Stage Whispers July/August 2012

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In this issue 10

14

The Mousetrap ................................................................................ 6 Those dying to stage Agatha Christie’s whodunit To Interval or Not to Interval ............................................................ 9 Our Facebook followers have their say David Harris .................................................................................. 10 The terror of the top note Signs of Life .................................................................................. 14 Tim Winton’s Dirt Music on stage

16 18

Die Young and Have a Good-looking Corpse ................................. 16 Jordie Lane plays Gram Parsons Hits and Misses of 2011 ................................................................ 18 What did audiences really want?

An Audience with Simone Young .................................................. 20 Expat Australian conductor brings Hamburg to Brisbane

20

Dressing the Stage ........................................................................ 26 Cirque du Soleil, Hairspray and much more War Horse ..................................................................................... 30 Secrets of the those amazing puppets Stage Heritage .............................................................................. 36 Why a bankrupt went into showbiz

26

30

32

Towers Players ............................................................................... 42 When buying a theatre cost $400 Director’s Diary - The Big MAKado ................................................. 90 Melvyn Morrow takes Gilbert and Sullivan to schoolies

Regular Features

41 66 72 2 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

CDs and DVDs

23

Broadway and West End

24

On Stage - What’s On

46

Reviews

58

Showbiz Puzzles

88

Musical Spice

92

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 OUR EDUCATION SHOWCASE DISTRIBUTED TO 2,000 SCHOOLS

Editorial Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, Although the theatre bug bit me in my teens, now, more than 40 years since I joined the chorus of my local light opera company, the passion remains strong Subsequently, for much of the last 20 plus years, writing and editing to promote other people’s productions has often taken precedence over my personal passion for performing in and directing community theatre.

Recently auditions for a local production of one of my favourite musicals, with one of the roles high on my own ambition list, popped up online.

Like so many Stage Whispers readers, I set off on that anxious audition trail again. As a consequence, for five weeks now I’ve been rehearsing the roles of Narrator and Mysterious Man in Hornsby Musical Society’s Into the Woods.

So to everyone else who’s managing to combine fundraising chocolate drives and Bunnings BBQs, plus working bees, and, oh yes, rehearsals, with their busy working and family lives, I’m on your journey too, as you grab a spare moment to read these thoughts.

By the way, I would love to hear your secrets for learning your script. It never gets any easier.

Hope to see you (blatant plug) at Hornsby RSL for Into The Woods.

Yours in Theatre,

Neil Litchfield Editor

Cover image: Spectacular costume designs from Cirque Du Soleil's OVO, currently touring Australia. Check out our interview on page 26 and tour details on our back cover.

PLACE YOUR AD BY AUGUST 3 CONTACT (03) 9758 4522 OR stagews@stagewhispers.com.au

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2012. VOLUME 21, NUMBER 4 ABN 71 129 358 710 ISSN 1321 5965

All correspondence to: The Editor, Stage Whispers, P.O. Box 2274, Rose Bay North 2030, New South Wales.

Telephone/Fax: (03) 9758 4522 Advertising: stagews@stagewhispers.com.au Editorial: neil@stagewhispers.com.au PRINTED BY: Spotpress Pty Ltd, 24-26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville, 2204 PUBLISHED BY: Stage Whispers PRE-PRESS PRODUCTION & DESIGN BY: PJTonline Solutions, email: pjtonline@pjtonline.com DISTRIBUTED BY: Gordon & Gotch, 25-37 Huntingdale Road, Burwood, 3125 DEADLINES For inclusion in the next edition, please submit articles, company notes and advertisements to Stage Whispers by Aug 3rd, 2012.

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FREELANCE CONTRIBUTORS Are welcomed by this magazine and all articles should be addressed to Stage Whispers at the above address. The Publisher accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material. Black and white or colour photographs are suitable for production.

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, Karen Coombs, Rose Cooper, Constantine Costi, Ken Cotterill, Coral Drouyn, Whitney Fitzsimmons, Graham Ford, Lucy Graham, Frank Hatherley, John P. Harvey, Peter Kemp, Neil Litchfield, Ken Longworth, Rachel McGrath-Kerr, Jay McKee, Roger McKenzie, Melvyn Morrow, Lilli Paul, Melissa Phillips, Peter Pinne, Martin Portus, Leann Richards, Paul Rodda, Suzanne Sandow, Kimberley Shaw, Tammy Shmerling, David Spicer, Pauline Vella, Aaron Ware and Carol Wimmer. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 3

Christie Whelan as Ulla in Mel Brooks’ The Producers at Arts Centre, Melbourne, State Theatre from July 8 to 15, The Production Company’s first production for 2012. The Producers also stars Wayne Scott Kermond, Brent Hill, Trevor Ashley, Rohan Browne, Mitchell Butel and Virginia Gay.

Stephen Sondheim will attend opening night of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum starring Geoffrey Rush at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne on October 27th. The announcement was made at Melbourne’s Old Treasury Building on June 18 by director Simon Phillips and producer John Frost (pictured), suitably attired in togas and sporting a jovial mood.

Director Simon Phillips said he was “pixelated at the thought of working on this show”, describing the script as “a perfect musical confection”. He laughingly said when conceiving of the season they wanted to “put together a group of the most irresponsible actors we could find on the grounds that the boundaries between scripted text and improvised text would be blurred to the point of unidentifiability.”

Online extras!

Don’t miss the trailer for Eat, Pray, Laugh.

Simply scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/m5DbZE6i28E

Farewell Possums!

Dame Edna says “Farewell Possums” as Barry Humphries takes a final bow.

Barry Humphries takes his final bow to Australian audiences during his farewell tour, Eat Pray Laugh! which opened in Canberra on June 22, followed by a Newcastle season, before playing at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from July 5, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne from July 19, Civic Theatre, Auckland from August 11 and Jupiters Theatre, Gold Coast from August 25.

Humphries’ famous alter egos, who include the Honorable Sir Les Patterson, and Moonee Ponds’ legendary housewife, Dame Edna Everage, are not officially retiring, but Australia’s greatest Dame insists that this will be her final tour.

A NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS All subscribers are entitled to our new electronic edition in addition to the print version. Ensure sure your email address is correct at www.stagewhispers.com.au/contact 4 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Phillips said Geoffrey Rush was “born to play Pseudolus”, the central character in a comical farce played at breakneck speed, revolving around a cunning slave who will stop at nothing to win his freedom.

‘Forum’ is limited to a twelve week Melbourne-only season because of theatre availability and Rush’s schedule. The full cast will be announced mid-late July.

Stage Briefs

Photo: Lucy Graham.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 5

See How They Run For Agatha’s Comfy Slippers

It’s been seen by more than ten million people since it opened in London sixty years ago. When the rights to The Mousetrap were released, amateur theatres in Australia and New Zealand got the first bite of the very juicy cheese. It’s no mystery why professional producers have now taken over. Frank Hatherley reports that some theatres would kill to get the rights.

unbroken performances, officially the longest running show of any kind in history.

The fortunate owner of this dramatic goldmine is Christie’s grandson Matthew Prichard, who received it as granny’s gift for his ninth birthday. Guided by ultra-savvy producer Peter Saunders, he moulded a legend — the Agatha Christie play that will never be made into a film; that is so famous you can’t possibly visit London’s West End without seeing When I saw Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in 1978 I was amazed at its it.

For 59 years Prichard permitted only dusty English plainness. That night’s audience at London’s pretty, if severely one other production at any venue in the world to be running concurrently cramped, St Martin’s Theatre was either from out-of-town or from way- with London. But to celebrate a 2012 Diamond Jubilee, second only in overseas. When the murderer was historical significance to a certain regal revealed their gasps were multisomeone, the rules of Mousetrap accented. I remember thinking: could engagement were scrapped big time. this straightforward, subtlety-free, Australian and New Zealand stock-character-filled whodunit really have been running since 1952? For 26 amateur/community theatre groups were invited to stage productions of years? the iconic play during a strictly limited So much for my brash young time frame — between 1 September opinion. Next November 25 the same 2011 and 31 December 2013. A production will click past 60 years of 6 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

stampede for licences began immediately.

Then it was announced that a major 60-week UK tour was to begin in September.

And, amazingly, 60 professional licences were to be made available worldwide. Soon productions were announced in countries ranging from China to Venezuela.

A team of producers emerged as the Australian winners. Their Mousetrap, directed by Gary Young and with some excellent local actors (including Robert Alexander, Travis Cotton and Linda Cropper), will play four weeks in Sydney from June 30, then a week in Canberra, two in Perth, five in Melbourne and three in Adelaide, ending October 28.

This announcement brought to a screeching halt the many slowermoving amateur companies still queuing eagerly for their licences. Now they will just have to wait for the touring professionals to finish delivering the famous finale twist.

Online extras!

Watch The Mousetrap’s 60th anniversary trailer by scanning the QR code or visiting http://youtu.be/r_-425-vcBM

Woy Woy Little Theatre’s production

People came for the curiosity value, I think. But the actors certainly enjoyed playing to full houses.”

As it happens, my local community theatre was among the first wave of amateur productions last November.

How soon did they apply?

“Oh, immediately,” says Barbara Hickey, current President of the Woy Woy Little Theatre on the NSW Central Coast. “We do an Agatha Christie every couple of years because she’s so popular. The very instant Dominie Drama released the amateur rights we just applied straight away.

“The Mousetrap was a very enjoyable experience for us. We played to full houses the whole season. It was so thoroughly booked we put on two extra performances. We even let people in to see the dress rehearsal.

Can you believe that? We had a full house for the dress rehearsal!”

“Mind you...” Her enthusiasm pauses. “I don’t think it’s a good play,” she confides. “It’s so old fashioned.

Louise Withers, co-producer of the professional tour, is unapologetic. “It’s absolutely normal that once the professional licence is out all amateur licences are withdrawn,” she says. “It’s to make sure the market isn’t oversupplied.

“We’re very proud that ours is an Australian production with an Australian Cast and Australian design team.”

Is she nervous about the play being considered ‘old fashioned’?

“Not at all,” she declares. “In fact I think that’s to be totally celebrated. It’s lovely to be able to go into a theatre and, while you haven’t seen the play before, to a degree you know what to expect — a true ‘drawing room drama’ set in 1952 when it was written, and absolutely true to the spirit of the famous piece. It’ll be like a pair of comfy slippers.

“Actually, we’re finding there are a lot of people in their twenties that are absolute Christie lovers as well, so it’s

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 7

not just about a more mature market; it’s absolutely a market that spans all ages. That’s the glory of it really.”

Director Gary Young is also aware of the storming successes enjoyed by recent amateur Mousetraps. His sister reported that her local Tamworth Dramatic Society had, according to local paper The Northern Daily Reader, ‘broken all records’ with their recent March/April production.

Did he feel any urge to update the Christie original?

“The charm of it is to keep it exactly in its period,” he says. “It doesn’t lend itself to updating because it relies so much on the house being completely isolated. As soon as you bring it forward in time you’re in the land of mobile phones and the whole isolation element goes out the window.”

Will he and his actors resist the urge to ‘camp it up’, just a little?

“I won’t be going for laughs,” Young assures me. “The 1950s characters do have their own amusing eccentricities, so there will be wry humour throughout, but it’s actually quite a dark story.

Christie based it on an actual case [of childhood abuse] which has tremendous emotional weight.

“It’s all about masks and subtexts. My plan is to treat it like the analysis of a real case. The audience is building their own kind of white board in their mind as all the pieces are presented. You have to be careful not to reveal

8 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

too much, just the right information — which may be correct or may be a red herring. The delight for the audience is trying to sort it all out.”

Does he expect snobbery from theatre critics and the arty press?

“Certainly there will be two camps on this,” he says.

“There’ll be those who will go ‘oh, this is such an old play, why are they bothering to do it?’, and there’ll be those who’ll embrace it and go ‘Christie is the finest writer ever in this genre and this piece hasn’t run for 60 years in London for no reason’. We will just have to do a version for Australia that’s as entertaining and intriguing as we can make it.”

Agatha Christie’s technical whodunit skills are unsurpassed. Her magic is both obvious and baffling. Who would have thought back in 1952 that now, 60 years later, her very name would still guarantee international film and television ratings.

Amateur theatre groups still waiting in line will just have to wait. Louise Withers has plenty of plans for what could happen after the current ‘comfy slippers’ tour ends.

“It would be fantastic to take it on a regional tour to the rest of Australia,” she enthuses. “The only capital city in the theatre market we don’t get to this time is Brisbane, so we’re hoping to do a season in Brisbane later and then maybe in 2014 go to other regional markets.”

To Interval Or Not To Interval explosions or gags.

I believe intervals are great moments to allow an audience a release or to signify a change of time or allow the audience to consider the ideas of the previous act before launching into the next series of ideas.

That is the question posed by the Queensland Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Wesley Enoch in his blog.

While the QTC is out to trim as many intervals as possible, our Facebook followers disapproved due mainly to a ‘wee’ problem.

It is a growing trend across the world to do away with the interval between acts in the theatre. At QTC this year we have about half of shows with intervals and half without (in fact we even had a show with two intervals). In some ways film has taught an audience a lot about how best to experience theatre. An average film is about 90 -110 mins long with many substantial films tipping the two hour mark. The arc of a story is served by the uninterrupted experience of sitting in the cinema or theatre and feeling the craft of the storytelling weave together the elements of production.

In Shakespeare’s day theatre was closer to three or four hours long and done in day light in the open air theatres like the Globe and the Rose and the Curtain, without an interval.

For many, plays were experienced from the pit standing shoulder to shoulder with people who talked or sold oranges and generally milled around.

Shakespeare’s plays were structured so that you had comic interludes or action scenes at strategic moments to keep your interest and create a rhythm for the audience. Many modern films do the same thing pacing out when to have special effects, car chases,

What our Facebook followers said.

Wayne Smith: My 'middle -age' bladder' demands an interval, otherwise we'd never last the distance!

Jacki Kelly: Clearly an idea put forward by someone who has never seen a show whilst pregnant!

Alison Albany: I don't like being in a situation where I'm focusing on how much I need to pee and if it's possible to slip out, rather than on the show and the performance.

Adam Ring: The issue of seat comfort should also be considered... an audience full of people continually shifting butt positions after 45 mins due to uncomfortable seats is distracting not only to the rest of the audience, but to the actors on stage. It lowers everyone's enjoyment of the performance.

Haki Crisden: If it's a lively, 90minute musical, I'd say do away with the break but, as much as I love Les Misérables, I want an interval when I see it. Three+ hours with no chance to get fresh air into your lungs and move around is too conducive to dozing off.

Lauren Farquar: Doing away with an interval means the impact is lessened for the often show stopping close of first act or opening of the second act. What would Into the Woods or Phantom of the Opera be without the suspense at the end of act one?

Craig Stewart: The company/theatre should respect the authors. If the creators intended there to be an interval there should be one.

David Hines: Having just completed a play in which I was on stage for the entire duration, and in a role which

was quite emotionally charged, there is no way I'd want to do it without an intermission. Also the intermission allows people to reflect on and discuss Act 1. As Craig says, the author structures the show around a break as well. In the play I was just in there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of Act One which had the audience buzzing in the foyer. Why on earth would you want to lose that?

