly, Tom Yaxley as the titular Breaker was inclined to gabble, and his poetry renditions were lost on the audience. With some serious vocal training this actor has the potential to develop star quality.

Jay McKee

Stage Whispers Costumes Just $11 a listing Have any costumes and props for sale or hire? Get noticed now! www.stagewhispers.com.au/costumes

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The Trade

By Aidan Fennessy, Jim Russell and Marty Sheargold.

Tasmanian Theatre Co. Theatre Royal Backspace, Hobart.

Directed by Guy Hooper and Charles Parkinson. Sep 20 Oct 6.

CHICKS love tradies! Truism or urban myth? The Tasmanian Theatre Co. presentation of The Trade set out to make us all, if not like, at least relate to, painters Steve (Andrew Casey), Stu (Matt Wilson) and Gavin (Scott Farrow). Tas. Theatre Co. presented an Australian comedy, described as “very funny and very rude” by co-director Charles Parkinson. With actors Casey, Wilson, and Farrow, director Guy Hooper milked the play for every laugh.

Written by three blokes, Aidan Fennessy, Jim Russell and Marty Sheargold, The Trade worked because of the chemistry, camaraderie and excellent comic timing of these young but experienced actors. The blokey-ness, including coarse language and crude-ish themes and humor, fell short of offensiveness. The secret was timing and the combination of actors. The Trade is a hilarious play, with a few thinking moments thrown in. Between coats of paint and seemingly endless cups of tea, the three men ramble on about what should happen in the other blokes’ life, cajole and goad each other, and show that the bloke bond can be deep and shallow at the same time. These cheeky chaps behave like naughty little boys, and the audience loved them, almost as much as they appeared to love working with each other. Is bloke theatre, wildly funny but slightly meaningful, a genre? Bring on some more.

Merlene Abbott Exit the King

By Eugene Ionesco. Translation by Neil Armfield and Geoffrey Rush. Director: Emma Sproule. Dionysus Theatre Company. McClelland Performing Arts Centre (Vic). Oct 5 13.

EXIT The King is a bold choice for an inaugural performance by an exciting new theatre company.

Ostensibly it’s about the inevitability of death, and acceptance, and knowing when to let go. The King is dying, the kingdom is crumbling - only when he lets go can the rebuilding begin. Ionesco examines great issues in depth, especially exploring his own mortality fears - but he realises that the world needs to laugh, especially now - and laugh we did. This was a wonderful, stimulating night of community theatre.

Director Emma Sproule, a fine talent, faced with a space which is unimaginative in the extreme, decided during rehearsals to block in front of the wall of rehearsal mirrors….seating the audience facing the mirrors. It creates, but goes even further than, a classic theatre in the round, as we see ourselves included in the action.

Zoran Babic is remarkable as Berenger, The King. Absurd and pitiful, denying mortality, endearing and lascivious; it’s a stunning performance and a wonderful marriage of actor/ director/theatre company. Matt Allen, as the doctor and various others, is a fine foil. Annabelle Tudor plays Margueritte, the older pragmatic and manipulative queen, whose line “we have not the time to take our time” forms 80 Stage Whispers

the axis for the ideas within the play. She owns the performing space (and the King himself, though he doesn’t realise it). Such charisma doesn’t come along very often.

Barely one step behind her is Amelia Hunter as Queen Marie, the young queen who is afraid to let her husband die. She’s beautiful and expressive, with great physical grace and a wonderful feel for absurdist comedy.

Despite the quality, Dionysus needs community support to grow and prosper. Think of it as medicinal. Ionesco said, “The living are getting rarer”; all the more reason to let laughter prolong your life.

Coral Drouyn Morph

By Brendan Cowell. Verge Arts Festival. The Cellar Theatre (NSW). Oct 9 - 12.

IF you’re looking for something fresh, I strongly recommend this show. Written by Australia’s own Brendan Cowell, Morph tells the story of ‘Grace’, ballerina and “swan”, who works and works on herself, striving for perfection. She is troubled by the peculiar ‘Be’, a suicidal “alien” who has tried, but failed, to find something beyond the reality of himself. True to the name of the show, the two undergo a transformation, both individually and collectively.

The acting was close to flawless. Stephanie King used her graceful and subtle facial expressions to work inside Cowell’s (rather limited) dialogue. Even in her silent scenes, whether she was dancing, checking herself out in the mirror, or munching on a celery stick, she did not fail to captivate her audience. Luke Carson’s elastic face moved seamlessly from the goof and the ridiculous, to the serious.

His stance and body presentation never allowed for a moment of boredom, always moving and changing.

Together, the two really demonstrated piercing ability, and the highest of theatric passion.

Sally Alrich-Smythe RED

By John Logan. Ensemble Theatre (NSW). September 12 October 6, 2012.

JOHN Logan’s multi-award winning play is about the philosophy of art and change told through American artist Mark Rothko and his young assistant Ken, an aspiring artist.

The play covers two years of their time together as Rothko paints, thinks and harries Ken with his philosophies about art - and life … “ ‘Pretty.’ ‘Beautiful.’ ‘Nice.” ‘Fine.’ That’s our life now!

Everything’s ‘fine’. … Well, let me tell you everything is not fine! …. I am not fine. We are not fine. We are anything but fine.”

Colin Moody is Mark Rothko. He fills the stage with brooding intensity. His height and strength are an immediate, powerful presence. He sits or stands, still, staring through heavy glasses. Or paces with animal precision. The conviction of his delivery captures the intensity of Rothko’s indulgent self-belief.

Stephen James King plays Ken. He is light to Rothko’s dark. Open to Rothko’s closed. A sort of magnetic

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Colin Moody in RED. Photo: Natalie Boog.

Online extras!

Director Mark Kilmurry introduces RED. To watch, scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/SXvlt5RSoGI attraction and repulsion sparks between them. James plays this role with gentle naivety. He moves lightly, watches carefully and questions perceptively Director Mark Kilmurry has taken the audience inside the script. His respect for Logan’s writing is evident in the tight control of the action and the gritty, realistic set and lighting (Lucilla Smith and Nick Higgins). Every nuance, pause and movement is carefully constructed to catch the almost claustrophobic intensity of the work.

