Cover Story
METROPOLITAN PLAYERS
Are the
CHAMPIONS!
“It sprang from another company. There used to be a company called the Independent Theatre Company back in the 60's, 70's. One guy largely ran it, and he decided he’d had They’ve won countless awards, entertained tens of thousands enough, and he wanted to fold it. “The people involved thought, ‘Oh, we would like to carry on of theatregoers and produced some of the biggest musicals with what he’s been doing’ and they formed a quick interim of the past 41 years. But if it wasn’t for the passion of a few company called, I think, the Hunter Valley Drama Society. They Newcastle thespians, one of the city’s most popular and did one show, and then that folded, but again there were successful theatre companies might not have existed at all. enough people who still wanted it to go ahead, so they formed Formed following the demise of another amateur theatre Metropolitan Players from there. group in 1977, Metropolitan Players has been staging quality “They were actually close to closing Met Players down at productions for appreciative Newcastle audiences ever since including musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, Grease, one point because they couldn't get any more people and enough people to direct. Julie said, ‘I'm interested in that’ Mary Poppins, The Boy From Oz, My Fair Lady and The Sound and they gave her a go. How to Succeed in Business Without of Music. Really Trying was the show that we did, it was back in ’83, Among those who have been there from the beginning and it went really well, and Julie took over from there as the are two of the stalwarts of the local theatre scene, Julie and director. She’s actually directed every production since then Graeme Black. bar one. The couple, who actually met on stage in 1973 during a production of Mame, are the only founding members still actively involved in the Metropolitan Players, with Graeme in charge of set design (and the current President of the theatre group) and Julie holding the reins of the productions as the company’s long-standing director. Graeme said it was a huge achievement for the company to be still going strong after four decades, putting on bigger “I must admit years ago; you would have thought when you and better productions every year. go and see professional productions of shows like Phantom or “My wife and I are the only two original founding members Wicked, that I would never do that. Then here you are all these still a part of the company, which gives away my age a little years later, and we did. bit,” he said. WORDS MICHELLE MEEHAN - Features Writer
“Last year was Met Players’ 40th anniversary, so we had a big celebration. It was lovely to see it still going after 40 years and going pretty strong.”
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Galileo (Dave Geise) and Scaramouche (Bec Kynaston). Image: Luke Kynaston
“It’s great to see how the company has developed over the years, and how it’s grown.” After celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary in 2017 with a well-received performance of one of the world’s most popular musicals, Les Miserables, the Metropolitan Players are preparing to be among the first community theatre groups in the world to put their spin on a more modern day classic – We Will Rock You. The rights to the hit West End show written by Ben Elton and based on the music of icon UK rockers Queen were only released to non-professional theatre companies late last year, with a string of productions now in the works around the world including in Australia. The group has been planning the production for the past nine months, with full-scale rehearsals now taking place at its Mayfield warehouse space. Julie will once again take on the director’s role, guiding a top cast of actors through the intricacies of the lively and hilarious plot, which tells the story of a globalised future where everyone dresses, thinks and acts the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown. A handful of rock rebels, the Bohemians, take on the all-powerful Globalsoft company and its boss, the Killer Queen in a fight for freedom, individuality and the rebirth of the age of rock. Featuring more than 24 of Queen’s biggest hit songs including We Are The Champions, Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free, Somebody To Love, Killer Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust and We Will Rock You, it’s little wonder the musical has been such a global success story, with the original London production becoming the 10th longest-running musical in West End history when it finally closed on May 31, 2014. The Metropolitan Players’ version will involve 30 on-stage actors, while ten additional singers will sit in the orchestra pit with the band to help produce the big vocal sound required by this rock-infused production. “It’s a fantastic cast we got out of the auditions. There are two main leads, there's a character called Galileo that’s being played by Dave Geise, and Scaramouche is being played by Bec Kynaston,” Graeme said. “Bec was in our production last year of Les Mis, and she's also been in Wicked. Dave we haven't had in before, but he