Brett Riesling: An interval often means that the venue & production make more money in food, beverage and merchandise sales, thus the production pays less in venue hire, allowing for a lower ticket price for that show than would be possible with no interval. Obviously a comedian, one act play, shorter musical etc is better without interval for artistic and other reasons. A show written without a break generally leaves a gaping hole when an interval is added. We all have experienced this, I'm sure! Everything in moderation. :-) Sherryl Spencer: From a financial point of view, intervals give struggling theatre companies an extra opportunity to make some cash on selling drinks and nibbles, rather than having to hike up ticket prices in order to cover the costs associated with staging a show.

John Willis-Richards: If you want audiences to give actors attention you need to give them an opportunity to stretch their legs. Failing that you lose most of your audience.

Byron Kolln: There's almost always a solid dramatic reason why most plays have an intermission - let's not try reinventing or changing something that works.

Eric James: This must be another accountants' decision - one who doesn't drink and have to suffer 2-3 hours without a pit-stop. Maybe the bar-takings are not enough nowadays to justify paying staff? Anyway, definitely a poor decision, detracting from the audience's 'theatre experience'.

Sharleyne Diamond: Sometimes if the show is crap you need that interval just to will yourself to stay till the end. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 9

David Harris is currently playing Fiyero in a production of Wicked in Korea, following seasons in Singapore and Australia. He’s just released his second album and in October he’s heading home to play Emmett in Legally Blonde.

On a brief return to Sydney David Harris reflected on his career and the terror of the top note with Neil Litchfield.

went on to have great success, you look back and say, I should have savoured that much more.

SW: Did you have a sense at the time that The Boy From Oz would be something special?

DH: I’d been singing Peter Allen stuff for years, so I loved the material. I didn’t know anything about the business side of showbiz, but I knew we were involved in something special.

I auditioned for the actual David Harris: I started in musical theatre by chance. I show, but I was awful. I flunked didn’t get into WAAPA or NIDA, out. So I went on a cruise ship but I was doing some club spots contract. I knew I was on the B when I sent off my video to a few List for The Boy From Oz, if agents. Only one agent called me. someone turned it down. To He said, ‘I’m not going to take whoever you on, but I noticed some Peter Allen songs on your video. They’re workshopping a new musical about Peter Allen’s life. I can put you in touch with them if you like.’

I was this fresh young kid from the Hunter Valley, and I hadn’t lived in Sydney before. I got an audition for this Boy From Oz workshop. Suddenly I was at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and working with Gale Edwards and all these people I’d seen on stage. I was getting drafts. Every day there was a that was, thank you new coloured piece of paper; very much. I was offered my workshop this, workshop that. ensemble plot. I had to pay to get Stage Whispers: What was out of my ship contract – I think it that experience like for you? was about $7,000, which back DH: I remember being totally then was a lot of money. The rest nervous going into the room. is history. It lasted two years, Every day there was a new dance which I consider my training routine, or ‘forget what you did years. yesterday, we’re going to learn a SW: When did your career new song.’ So I really don’t take its first big leap? remember anything other than DH: I was cast in my first flying by the seat of my pants, principal role in The Full Monty. but also, at the same time, having Everyone knows the fate of that everyone sitting around in a circle show, but it was such a beautiful discussing the show; about what show to be involved in for the we actually thought. I just sat and limited time. listened to everyone, because I It was just such a bundle of thought ‘I’m too fresh to give an emotions in this short period. It opinion,’ but it was those things, had a beautiful, gentle storyline, of being in on the ground level. it was fun to do, it was fun to Years later I realised that hear the audience reactions and process hardly ever happens any take them on that journey. It more, and to have that as my very wasn’t just a strip show; it was first entry into professional music about these characters who had theatre, in a musical that then 10 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

very different backgrounds and stories to tell.

SW: After that small leap, what was the next big career step?

DH: Miss Saigon. When I first moved down to Sydney from the Hunter Valley, I got a job ushering at the Capitol Theatre when it was on originally. I watched the show umpteen dozen times, and thought I would love to play that role (Chris – the young romantic GI) and be in that show.

Then doing the role, I conquered, and sometimes I didn’t conquer; I got trapped I suppose, and sunk into a bit of a hole doing it. It’s a beast of a show; a dark, gritty, anxious show. I was a ball of anxiety the whole 15 months. After that I needed time out from the industry. I didn’t love singing or performing any more.

Part of my first album was falling in love with singing again because I was burnt. I didn’t enjoy going out on stage some nights, because I was petrified. When that orchestra started, because I didn’t know what’s going to come out vocally. That’s so scary, but at the same time, it will be probably the biggest learning curve I’ve had.

The director wanted it as gritty and real as possible, which is great if you’re doing it once or twice, but if you’re backing it up eight times a week your voice conks out. Singing that material was the top of my range, and I knew that going in, but becoming very anxious about it didn’t help at all, and the first place it goes to is the voice.

I’d go out on stage thinking those 2000 people know exactly how Why, God Why should be sung, and if I didn’t sing it that way I failed.

I was a year into my contract when the resident director at the time, Gary Young, took me into his office – it was before a matinee. I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going to come out today,

The The

Terror Of e Top Note

Up close with the elegant boy from Maitland, David Harris.

Online extras!

Meet David Harris and the Singapore cast of Wicked. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/hA40S_awWi8 www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 11

I’m really scared.’ And he said, ‘Well do your B show.’ I went, ‘What B show.’

He said, ‘You can’t possibly hope to do an A show, every show, eight times a week.’

You release that pressure, and as soon as that happened, and I allowed myself to think, well, if I come off that note earlier, or I cheat to get through today, then so be it, and not to bash, bash, bash yourself if you don’t do it.

That was a big turning point – that I could have a B show, and the audience knew no different. They still cried, they still cheered at the end, they were still moved, but I took the pressure off myself. So that was a big thing to discover.

SW: So your B show is more like an A minus?

DH: Yes, I’d like to think of it as an A minus.

I’ll always be known as a perfectionist. It always had to be right, and if it wasn’t I’d berate myself. I had to release that big time – it’s just not healthy.

SW: After Miss Saigon you’d fallen out of love with singing and performing. Has that experience changed what you will now take on as a performer?

DH: Yeah, and that’s why for two or so years after Miss Saigon I chose shows that were fun – Guttenberg, Little Women, Love Bites and Breast Wishes – things that made me have fun during a show, rather than dark energy. I wanted to get back to being silly David backstage

12 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

and having fun with the cast. I also recorded my first album in that period.

SW: How did that first album help you fall in love with singing again?

DH: It was just literally being around a piano again, with Max Lambert, and singing and telling those stories. It wasn’t about the big band sound, it wasn’t about bells and whistles; it was simply about piano and voice.

SW: Tell me about your second album.

DH: I used to sing a lot of those songs driving down the F3 freeway to go to RSL clubs for my talent quests.

These songs have been part of my life for many years.

SW: Do you have a favourite ?

DH: I love the version of The Impossible Dream we did, and I loved collaborating with the girls. I’ve loved working with my co-stars – when Laurie did the Miss Saigon tune on the first album, and Gemma, Lucy and Kelly on the second one. I love interacting with someone, whether you’re on stage or in the studio. I like that energy, feeding off each other.

SW: Hasn’t The Impossible Dream become the ultimate musical theatre cliché, thanks to every man and his dog performing it?

DH: I love the arrangement. It builds. It feels like it just escalates and escalates. It’s a ride to sing on that too, and it just builds and builds, so it’s energetic and spiritual, and it just lifts as you sing it.

SW: So on to Wicked - you didn’t come into the show at the start.

DH: I nearly did. I was down to the final auditions originally and just missed it.

It’s a show I always wanted to do. I saw it in New York when it was in previews. I saw the billboard as we were coming into JFK airport. We got the final tickets for that night and I was totally swept away by it. I swore, whenever this musical comes to Australia, I want to be involved. It’s one of those career boxes I’ve been able to tick.

SW: How was it stepping into the show?

DH: About 12 or 14 people joined when I did, so there was a huge rehearsal period. All the newbies started, then the returning ensemble members came in, then the principals, so it was like a tiered rehearsal process.

SW: What was it like when you finally got on stage?

DH: There was no opening night (due to the flood delay in Brisbane affecting QPAC); the first audience was our opening night, which was great, because they were fully supportive.

John Frost came out before the show and said, ‘you’re our opening night audience, finally we’re up.’ And because Queensland, needed entertainment; they were craving for it by that time, the Brisbane season was a great experience, and the audiences lapped it up – especially that first audience.

because we know each other. So it makes the creative process a lot quicker, easier and free-er.

SW: So are there little shorthand things, where a look says it all?

DH: Certainly between Lucy and I. Rob and I haven’t worked all that much together yet, but I’m sure that will quickly develop.

SW: What first attracted you to Legally Blonde?

DH: It’s a classic story, and there’s a familiarity to it. The songs are high energy, high camp, but then, the characters are believable, and that the audience cares for those characters and

which was just draping off me. My drama teacher gave it to me for a 21st Birthday present. When I returned to Newcastle for a concert at the Civic Theatre I came out in that same lycra costume and did the song as Superman.

It was very cathartic to go back to my home town, and to be wearing the same Superman costume, decades later. My first experience in that costume was a harrowing one in front of a school assembly audience, and it’s now in a show of which I chose to make it part.

The song I sang in it was: I can’t stand to fly, I'm not that naïve I'm just out to find, The better part of me, I’m more than a bird, I’m more than a plane …

Then in the show I talk about growing up, and school, and how all I thought about was flying away from SW: What has it been like travelling their plights. So fun as it is, and as up with the show in Singapore? and energized, it’s got to come from a that school audience, and being DH: Singapore was great to place of truth, so people are moved somewhere else. experience but is culturally different. and care – otherwise it’s just a bit of I think it’s different now, with all Five months was a bit of a slog. They fluff. the XFactors and the Idols; being on TV were very quiet a lot of the time, till the I know everyone’s invested for it not is cool now, and it’s celebrated to do end of the show, which is contrary to to be a bit of fluff and floss and candy. that, whereas when I was growing up Australia. And in Korea it will be very Then there are some beautiful scenes you just didn’t do that. It was daggy. different again, because it’s subtitled, and beautiful songs and some fun But it’s great that I’ve stuck out and if they are going to react, they’ll be stuff. something that I love doing, and that I a beat or two later.

I’m looking forward to having that trusted that instinct of what I wanted We’ve also noticed that in the kiss journey of being stupid, silly and fun. to do, and I could go back to my home at the end of As Long as You’re Mine, My character is very much straighttown and say, ‘I stuck it out, this is who the duet that Elphaba and Fiyero sing, laced, but he can break out in a little I am, this is the life I’ve chosen, and I in Australia we’d always get a bit of a moment. He’s probably a little bit more love doing it.’ wolf whistle or a cheer when we finally David Harris than Fiyero is. I was that kissed. Sometimes we didn’t get nerdy, geeky schoolboy; the school applause at the end of the show or captain, and the one who was studying anything in Singapore. It’s just that in hard in the library. Not that I did Singapore they don’t do public displays anything with it; I went to Uni for three of affection. days and then quit. So I relate more to SW: Looking forward to Legally this character, Emmett, than Fiyero.

Blonde, and working with Lucy Durack SW: Did you do musical theatre in again. It’s become a bit of a Wicked school? alma mater too.

DH: I got roped into the school DH: It has, hasn’t it, and Rob Mills musical by my English / Drama teacher. and I have done two little one-off gigs, No-one else was silly enough to do it, so I said OK, I’ll do it. I got ribbed a lot. where we sang together. I’m looking forward to working with him. He’s a My school was about the football very down-to-earth guy. team, so when people say ‘wow, SW: So the chemistry is right? school were the best days of your life, I DH: That’s the good thing. There don’t look at it that way.

The first school musical I did was are no walls to be broken down, or, ‘how do we tiptoe around this?’ Those Man of Steel, (aka Superman). I was so walls are down already in a sense, skinny, and I had this lycra costume, www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 13

Tim Winton’s ‘Dirt Music’ on stage as ‘Signs of Life’ Tim Winton is becoming the new David Williamson of Australian theatre. Adaptations of his novels are best sellers on the stage. First there was Cloudstreet, adapted by Nick Enright, then Rising Water last year, and in 2012 Black Swan Theatre Company’s production of Signs of Life, touring Western Australia before it arrives at the Sydney Opera House in November. Constantine Costi speaks to the Director Kate Cherry.

Signs of Life, set in a desiccated, mysterious and uncertain rural landscape, is not without a sense of irreverence and humour.

“One of the things I particularly love about Tim’s work is that one minute it’s sacred, then the next it’s profane. That he goes into the deep, the dark, and the unknown. But later he laughs and pokes fun at it and ourselves, and basically tells fart jokes,” Kate Cherry explains. (Cherry adds there are no fart jokes in Signs of Life.)

Rather, the play is infused with a sense of magic realism and humour to lighten an atmosphere that is psychological, desperate and dying. Winton, the great Australian writer of modern times, launches Georgie Jutland, from his novel Dirt Music, into a new world. Cherry’s direction frames Georgie’s journey as a search for human connection and hope.

“Georgie (played by Helen Morse) is experiencing intense loneliness in a dried up landscape. She comes to terms with having strangers arrive at her doorstep late at night, and they come from a very different world. It later becomes clear that Georgie and her visitors have a great deal in common,” Cherry says.

The strangers are Bender (Tom E. Lewis) and Mona (Pauline Whyman), an indigenous brother and sister. They emerge from the

14 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

night, signalling their arrival with the sounds of arguing voices, car doors slamming and weeping.

They are out of petrol and have been stranded in their car for days. Pauline is crying behind the glass of the passenger’s seat. Middle class Georgie is eventually confronted with the brutal reality of Bender’s and Mona’s lives. They were children of the Stolen Generation.

Cherry tackled this pressing and difficult part of Australia’s history with a sensitive and empathetic approach.

She explains that actress Pauline Whyman is a member of the Stolen Generation.

“The indigenous people who are on stage are part of that generation. Tom Lewis and Pauline are a living embodiment of people who have gone on to become incredible artists in very difficult times for their particular culture. And it was part of Pauline’s childhood and therefore it is part of the ongoing experience of bringing this production to life.”

Winton was also an active presence in the rehearsal room and sought to deal with indigenous issues in a collaborative way.

“Tim’s been very attuned to anything the actors have to say, particularly the indigenous actors. He always strives for authenticity. And it seems to me one of the things that makes him such a brilliant Australian writer is that he mythologises our authentic experiences,” says Cherry Social issues and environmental degradation seem inherently political themes. Cherry handles them gently without a pointed political bent.

“Artists want to ask fundamental human questions. They want to meet the human experience with compassion and ask the tough questions of themselves and others. Tim’s work is never dogmatic. He can put forward many different points of view; many different ways of understanding this beautiful country of ours.”

“There’s never a sense that he wants the audience to go away with one point of view. Signs of Life comes across as deeply moving piece about four people who find a way to

meet each other in human terms by speaking to one another from their hearts. That’s deeper and more important than anything political,” she says.

Cherry and Helen Morse, who stars as Georgie, have a long history of staggering work together including The Woman in the Window (MTC), The Breath of Life (Hit Productions) and The Year of Magical Thinking (Black Swan).

“Helen is an amazing actress who’s breathtaking in Signs of Life. She’s quite extraordinary.”

Signs of Life opened in Albany, and will embark on a tour of regional Western Australia before playing in Perth and in November the Sydney Opera House. Cherry says that despite this sprawling tour, every Australian will understand and care about this story.

“The themes of the play are universal. Questions of loneliness, alienation, the need to communicate with the other in order to understand ourselves better, the human desire to belong, yet also our desire to navigate unknown places. That’s what makes Tim such an important writer.