Carol Wimmer

high pitched, screamed profanities, which lose impact after five minutes. Projection by the actors is a concern in the quieter moments but, despite its softer, more introspective interactions, it is not a production to indicate the true range of these actors, some of whom showed real promise.

Luke Rogers as Helene, the trannie prostitute who knows how to handle her life and still show empathy to those who don’t, is a stand out. Aaron Milroy (Brett) has some interesting moments, but relies too much on technique and not enough on emotional truth. Hayley Birch (Olivia) has real stage presence and Brooke Bosely (Camille) Activating the Dead White Pelvis is a gorgeous looking girl, but has a problem with

By Geoffrey Williams. Director: Peta Hanrahan. Stage Verve. projection when she isn’t yelling. Ben O’Connor (Detective Revolt Arts Space - Melbourne Fringe Festival. Sept 26 - Oct Harris) gives a nicely balanced performance and the 7. remaining cast are more than competent in their roles.

Coral Drouyn THE Melbourne Fringe Festival is upon us again. That means alternative theatre from the sublime to the ridiculous, and everything in between. It also provides a Terminus showcase for the students from Verve acting studios.

By Mark O’Rowe. Blue Cow Theatre. Theatre Royal Geoffrey Williams’ play Activating the Dead White Pelvis is, Backspace, Hobart. Director: Robert Jarman. Oct 11-20. in spite of its pretentious title, a gritty and challenging AN UNLIKELY event is the basis of a fantastical journey drama about those at risk in the sex industry in Melbourne. of story-telling by Mark O’Rowe. Terminus, Blue Cow Someone is brutally killing sex workers and the police round Theatre’s latest production, is a gripping play written in a up those who may be at risk, in the hope of tracking down lyrical, musical style, the verse combining elements of reality the killer. and fantasy to tell a tale of contrasts between beauty and Director Peta Hanrahan emphasises the “plot “ angle grittiness, warmth and cruelty. Three characters deliver and the result is not always satisfying. Whilst lip-service is interwoven monologues to tell a violent tale. Director paid to WHO these characters are, I was longing for insight Robert Jarman drew out every element of the monologue as to WHY they are. Much of the dialogue throughout is style in his well-chosen actors. The choice not to use Irish Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 81

accents may have detracted from the inherent lilt of the Irish story, but the actors showed their ability to handle complicated language and violent themes. Jane Longhurst, playing a former teacher and lifeline counsellor, quietly tells of popping out the eyeballs of a female foe in a desperate fight to save a young pregnant woman. Anna Kidd gives a convincing insight into the life of an Irish twenty-something young woman whose longing for love lands her in a dangerous situation. Jeff Michel’s athleticism and skill with words is brilliantly employed as a character who, in turn, is a sympathy-inspiring sad loner then a violent murderer. The use of clever lighting design and application by Andrew McDonald is the essential fourth element in telling this violent tale, eliciting sympathy and revulsion in equal measure. Terminus is a gripping and ghastly, normal and surreal ride into the imagination.

Merlene Abbott

grimy lanes, rancid sly grog shops and tawdry bordellos of Razorhurst and became part of Sydney’s crime folklore.

Vashti Hughes has mounted a tour de force one-woman show, telling tales from this period. She plays all the characters and sings bawdy songs celebrating the notorious events of these lustful and violent times. Some highlights of the show include Tilly ‘disappearing’ the wallet of an audience member, flashing a tit at another, playing Kate delivering her own obituary and Frank Green being ridden hard by Nellie, continually delivering perfectly timed punches to her head whilst building to orgasm. Frank’s song is elegantly titled “Biff, Whack, Bash”. My personal favourite was the sad and sinister ‘Funeral Fuck’ ditty.

Stephen Carnell

Snake in the Grass

By Alan Aycknourn. Castle Hill Players (NSW). Pavilion Theatre. Sep 21 - Oct 13.

Accidental Death of an Anarchist THIS is black comedy with overtones of the supernatural.

By Dario Fo. Mousetrap Theatre, Redcliffe (Qld). Oct 5 - 21. The plot revolves around sisters Annabel and Miriam who DARIO Fo plays often appear hilarious to read, but that meet after many years following their father’s death. riotous fun is deceptively difficult to bring off on stage.

Annabel has returned from Tasmania to begin a new life Congratulations to Director Sandra Hinds and her shrewdly in England with Miriam, but is greeted by her father’s perceptive casting, this production romped along as any former nurse, Alice, brandishing a letter from her former patient, in which he accuses Miriam of a litany of good Dario Fo satire should.

Reagan Warner (the Madman who keeps switching mistreatment. Alice accuses Miriam of his murder and characters) bristles with talent: wonderful sense of the proposes blackmail. absurd; great use of voice; mobile face and a master of Miriam, faced with this accusation, dissolves into a physical comedy. wallow of tears and self pity, cites the terrible life she has Although Warner created and controlled the confusion led under their father’s tyrannical rule - and admits her he was supported by four very able talents: Peter Lovely guilt.

(Inspector Bertozzo), John Honey (the Police Commissioner), And that’s just the beginning! Murder. Blackmail.

June Trethaway (whose butch presence and Scottish accent Abuse. And ghosts of the past. created an unforgettable Inspector Pisani) and Carol-Ann Diane Rowden portrays Annabel as smart, competent Morris (the Reporter). The ensemble playing of these five but just a little vulnerable. The role is almost understated in comparison to Annette Rowlison’s Miriam. She is, in turn, sparkle together to forge great theatre.

The choice of frenetic incidental music was spot on and whimpering and tearful, strident and accusative, calculating the cameo appearance of two cleaning ladies who effected and manipulative. a transition from Floor 3 to Floor 4 while conversing in Annette van Roden plays the nurse Alice. In contrast to familiar Italian merchandise brands brought the house the sisters, she is stridently working class, loud and flamboyant. down.

