Metropolitan Players are the CHAMPIONS!

Galileo (Dave Geise) and Scaramouche (Bec Kynaston).

Image: Luke Kynaston

WORDS MICHELLE MEEHAN - Features Writer

They’ve won countless awards, entertained tens of thousands of theatregoers and produced some of the biggest musicals of the past 41 years. But if it wasn’t for the passion of a few Newcastle thespians, one of the city’s most popular and successful theatre companies might not have existed at all.

Formed following the demise of another amateur theatre group in 1977, Metropolitan Players has been staging quality productions for appreciative Newcastle audiences ever since including musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, Grease, Mary Poppins, The Boy From Oz, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music.

Among those who have been there from the beginning are two of the stalwarts of the local theatre scene, Julie and Graeme Black.

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 and better productions every year.

“My wife and I are the only two original founding members still a part of the company, which gives away my age a little bit,” he said.

“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 enough, and he wanted to fold it.

“The people involved thought, ‘Oh, we would like to carry on with what he’s been doing’ and they formed a quick interim company called, I think, the Hunter Valley Drama Society. They did one show, and then that folded, but again there were enough people who still wanted it to go ahead, so they formed Metropolitan Players from there.

“They were actually close to closing Met Players down at one point because they couldn't get any more people and enough people to direct. Julie said, ‘I'm interested in that’ and they gave her a go. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was the show that we did, it was back in ’83, and it went really well, and Julie took over from there as the director. She’s actually directed every production since then bar one.

“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.”

“I must admit years ago; you would have thought when you go and see professional productions of shows like Phantom or Wicked, that I would never do that. Then here you are all these years later, and we did.

“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 has a fantastic voice, he teaches vocals himself. You need a brilliant voice to be able to sing this because the two of them have to sing roughly ten songs, either individually or together, throughout the whole show. It really is a vocal challenge for somebody to have to do that.

“Those two are fabulous, but Newcastle is full of talent. There’s such a pool to draw from in Newcastle, and it's great to think that Newcastle can put on great shows for Newcastle audiences. It's a thriving theatre community, and I don't think a lot of people in the area realise how good it is in Newcastle.”

Other main characters include the Killer Queen (Wendy Ratcliffe), Khashoggi (Dain Watts), Buddy (Michael King), Brit (Brett Edman) and Oz (Nicolette Black).

There will be nine performances at the Newcastle Civic Theatre from August 22 to September 1, with proceeds from the opening night being donated to a range of local charities. Tickets can be booked via Ticketek or by calling the Civic Theatre box office on 4929 1977. For more information about Metropolitan Players visit www.metropolitanplayers.com.au ■

Win!

Thanks to Metropolitan Players we have two double passes to the show on Wednesday 29 August (8pm at the Civic Theatre Newcastle) to give away to two lucky readers. Visit the Giveaways Page at www.intouchmagazine.com.au to enter. Entries close midnight 22 August - so be quick!