His work transcends class or region. He finds his way into the hearts of many Australians by portraying us truthfully.”

In the desolate world of the play, where the past, a dead thing, shapes the dried out and seemingly hopeless present, where are the signs of life in Signs of Life?

“We can be in a drought, or on the cusp of losing the land, and yet there’s life that still runs through it. And when you most feel a sense of loss and isolation, a breeze can go past, and you can remember that you are alive. There’s the inherent beauty and excitement of life in that.”

Online extras!

Go behind the scenes of Black Swan’s rehearsals. Simply scan the code or visit http://bit.ly/LCF4pl

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 15

Die Young And Have A Good-Looking Corpse It’s a sad but familiar story. The young rock star whose flame burns out due to living life in the fast lane. In the case of legendary musician Gram Parsons he literally did end up in flames, albeit after he died. His life is being portrayed in Melbourne in a new show performed by Jordie Lane. Lucy Graham reports.

16 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Online extras!

Download free songs from the show.

Simply scan the QR code or visit http://bit.ly/M7ZOtj

Jordie Lane, the 27 year-old Australian singer-songwriter, has put his writing life in Los Angeles on hold to prepare to play legendary musician Gram Parsons in Grievous Angel: The Legend of Gram Parsons.

Playing Parsons is close to Lane’s heart. Describing the opportunity as “an honour and privilege”, Lane has taken inspiration from Parson’s refusal to let “musical stereotypes get in the way of making good music”.

Not only is Lane a year older than Gram Parsons was when he overdosed on morphine and tequila, but much of his latest album was written in Room 8 of the hotel at the edge of the Mojave Desert where Parsons died.

Gram Parsons’ life and death reads like a Greek tragedy.

His father committed suicide when Gram was 12 years old and his mother drank herself to death five years later. His stepfather, Bob Parsons, had Gram's younger sister, Avis, committed to a mental institution, and she was later killed in a boat crash. Bob died of cirrhosis of the liver.

Parsons was not a star in his lifetime, but the bizarre theft and burning of his body in the desert by his manager Phil Kaufmann made him an overnight sensation. Kaufmann was charged with stealing the coffin – but not the body. His defence was that he attempted to cremate Parsons as per his wishes.

It’s an angle that annoys Lane, but is unavoidably part of the story.

“It is dramatic, and some people tend to focus on that more. In the play it’s not sensationalised at all.”

Grievous Angel: The Legend of Gram Parsons, set on the night before Parsons died, is written and directed by Michael Bate, who conducted the last interview in March 1973, six months before.

The script is principally a chronological monologue with songs, in a live gig format.

I press Lane on how he’d describe his own music, but he is resistant.

“I always like to call myself a singer songwriter. I don’t want to not write a reggae song because I’m not a reggae artist. Everyone wants to put a label on you so they can sell it. People need things handed to them in a way they can understand. Folk music is one word I would use because I like the idea of telling stories. Stylistic sound is not really my focus. It’s more how I tell the story.”

But what is it that Lane finds so inspirational in Parsons’ musical legacy.

“Firstly it was the sound of his voice. He came in there with this velvety [voice], a bit raspy. At times his voice would fall off the note. There is such an honesty and fragility in that, and I relate to that being a person in the world, and being vulnerable. It’s all about telling an honest tale.” “[Parsons believed] you shouldn’t be afraid to blend styles, or box it up or pigeon hole it. If they were good they could work together.”

One tires of hearing about talented artists who live a life of self-destruction, never fully realising their potential. There are too many of them, and to my mind they are held uncomfortably high as examples.

In Parsons case, he has been the subject of five biographies, four tribute albums and a documentary film, Fallen Angel. The term Angel troubles me, because by all accounts he was as flawed as the next person.

That said, Parsons’ influence on artists is as diverse as Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Norah Jones, Beck, Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, REM and the Black Crowes. One hopes when Grievous Angel opens on 20th July at the Athenaeum Theatre it will be a celebration of his creative energy, and not the glorification and ritualisation of tragic human mistakes.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 17

Opera Australia's La Bohème.

Photo: Branco Gaica.

Hits and Misses of 2011 Simon Phillips gave the Melbourne Theatre Company a parting gift, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton had their first setback, in the West Black Swan Theatre were the biggest improvers, while the floods had a disastrous impact on The Queensland Theatre Company. David Spicer has the lowdown on which Australian theatre companies boomed and which went into the red in 2011.

Australian written plays did well throughout the year. The Gift by Joanna Murray-Smith sold 20,000 and even locally written The Joy of Text blitzed dark Broadway import The Behanding of Spokane.

The season left the MTC with a surplus of around a quarter of a million dollars. The only real disappointment was the poor attendance at The Wharf Review – a Sydney import.

In recent years at the Sydney One thing publicly funded Theatre Company, Cate Blanchett’s companies can’t avoid is the annual almost annual foray onto the stage and audit, which exposes which plays, the stars she and co-artistic director Andrew Upton attract, have led to musicals and operas were well huge surpluses for the company. attended and which tanked.

In 2011 they went off the boil.

The overall trend is that strong Australia drama, especially Tim Winton Subscriptions fell by adaptations or David 17 per cent, and paid Williamson attendances were down 23 per cent. premieres, will The company made boost the coffers, as does an operating loss Shakespeare or a more than classic with a $200,000 compared to an star. lanie s and Me in g ig almost one million The best H Henry . oleby as ygmalion P 's Robert C TC Q season on paper dollar surplus in Eliza in netta as was Simon Phillips’ Za 2010. Only two of the final year as Artistic plays in their season were as popular as the Melbourne Theatre Company’s six Director at the Melbourne Theatre best sellers.

Company. Geoffrey Rush helped the It would seem that ignoring MTC sell a whopping 37,000 tickets for its production of The Importance of Australian plays is bad for business.

Being Earnest. Also popular was David Only two of the plays in the season Williamson’s Don Parties On, Tim were locally written. Of them, Zebra!, Winton’s Rising Water, Hamlet starring starring Brian Brown, did sell well, Ewen Leslie and Next to Normal. Each attracting 18,000 patrons even though it got poor reviews. sold around 24,000 tickets.

18 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

A number of plays selected were never likely to be popular.

A case in point was Baal by Bertolt Brecht. It contained nudity, violence, simulated sex scenes, drug references and very Steve coarse language. Only 8000 yllie & - Dan W idrun Lohr. ll o D people bought tickets. It struck 17th : He r of the d. Photo Summe Le Marquan me when I read about this, that this slot could better have been given to an original Australian play.

Cate Blanchett’s appearance in Gross and Klein attracted 29,000 ticket sales compared to her appearance in Uncle Vanya in 2010 which sold 44,000 tickets.

But despite this setback the STC will be in a much stronger financial position when they leave at the end of next year.

The biggest loss was taken by Cate Blanchet t in STC’s Gros s und Klein (Big an The Queensland Theatre d Small).

Photor: Lisa To Geoffrey Rush Company. masetti.

The January floods meant that staging of Puccini’s La Bohème, the QTC suffered a disastrous start to 2011. Its performance studio, set designer turned artistic director directed by Gale Edwards. Set in the seating bank and artist facilities were Ralph Myers was a cracker. Seven decadent cabarets of 1920s Berlin, the extensively damaged and it also lost productions were classified as ‘sell production sold $6.9 million worth of many costume, prop and furniture outs.’ Summer of the 17th Doll, The tickets in Sydney and Melbourne. It accounted for 20 per cent of total box items.

Seagull and The Wild Duck were the Its second show of the year, most popular. office takings for 2011 ($35.5m Pygmalion, was due to open in March However the company’s profit was compared to $34.2m in 2010). in the Playhouse at QPAC but had to trimmed as it began a new policy of It made up for sparse attendences be postponed until November. increasing the wages of artists. at Handel’s rarely performed Partenope The company still managed to sell Previously everyone at the company and American composer Carlisle Floyd’s was paid the same, regardless as to more than 125,000 tickets but Of Mice and Men. registered an operating deficit of whether they were on stage or Popularism is paying off in 2012. $881,000. managing the bar. Creatives have been The company sold more than $6 Top of the class for most improved offered a modest pay increase. million dollars worth of tickets to La results must go to the Black Swan Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre Traviata on Sydney Harbour. It sold also had a good year. Attendances Theatre in Perth. Paid attendances more than 40,000 tickets with at least increased by sixty percent and income averaged just on seventy-seven percent half the audience new to Opera. almost doubled from the previous year. and revenue rose by No doubt Opera Australia hope The main reason was that the company seven percent. Its they will return for an encore sometime moved into the brand spanking new biggest hit was soon.

State Theatre Centre of Western Namatjira, an acclaimed play on Australia. Patrons must have liked the seats better! the life of Australia's The season began with Boundary first Aboriginal citizen and Street, an original play by Reg Cribb, most famous indigenous artist. with music by trumpeter James Opera Australia also had Morrision. A Midsummer Night’s something to sing about this financial Dream, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the year.

The first season programmed by latest adaptation from Tim Winton saw most houses more than seventy Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini saw percent full. the company make a profit of more In Sydney the hardest place to buy a than $300,000 following two years of losses. Credited with the ticket was at Belvoir. The first year turnaround was the new under the stewardship of 31 year old

Simone Young

An Audience with Simone Young In August, Brisbane audiences are being treated to some of the finest German Opera, Music and Ballet from the nation’s second largest city, Hamburg. Australian conductor Simone Young is wielding the baton for a concert performance of Wagner’s Das Reingold with the Hamburg State Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra. Peter Pinne caught up with Simone Young on the eve of her return.

also been to create opportunities for companies like ours to connect with Brisbane companies and artists. Through my discussions with him, and my good friend Leo Schofield and producer Ian McRae, we decided to tour all three renowned Hamburg companies for the first season in the QPAC International Series.

PP: What made you select this program of events?

SY: The Ring has been one of the core projects that I Peter Pinne: The Hamburg Season is an exciting time for have developed in Hamburg – our recordings of these 4 operas have been praised very highly in the critical press. An Queensland and opera in Australia. How did it come amazing number of Australian Wagner-lovers visited about?

Simone Young: The Chief Executive of QPAC, John Hamburg to see our Ring cycle, so it made sense to bring Kotzas, is passionate about bringing the world’s best artists one of the Ring operas – Rheingold – here.

PP: What is it about Wagner’s music that attracts you? to Brisbane. His vision through the international series has SY: There is something always thrilling about the huge dimensions of a Wagner opera. It is passion on a grand scale, an enormous architectural structure clothed in glorious melody.

PP: When did you discover your passion for Wagner?

SY: In my twenties. Stuart Challender encouraged my interest and it quickly turned into something of an obsession. When I worked with Daniel Barenboim in Bayreuth I was able to deepen my knowledge of the scores, the traditions, the history of these works.

PP: Why did you choose Das Rheingold and not one of Get noticed on the Stage Whispers the other titles in the cycle to be performed in concert?

SY: Humour is not often something one connects with website with a premium listing Wagner, but Das Rheingold is in fact a rather witty opera.

Stage Whispers Directory Premium listing: $20

www.stagewhispers.com.au/directory-central

20 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

It’s compact – 2 ½ hours straight through – and runs the gamut of brilliance (Rhine Maidens), wit and schadenfreude (Loge), noble visions (Wotan), brutality (the giants), visionary warning (Erda) and the beginning of megalomania – Wotan and the procession into Valhalla. A great way to start! It is also an “ensemble” opera – which means that I can showcase the talents of the singers who make up the ensemble of the Hamburg State Opera.

PP: The cost of mounting a season such as The Hamburg Season is enormous, especially when it is only being seen in one state and not touring Australia. How has the season been funded?

SY: The Hamburg Season will be the first season in QPAC’s new International Series. This series was launched in September 2011 by the Queensland Premier and is supported through a significant four year partnership with Events Queensland. I understand in financial terms, the partnership is one of the most significant programming partnerships in QPAC’s history. The Hamburg Season has also been supported by a number of corporate sponsors.

PP: How many people – cast and musicians – make up the company that is coming from Hamburg?

SY: Don’t be surprised to hear a lot of German being spoken around the tourist areas during those weeks in August. An orchestra of around 120, thirteen soloists, and some supporting staff – quite an entourage!

PP: How many local performers will be added?

SY: To deliver the powerful chorus in the Mahler Symphony No. 2 Resurrection performance on 24 August

Hamburg Ballet’s Nijinsky. Photo: Holger Badekow.

we will appoint 3 local choir professionals who will in turn select and lead up to 130 local choral performers. We will also be securing up to seven young male ballet artists for support roles in the Hamburg Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

PP: Why did you choose Mahler’s Resurrection as the work to be done with the Hamburg Philharmonic? Does it hold a special significance for you?

SY: Mahler was chief conductor of this orchestra at the time he conceived the idea for his 2nd Symphony. It is a work which is intimately connected with the history of the city and orchestra, and as such, seemed the perfect choice.

It is also one of the most moving symphonic and choral works of the repertoire. We have just released a live recording of this symphony as well.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 21

ernachtstraum

t’s Ein Somm Hamburg Balle

er Badekow. . Photo: Holg

Online extras!

Simone Young discusses her latest role online. To watch it now, scan or visit http://youtu.be/3gs5vjnON6k

Simone Young with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra

PP: You have an outstanding international career yet you still find time to return to Australia and work here. What role does Australia play in your cultural life?

SY: I could not imagine Australia ceasing to play a role in my creative life. The light, the water, the humour and the self-irony – these are all Australian characteristics that are close to my heart and that feed my artistic interpretations.

PP: Do you believe a ‘cultural cringe’ still exists in Australia? Is it necessary for artists and musicians to gain experience internationally in 2012?

SY: Curiously, this is not a question that singers or musicians of other nationalities ask. I believe that it is very possible to gain a fine musical education in Australia and to work at an extremely high level. I do think, however, that musicians and singers who want to be the best that they can possibly be must be exposed to the best in the world – and that means travelling.

PP: What or who were your early musical influences?

SY: I was greatly fortunate to be guided by a number of fine and dedicated teachers. At the piano I developed a great love for the French impressionists and for Beethoven.

22 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Later, on joining The Australian Opera in ‘83 as a very young pianist, I worked together with Stuart Challender, Richard Bonynge, Carlo Felice Cillario and Charles Mackerras – they were all hugely positive influences and together were masters of the entire operatic repertoire.

PP: Following your outstanding success and prestigious awards as a conductor, having conquered the opera and musical stages of Europe, the U.S. and Australia, what comes next?

SY: Hopefully, a rest! I do intend to build more quiet times into my schedule in the future. I find myself at a personal and professional crossroads – I have been fortunate to achieve so much already. I plan to take time to deepen my knowledge of the enormous repertoire that I have accumulated, to continue to travel, learn new languages and develop and nourish my mind in order to give more meaning to the work that I am so privileged to do.