This intimate theatre tucked away in the middle of the Director Faith Jessel has accentuated the darkness of the Showgrounds on the Redcliffe Peninsula has been play in her production. The set is almost macabre. Paint mounting shows for sixty years. peels from the walls of a summer house. Vines hang from Jay McKee the wire surrounds of an old tennis court. It is a shadowy, unsavoury place.

Carol Wimmer Mum’s In Written and performed by Vashti Hughes. Bordello Theatre, Kings Cross Hotel (NSW). Director: James Winter. Music: The Women of Lockerbie Ross Johnston. From Aug 26.

By Deborah Brevoort. Newcastle Theatre Company. NTC ORGANISED crime descended upon Sydney like a plague Theatre, Lambton ( NSW). Aug 11 - 25. in the 1920s and burrowed deep under the belly of THE Women of Lockerbie begins with a well-dressed Darlinghurst and Kings Cross. Tilly Divine and Kate Leigh middle-aged man walking anxiously in the dark of night become the ‘Queens of the Underworld’ and profited from through Scottish hills calling out a woman’s name.

Sydneysiders’ love of vice. Over 500 vicious attacks with ‘cut When he meets three women from the nearby small -throat’ razors lead to the inner east being nick-named town of the title the audience learns that the woman is his ‘Razorhurst’. Other ‘colourful characters’, such as ‘The Little wife and they are the American parents of a passenger Gunman’ Frank Green, ‘Darlo Push’ lad Guido Calletti and killed when a terrorist’s bomb shattered a New York-bound north shore bred prostitute Nellie Cameron, inhabited the aircraft above Lockerbie.

82 Stage Whispers

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It is seven years after the event and the man, Bill, has brought still grieving wife, Madeline, to Lockerbie in an attempt to ease her pain by letting her see the place where their son died and to attend a memorial ceremony. But Madeline left the ceremony and headed into the hills to try to find the boy’s remains, with Bill desperately following her.

The Lockerbie women he encounters, Olive and two friends, have their own mission. They want to wash 11,000 pieces of clothing recovered from the passengers’ luggage and return them to the families, as an expression of love from the people of Lockerbie.

While Deborah Brevoort’s play has its basis in real events and people, the characters and storyline are fictional. The writer has also used the format of a Greek tragedy, with two of the Scottish women serving as a chorus.

While some dialogue is more mundane than uplifting, this production overall delivered a moving 80-minute look at the way tragedy affects people and how the words and actions of others can help to soothe the sorrow.

Director Janet Nelson drew engaging performances from the actors - Amy Wilde (Madeline), Howard Rawlinson (Bill), Debra Hely, Barbara Delaney, Marnie Long, Rebecca Cuttance (the Lockerbie women), and Kel White (a bureaucratic US official) - against Graham Wilson’s striking set design, with its trees in the shape of Pan-Am’s logo.

Ken Longworth

The Body Snatcher

By Scott Barsotti (based on Robert Louis Stevenson).

Brisbane Arts Theatre, Aug 11 - Sep 8.

THIS is more than a horror classic, finely acted; it is also a mind bender.

RLS based his story on the 1820s Burke and Hare murders: two grave robbers ended up murdering people to meet demand for cadavers for Edinburgh surgeons’ dissection and technical training.

Discredited Dr Knox ended up joining the ‘business’ when he was struck off the medical register. RLS sets his story at the end of that century and weaves the plot around a menacing ‘body provider’ Gray and his female assistant, Moira, and surgery tutor, Dr MacFarlane and his new protégé, Arthur Fettes.

Playwright Barsotti wisely focuses on young Fettes (Liam Gillespie, an inspired, charismatic interpretation), MacFarlane (Stephen Smith, dignified and detached until the vulnerability of his character is breached), their ‘provider’ Gray (Alex Lanham in full menacing professional flight) and their relationships with three women (Sophie Schoenknecht, Samantha Yeates and Libby Gleeson - all splendid portrayals).

It’s a complex, braided script with surprising revelations through Act 2 after the episodic Act 1 establishes period, situations and our sympathies with characters. Direction by Gregory Rowbotham and Daren King is restrained and careful until they let rip in Act 2 - blood and guts, brutality Chaim’s Love Song and ghosts.

It poses the moral question: how can surgeons improve

By Marvin Chernoff. JYM Theatre Co. Director: Brendan Cohen. Phoenix Theatre, Elwood. September 1-9, 2012 their life-saving skills without bodies to practise on? Still an “CHAIM” means life in Yiddish. It’s also the name of the enigma today. central character in this gentle play about an old Jewish Jay McKee man telling the story of his life to a lonely young gentile woman in a park in Brooklyn. Writer Marvin Chernoff is not Lost in Yonkers Woody Allen or Neil Simon, but the play has its own charm, By Neil Simon. Canberra Repertory. Director: Angela Punch humour and poignancy, hence it is a fitting first for JYM, McGregor. Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra. Sep 14-29. who are noted for their musicals.

LOST in Yonkers is surprisingly authentic for a fictitional Barry Friedlander’s presence and professionalism on tale set 49 years before its 1991 composition. References to stage are an asset to any company, and he is truly moving. actors, sportsmen, and songs from 1942 almost suggest Ruth Yaffe, as his wife Tzwarah (it means sorrow), a that it was penned at the time, and it won playwright Neil survivor of the holocaust who tells her husband she cannot Simon a Pulitzer. love, and then secretly falls in love with him, is excellent The essentially simple tale relies less upon plot throughout. John Konewka, as Chaim’s friend (Oscar), plays revelations than upon character ones and comic his broad schtick with great confidence, and Sara Olcha is a interpretation. It was fortunate to have a fine cast and delight as Pearl the Matchmaker (shadchen) and several director interpret it, particularly Helen Vaughan-Roberts, other roles. channelling Grandma Kurnitz’s germanic morals; Bridgette The three younger actors are in heady company but Jess Black, as 35-year-old Bella, shakily asserting her newfound Newman shines as Reuben Shotsky, Chaim’s hapless son womanhood; and Lachlan Ruffy and Pippin Carroll, as and would be actor. Paula Brown, as Rachel, is suitably young teenagers Jay and Arty, carrying with flair most of neurotic, a nicely measured performance. Finally Toni Joel, the comic load. in the thankless role of Kelly Burke, the gentile girl whose Lighting was perfect; costuming, beautiful; and set main function is to be Chaim’s sounding board, brings design, as ever in Rep productions, elegant both in place charm and warmth. and in scene-changing. Sound design was good, even if, in Production values are good, and this is a thoroughly this opening performance, the soundtrack occasionally enjoyable piece of theatre. And, as the saying goes, you threatened to overwhelm the dialogue. don’t have to be Jewish!

