villagepeople
Aussie treasure returns for arena spectacle
AMANDA Muggleton, one of the great stage actors of Australian theatre and television, has been re-visiting
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villagenews April 2016
by Gary Balkin
Brisbane, once her home for seven years. Amanda has been rehearsing her role in the spectacular musical Hairspray to start next weekend for five performances in three days at the Brisbane Convention Centre, South Brisbane. She plays the villainous role of Velma Von Tussle. So obviously Amanda is not the “good guy” here. But she can act, right? The musical, more a spectacular, features more than 900 performers, the largest arena production of Hairspray anywhere in the world. It is produced by Harvest Rain, Queensland’s professional musical theatre company. Co-stars include Simon Burke and Christine Anu. To get Amanda away from her linerehearsal bunker in a quiet suburban street, I interviewed her over coffee at New Farm Deli, an old favourite of hers during her life in our city in the 1990s. Prior to her arrival in town, Amanda spent a week up at Mt Tamborine at Simon Gallaher’s home, singing all her songs for her role to Gallaher’s accompaniment. Simon and Lisa Gallaher are long-term friends of Amanda, and her little buddy of the decade past, Harry, just loves Mt Tamborine. Simon and Lisa are Harry’s godparents. Now that’s a story in itself. When Harry met Sally – oops, Amanda – 10 years ago, it was love at first sight: “I’m just wild about Harry – and Harry is just wild about me!” Following a history of having no pet dogs because of travel and career commitments, she was dragged along by the Gallaher family to pet store after pet store. Finally this black puppy, a Maltese poodle-cross with big soft eyes, stared into Amanda’s eyes, and that was it: instant chemistry and almost inseparable ever since. “It was an amazing stroke of luck,” recalled Amanda. “I was still unconvinced about all the responsibility involved, and it was closing time. I walked outside the shop and the shutter was halfway down when I bolted back, crawled under, and claimed my Harry.” “Luck has been with me a few times like that,” she said. “I was playing the one-woman show The Book Club
in Sydney, and the actress Miriam Margolyes (of Harry Potter movies fame) tapped producer Andrew Kay’s arm saying: ‘If you don’t take this girl to London and New York you need your head read!’ “But the decision to do so was pending. Meantime I had been asked by the director, the great Julie Andrews, to audition to play Mrs Pearce, the housekeeper, in My Fair Lady in Australia in October; then a second audition, and then she wanted more time to decide. “So just before Julie Andrews told me I was successful, I was told by Andrew Kay we were on our way to London to play The Book Club. I had to make the greatest decision of my life, as the rehearsal and booking dates clashed. “Then I had to tell Julie of the commitment, plus the wish to see my dear old Dad, and to return to London’s theatre world. Fate does play a role in life, and returning to London in October at the Kings Head Theatre, Islington, will mean so much to me and my family in England. “The Kings Head was the last theatre I had played before first coming to Australia all those years ago.” Indeed, it was in 1974 that London-born Amanda, having just graduated from that city’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, visited Australia on a six-month tour with a theatre company. She was so struck by the sunshine, the beaches and relaxed way of life, that not long after returning to London amid a drizzling rainy period, she pined for the sunny climes of Australia. Within weeks Amanda decided to return to Australia to live, despite her love for family. It was in 1989, the year after Expo, that I first interviewed Amanda. It was for a weekly “People” column in the Sunday Sun, and we met in my thennew restaurant Pier Nine. Amanda was already a star in Australian theatre and on TV (via the series Prisoner as Chrissie Latham). In Brisbane Amanda was presenting her one-woman show Shirley Valentine, featuring at Twelfth Night Theatre, Bowen Hills. Shirley Valentine was a stunning success with Amanda in her memorable role. At the time, Amanda met a theatregoer and they began courting. They later became a couple and bought a building complex on Edward Street in the city and lived above their leased tenancies. Amanda lived in Brisbane for seven years, so she developed a sense of belonging to the city and inner suburban life: Petrie Bight (Ecco Restaurant was a favourite), New Farm, walking the nearby Botanic