Stage on Disc

By Peter Pinne

Newsies (Alan Menken/Jack Feldman) (Ghostlight 8-4457). Disney’s stage adaptation of their flop 1992 movie has been turned into a Broadway blockbuster. Alan Menken and Jack Feldman’s score for the story of a newsboys strike set in New York in 1899 has an appropriate period sound, overlaid with a pop sensibility. All the well-known numbers from the film have been retained and augmented with three new songs, of which “The Bottom Line” sung by John Dossett as the publishing tycoon Joseph Pulitzer is particularly effective and clever. Jeremy Jordan is outstanding as Jack Kelly and leads the company in the rafter-raising ensemble pieces “Carrying the Banner”, “The World Will Know” and “Seize the Day”, and is achingly wistful on “Santa Fe”, the best number in the show. Harvey Fierstein’s reworked book has wisely given the Kelly character a love interest, Katherine (Kara Lindsay), which results in a new tender duet for the two lovers “Something to Believe In”. “King of New York” is done as a rousing tap-routine, while “That’s Rich”, sung by Capathia Jenkins as theatre-owner Madda, replaces Ann Margaret’s movie turn “My Lovey-Dovey Baby”.  Nick Jonas – Songs from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Frank Loesser) (Broadway Records BRCD00212E). Nick Jonas was a popular and personable replacement after Daniel Radcliffe and Darren Criss in the 2011 Broadway revival of Frank Loesser’s classic 60s musical. A five track CD of the title song, “The Company Way,” “Rosemary,” “I Believe In You” and “Brotherhood of Man” has just been released.

He doesn’t have Radcliffe’s edge, but it’s a vocally smooth performance and well worth a listen. Orchestra and cast remain the same as the Radcliffe version. 

Song” (Knickerbocker Holiday), while Bernadette Peters belts out “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Gypsy). The latter two are only on the Deluxe edition.  The Good Old Bad Old Days (Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse) (Kritzerland KR20019-9). The Original 1972 London Cast recording of Newley and Bricusse’s least successful musical has just been reissued for the first time on CD. Starring Newley, and despite being panned by the critics, the show hung around for nine months, helped by the infectious score. Once heard, it’s hard to forget the catchy title tune, or the toe-tapping “The People Tree”. The show’s biggest hit was “It’s a Musical World”, which Petula Clark catapulted to hit status. “The Fool Who Dared to Dream” sung by Newley tries hard to be another “What Kind of Fool Am I?” with mixed results, but Australian Terry Mitchell shows off some impressive pipes with his solo “I Do Not Love You”.  Dave Willetts – Once in a Lifetime (Various) (Stage Door 9030). Dave Willetts the 25th Anniversary Collection is a selection of unreleased and newly recorded studio tracks, reissues, plus eight live recordings. Undoubtedly Willetts is one of the best musical theatre performers to emerge from the West End in the last 25 years, as this CD demonstrates. His powerful voice is distinctive with a remarkable range. He starts with a driving “Once in a Lifetime” (Stop the World), and ends with a medley from The Phantom of the Opera. In between he partners Petula Clark on the title song from their 1990 West End outing Someone Like You, duets with Broadway star Carol Woods on a new song “We Love Who We Love”, and delivers a brilliant reading of the previously released “This Is the Moment” (Jekyll and Hyde). But the album is full of many magic moments including songs from Sweeney Todd, Matador, Brigadoon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Randy Newman’s Faust. 

Our Glad (Various) (Warner 5310512705). Like Don Bradman and Les Smash (Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman) Darcy, Gladys Moncrieff is part of (Columbia 88691-96624-2 /13 Tracks Australia’s DNA, so it’s hard to Standard Release/18 Tracks Deluxe understand how Warners could reissue Edition). The soundtrack from the this 2CD compilation without any liner television series about putting on a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe notes and no credits for her male co-stars, Colin Crane and John Valentine on four of is a collection of most of the songs that the tracks. The album features songs from her most popular have appeared in the first series. Marc successes, The Maid of the Mountains, Rio Rita, The Belle Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s original material stands out Of New York and The Merry Widow, plus tracks from Music as sharp, clever and very theatrical in this collection which in the Air, The Desert Song and Naughty Marietta amongst mixes pop with Broadway. “Let Me Be Your Star” is the others. Clean-up of the original 78rpm source material is obvious diva showstopper, sung by the show’s two leads good, with no trace of surface noise.  Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty, but also good are “Twentieth Century Fox Mambo”, “Let’s Be Bad” and Rating “History Is Made at Night”. The best and most memorable  Only for the enthusiast  Borderline song is the romantic ballad “Mr and Mrs Smith”. Angelica  Worth buying  Must have  Kill for it Huston sings a nicely melancholic “September www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 23

B

Broadway debut. In May Sheldon received the prestigious Broadway accolade of having his caricature hung on the wall of famed theatre-land restaurant Sardi’s. Priscilla is still playing at the Teatro Ciak, Milan. No casting has been announced for the U.S. tour which begins in December 2012. The London production at the Palace Theatre closed December 2011 after playing 1,160 performances.

By Peter Pinne Emmy Winner Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon in the hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory, stars for L.A. Theatre Works in Romantic musical Once was the big winner at the 66th their production of Eugene Ionesco’s classic French comedy annual Tony Awards hosted by Neil Patrick Harris at New Rhinoceros, commencing July 19 at the James Bridges York’s Beacon Theatre on Sunday June 10, with a tally of Theater, Los Angeles. He will play the central role of the eight awards for Best Musical, Best Actor (Steve Kazee), unhappy clerk Stanley Berenger. Parsons’ most recent stage Direction (John Tiffany) Best Book (Enda Walsh), set, work was in the Broadway revival of Harvey. lighting, sound design and orchestrations. Newsies, the Douglas Hodge will play the title role in the Broadway musical about the 1899 New York newsboys strike won revival of Cyrano de Bergerac, in the Roundabout Theatre two Tonys, for choreography and score. Audra McDonald Company production which begins previews at the won her fifth Tony as Bess as Best Actress in a Musical in American Airlines Theatre 14 September 2012, and opens the revival of Porgy and Bess, also recognized as Best on October 11. Jamie Lloyd will direct from a translation by Revival of a Musical. Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris took Ranjit Bolt. Hodge won a Tony Award for his performance out the best play award, the play’s sole award, with Peter of Albin in the most recent revival of Jerry Herman’s La Pan prequel Peter and the Starcatcher winning five Tonys Cage aux Folles, and received an Olivier nomination for his (Best Supporting Actor, costume, set, lighting and sound), work in last year’s revival of John Osborne’s play the biggest winner in the straight play categories. Director Inadmissable Evidence. He is currently directing Torch Song Mike Nichols, aged 80, took out his seventh Tony for Death Trilogy for the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. of a Salesman, also the winner for Best Revival.

On June 3, with 2,718 performances on the board, When Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical played Jersey Boys became the 19th longest-running show in its final performance at the Palace Theatre, New York, June Broadway history surpassing My Fair Lady which previously 24, 2012, it had clocked up 23 previews and 526 regular held the spot. The musical, which tells the story of the popperformances, making it the longest running Australian group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, opened on 6 musical in Broadway history. The show also featured the November 2005 at the August Wilson Theatre, where it is most awarded costumes in Broadway history, winning still playing. The current cast includes Matt Bogart (Nick recognition for creators Tim Chappell and Lizzy Gardiner, Massi), Quinn VanAntwerp (Bob Gaudio), Andy Karl who also won an Oscar for the original movie, with the (Tommy DeVito) and Jarrod Spector (Frankie Valli).

2011 Tony Award for Best Costume Design, plus the 2011 Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Victoria Clark, Judy Kaye Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards. The musical and Ron Raines have recorded the first complete recording was also honored with three Best Musical nominations of the score of Kurt Weill’s 1943 musical One Touch of from the Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Venus. It will be released in December 2012 by Jay Records.

Circle Award organizations. For his role as Bernadette, Tony The recording was made possible by the support of The Sheldon received a Tony Award nomination for Best Kurt Weill Foundation. The Performance by an Actor in addition to Drama Desk, Outer original musical Critics Circle and Drama League nominations, and was starred Mary awarded the Theatre World Award for outstanding Martin and was directed by Agnes DeMille.

The score’s best-known song is the standard “Speak Low.”

roadway uzz

24 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

London Calling

Kander and Ebb’s 2007 whodunit musical Curtains is to get a London production at the Landor Theatre, a fringe venue in Clapham, playing 25 July – 1 September. It’s to be directed by Robert McWhir with choreography by Robbie O’Reilly. The original Broadway production starred David Hyde Pierce, who won a Tony for his performance.

The Sunday Times recently announced some

By Peter Pinne forthcoming possible musical entries for the coming London season; Bridget Jones’s Diary (from the movie), Viva The 70 seat Jermyn Street Theatre in Piccadilly will be Forever (a Spice Girls musical written by Jennifer Saunders), home to super-star power when Eileen Atkins and Michael Made in Dagenham (also adapted from the movie), Bend it Gambon open in All That Fall, 9 October 2012. A radio play Like Beckham (again from the movie), Finding Neverland

by Samuel Beckett, it’s to be directed by Trevor Nunn. The (another movie entry) and From Here to Eternity with lyrics work, which has never been seen in London before, is

by Tim Rice. about an old and infirm Mrs Rooney who meets her blind The National Theatre has added three new productions husband on his return from the office at the railway station to their current season. Damned by Despair, a new version to guide him home.

by Frank McGuiness of the work by Tirso de Molina about a Matilda is to have two cast notorious gangster destined for damnation, opens 10 Matilda replacements when David October. It is to be directed by Bijan Sheibani, and features Leonard takes over the role of Sebastian Armesto, Bertie Carvel, Rory Keenan and Amanda Miss Trunchball on 3 July, and Lawrence. Scenes from an Execution by Howard Barker, to Annette McLaughlin the part be directed by Tom Cairns with Fiona Shaw as Galactia, of Mrs Wormwood from 21 commences 4 October. This House by James Graham, with August 2012. They join Haley direction by Jeremy Herrin and a cast that includes Phil Flaherty and Steve Furst who Daniels, Philip Glenister and Julian Wadham, is set in the have recently taken over the Houses of Parliament in 1974 when the UK faced economic roles of Miss Honey and Mr crisis and a hung parliament.

Wormwood. Both Leonard and McLaughlin have National Theatre credits, Leonard with Online extras!

Pitman Painters and Mclaughlin with Anything Goes.

See why The Woman In Black is still Matilda is rumored to be Broadway bound later in the year. captivating audiences. Scan or visit Despite the release of the critically-acclaimed movie http://youtu.be/3y2S6rWWKRI version with Daniel Radcliffe, the long-running The Woman in Black, is still going strong in its original West End version, David Action and Ben Deery in The Woman In Black and has just announced two cast replacements. Adam Best Photo: Tristram Kenton takes over as The Actor with Ken Drury coming in to play Arthur Kipps. Stephen Mallatratt’s thriller, adapted from the novel by Susan Hill, has been running for 25 years. It originally opened at Scarborough in 1987 before premiering in London at the Fortune Theatre 7 June 1989.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 25

Costumes

Online extras!

Cirque du Soliel’s OVO is out of this world! See for yourself: scan or visit http://youtu.be/ZwEp33J62vw 26 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

That Fly

Dressing The Stage OVO is Portuguese for insects. It’s the theme for the latest Cirque Du Soleil blockbuster to tour Australia. One of the standout features is the costumes. The most expensive cost ten thousand dollars. French Canadian Designer Liz Vandal was the Queen Bee of seamstresses charged with making cockroaches, crickets, ants, fleas and spiders spring to life.

Stage Whispers: Do you think you are the luckiest costume designer in the world...in terms of budget and allowing your imagination to run wild?

Liz Vandal: It was a blessing to have the opportunity to work in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil. It was like giving a good swimmer the best pool in the world.

Working with great tailors and seamstresses, having access to worldwide fabrics and working with people that had the flame of passion in the depth of their eyes… beautiful.

SW: How closely did you research the world of insects before you started designing the costumes?

LV: Since I was a child, I have always loved insects. Do all children? I don’t know. But my fascination went from studying them closely to bringing some into the house as pets.

I would put big rocks everywhere in my backyard and a couple of days later I would turn them over to watch what type of insects would crawl under there. My dad would always get upset at me because he could not mow the lawn with all of those rocks.

I could not have cats as my sister was allergic, so I would carry the furry caterpillars into my bedroom like little tiny kittens…my mom was horrified!

So all of my life I studied bugs; buying books, watching documentaries. So when Cirque du Soleil called to interview me for a show about the insect world, I thought there was a hidden camera! So perfect for me. The magic of life.

SW: So would someone with an expertise in insects approve?

LV: Georges Brossard, our famous insectarium of Montreal founder, saw the show. He said what he loved the most were the costumes.

I designed the costumes with an evocation approach; not an imitation one… not the same angle at all. I had to reflect on what the connotation of a spider was in my mind. That is not a bug with eight legs, but a long and lean figure, dangerously sexy and elegant.

Or what is the feeling we have toward cockroaches. The feeling is a repulsive one. They bring out a feeling of dirt, disgust, fear, awkwardness. But in fact they are beautiful insects, like little armors with a lot of sections. I also designed the costumes with the meaning of the word ‘insect’ in mind. Insect comes from the Latin word ‘insecta’ that means ‘in section’. So all the costumes are sectioned with many parts, like our bodies with our muscles. I guess specialists would approve.

SW: Even so there is a style to these insects. What fashion trends are you influenced by?

LV: I love Issey Miyake’s pleating work; he is a genius. Pierre Cardin for his graphic style, then Thierry Mugler for his super heroic clothes. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 27

Tour Dates  Brisbane - From July 14, 2012, Northshore Hamilton.  Sydney - From September 13, 2012, Showring at The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park.  Adelaide - From December 6, 2012, Tambawodli (Park 24), Sir Donald Bradman Drive.  Melbourne - From January 17, 2013, Docklands Melbourne.  Perth - From April 14, 2013, Langley Park. http://bit.ly/MhbiHC LV: The first one took about 80 hours to build (cut pieces and sew them) and now it takes about 12 hours to produce. The way it is built is like the muscles on a body, pleated fabrics that are sewn between stretchy (Lycra) parts, creating the ‘armor’ effect but with softness of the fabric.

SW: What other fabrics did you work with?

LV: I created a permanently pleated fabric that is coated with different textures and colours. At first we tried natural fibres, but they don't last. Polyester is a strong and forgiving material that permits many treatments and cleanings. It lasts a lot longer than natural fibre.

But the best inspiration is our human body. The muscular SW: Could you give us a brief structure is actually the basis of inspiration for armors that explanation of the design look like insect shells. process?

SW: Insects are good at flying, but what are you doing LV: Most of the time to make the costumes easy for humans to fly in? the first ‘vision’/ first LV: Each acrobat has only one ‘personality’ in the show. idea is right on. I We just added on a ‘parade’ element (or two) for when think I have a good they do staging (on the ground). Some have heavier scarab antenna. Maybe I am sleeves that they take off for the flying act. The cricket’s legs myself an insect. are detachable.

Creativity is so abstract. I SW: Was the Cricket costume a challenge? don’t question it. I am just so full of gratitude for this abundance.

SW: What is your favorite costume in the collection and why?

LV: I just saw the show in Portland, Oregon. I hadn’t seen it in two years. I saw it with children’s eyes! I love them all so much. In fact, it felt as if I was receiving back all the love I had given to my work every day while working on OVO. Liz Vandal 28 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Dressing The Stage

Dead Puppet Society Bring Harbinger To Life “A good deal of time and effort has gone into sculpting and casting”

Jay McKee reports.

Brisbane’s La Boite theatre had an unexpected hit in 2011. An independent production of Dead Puppet Society’s The Harbinger developed a cult following.

The hour-long performance, without words, involved a giant seated puppet of a wise old man (manipulated by three puppeteers), and a real-life young girl.

It played against a backcloth on which back projections relayed the story for the audience to interpret; like flipping the pages of an illustrated storybook without words.

Inspired by its audience response La Boite’s Artistic Director David Berthold included a return season of The Harbinger in the 2012 main-house season.