Such lines as “If she did, you’d be an only child today” Coral Drouyn will have grammar lovers throwing their hands into the air in frustration at modern American ignorance of the past Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 83

perfect, and the play may leave one with no heartfelt lasting moments; but it’s a thoroughly entertaining look at how family members thrown together by circumstance but contrary by nature may fine-tune the clashes between them in values, fears, and wishes.

John P. Harvey En Suite

By Joe O’Byrne. Villanova Players (Qld). The Theatre, Morningside, Brisbane, 31 August 2012 EN Suite in the hands of Villanova came across as a slight play whose virtues were not fully realized. First produced by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 2002, Joe O’Byrne’s work was irreverent, humorous and glib, but a piece that lacked any real heart. The fact that Samantha Tierney’s production was plodding rather than pacy did not help. In regional Ireland, Evelyn Dwyer runs a bed and breakfast with her two daughters, Ella - a lesbian - and the heavily pregnant, unmarried Emer. The B&B holds secrets.

Ella is the result of a one-night-stand Evelyn had with a priest when she was sixteen. When Owen, Evelyn’s brother, returns home to die, and confesses to murdering the priest, lives begin to unravel. Desley Nichols as Evelyn nicely captured the mother/daughter bonds but the emotional core of the character was missing. As Ella, the daughter who discovered her father, Lucy Barnes was believable.

Good support came from Lara Furst as Ella’s partner Clara, and Kristina Burt as Emer. Trevor Bond never managed to make Owen anything more that a self indulgent bore, but David Cannon and Helen Ekundayo were amusing as a clichéd pair of German tourists. A big production plus was the choice of music which liltingly established time and place.

Peter Pinne

mannerisms. The woman’s practicality was shown in an amusing scene where she tells each of the three stepchildren different hiding places for the money.

The fellow inmates maintained their dignity throughout their obsessive behaviour, with the reasons for them moving into what a doctor referred to as an “eggshell world” coming out as the story developed. The stepchildren, by contrast, were so greedily self-centred that their comeuppance elicited deservedly loud laughter.

The production overall was a very down-to-earth entertainment.

Ken Longworth

Angels In America. Part 1 - The Millenium Approaches.

By Tony Kushner. Director: Peter Kalos. Three Big Men Productions. Chapel off Chapel (Vic). Aug 17 - Sep 1.

ONCE in a lifetime a play comes along that defines a generation. Set in 1985 and first produced in 1991, Angels in America is that play. Simultaneously comic, tragic, harrowing, poetic, challenging and ultimately spiritually uplifting, it is a masterpiece of modern theatre, and Tony Kushner richly deserved his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award.

There are three storylines at work:- Joe and Harper are a young Mormon couple living a lie; he’s a closet homosexual and she’s a prescription meds addict retreating from sexual deprivation into fantasy; Louis and Prior Walter are a happy and committed gay couple, until Prior develops AIDS and their love is crushed under the weight of the redefining disease; Roy Cohn has defined himself as a “heterosexual who f***s men.” He’s a winner, therefore he’s straight. In a world where Reagan is God, and America no longer recognises grace and love, there are no Angels - but they’re on their way.

Director Peter Kalos has a marvellous understanding of this beautiful text, and what is really at its heart, and his The Curious Savage direction of the actors is astonishing. Justin Hosking (Louis)

By John Patrick. Theatre on Brunker and Willowseat and William Emmons (Prior) give memorable, moving Productions. St Stephen’s Hall, Adamstown (NSW). Aug 24 performances. Ian Rooney as Cohn is charismatic and - Sep 15. powerful. Bruce Kerr, now 80 years old, brings to the role A STORY set in a mental health institution, with patients of the Rabbi all of his finesse and skills from a lifetime of as key characters, would hardly seem to be material for a acting. Josh Parnell as Prior’s namesake ancestors is hilariously funny in scenes which otherwise would be comedy. But in John Patrick’s delightfully funny play the sanatorium inmates are more sympathetic figures than the unbearably confronting and Michelle Celebicanin is grasping people from the outside world. impressive as the pathetic Harper, who cannot understand The tale begins with the five people housed in a wing why her husband has no desire for her. for patients who are no longer regarded as risks to This is not a play for the faint-hearted, nor is it a play for themselves or others eagerly awaiting the arrival of a newly the gay community alone. It’s a wonderfully written and admitted woman. beautifully played piece of theatre, the likes of which we The stepchildren of recently widowed Ethel Savage have seldom get to see. had her committed to the mental facility because she has Coral Drouyn refused to give them any of the $10million left to her by their father and has hidden the money.

The Flood The eccentric Ethel, who was denied by her marriage the By Jackie Smith. Directed by Laurence Strangio. The Street chance to become an actress, plans to invest the money in Theatre, Canberra. Aug 15-25. a fund that will help other people realise their way-out THE play opens to an isolated country lounge room so dreams. buried in magazine clippings that it looks as though it’s Director Brian Lowe and his actors brought out the very already been flooded. On the lounge sits Janet, rambling human side of all the characters, with Lee Loudon’s Ethel about dogs and being able to hear her husband Brian warmly receptive to the other patients’ questions and arriving home. She’s clearly suffering some form of senility.

84 Stage Whispers

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Later she claims to her daughter that she committed a dreadful act decades before. But has dementia caused her to become confused?

Author Jackie Smith has drawn multi-layered psychological portraits of a family in crisis, each character complex, layered and perfectly Australian, all presented with pitch-black humour. Truth is twisted - there are lies, and lies within lies that the characters believe to protect themselves and others from having to face horrifying realities.