The dynamic young creative duo, upand-coming playwright Matthew Ryan and Dead Puppet Society front man, David Morton, turned it into a full production – story, dialogue, and multiple speaking characters.

David Morton is enthusiastic about the new version: “This time there is no scrim cloth and we have a whole host of new puppets who will perform out in

the open on the thrust stage, and yes, all of them have speaking roles this time round.

“There is an extra operator for the old man, mainly so that no one person is operating him for the entire show. This way they work more as an ensemble and scroll through moving the old man as well as the other puppet characters and the human roles themselves. And the old fellow sure does speak in this round.”

Frantic is probably the best word to describe the stage they are at as they surge ahead to realize their dream.

Main image: The tree was built for a marketing photo shoot and is a prototype for the tree that will be in the set.

Top right inset: (This) picture of the set without the tree is the main playing space and will be the back wall and floor space of the entire theatre.

Bottom right inset: The moon cow is a character that the main character meets when she has a dream that she's on the moon…

Left inset: The original three-metre Old Man puppet and his new fingers (top left image).

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 29

Quit Horsing Around, This Is Puppetry Lucy Graham speaks to the man holding the reins of the extraordinary puppets which feature in the drama War Horse.

Finn Caldwell broke into puppetry after a stint as an actor.

Finn Caldwell was born in London to artistic parents, but grew up in the At a Fitzroy cafe, Finn Caldwell has ordered boiled egg with ‘rough industrial town’ of soldiers. Perhaps he is homesick. But if War Horse continues as Middlesbrough, and left ‘as quickly it has begun, chances are the English actor turned Puppetry as I could.’

Director will have to get used to a global lifestyle.

Caldwell describes his mother as ‘an extraordinary artist’ who could War Horse has, ironically, taken on a life of its own. Since have worked professionally, but opening at the National Theatre in 2007, millions of people have seen the stage show in London’s West End, New York, wanted to teach. When he was ten she studied psychotherapy.

Toronto and Los Angeles. Hollywood director Steven Spielberg In his mid-teens when he had to decide on senior school even turned it into a movie. subjects, he ‘hibernated’ in his room for three days. ‘I came to the conclusion that the only thing I could stand doing for the ‘No-one thought this was going to be a hit. It was an rest of my life was playing games. So that was the theatre experimental show. I could see the potential of the puppets, choice really.’ but we were groping in the dark. I was asking myself, Is it good enough to put on stage? I wasn’t sure.’

‘Every time we moved on to the West End, or Broadway, or Australia nobody was saying, Oh yeah we’re this big hit that’s taking over the world. None of us can believe this is happening.’

Nick Stafford’s stage adaption of Michael ‘I was lucky. I have a strong voice and possibly some of my Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel War Horse is about Joey, the mother’s artistic instincts. Her psychotherapy instincts helped 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 me to understand character.’ fighting. But Albert can’t forget Joey and sets out to bring him After six years as an actor, Caldwell realised that while he home. enjoyed it, he wasn’t pursuing his greatest passion.

‘When you’re a young man there’s a vanity to it, and I Adrian Kohler of Handspring Puppet Company in South Africa is the ‘genius’ behind the life-sized puppets. Made for a guess I’m over that vanity. I was lucky enough to work for the six-week season, prototypes were brought to England, road Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and I’ve tested by puppeteers, and modified. had all these fantastic acting experiences and influences.’

‘I’m still blown away by the horses. I’m still thrilled to be ‘I’m much more interested in storytelling these days.

There’s something about representations of humanity that are working with them,’ he said. really moving for me. It was a hard thing to admit to myself.

It’s very different when people ask what you do. I’m an actor, to I’m a puppeteer - it doesn’t pack the same punch.’

Caldwell investigated contemporary puppetry in England. He was disappointed, labelling much of it ‘weak’, ‘twee’, ‘and sentimental’. So he started making his own.

‘I want to see an [animated] character that is just as strongly motivated, just as well researched, just as developed in its psychology and emotion, as I would expect a great actor to be.’

I wonder out aloud how Caldwell would compare War Horse with, say, The Lion King.

‘Lion King was totally revolutionary when it came out. The difference is that Lion King is a story about humans, 30 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Dressing The Stage

Online extras!

Visit the Handspring Puppet Company workshop. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/9a9-zLDqx5g whereas our horse is a horse. We look at war totally objectively. You see how senseless, meaningless, cruel, stupid it is.’

When the 35 Australian cast members begin rehearsals in September, ahead of a New Year’s Eve opening at Melbourne’s State Theatre, they will all be operating the show’s eighteen puppets.

‘The environment is created by puppets. The mud is a puppet. The tank is puppeteered.

There is nothing mechanical – everything is done by hand,’ enthuses Caldwell.

‘It takes two months to train the puppeteers solidly every day to get them ready for performance. For the first two weeks the puppeteers can’t walk [as a horse].

It’s mind-bogglingly hard.‘ Ask Caldwell what his favourite moment in the show is, and he lists several. Having previously played the goose links him to the comical, and Joey reaching adulthood is a ‘rather spectacular moment’. But there is another moment too.

‘When the show opens the stage is completely bare. Someone comes out and starts drawing.

Someone comes out and starts singing. Then the mist clears and you see this foal. People suddenly

get that they’re going to see these three puppeteers.

Then suddenly this thing they’ve accepted breathes, and then it takes a step. You can hear people respond.’

‘The fact we’re getting [the audience] to commit to [Joey] as a character that doesn’t talk, is another level of extraordinary.

Unlike the film, it’s not being given to you. The audience is drawn into making the show happen.

I think that’s why the show is having the success that it is.’

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 31

Canterbury/Rockdale production.

Photo: Grant Leslie, Perfect Images.

All Over Australia And NZ The big production for community theatre in 2012 is Hairspray. Some companies have already staged their productions, while others are launching in July or August.

The biggest budget is in New Zealand. They’ve purchased the costumes from the Australian professional season and built an impressive set for $250,000. Michael Highsted is producer of the first season at Wellington Music Theatre from August 1 – 11.

Stage Whispers: Where was the set made?

Michael Highsted: The set was built by the NZ Opera Company in Auckland.

SW: Where will it go after your season is finished?

MH: It moves to Hamilton, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, for seasons in 2013 .....and in 2014 will be performed in Auckland & Christchurch.

Stage Whispers Costumes Just $11 a listing Have any costumes and props for sale or hire? Get noticed now! www.stagewhispers.com.au/costumes

32 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

SW: How do the costumes fit principals in different cities?

MH: The costume stock from Dainty is extensive and most principal actors appear to have had two understudies for the Australian run - as such there are generally three sets of costumes of slightly differing sizes. It is a Wardrobe Manager’s "dream come true."

SW: Does someone go with the set so they know to unpack it?

MH: Absolutely. The Wellington Head Mechanist has been 'contracted' to also bump the physical product in/out of each of the other productions around NZ and the same for our Wardrobe Manager.

SW: The Australia pro production used amazing LED lights – were you tempted to follow suit?

MH: What we have done, taking our inspiration from Dainty's production, is to invest in an LED ClothWall, and this technology allows us to produce any graphics and animated material we choose to achieve with a similar result.

SW: What special tricks are in your set?

MH: Our version of the LightWall and what is happening scene by scene on stage is spectacular in realisation and achieves a 3D effect overall in the staging.

SW: How big is your giant hairspray in the last scene?

MH: Thanks to Christopher Green, Dainty's Managing Director, Theatrical & Exhibitions, that very same LED Wig is now over here in NZ along with their spectacular costumes.

Turnblad Family.

Matt Byrne Media.

Harvest Rain’s Simon Gallaher as Edna Turnblad

Matt Byrne Media will present the South Australian Premiere of Hairspray in Adelaide and Elizabeth this July with some spectacular costumes and sets.

Producer/director Matt Byrne says, “the pastel Hairspray colour scheme, the Beehive hairdos, and fabulous costumes will take everyone back to a very specific look that the show demands.

“Our costume team has managed to find many 60s original dresses and outfits.

“They raided opportunity shops and also their parent’s wardrobes.

“The design will be flexible, eye-catching and full of surprises as characters appear out of our huge mobile, flexible set.”

Nine big letters at the back of the set spell out the word Hairspray. Each is triangular with different letters on each side.

They rotate during the show with different messages appearing. Plus they open up and people come out of them.

“They are like a giant Toblerone. Rich and full of surprises and available for hire after the season finishes.”

Hairspray will run from July 4 to 28 at different venues.

Details at www.mattbyrnemedia.com.au

Dressing The Stage

rooms, proved to be a challenge. Probably not since the original era, had these dressing rooms seen so many frilled petticoats, circular skirts and teasing combs!

James Worner had seen the show on Broadway and enjoyed a very different looking Sydney production. He set about creating a happy medium between the two, while staying meticulously true to the period. The production culminated in an explosion of colour which matched the energetic choreography and performances of the entire cast.

Brisbane’s Harvest Rain Theatre has completed a successful season at QPAC. To create the world of Tracy Turnblad and her friends, designer Josh McIntosh built a set that included confetti and an enormous can of Hairspray!

Donning one of the two fat suits that have been crafted specifically for the show was Simon Gallaher, who tackled the hilarious role of Mrs Edna Turnblad, complete with wig, makeup, heels and a sequined dress.

The production included over 60 hand crafted wigs and 100 costumes.

Canterbury Theatre Guild and Rockdale Musical Society combined to present the Sydney Amateur Premiere.

Not content to design the show’s costumes, James Worner also played the show’s very own fashion designer, Mr. Pinky.

RMS and CTG’s combined production was staged at a club venue which presented a number of problems, the main one being ROOM! The stage design concerns were overcome by use of colourful, cartoon like two-dimensional sets which folded, wheeled on/off or turned.

The problems of the extensive wardrobe, for a cast of over forty, were not so easy to solve. Over 160 new costumes were created and eighty plus new wigs had to be styled into the big hair of the 60s. The physical logistics of housing them and the cast in two small club dressing www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 33

Costume Market Place The Stage Whispers Costumes Directory www.stagewhispers.com.au/costumes has expanded over the last year to encompass 42 different complete costume sets for shows.

In some cases two or three sources for costume sets are available.

It’s incredibly cheap and easy to use. For $11 you can list one set or genre of costumes or props for twelve months.

CLOC Musical Theatre - Melbourne Since its establishment in 1964, GMS Costumes (NSW Central Coast) CLOC has produced 96 shows covering www.gmscostumes.com.au the entire gamut of music theatre and The Gosford Musical Society was formed in 1947 and has won over 100 Music Theatre Guild Awards. has produced an average of three shows per year for over Most recently, CLOC produced two lavish Andrew Lloyd 63 years.

Webber productions – the rarely performed but beautiful Born in 1980, GMS Costumes, now stocked with 10,000 Aspects of Love followed and the Australasian noncostumes, is a hive of activity. professional premiere Sunset Boulevard With the introduction of www.gmscostumes.com.au the production of Sunset hiring of show costumes to other musical and drama Boulevard. societies, schools and theatrical related businesses has boomed.

GMS Costumes web page has a section for “shows” that includes the last 30 shows performed by Gosford Musical Society. Each has more than 100 photos. Sets of costumes are now being shipped all over Australia.

The society’s 2012 productions of A Chorus Line, Jekyll and Hyde and Grease will provide an even larger range of complete shows.

Contact: gosfordmusical@bigpond.com or phone (02) 4324 1305 Using topnotch talent to create, design, build and sew team Sunset Boulevard sewing means the quality is first rate. CLOC has turned hiring sets, costumes and props into an important secondary income source.

CLOC has its own permanent custom-built two-storey shed where sets are constructed and stored (CLOCworks), a dedicated props storage facility and a costume store (the Costume Resource Centre or CRC), housing over 10,000 costumes and accessories.

Costumes are available for hire for almost every production that CLOC has done – see here for a full list http://www.cloc.org.au/about/about_pastproductions.htm.

34 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

CLOC has also acquired a complete set of costumes from the professional production of The Wizard of Oz. The only complete sets currently available are Jekyll & Hyde and Sunset Boulevard. Otherwise, backcloths, set pieces and furniture are available.

CLOC has hired/sold to companies all over Australia and New Zealand. It can also provide technical crew to bump in/out the hired/purchased set.

For costume/props hire/sale, please call Allan Paul on 1300 826 788 or email costumes@cloc.org.au For sets hire/sale, please call Grant Alley on 0419 884 241 or email grant.alley@cloc.org.au Local Aussie Puppet Guys Find Their Purpose Growing up with a passion for working in the world of puppetry can be a hard slog in Australia but for two unassuming and passionate guys it’s keeping them busy enough.

Graeme Haddon and Luke Ede first met whilst working on the production of 'Pan' in 2000 as puppeteers for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

Both graduated from NIDA in design, construction, puppetry, technical production and management.

Their puppet work is currently

appearing on ‘Hi-5’ and ‘Toy Box’ on afternoon TV. In 2011 when Luke was approached to design Avenue Q for Townsville Choral Society, they took the opportunity to build a new set of puppets.

“Very early on we decided that we didn’t want to copy Rick Lyon’s Broadway designs because it's so hard to get it accurate without patterns, dyes and fabrics. So we set about coming up with sketches influenced by the original look of the characters from Sesame Street that were a little more "retro".”

Building took place in their Melbourne workshop for five weeks.

Fleece and furs were mostly ordered from the US from the same companies that supply to Sesame Street now.

The set is designed to be very lightweight and durable. “I was puppet supervisor on the Australian production of Avenue Q so I know how the puppets need to work and survive show after show” says Graeme.

15 puppets were made in total with doubles of most lead characters.

For hire enquiries please contact Graeme: balooga@mac.com or visit www.avenueqhire.com.au

Dressing The Stage

Stage Whispers Books Visit our on-line book shop for back issues and stage craft books www.stagewhispers.com.au/books www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 35

Why A Bankrupt Went Into Showbusiness In the late 19th Century many people travelled to Australasia to make a quick fortune, but found little except tragedy and bad luck. When the Greenwood family tried a similar route they ended up having to sing for their supper.

Through illness, accidents and financial hardship they entertained audiences across Australia and New Zealand for twenty years. Leann Richards reports.

Mr Greenwood returned to business at the mining exchange and the rest of the family settled into a more conventional gentile lifestyle at Woolloomooloo in Sydney.

Maribel continued to perform. In 1890, she played in A Midsummer’s Night Dream with George Rignold and stayed with the actor manager for some time. The family had another brush with fame in 1891 when a book written by Roberta, when she was 8 Robert Charles Greenwood was an English gentleman of business. In the years old, was published. The book, 1880s he travelled to New Zealand called Little People, was a series of with his wife Marie Kito Greenwood stories about growing up with sisters in New Zealand. The charm of the and became a land and commission narrative was enhanced by the agent. Marie was a cultured English illustrations, drawn by Nora and lady who had a vast knowledge of music.

Agatha.

In 1886, RC Greenwood declared The financial crisis of 1890 hit the family hard. Robert Charles lost his job bankruptcy. His growing family was and by 1892 they were again suffering left without any means of support, so severe financial problems. So the he and his wife made an unusual Little Charlie Williams as Little Lord Fountleory decision. They decided to form a Greenwood family of entertainers went travelling entertainment company. back on the road.