Director Laurence Strangio has tuned the performances to perfection. Maude Davey gives a nuanced performance as Dorothy, a rough-as-guts country woman calloused over with defence mechanisms. Caroline Lee imbues the awkward, out of place Catherine with a certain innocence.

If there is a standout, it would be Shirley Cattunar’s remarkable and energetic performance as the senile Janet, inhabiting the character absolutely convincingly.

This story is harrowing, visceral and satisfying, exploring how a distant horror can have effects for years afterwards, without sentimentality but with humour, and ending on a note of hope. Highly recommended.

Cathy Bannister

Javeenbah are fortunate to have a small, intimate theatre which is ideal for shows of this calibre but can also work well for larger cast plays and musicals.

Roger McKenzie

Moonlight and Magnolias

By Ron Hutchinson. Eltham Little Theatre. Director: Terese Maurici-Ryan. Aug 30 - Sep 15.

THE script for cinema epic Gone with the Wind is not working. Hollywood Mogul David Selznick sacks the director, hires script-writer Ben Hecht and pulls Victor Fleming off The Wizard of Oz. The trio are locked in Selznick’s office for five days - no disturbances and only brain food to eat (bananas and peanuts), to make them think clearly. One problem: Hecht is probably the only American who hasn’t read Margaret Mitchell’s book.

Selznick (Xavier Ryan) and Fleming (Ben Mitchell) give remarkable performances, acting out all the roles in the epic for Hecht (Bryan Richardson), changing characters every few moments from the little Afro American maid to Rhett Butler and Scarlet O’Hara. What a display of energy and strength of performance! Jennifer Piper also impresses as Selznick’s secretary.

ELT’s remarkable rendering Selznick’s office - a large The Woman in Black picture window looking onto the Hollywood hills and sign By Stephen Malatratt. Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre. Director: creates a feeling of being there.

Loretta Bishop. Aug 22 - Sep 8.

As the evening progresses the characters’ well-being PLAYED out on a dark stage, with a versatile wicker disintegrates, from initially neat and tidy to increasingly theatre trunk representing a desk, trunk and horse-drawn dishevelled, with Miss Poppenghul (the secretary) getting carriage, two actors and the woman of the title enacted the sloppier and sloppier, losing a shoe, so finally she can mysterious tale of The Woman in Black in a fluid, well hardly walk. executed production in front of a black rear scrim.

A great production, though who’d envy the cleanup A solicitor hires an actor to teach him how to crew the piles of banana peels, peanut shells, and torn up successfully present a story from his past. Malcolm Sussman scripts. played the solicitor, Arthur Kipps, meeting the difficult Peter Kemp. challenge of switching between a variety of characters with aplomb and professionalism. Joe Dias was the Actor, also The Kingfisher capturing the essence of several characters, including that

By William Douglas-Home. Encore Theatre (Vic). Director: of Kipps as a young man, in a very good performance, Lesley Batten. Oct 12 - 27. working well with Sussman.

FIFTY years on, a writer who discovers that the girl of his This great production really left the audience with a dreams has just become a widow invites her home on the sense of horror. way back from her husband’s funeral. Turned down by the Peter Kemp writer five decades ago, she had married on the rebound.

Set on the terrace of the writer’s country home on one proof by David Auburn day and the next morning, Javeenbah Theatre Co. Inc. (Qld). Director: Barry Gibson.

Encore Theatre created a stunning terrace set, featuring Sep 7 - 22. a tree vital to the story of this three-hander.

BARRY Gibson’s fine direction of this four handed drama Eric Hayes gave a professional performance of writer, was both interesting and entertaining.

Cecil, achieving a good rapport with his fellow actors.

Often difficult, flashbacks were handled well and, Tom Travers tops off a top performance as Cecil’s butler of together with four wonderfully poignant characterizations, 50 years in an amusing scene where he had, shall we say, a the audience was treated to a quality piece of modern little too much port. theatre.

Julie Arnold gave a wonderful portrayal of Evelyn, the Adding to the high standard was an impressive set and long-lost love, sharing a good rapport with both male effective lighting. actors.

Natalie Stephenson, Miranda Duncan, Michael Beard The audience thoroughly enjoyed this pleasant story. and Nathan Schultz were a close-knit team, complementing Peter Kemp each others’ performances, resulting in a production of very high standard.

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 85

Jacqueline Dark as Herodias and John Pickering as Herod in Opera Australia’s Salome

Reviews: Opera

The crucial Dance of the Seven Veils sequence is a highlight from which, however, this Salome has been largely excused. Instead, as choreographed by Kelly Abbey, seven soon-unveiled dancers in turn vividly display aspects of female allure/submission, including some pole dancing and a startling guest appearance by Marilyn Monroe.

Frank Hatherley

Das Reingold

By Richard Wagner. Hamburg State Opera, Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Simone Young. Concert Hall, QPAC, Brisbane. Aug 23 & 25.

Online extras!

INNUMERABLE curtain calls and a Check out a video montage from Salome thunderous standing ovation for by scanning the QR code or visiting Australian conductor Simone http://youtu.be/8A0qgC3mGUw Young marked the opening night concert performance of Wagner’s Salome Das Reingold, the inaugural production of Queensland

By Richard Strauss. Libretto by Strauss, from the play by Performing Arts Centre’s Hamburg Season.

Oscar Wilde. Director: Gale Edwards. Opera Conference / Producers Leo Schofield and Ian McRae’s vision to bring Opera Australia co-production. Opera Theatre, Sydney the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamburg State Opera House. Oct 12 - Nov 3.