According to the Herald, the Using Maribel’s success in By 1887, Mrs Greenwood had versatility of the performers detracted Shakespeare to advertise, they organised her five children into a from the show. The paper stated that commenced a well-received tour of troupe of performers. Eldest daughter the girls sang badly and that young Maribel, around 15 years old, was an Australia’s capital cities. Their show, master Bob was not amusing. The accomplished actress and singer. family continued to perform for a short which consisted of melodramatic plays, Agatha, her younger sister, was an included the whole family and several time, but Agatha fell sick with other actors. After some good reviews accomplished violinist. Nora, the next rheumatic fever whilst the younger in Australia they returned to New sister played piano, and the youngest children fell ill with severe colds. The Zealand in 1895 for a long stay. girl, Ruby, also known as Roberta, sang bad reviews and family illnesses and recited songs. The baby of the An itinerant company of the convinced them to leave the family, Bob, aged about 7 years, gave theatre. era faced many vicissitudes. Illness, recitations and was the family especially of young comedian. They performed in Town children, was Halls in New Zealand and became a popular attraction. common.

Agatha’s bout of rheumatic fever had left her weak.

Touring also brought the risk of accident. In New Zealand in 1895 Ruby curiously examined a Online extras! pistol backstage, only to Leann Richards’ Flickr project has over have it discharge in her 670 historic images. Scan the code or visit http://bit.ly/M5z90q 36 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

In 1888 they tried their luck in Australia. Their first appearance in Sydney, at the YMCA hall, was greeted with a terrible Sydney Morning Herald review.

Stage Heritage

Miss Roberta Greenwood

Miss Norah Greenwood

face. She was lucky to escape without permanent damage.

Travelling companies lived in close proximity and on a precarious budget.

Disputes about payment were common. In 1895 Robert Charles Greenwood, the patriarch of the family, sued an actor for larceny. He accused him of stealing eight pounds, sent as an advance. The actor countered that he was owed 30 pounds from his last stint in the company and the suit was dismissed.

Personal animosities were inflamed in the close confines and stresses of touring. New Zealand papers stated in 1896 that the company was close to collapse because of internal dissension and bad business practices.

Between 1895 and 1900 the family performed Shakespeare, burlesques, and dramas such as East Lynne in New Zealand. They visited gold mining towns and major cities and their reviews ranged from laudatory to derogatory.

Tragedy struck in 1898 when Robert Charles died. The theatrical profession in New Zealand tendered the family a benefit that did little to ease the pain of loss, but helped keep the company afloat. Included in the benefit performance was a new name, a young boy called Charlie Williams, Maribel’s son.

They returned to Australia in 1900, but engagements in the capital cities were few. Their style of entertainment lacked the professionalism and extravagant settings needed for a big city audience. They became a fixture on the country circuit. Their travels took them to Ballarat and Bendigo, Broken

Miss Agatha Greenwood

Hill and Port Pirie, and everywhere in between.

The travelling life continued to cause problems. As the girls grew into adulthood they began to take more responsibility for the managerial side.

Nora acted as advance agent and was the level headed sister. In 1902 her mother’s dress was set alight by a spirit lamp. Nora, without panicking, quickly doused the flames with a blanket. She and her mother were both slightly burned.

Tragedy struck the family again in 1903 when Walter Baird, Roberta’s husband, died in an accident at the Chute in Manly. He left Roberta alone with one-year-old twin children.

Fortunately her family was able to support her and after a brief period of mourning she continued performing The Greenwood family toured Australia regularly until 1914, when they disbanded the company. Maribel

Miss Marabel Greenwood

and Nora settled in Eden NSW with their families. Agatha also stayed in Eden but never married. All three contributed towards the musical life of the town and were well known as society performers. Robert moved to Hillston NSW, married and had several children and grandchildren. Roberta moved to Sydney with her twins, Cecil and Dora. Descendants of the family still live in Eden and Hillston.

The Greenwoods never reached the heights of fame of a Carrie Moore or Nellie Stewart, but they entertained thousands of people across Australasia for over 20 years. Their family cohesion and togetherness lasted through privation, bankruptcy, tragedy, illness and accident. Throughout all they remained ‘the Greenwood family.’

With thanks to Greg Greenwood, grandson of Bob.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 37

Stage Heritage

Gems From The SBW Archive Collection

Photos by Sophie Frazer

 Personal diary of James Cassius Williamson, American-born Australian theatrical entrepreneur, which he kept on a visit to the United Kingdom, Europe and North America in 1909. An important purpose of the visit was to attend theatrical productions with a view to assessing the suitability of actors and productions for the Australian and New Zealand circuit.

Also pages from the diary in which the theatrical entrepreneur recorded his impressions of stage productions which he attended. The diary includes programmes for the productions which he interleaved between the relevant entries in his diary.

1

 The New Zealand Consortium 1994 Production of LES MISERABLES Scale Model of the Act 1 Set Scale: 1:25 Set & Properties & Costume Designer: Allan Lees Model Maker: Andrew Lees  The Australian Opera 1981 Production of TOSCA Scale Model of the Act 1 Set Scale: 1:24 Set & Properties Designer: Allan Lees Director: John Copley  Puppets from the Marionette Theatre of Australia production of Sydney Coves from 1988, the last major production of the Marionette Theatre of Australia before the company went into liquidation.

2

3

4

JOIN THE CONVERSATION! Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stage_whispers Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/stagewhispers 38 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

iana collapse at the Ind the deadly stage er aft d an e for Be Images Inset photo: Getty

State Fair.

Technical

Entech Connect Lighting in 3D Melbourne’s first sound and light expo for a decade will have some fascinating speakers and debates for the technically minded. ENTECH CONNECT is being staged at the Melbourne Park Function Centre on July 18 and 19.

James Simpson, Lighting Visualiser at the Royal Opera House in London, will make the keynote address titled Lighting Visualisation at The Royal Opera House, Smart Design in 3D Theatre.

The session is targeted at lighting designers, lighting programmers and production managers. James believes that lighting visualisation can play a huge role in the creative process, giving lighting designers and the production team a chance to work on their productions in a virtual environment before going to stage. James has developed a system that every department in the company can use, including some that you would not expect such as box office, camera operators and automation.

Anatomy of a Stage Disaster

Forensic breakup of the Indiana Stage Roof Collapse One of the hot topics of discussion recently has been the Indiana State Fair stage collapse, that killed seven people and injured over 40 when the entire stage roof (11 tonnes) with production (22 tonnes) collapsed on the audience during what is now seen to be a fairly benign storm event.

ENTECH CONNECT will host the debate the industry needs to have. 2,000 pages of extensive engineering and site logistic analysis of the Indiana disaster are dissected into must-know chunks.

This is an essential professional development event; an industry briefing to distribute the very latest findings on the chronology of a terrible disaster of a kind which could happen in Australia if we are complacent.

The seminar will be led by CX magazine’s Julius Grafton.

There are plenty of other seminars on offer including rigging and lighting for television.

Live Sound is also on offer. In this session, top practitioners will offer their most important tips for delivering a live show with maximum audience impact. Discussion will cover all aspects of doing a gig from sound systems, both temporary and fixed for large scale events, installation to venue capabilities / limitations and how to handle them and interacting with the client or band.

It will include insights into new equipment and software technology.

To pre-register visit www.entechconnect.com.au www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 39

Arsenic and Old Lace Little Shop Of Horrors

Bridget Keating as Audrey, Chae Rogan as Seymour and Audrey II in the Shire Music Theatre (NSW) production of Little Shop of Horrors, playing from August 17 to 26. Photographer: Zana Cohen.

40 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Stage Briefs

Olivia Darby takes on Henrik Ibsen’s ‘female Hamlet’ when Perth’s Melville Theatre stages Ibsen’s 1891 masterpiece Hedda Gabler from July 13 – 28.

Olivia told Stage Whispers, “I studied this play in high school and I remember how frustrated I felt for Hedda as a woman in that era, not being recognised as a person and having to conform to societal stereotyping.

“There is so much passion in her and a desire to be free of those constraints but of course, she's limited by the ignorance of that society that judges and scrutinses a woman for stepping out of the prescribed role and the inevitable ruin that comes when she does.

“I think it's still relevant today, because as much as society boasts about having moved forward in terms of equal opportunities for all the different groups in society, those prejudices still exist.

“Yes, she's a bit of a manipulative minx, but given the regimented environment she was raised in and the era in which she lives, she needs to survive somehow.”

Woy Woy Little Theatre presents Arsenic and Old Lace from July 20 to August 5 at the Peninsula Theatre. The two Brewster sisters, Abby (Penny Dilworth) and Martha (Fran Kendall) offer a glass of their homemade elderberry wine to an unsuspecting lonely person (Matron Witherspoon-seated) who comes to their home to rent a room. Of course the wine is laced with a 'teaspoon of arsenic with just a pinch of cyanide'...should have quite a kick. (NSW) Hedda Gabler

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 41

When Buying a Theatre Cost $400 Queensland’s Towers Players reflect on 50 years of entertaining their regional community.

From the magnificent to the modest, this special mix of members young and old has sustained this amateur theatre for half a century.

Queensland had its own gold rush during the 19th Theatrical and musical performance is embedded in the century and the centre of the action was Charters Towers – history of the city as a goldfield, when, at the turn of last 134 kilometres inland from Townsville. When the gold dried century, Charters Towers was Queensland’s second city. up so did the property values, which was good timing for Gladys Moncrieff and Nellie Melba performed there. local thespians on the hunt for a theatre. The Towers However theatrical life flattened in the decline of the Players is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in September. first fifty years of last century as the bulk of the population The Players’ stalwarts, with their welcome embrace of moved away. Yet there were enough people with the the ebb and flow of the city’s itinerant performing energy to include the city in the renaissance of amateur population, have been central to the group’s successful theatre in Queensland in the middle decades. delivery of 173 productions since 1962.

The 1960s The Towers Players formed at a meeting in the RSL Meeting Rooms in September 1962.

The first public performance was of Trial by Jury at the aging Theatre Royal in 1963, followed by Salad Days and The Sleeping Beauty in 1964. An ebb in enthusiasm and a lack in clear direction was circumvented when The Players secured their own playhouse in 1969.

They purchased the former St Paul’s Church of England for $400. It was a timber building capable of seating 200 that had been built in 1883. High school teacher Garry Adcock built a stage, and seating was purchased from a defunct Townsville cinema while another teacher, Jim Francis, directed Bonaventure, the group’s first at-home production in November 1969.

The Mousetrap 42 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Having a home to call one’s own was central to the group’s continuance. Here performances could be rehearsed, flats and sets stored and costumes rummaged through.

The 1970s The seventies produced performances indicative of a time of societal turmoil, from the anti-war sentiments of Oh What A Lovely War in 1974 to the cultural cringe of Dimboola in 1979. In between the city celebrated its centenary in 1972 and was transformed into a movie set for The Irishman in 1977.

Grease Yet the mainstay was the musical, and the merge of what president Ian Doyle described as a dedicated group of locals with a disproportionate percentage of the population involved in the teaching business.

Here The Towers Players produced an international coup of sorts when the American Ambassador to Australia accepted their invitation to attend a performance of Calamity Jane in 1976.

Georgee was not adverse to dramatic performances and to the challenging. In 2011 he produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Mousetrap.

Shakespeare’s work successfully came to life in a sale yard bull ring on the outskirts of the city, while Agatha Christie’s was enlivened within the warm mantle of the Playhouse.

The company undertook a complete restoration of the exterior to sustain the building for another 50 years, The 1980s spending a little more than $400 no doubt!

The next decade was devoted to theatre restaurant. The Celebrations for the 50th anniversary will take place in imperative was to bring in much needed money to refurbish September. and maintain the Playhouse. Town sewerage demanded new toilets, seating had to be renewed while the front portion of the playhouse was transformed into a kitchen so that meals and performances could take place in-house.

The 1990s The Towers Players experienced a generational change.

Big musicals were staged including Oliver! in 1994 and The Sound of Music in 1997. A Junior Theatre was revived and a drama group was also formed. And the re-birth of the North Queensland Drama Festival in 1993 saw regular entries in and beyond the decade.

One member, Maria Magoffin, remembers Oliver! as being “the first time we had engaged a professional producer, Leonard Lee, who certainly worked hard building sets, putting in the many hours towards a successful show.”

This paved the way for The Towers Players performing The Sound of Music in the newly built 600 seat World Theatre with the support of a full orchestra, followed by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1998 and Peter Pan in 2000.

The 2000s For Allan Georgee, president of The Towers Players since 2001, Grease was the first big musical to be performed in the World Theatre. He followed this 2003 production with The Pirates of Penzance (2004), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2006), The Wizard of Oz (2007), Les Miserables (2008) and Grease (2009). www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 43

Warragul is a small but prosperous country town in rural Victoria. It’s the home of the WTC – The Warragul Theatre Company - with three or four more community companies in the area, one of them pro-am.

Given the nature of the area, there are people who have had professional careers in theatre and film and television who have moved for a lifestyle change and now find themselves drawn to others with the same interests in creativity.

They bring years of experience to the production side. Others may never have set foot in a theatre and have been dragged to a meeting by a friend.

They’re regional managers, IT specialists, shop workers and retirees. They’ve shifted scenery, sung in the chorus and perhaps ended up directing.

Whatever you did in the past, whatever you do now, it doesn’t matter. All that’s needed is a commitment and a love of what you’re doing.

There’s very little crime or vandalism in this town.

If young people get bored they join WTC or another company. They find different ways of expressing themselves and burning off energy….and they do it on stages.

In May I stood on the side of the stage at The West Gippsland Arts Centre, watching the WTC warm up before their final preview of Carmen the Musical. Last minute touches were being put to the set, the chorus was doing vocal exercises, someone was sewing a hem, two men were practising their stunning sword fight, and the orchestra was tuning up.

“Put some energy into it – more volume,” said Musical Director David Williams (balancing on crutches from an accident), “or it Carmen will be a complete and utter disaster.”

David is a professional musician who’s played in everything from swing bands to the State Orchestra of Victoria. The chorus sings with more gusto – City slicker Coral Drouyn took a visit to a but he keeps pushing them. rural town and was impressed by the I ask him why Warragul? pulse of community theatre.

“It’s a great little town, and I wanted to get out of the city.

If you live in a major city, there’s a The opportunity came to teach music tendency to drive through any small town in education, and then I discovered this community and say “how do people stop themselves theatre.

The rest is history.” from dying of boredom?” The answer is simple, though Alan White and his wife Chris came to town three years often unexpected. Whether you call it amateur dramatics or ago.

Alan had done Carmen The Musical at another little theatre, or its current name “Community Theatre” is community theatre and suggested it to the committee of irrelevant.

WTC, of which Steve Howe is the current president. It’s a In country towns, and in the suburbs, theatre is thriving. democratic company and everyone gets to be heard. Alan In an era where many of us don’t know our neighbours and Chris are doing front of house on this show, but he’s names and “friends” are people we have only met in cyberspace, the sense of family comes from belonging to a previously built the sets.

“Everyone wants to be on stage,” he tells me, “but it’s community theatre group. harder to get volunteers to do the carpentry and the heavy Carmen

The Heart Of A Country Town

44 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

work. That’s a pity, because you can have just as much fun without worrying about stage fright.”

Kate Taylor is a diva on stage – and great as Carmen – but down to earth and just part of the company after the performance. She and dancer husband, Kirk Millan, have had professional careers here and in Britain, but Warragul is where she wants to be.

“We choreographed Guys and Dolls last year and between us we set the swordfight for this. So much fun – and things we might never have got to do elsewhere.”

That swordfight alone was worth the price of admission. Director Michelle Carrigy has been hooked on musicals since she was a kid. She actually did attachments in her teens on several television shows, but theatre was always the temptation.

She drives a round trip of an hour and a half and has got her teenage kids involved as well. She doesn’t care how much it takes out of her. It’s a labour of love.

Teenage daughter Melanie follows her around and takes notes and nudges Mum’s memory on what needs to be done. “She calls herself the Assistant Director,” Michelle tells me with a smile. “That’s cos I AM,” Melanie insists.

The backstage walls of the theatre are covered with messages from the casts of their previous productions.

They’re more like love letters; homage to the shows; than graffiti. This is a creative project from a diverse spectrum of people who come together to create a family for the run of the show.

And when the curtain goes up, that family draws together and gives it their all. You can feel the pure joy on stage. That’s what Community Theatre is all about. When was the last time you visited yours and shared that sense of belonging to something special?

Online extras!

To find out all you need to know about WTC, simply scan the QR code or visit http://bit.ly/Lz0YcY

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 45

Class of 2011, Certificate III in Performance

Canberra: A New Choice For Drama School Canberra’s not just for the pollies – although some would argue that Parliament House has its fair share of ‘performing artists’.

The courses are delivered in association with Unity College, a registered training organisation. But from 2013 they plan to add a Diploma of Musical Theatre to their suite of programs.

Seriously, though – unbeknownst to “People have been asking for many, Canberra has a rich arts scene, musical theatre training – so we’re in which includes major national the throes of making it happen!”

All CADA’s training courses have institutions, theatres and galleries, as well as grassroots arts activities. been designed in consultation with Nestled somewhere between the industry professionals. They cover two is Canberra Academy of Dramatic acting for stage and screen, and Art, a boutique drama school offering combine classical instruction in voice and movement with contemporary cutting-edge actor training. acting techniques derived from the “It’s an exciting time for young actors studying in Canberra,” said the work of Sanford Meisner, Viola Spolin Academy’s managing director, and others.

Elizabeth Avery Scott.

“One of the things many aspiring actors lack today is a good, strong, “We have Canberra’s centenary coming up in 2013, with Robyn Archer resonant voice and a body that moves spearheading some great arts naturally,” Ms Scott said. initiatives, especially in theatre.

“We believe the voice and body – “The ACT Government has also the actor’s instrument – need to be invested heavily in the local screen tuned and trained for the long term.

“With a powerful instrument you industry in recent times – and our filmmakers will be needing more and can move seamlessly between different more trained actors over the next five media as a performer – this gives you years.” the most opportunity for work.

CADA – as the Academy is “Some acting schools take shortcuts affectionately known – offers full-time, on voice and movement training, but we emphasise this alongside nationally accredited actor training programs to Advanced Diploma level.

CADA production of Carry Me, Kate

Online extras!

To see what CADA’s students think simply scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/sGRA8axk9ZI 46 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

techniques for how to be ‘in the moment’ on stage and screen.”

CADA’s patron, the distinguished actor Mr William Zappa, agrees strongly with this approach to the craft. He is a frequent guest teacher at the Academy, alongside CADA’s other tutors who also have a vast range of experience across theatre and film.

“Canberra may not be your first thought when it comes to choosing a college for actor training,” said Ms Scott.

“I’m totally biased, of course, but I have to say it’s a good one.

“Our students love our courses because they’re confident we’re equipping them for the career they want.

“For us, that’s what it’s all about.”

Contact CADA on 1300 908 905 or go to www.cada.net.au.

On Stage A.C.T. The Venetian Twins by Nick Enright and Terrence Clarke.

Canberra Repertory. Until July 7.

Theatre 3. (02) 6257 1950.

Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot. Free Rain Theatre Company. July 6 – 22. ANU Arts Centre.

Frequently Asked Questions starring Michael Hurst. A Solo at the Street Performance. July 1021. The Street Theatre, Childers Street Canberra. (02) 6247 1223.

Dr Dolittle. Ickle Pickle Productions (by and for children). July 11 – 21.

Tuggeranong Arts Centre. (02) 6293 1443.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis, dramatized by Joseph Robinette. July 12 – 21.

Belconnen Theatre. (02) 6257 1950.

The Bugalugs Bum Thief by Tim

Winton adapted by Monkey Baa. July 17 – 21. The Street Theatre, Childers Street Canberra. (02) 6247 1223.

God + Pool (No Water) by Everyman Theatre. July 19-28.

The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre. (02) 62752700 Ngapartji Ngapartji (One) by Scott Rankin, performed by Travor Jamieson. Big hart. July 25-28. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre. (02) 62752700 Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, adapted by Stephen Briggs.

Tuggeranong Women’s Theatre Forum. Aug 15-25.

Tuggeranong Arts Centre. (02) 6293 1443.

The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson. Canberra Repertory. Aug 3 – 18. Theatre 3. (02) 6257 1950.

Hairspray by Mark O’Donnell, Thomas Meehan, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Canberra Philharmonic Society. Aug 16 – Sep 1. Erindale Theatre. (02)

A.C.T. & New South Wales 6257 1950.

Boy Girl Wall by Matthew Ryan and Lucas Stibbard. The Escapists in association with Critical Stages. Aug 22 – Sept 1.

The Street Theatre, Canberra.

(02) 247 1223.

Sleeping Beauty. Imperial Russian Ballet Company.

Canberra Theatre. Aug 22-23.

(02) 62752700 New South Wales Seussical Jr by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. Bankstown Theatre Company Young Performers. July 6 – 14, Zenith Theatre, Chatswood, 9777 7555.

The Unspeakable Itch by Kate Smith and Drew Fairly.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company.

Until Jul 8. Darlinghurst Theatre.

(02) 8356 9987 The Histrionic by Thomas Bernhard, translated by Tom Wright. Sydney Theatre Company. Until July 28. Wharf 1 Theatre.

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

Chicago by Kander and Ebb. Ballina Players. Until Jul 7. 6686 2440 (bh) Porn.Cake by Vanessa Bates.

Griffin Independent. Until July 14. SBW Stables Theatre. (02) 9361 3817.

Skylight by David Hare.

Ensemble Theatre. From June 21. (02) 9929 0644 Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Belvoir. Until Aug 12.

Belvoir Street Theatre. 9699 3444.

On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson. Henry Lawson Theatre, Werrington. Until July 20. (02) 4729 1555 (9-5).

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. From June 30. Sydney Theatre. (02) 9250 1999.

Babe - The Sheep Pig by David Wood, adapted from the novel The Sheep-Pig by Dick KingSmith. Young People’s Theatre, Hamilton. July 2 – Aug 25.

4961 4895 Fri 4-6pm, Sat 9am – 1pm.

Stage Whispers 47

On Stage Cinderella - Pantomime by David Buchanan. Gosford Musical Society. July 3 – 7. Laycock Street Community Theatre. 02) 43 322 322. www.laycockstreettheatre.com Sinbad The Sailor by Peter Denyer. Nowra Players. July 3 – 7. Players Theatre, Bomaderry.

1300662808.

Blabbermouth adapted by Mary Morris from Morris Gleitzman’s book. Upstage Youth Theatre.

July 4 -7. Bolwarra School Hall, Maitland. (02) 4934 1516.

Avenue Q by Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Orange Theatre Company. July 5 – 7.

Orange Civic Theatre. 02 6393 8111.

Boy Girl Wall by Matthew Ryan and Lucas Stibbard. The Escapists/Critical Stages. July 5 7. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

Pacific Highway by Cameron Marshall & Peter Tregilgas.

48 Stage Whispers

New South Wales

Players Theatre, Port Macquarie.

Jul 6 – 22. (02) 6584 6663.

Spring Awakening by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik.

Blacktown City Community Theatre. July 6 – 14. 5th Avenue Theatre, Blacktown High Schools.

City of Angels by Cy Coleman, David Zippel and Larry Gelbart.

Sydney Youth Musical Society.

July 6 – 14. Hornsby RSL Club.

(02) 9477 7777.

Kids on Broadway. Chatswood Musical Society. July 7 – 14.

North Shore Temple Emanuel, Chatswood.

Mr Clegg’s Creative Industries Festival 2012. Hunter TAFE. July 10 - 22. Program includes: Butoh by TAFE acting students; Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls

by Philip Dean; Tonight: Lola Blau by Georg Kriesler; I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright; Sappho in 9 Fragments by Jane Montgomery Griffiths; Waiting

by Ethan Coen; Lobster Boy by Dan Dietz. Late night show:

Vampire Cowboy Trilogy by Qui Nguyen and Robert Ross Parker.

Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Syncopation by Allan Knee.

Critical Stages and The Follies Company. July 10 - 14, The Concourse, Chatswood, 1300 795 012; July 16 – 21, I.M.B. Theatre, (02) 4224 5999; July 24 – 28, Riverside Theatres Parramatta, 8839 3399.

Dein Perry’s Tap Dogs. Chugg Entertainment, Back Row Productions and Dein Perry Productions. July 10 - 15. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe adapted by Glyn Robbins from C.S. Lewis’s novel.

Hunter Region Drama School.

July 11. Cessnock Performing Arts Centre. (02) 4990 7134.

The Seafarer by Conor McPherson. Darlinghurst Theatre Company. July 13 – Aug 12. Darlinghurst Theatre. (02) 8356 9987

King Lear by William Shakespeare. CHATS Productions Inc. July 13 – 22.

(02) 6651 9098.

Anythng Goes by Cole Porter.

Ashfield Musical Society. July 13 – 22. Concord RSL. (02) 9793 1331.

Don Giovanni by Mozart (English Translation Tony Legge). Oz Opera. July 17 – 18, Civic Theatre, Newcastle (02) 4929 1977; August 2 – 4, I.M.B. Theatre, (02) 4224 5999.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams. Pymble Players. Jul 18 – Aug 11. 1300 306 776 Money and Friends by David Williamson. Genesian Theatre.

Jul 20 – Aug 25. (02) 8019 0276 (10am to 6pm, Mon – Fri).

The Land of Yes and the Land of No. Choreography by Rafael Bonachela. Sydney Dance Company. July 20 - 21. Civic

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

On Stage Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Jon English - Rock Revolution.

The Harbour Agency and Sound One. July 20 – 21, Cessnock Performing Arts Centre, (02) 4990 7134. July 28, Civic Theatre, Newcastle, (02) 4929 1977.

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring. Woy Woy Little Theatre. July 20 to Aug 5. The Peninsula Theatre, Woy Woy. 43 233 233.

Fiddlers Three by Eric Chappell.

Sutherland Theatre Company.

Jul 22 – Aug 4. (02) 95881517.

Happy Birthday Peter Rabbit adaptation and lyrics by Garry Ginivan, music by Mark Jones.

Garry Ginivan Attractions. July 23 - 25. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

A Hoax by Rick Viede. Griffin Theatre Company / La Boite Theatre Company. Jul 24 – Sep 1. SBW Stables Theatre. (02) 9361 3817.

Cosi by Louis Nowra. July 25 Sep 8. Arts Theatre Cronulla.

9523 2779 (9am - 12 noon on 14, 21 & 28 July or 7pm - 8pm on performance nights).

The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow.

Castle Hill Players. July 27 – Aug 18. Pavilion Theatre, Castle Hill.

(02) 9634 2929.

The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.

Roo Theatre Company, Shellharbour. Jul 27 – Aug 11.

(02) 4297 2891.

The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. Theatre on Chester (Epping). Jul 27 - Aug 18. (02) 9876 6332 (Mackays Books).

Jekyll & Hyde by Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse. Gosford Musical Society. Jul 27 – Aug 18. Laycock Street Community Theatre. (02) 43 322 322.

Breathing Corpses by Laura Wade. Stooged Theatre. Aug 1 – 4. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker. Ensemble Theatre.

Sydney Premiere. From Aug 2.

(02) 9929 0644.

New South Wales

Hash Honey – a play with music.

An adaptation of Bryce Courtenay’s novel Smokey Joes Café. Bankstown Theatre Company. (Community Theatre Premiere) Bankstown Arts Centre. Aug 3 – 12. 9676 1191.

Richard III by William Shakespeare. Reamus Youth Theatre. Aug 3 - 11. Maitland Repertory Theatre. (02) 4931 2800.

Where’s Your Buccaneers by Brian McGinn. Black Diamond Players. Aug 3 – 31. Woonona School of Arts. 4296 9448.

Brush With A Body by Maurice Mcloughlin. Guild Theatre, Rockdale. Aug 3 – Sep 1. (02) 9521 6358 (9-5, Mon-Sat).

Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

Richmond Players. Aug 4 – 25.

Richmond School of Arts. 9671 7249.

Godspell book by John-Michael Tebelak, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Tomaree Musical Theatre Company. Aug 4 - 12. Soldiers Point Bowling Club (NSW). 0468 898 073.

Face To Face – A film by Ingmar Bergman, adapted for the stage

by Andrew Upton and Simon Stone. Sydney Theatre Company. Aug 7 – Sep 8.

Sydney Theatre.

The Spear Carrier by Jamie Oxenbould. Ensemble Theatre. From Aug 9.

(02) 9929 0644 The Wiz book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.

Pantseat Productions.

Aug 9 – 18.

Civic Playhouse, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. Arcadians Theatre Group. Aug 9 – 19. I.M.B. Theatre. (02) 4224 5999.

The Splinter by Hilary Bell.

Sydney Theatre Company. Aug 10 - Sept 15. Wharf 1 Theatre.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Wollongong Workshop Theatre.

Aug 10 – 25. Wollongong Workshop Theatre. (02) 4225 9407.

Proof by David Auburn. Hunters Hill Theatre. Aug 10 – 25. 9879 7765 (from Monday July 16).

The Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Brevoort. Newcastle Theatre Company, Lambton (Newcastle). Aug 11 – 25. (02) 4952 4958 (Mon-Fri 3-6pm) Oliver! by Lionel Bart.

Metropolitan Players Inc. Aug 15 – 25. Civic Theatre Newcastle. Ticketek 49291977 The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Engadine Musical Society. Aug 17 – 26. Engadine Community Centre.

1300 616 063.

Little Shop of Horrors by Alan

Menken and Howard Ashman.

Shire Music Theatre. Aug 17 – 26. Sutherland Memorial School of Arts. (02) 8230 0668.

Treasure Island adapted by Helen Howard and Michael Futcher from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. Queensland Theatre Co and Matrix Theatre.

Aug 18, Cessnock Performing Arts Centre, (02) 4990 7134.

Aug 21 – 23, Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977; Sep 3 – 4, Laycock Street Theatre, Gosford, (02) 4323 3233.

The Wild Party book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe, music and lyrics LaChiusa. D.J. Fitzgerald. Aug 23 - 24. Lizotte’s Newcastle.

(02) 4956 2066.

Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

Hornsby Musical Society. Aug 24 – Sep 1. Hornsby RSL Club.

(02) 9477 7777.

Max Newstead (Stine) and Emma Scarlis (Gabby) in the Sydney Youth Musical Theatre production of City of Angels, at Hornsby RSL from July 6 to 14.

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Stage Whispers 49

On Stage Terrain. Bangarra Dance Theatre. Aug 24 – 25. I.M.B. Theatre. (02) 4224 5999.

The Curious Savage by John Patrick. Theatre on Brunker. Aug 24 – Sep 15. Theatre on Brunker, Adamstown (Newcastle). (02) 4956 1263.

The Secret Reunion by Players Theatre, Port Macquarie. World

New South Wales

Premiere. Aug 24 - Sep 9. (02) 6584 6663.