Opera and Hamburg Ballet to Brisbane will go down in THIS is a classy new production of Strauss’s 1905 onehistory as one of the city’s greatest artistic triumphs. It act opera that thrilled Europe with its modernist depiction might have been Schofield and McRae’s vision to bring the of rampant lust, steamy dancing (with seven veils) and the company to the river city, but it was Simone Young’s vision unrestrained pashing of a decapitated head. In the to perform Das Reingold, the first opera in Wagner’s confronting final scene of Gale Edwards’ powerful staging, famous Ring cycle. It was the perfect showcase for the Cheryl Barker as Salome rips out John the Baptist’s tongue Philharmonic and the State Opera. Divorced of theatrical before rolling around the floor with his head until her black illusion, the concert platform enabled the audience to gown glistens with blood. Meanwhile conductor Johnnes immerse themselves totally in Wagner’s complex and lyrical Fritzsch is urging a huge 69-piece orchestra through score about the theft of the magic gold from the Strauss’s jangly, neurotic score.

Rhinemaidens and the subsequent repercussions of it. It This mighty concluding sequence is a triumph for was Simone Young’s night. Currently the world’s most soprano Barker who demonstrates her internationally acclaimed interpreter of the Ring cycle, she conducted the acclaimed vocal and dramatic range. The fact that she has performance with obvious fire and passion. The singers previously seemed unsuited to the role is everything to do were exemplary, especially Falk Struckmann as Wotan, Eike with classical opera’s insistence on getting the singing right Wilm Schulte as Alberich, Vida Mikneviciute as Freia, and above all else. In the excellent program Edwards describes Jurgen Sacher, an audience favorite as Loge. Played without Richard Strauss’s lead character, borrowed straight from an interval, it was a long night, but the brilliance of the Oscar Wilde, as ‘teenage’, an ‘adolescent’ ‘reaching performers and orchestra made it a night to remember. pubescence’.

Peter Pinne When this spoiled and petulant princess demands to meet the wandering prophet (John Wegner) who has been After Life locked in her stepfather King Herod’s dungeon/cistern, she Composer, Stage Director, Video Script and Direction finds he is utterly resistant to her burgeoning sexuality.

Michel van der Aa (Netherlands). Conductor - Wouter Furious, frustrated, increasingly nutty, she bargains with Padberg. Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Melbourne Herod (John Pickering) to have the doomed man’s head International Festival. Regent Theatre. Oct 11-13. given to her on a platter.

AS A semi-staged contemporary opera, about the Costumes by Julie Lynch are spectacular on designer gravitas we as individuals place on what we deem to be Brian Thompson’s red-mottled structure, which is often significant memories, After Life is an uncomfortable, yet backed by rows of animal carcasses. John Rayment’s restless gratifyingly challenging, offering. lighting is a constant pleasure.

The story is of what happens to three people in the three or so days after their deaths, when they are 86 Stage Whispers

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accommodated in a state of limbo at a way station. There they are required to choose a memory to have with them to be able to move forward. Projected on two rear screens are various groupings of objects and furniture like those in an auction room and, at times throughout, the very genuine faces of actual people telling the stories of their own most significant memories. These non-actors bring a beautiful heightened sincerity to the work.

The musical composition is heavily influenced by modern masters, such as Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Schoenberg.

The score, though lyrical, at times has an atonal not fully completed quality and the libretto is often startlingly simple, adding another dimension of sparseness. Thus ‘space’ is ideally left to ponder the pivotal question of which single memory from one’s life would one want to be able to access when dead.

Well surely this type of challenging fare is what Arts Festivals are all about!

Suzanne Sandow

moon come out at night. All of this is framed by shallow water - laden with flower petals.

In the opera, Madama Butterfly is 15 years old. But it’s often the case that the leading lady chosen to sing the incredibly challenging role is as much as three or more times as old as this. So it was a sublime pleasure to see a young soprano in the role, who, as it happens, was also Japanese. As soon as she entered, Hiromi Omura lit up the stage and thereafter kept enchanting the audience with her sweet singing and fine acting. Perhaps she did not have the power at the lower end of her range that a more mature singer might possess. But for those who value authenticity, it was a delicious performance to savour.

The fine acting was contagious. James Egglestone was dashing as B F Pinkerton and then descended into grief as the opera reached its climax.

We left the Opera House drifting into the night like the candles which bobbed on the stage pond.

David Spicer

Lucia di Lammermoor Music by Gaetano Donizetti. Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano. Director: John Doyle. Opera Australia Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Sep 28 - Nov 2.

THE overture seemed to be running out of petrol when the audience began to realise something had broken down on stage. The front flat had failed to rise, bringing the opening to a halt. It took a few minutes to rectify.

It seemed extraordinary that a set which comprised next to nothing could still have something go amiss and continue to appear fragile as the night progressed.

The production was put together by three companies, Opera Australia, Houston Grand Opera and Teatro La Fenice. The scenic fruits of their co-production were flats painted with clouds.

The props were even more sparse, a chair or two here and there, and sticks for the chorus to wave, on occasions out of sync. While some enjoy minimalism, allowing the voices to be the primary focus, others felt short changed.

What the opera companies saved on the set they lashed out on blood. Emma Matthews, as Lucia, came on stage in the famous final scene looking like she had gorged herself on an ox. She hit the high notes with a thrilling precision you felt could make champagne glasses crack.

The most striking male voice was that of Giorgio Caoduro as Enrico. His soaring baritone voice was a treat.

It was a night for opera aficionados rather than those seeking lavish entertainment.

David Spicer

Orpheus in the Underworld

By Jacques Offenbach. Adelaide Festival Theatre. Aug 25 to Sep 1.

ON all levels this Orpheus in the Underworld is a must see production. If you are into operetta; if you are only opera-curious; if you are into musicals; if you are into satirical risqué comedy; if you are into spectacular costumes, colour, special effects, great singing, toe-tapping melodic music, excellent acting, belly laughs and pure joyous entertainment - see it!

The current slick and gloriously irreverent version, honed by the multi-talented Jonathan Biggins, who also directed, Philip Scott and Timothy Sexton, revels in sending up Australian contemporary culture - Pauline Hanson, Malcolm Fraser, live animal exports, Louie the Fly and Mortein, and the list goes on.

Elizabeth Campbell was imperious as Public Opinion. As Euridyce, Amelia Farrugia was sufficiently sexy and tartish. Adam Goodburn made a welcome return to a substantial role as Orpheus. Catriona Barr, Joanna McWaters and Sally-Anne Russell were all seductively appealing as Venus, Cupid and Juno. Andrew Collins was suitably threatening as Mars, and Mark Oates was almost scene stealing as John Styx. Stephen Smith relished the stage props he used as Mercury, and Douglas McNicol was outstanding as Jupiter. For sheer vocal force and strength of characterisation, honours go to David Hobson in the dual role of Aristaeus/Pluto.

Mark Thompson’s scenery and costume design was first rate - from the corrugated iron, ironically Australian, rainwater tank to the ultra large Rococo nude paintings, the lush backdrops and the character driven costumes. Amber Hobson’s choreography is unobtrusive and sufficiently straightforward (seemingly!) to allow the characters to extract the humour from their roles. The three judges were hilarious.

What a wonderfully joyous and hilarious piece of theatre.

Kym Clayton

Madama Butterfly Opera by Giacomo Puccini. Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House.

Director: Moffatt Oxenbald. Sep 20 - Nov 1.

THIS beautiful looking production has been floating since 1997. The set resembles the inside of an exquisite Japanese doll-house.

Panels rise and fall, light peeps through the windows, then they become transparent when the stars and full

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 87

Let’s Put On A Show

Pulling together all the pieces of the jigsaw to stage a musical is challenge for most of us - but imagine what it would be like if many in the cast had a disability. Heather Cook, the Director of Nadrasca’s Music Theatre in Melbourne, explains how she has climbed that mountain, even staging productions of Les Misérables and Chicago.

were encouraging in our early attempts (My Fair Lady & Pajama Game), but we struggled onstage to comply with licensors’ requirements and a reluctance from the community to take on any major roles (for fear of ‘overshadowing our performers with disabilities’).

Children seemed less inhibited. We recruited half of the Von Trapp children for Sound of Music (2005) and 14 of For over a decade, the Music Theatre Group at Nadrasca the Sudanese Djeernong Community for Show Boat (2007). (an Eastern Region Disability Service) has moved from Tertiary and secondary students also began to welcome the performance and stage experience, as well as broadening strength to strength.

In 1999 I directed a small group of thespians with their awareness of disabilities. disabilities in ‘Hello Baby’ at Inala Village’s concert Bridging Our production of Cabaret (2009) was enhanced with the New Millennium. When the Commissioner of the the appearance of a local dance group, a community Salvation Army and elderly residents of Inala joined us in member playing the role of Emcee and an impressive spiral the Charleston, I witnessed first hand the joy experienced by staircase loaned by Nova Theatre Company. Many other amateur theatre companies have increasingly assisted us all (whatever the age, rank or disability).

The Veterans Band accepted a request to be our Mission with sets and costumes.

Band in Highlights from Guys & Dolls (2000) and a new Although community relationships were strong, we focus was born. We would extend from community visits became somewhat disenchanted by the enormous showcasing our abilities to engaging the community in obstacles we encountered in producing Les Misérables producing mainstream musicals with us.

(2010).

Apart from the stringent conditions of full stage Of course, a venture of this magnitude would not be settings, we were also required to have full orchestration. speedy. I was lucky to have a Monash Performing Arts graduate stage managing and extremely lucky to meet We had relied on the mettle of Simon in all previous shows. a talented musician and kindred spirit (Simon He would now be in the pit with the orchestra.

Loveless), who soon became our Musical Director.

Andrew Houston bravely took up the challenge of conducting an orchestra and though he could skilfully Lots of offers to help backstage and around the stage 88 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Puzzles Compiled by Aaron Ware www.thepuzzlehub.com

prompt, two of our leads were unsighted. My mother’s unexpected death added another layer of grief and stress.

At her funeral the week before our performance, my daughter (at her grandmother’s written request) sang ‘You Raise Me Up’.

Words lingered with me in the days to follow....”I am strong when I am on your shoulders, you raise me up to more than I could be”....I wondered if Les Mis could possibly survive? It did - and not by my hand...but by the ‘shoulders of the community’. Its success was unprecedented.

It was no circumstantial fluke. We’ve since produced Chicago (June 2012) - by all accounts a hit!

Relying on the talents of our longstanding MD and secure in the knowledge that Andrew Houston’s orchestra could magically manage our variable timing, we had a new-found confidence.

Velma (Monash Uni Student - Lauren Holcombe) and Mama Morton (Robyn Porter from Casey Women’s Choir) demonstrated lots of class as they performed alongside Roxie (Amara Wagner) and Billy Flynn (Curtis Easton) - two extremely talented performers with total visual impairment.

Our licensors were helpful and encouraging. The community would indeed ‘raise us up - to more than we could be!’ www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 89

Avenue Q School Edition Australasian Premiere by Glen Waverly Secondary College (VIC) A reflection by Karl McNamara (Director/Producer)

Of course the script has had a few changes but on the whole the show is the same; for example swapping the Fword for “crap”. I think the biggest change for me is the fact that When considering which show to Princeton does not go home with Kate present at school this year, I discussed Monster after they get drunk together. it with my team and we totally agreed “They begin to mash” are the stage that the kids watch Glee and grew up directions then cut to the “Fantasies with High School Musical so it makes Come True” scene. sense to continue their love for the I think Music Theatre International new. (represented by Hal Leonard Australia) The new brand of School Edition is onto a good thing here and they shows is brilliant. Our school produced want to do their best to make sure the shows that are given a School Edition the School Edition of Sweeney Todd and it was a real success. The changes translation are appropriate. I don’t were minimal and the main aim is to think we will see a Book of Mormon keep the integrity of the original show, School Edition any time soon. while making it appropriate for a The show was a resounding success. It seemed like the entire school school audience. They also make it easier for the kids to perform with the community came out to support this length and some of the keys the songs production. With overwhelmingly are in. positive feedback from staff, students I believe that Avenue Q School and the parent community, not one Edition resonates with the students complaint was lodged and (as and its main message is about relieving predicted) the jokes were received the stress and pressure of what is really well by the audience. Here are expected of them in the future when some comments from audience they leave school. The show has a big members after seeing the show: heart and is more than just the shock “Avenue Q in three words hilarious, magnificent, unmissable! factor of a puppet sex scene.

Well done to all the talented people involved”.

“Congrats to you all - such a great production! I thoroughly enjoyed it What a cracker of a show”.

90 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

The Man Behind The Man Of Steel The writing team of Ian Dorricott and Simon Denver began creating musicals tailored especially for high school students and bands in 1977, penning the ubiquitous Man of Steel. They went on to write Sheer Luck Holmes, Bats, Sheik Rattle ‘n’ Roll, Smithy!, Henry, The Circus and their last together, Curse of the Mummy. Editor at their publishing house, Maverick Musicals and Plays, and sister of Simon, Gail Denver, interviewed Ian recently, musing over a partnership that spanned 4 decades.

Gail Denver: Your very first musical, Man of Steel, was an immediate success, went on to become one of Australia’s most iconic school musicals and is still performed around the world to this day. What motivated you and Simon to write it?

Ian Dorricott: As a Brisbane high school music teacher in the early 1970’s I was involved in the production of numerous school musicals and observed that the Broadway shows - the only musicals available at that time - were often too difficult for the kids. This got me thinking about the possibility of writing a musical specifically geared to secondary school students. I had thought for a while about writing a score - a spoof on Superman, as I thought this would have wide appeal - so I set about trying to find someone to write the script and lyrics. By asking around, I eventually found Jo Denver, a high school drama teacher, who thought it might be just the thing for her creative 17year old son Simon. The rest is history.

GD: I once saw your partnership described as “Austalia’s Rodgers and Hammerstein of the high school halls”. Did you expect to have such success with your musicals after Man of Steel?

ID: Not really. The success of Man of Steel caught us unawares. It only dawned on us when people started

Choosing A Show smuggling video cameras into La Boite Theatre in Brisbane (the venue of the premiere production) to record it. We realised, slowly, that we were onto a winner.

GD: What governed your choice of topics? How did your partnership work?

ID: Well, I can claim credit for choosing the topic of the first musical; after that it was Simon who came up with the stories for the subsequent ones. I was so enthusiastic, I would have written the music for a show about paint drying!

GD: How do you think students benefit by being in school musicals?

ID: From the outset I witnessed the positive effects of students’ participation in musicals. It not only increases their musical and dramatic skills, heightens self-confidence and self-worth, it also teaches them about the importance of working as a team and forging a sense of camaraderie.

On top of that, of course, it was a great way for the kids to meet members of the opposite sex in a fun way. My students got so carried away with the whole experience, that some of the non-academic ones returned to Year 11, just to be in the musical. They apparently considered this to be the most satisfying and fun aspect of going to school.

GD: What are the benefits to a school?

ID: When you have a bunch of enthusiastic, motivated kids, focused on doing something positive (not only in theatrical and financial terms but also in spreading the good name of the school within the community), it can only be beneficial for all concerned.

GD: How do you think school musicals have changed since you started writing?

ID: I think the standards have risen considerably. For a great number of schools, especially the private ones with good budgets, some shows are not challenging enough.

All of Simon and Ian’s musicals are available at Maverick Musicals and Plays www.mavmuse.com Port Pirie Youth Theatre’s production of Man of Steel

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 91

Musical Spice

Spicer sings with high knees

Cracking The Top Note

Alas, one night I cracked the top note. It came out a bit like George of the jungle crashing into a tree.

Sheepishly I asked a member of the audience at an after show party…did she notice? Yes she smirked.

With this in mind I feared another calamity in front of the congregation.

I approached the multiple high F’s with caution, using my head voice tenderly to get there without incident.

Not everyone was pleased.

Afterwards I overheard someone say to the choirmaster, “Who was that singing the solo? He needs to eat more eggs.”

Which meant, in translation, couldn’t I have sung a bit louder.

Maybe I’ll fatten myself up for next year! ***

A few months back I had to sing a solo in front of a large congregation and for the first time in a long while I got a little nervous.

My palms were sweaty and I could feel my heart beating in my throat. The reason was that I had to sing a top note at full throttle. All this in a song that resembled a pole vault jump. Two or three notes, then a steep leap to a high F. I am a light or lyric tenor. I use my head voice to reach the top notes. I can’t blast them out like Pavarotti, but I glide up there blending my lower voice with my head voice. A high F is right on the cusp of my lower voice range….which made this song very dangerous.

A much younger and stronger chorister had an HSC exam so the solo was given to me. The choirmaster kept urging me to sing louder and louder so I could be heard above the choir and noisy congregation.

I had visions of cracking the top note.

It’s happened before.

Last century I was cast in a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It was put on by a Sydney theatre which usually stages Gilbert and Sullivan.

Someone brought Forum to the committee. We all undertook due diligence with great care. Is there a part in it for me?

92 Stage Whispers November - December 2012

Naturally I pencilled in the role of Hero. A lovely light tune and not too many lines would suit perfectly. But a much cuter boy got the part.

Instead I was cast as the mighty warrior Miles Gloriosus.

Now I don’t look anything like a fearsome Roman General. The director wanted me to be a General in the Napoleonic style.

His most famous song goes like this…My Bride, My Bride I’ve come to claim my bride. Come tenderly to crush her against my side.

Anyhow, at the end of the song was a ‘pole vault’ moment. Bring me my Bride!

Who says he is cuter! ?

Speaking of meals, I was alarmed by this poster being distributed by Rose Bay Secondary College in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

It appears to have a singer playing the part of Audrey who has a remarkable resemblance to my 16-year -old daughter Rebecca being consumed on stage by a man-eating plant.

To find out if she survives you need to attend the production of Little Shop of Horrors from Nov 27 to 29.

Shameless gratuitous plug over!

David Spicer

ORDER YOUR MUSICAL AND DRAMA CATALOGUE 2013

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Visit www.davidspicer.com.au to read scripts, listen to music and see show videos.

Order catalogue email david@davidspicer.com Phone/Fax 02 9371 8458.

Write to PO Box 2280 Rose Bay North NSW 2030

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