Wrong Turn At Lungfish by Garry Marshall & Lowell Ganz.

Nowra Players. Aug 25 to Sep 8.

Players Theatre, Bomaderry.

1300662808.

Conversation Piece by Lucy Guerin. Belvoir. Aug 25 – Sep 23. Belvoir Street Theatre.

Angela's Kitchen by Paul Capsis & Julian Meyrick, Associate Writer Hilary Bell. Griffin Theatre Co. Aug 28 to Sep 1. I.M.B. Theatre. (02) 4224 5999.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, adapted by Helen Howard and Michael Futcher.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company.

Aug 28 – Sep 1. Darlinghurst Theatre. (02) 8356 9987.

Quickies 5. Short plays developed and staged by Hunter TAFE acting students. Aug 30 Sep 2. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Hairspray The Musical by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan.

Circus Oz - From the Ground Up. Birrarung Marr, Melbourne, Until July 15; Dandenong, Aug 16 & 17; Warragul, Aug 22; Frankston, Aug 25; Griffith, Sep 1; Wagga Wagga, Sept 5; Wollongong, Sep 12 – 16; Parramatta, Sep 27 – 29; Canberra, Oct 3 – 7; Dubbo, Oct 12; Tamworth, Oct 17; Penrith, Oct 25 – 27 and Orange, Dec 1.

Online extras!

Find out more about From The Ground Up by scanning the QR code or visiting http://bit.ly/LJh5rG 50 Stage Whispers

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

On Stage Penrith Musical Comedy Company. Aug 31 - Sept 8. Q Theatre, Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre.

Wrong Window by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore.

Campbelltown Theatre Group.

Aug 31 –Sep 15. Town Hall Theatre, Campbelltown. (02) 4628 5287.

Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey. Henry Lawson Theatre, Werrington. Aug 31 – Sep 21.

(02) 4729 1555 (9-5).

Night of the Living Dead. A Multi-Media Presentation by J Russo and G.A. Romero. Cooma Little Theatre Inc. Aug 31 to Sept 15. Book at Cooma Visitors Centre, Sharp Street, Cooma or at the Theatre from 7.00pm Show nights.

The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan (Essgee Edition). SUPA North. Aug 31 – Sep 8. Ballina RSL. (02) 6686 2544

Queensland I Only Came to Use the Phone

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. La Boite. Until July 14.

Roundhouse, Brisbane. 3007 8600 Avenue Q by Lopez, Marx & Whitty. Arts Theatre, Brisbane.

Until 14 July 3369 2344 Narnia by Jules Tasca. Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Until Aug 18.

3369 2344 Yes, Prime Minister by Antony Jay & Jonathan Lynn. July 4 – 22. Playhouse, QPAC. 136 246 Syncopation by Alan Knee.

Critical Stages & The Follies Co. Gardens Theatre. July 6-7. 3138 4456.

The Great Pretenders Encore. Lip -sync Cabaret. Created and Directed by Helen Rimanic.

Coolum Theatre Players. July 6 – 15. Coolum Civic Centre. 5446 2500.

Head Full of Love by Alana Valentine. QTC. Cremorne

New South Wales & Queensland Theatre, QPAC. July 7 – Aug 18.

136 246 The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan. Opera Queensland. July 7-28. Conservatorium Theatre, South Bank, Brisbane.136 246 Jersey Boys by Bob Gaudio & Bob Crewe. From July 13. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. 136 246 Old Time Music Hall. Caloundra Chorale and Theatre Company.

July 13 – 22. Chorale Theatre, Wurtulla. 5437 2719.

The Odd Couple (Female Version) by Neil Simon.

Javeenbah Theatre Company.

July 13 – 28. (07) 5596 0300.

Thriller Of The Year by Gillian Howard. BATS Theatre Co. Inc. July 13 – 28. 5445 2515.

Columbo – Prescription: Murder

by William Link & Richard Levinson, Nash Theatre, Merthyr Road Uniting Church. Jul 14– Aug 4. 3379 4775 Home by Margi Brown Ash. La Boite. Roundhouse, Brisbane.

July 18 - 28. 3007 8600.

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Hats, the Musical. Nambour Lind Lane Theatre. July 20 – Aug 4. 5441 1814 1984 by George Orwell. Shake & Stir Theatre Co. Cremoren Theatre, QPAC. Aug 16 - Sep 1.

136-246 Where The Heart Is by Natalie Weir Expressions Dance Co. Playhouse, QPAC. Aug 10-18.

136-246.

The Body Snatcher by Scott T Barsotti. Arts Theatre, Brisbane.

Aug 11 – Sep 8. 3369 2344 Comedy & Consomme. Three comedies, dinner-show. Aug 17 – 25. The Independent Theatre at Eumundi. 5472 8200.

All Shook Up. Elvis Presley music with a book by Joe DiPietro. The Spotlight Theatrical Company, Benowa. Aug 17 – Sep 8. (07) 5539 4255.

Das Rheingold by Richard Wagner. Hamburg Opera.

Concert Hall, QPAC. Aug 23 & 25. 136 246

Stage Whispers 51

On Stage En Suite by Joe Byrne. Villanova Players. The Theatre, Morningside TAFE. Aug 24 – Sept 15. 3899 9962.

Sunshine Coast YOUTH Theatre Festival. Nambour Lind Lane Theatre. Aug 25. Tickets on sale at the door only.

Nijinsky by John Neumeier.

Hamburg Ballet. Playhouse, QPAC. Aug 26-28. 136 246 A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Ballet by John Neumeier.

Hamburg Ballet. Playhouse, QPAC. Aug 30 – Sept 5. 136 246 Victoria Annie by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan. The Gordon Frost Organisation. The Regent Theatre, Melbourne. Until Aug 12. 1300 111 011.

Queensland & Victoria

Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. (03) 8688 0800.

The Pajama Game by George Abbott, Richard Bissell, Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Diamond Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Geelong Repertory Valley Singers. July 6 – 14.

Warrandyte High School Theatre Company. Until Jul 7.

Theatre. www.dvsingers.org Woodbin Theatre (03) 52 25 1200 Queen Lear by William Shakespeare. Melbourne God Of Carnage by Yasmina Theatre Company. July 7 – Aug Reza. Williamstown Little Theatre. Until Jul 14. (03) 9885 18. The MTC Theatre, Sumner.

(03) 8688 0800.

9678.

Life and Beth by Alan Ayckbourn. Mordialloc Theatre Company. Until July 14. (03) 9587 5141.

Almost With You by Elizabeth Coleman. July 4 – 22. La Mama Theatre. (03) 9347 6142.

Dirty Bird by Stephen Andrews.

Sunshine Community Theatre Inc. July 5 – 14. Dempster Park Hall, North Sunshine. 0407 802 165.

Moonshadow by Yusuf Islam The McNeil Project - The (Cat Stevens). Continuing.

Chocolate Frog and The Old Princess Theatre. 1300 111 011. Familiar Juice by Jim McNeil.

July 6 – 29. fortyfivedownstairs, From The Ground Up. Circus Oz. Until July 15. Circus Oz Big 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.

(03) 9662 9966.

Top. Birrarung Marr,

The Boy From Oz. Book by Nick Enright, Music and lyrics by Terrain. Bangarra Dance Theatre. Until July 7. Arts Centre Peter Allen. Altona City Theatre.

July 6 – 28. 0425 705 550.

Melbourne. 1300 182 183 Jekyll and Hyde by Leslie National Interest by Aidan Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn.

Fennessy. Melbourne Theatre ARC. July 6 – 14. Banyule Company. Until July 21. Arts Theatre, Heidelberg. 0435 062 087 Melbourne. 136 100.

Last Songs by Kate O’Brien. July 25 – Aug 5. La Mama Theatre.

(03) 9347 6142.

Hairspray – The Musical by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan.

PLOS Musical Productions. July 27 – Aug 4. Frankston Arts Centre. (03) 9784 1060

Hairspray – The Musical. Ballarat Lyric Theatre. July 27 – Aug 12.

The Producers by Mel Brooks.

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat.

The Production Company. July 8 (03) 5333 5888.

– 15. State Theatre, Arts Centre Rabbit Hole by David LindsayMelbourne. 1300 182 183 Abaire. Sherbrooke Theatre The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

Heidelberg Theatre Company.

July 12 – 28. (03) 9457 4117.

Company. Jul 27 – Aug 11.

1300 650 209.

Unaustralia by Reg Cribb. Aug 1 – 19. La Mama Courthouse. (03) 9347 6142.

2012 Melbourne Cabaret Festival. July 12 – 21. Chapel off All That I Will Ever Be by Alan Chapel. (03) 8290 7000.

Ball. Fly-On-The Wall Theatre.

A Country Girl by James Tanner Aug 1 – 12. Chapel off Chapel. and Lionel Monckton. Gilbert (03) 8290 7000. and Sullivan Opera Victoria. July Lipsynch by Robert Lepage. Ex 12 – 14. Malvern Theatre, Machina (Canada) & Théâtre Malvern East. 03 9885 5276.

Sans Frontières (UK). Aug 4 – Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

SPX Waterdale Players. July 12 14. Rivergum Theatre, Parade College.

12. State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. Frankston Theatre Company. July 13 – 21. George Jenkins Theatre, Frankston.

1300 665 377 or 9905 1111.

Brilliant Lies by David Williamson. 1812 Theatre. Aug 9 – Sep 1. (03) 9758 3964.

The Pirates of Penzance Jr by Gilbert and Sullivan. Eltham Little Theatre Inc. July 13 – 21.

9437 1574.

Sylvia by A. R. Gurney. Encore Theatre Inc. July 13 – 28.

Clayton Community Centre Theatrette.1300 739 099 The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto. FAMDA. July 20 – 28.

Foster War Memorial Arts Centre. 0400 867 872 Blood Wedding by Frederico Garcia Lorca. Malthouse Theatre. July 21 – Aug 19.

Merlyn Theatre. (03) 96855111.

The Shrink and Swell of Knots

by Ben Grant. Aug 8 – 19. La Mama Theatre. (03) 9347 6142.

Speak English or Die by Jeremy Johnson. Four Letter Word Theatre. Aug 9 – 19. La Mama Theatre. (03) 9347 6142.

The Shell Seekers adapted by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham from the novel by Rosamunde Pilcher. Peridot Theatre Inc. Aug 10 – 25.

Unicorn Theatre, Mt Waverley.

1300 138 645 (toll free landline) 03 9898 9090 (mobile) from 10.00am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday.

On the Misconception of Oedipus. Devised by Zoe Atkinson, Matthew Lutton and Tom Wright. Malthouse Theatre. Aug 10 – 25. Beckett Theatre. (03) 96855111.

Nutcracker on Ice. The Imperial Ice Stars. July 25 – 29. State Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. Out of Order by Ray Cooney.

1300 182 183 The Basin Theatre Group. Aug 52 Stage Whispers

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

On Stage 10 – Sep 1. 1300 784 668 (between 7pm & 9pm only) His Girl Friday by John Guare.

Melbourne Theatre Company.

Aug 11 – Sep 15. Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse. (03) 8688 0800.

Groucho by Neil Cole.

Melbourne Jewish Theatre Trust.

Aug 15- 26. Chapel off Chapel.

(03) 8290 7000.

Angels in America - Millenium Approaches – Part 1 by Tony Kushner. 3 Big Men Productions. Aug 16 – Sep 1.

Chapel off Chapel. (03) 8290 7000.

Victoria, Tasmania & South Australia

Vance. Mount Players. Aug 24 – Tasmania Sep 15. Mount View Theatre.

Fawlty Towers by John Cleese 1300 463 224. and Connie Booth. Encore Loyal Women by Gary Mitchell. Theatre Company. July 12 – 28.

Malvern Theatre Company. Aug Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666.

24 - Sep 8. 1300 131 552.

Top Girls by Caryl Churchill.

Melbourne Theatre Company.

Aug 25 – Sep 29. The MTC Theatre, Sumner. (03) 8688 0800.

Doubt by John Patrick Shanley.

STAG (Strathmore Theatre Arts Group). Aug 30 – Sep 9.

Strathmore Community Hall.

(03) 9382 6284.

The Anniversary by Bill MacIlwraith. Essendon Theatre Co. Aug 30 – Sep 8.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Gemco Players Community Theatre. Aug 16 – 25. 0411 723 Moonlight and Magnolias by 530 Ron Hutchinson. Eltham Little Woman in Black by Stephen Theatre Inc. Aug 30 – Sep 15.

Malatratt. Based on the novel by 9437 1574 Susan Hill. Lilydale Athenaeum Our Town by Thornton Wilder.

Theatre Co Inc. Aug 22 – Sep 8. Geelong Repertory Theatre (03) 9735 1777 Company. Aug 31 - Sep 15.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, adapted by Charles

Woodbin Theatre. (03) 52 25 1200

Fame – The Musical. Tasmanian Musical Theatre Crew. July 13 – 21. Playhouse Theatre. (03) 6234 5998.

When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell. Launceston Players / CentrStage. July 13 – 21. The Annexe. (03) 6323 3666.

Waiting in the Wings by Noël Coward. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Aug 3 – 18.

Playhouse Theatre. (03) 6234 5998.

The Goat by Edward Albee.

CentrStage. Aug 8 – 11. The Annexe. (03) 6323 3666.

South Australia Rock The Ballet. July 3 – 8. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide.

131 246.

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

Pinocchio by Rosemary Myers, with Julianne O’Brien. State Theatre Company of SA / Windmill Theatre. July 8 - 29.

Dunstan Playhouse. 131 246.

Hairspray by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film.

Matt Byrne Media. July 4 – 28.

Arts and Shedley Theatres. 8262 4906 (no booking fee) or BASS on 131 246, VenueTix on 8225 8888.

Fat Pig by Neil LaBute.

Bakehouse Theatre Company.

July 12 – 28.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee adapted by Christopher Sergel. July 27 – Aug 4. Arts Theatre, Adelaide. 131246.

The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan. The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of SA. Aug 9 – 18. The Arts Theatre, Angas Street, Adelaide. 8447 7239 Top Girls by Caryl Churchill.

State Theatre Company of SA.

Stage Whispers 53

On Stage Aug 17 – Sep 8. Dunstan Playhouse. 131 246.

South Australia and Western Australia

Cabaret Soiree: Well Swung by Nick Christo. Perth Theatre Trust and Downstairs at the Maj. July A Party to Murder by Marcia Kash and Douglas Hughes. Tea 4-7. Downstairs at the Maj, His Majesty’s Theatre Perth. BOCS Tree Players. Aug 15 – 25. Tea Tree Players Theatre. 82895266. 9484 1133.

Miss Lily’s Fabulous Pink Feather The Wreckers of Red Rock by Boa. Based on the book by Fraser Charlton, based on the music of Gilbert and Suliivan. SA Margaret Wild. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Jul 9-21. Spare Light Opera Society. Aug 17 – Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle.

25. Tower Arts Theatre, 9335 5044.

Pasadena. 82946582 This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, Moon Over Buffalo by Ken This Girl Does Nothing by Ludwig. Therry Dramatic Finegan Kruckemeyer. Barking Society. Aug 22 – Sep 1. The Arts Theatre. Bookings opening Gecko, Casula Powerhouse and Q Theatre Company. Three girls.

Monday, 30th July 8296 3477 Three pathways. One (10 am to 5 pm weekdays). destination. July 10-21. Subiaco From Monday, 20th August: Arts Centre. BOCS 9484 1133.

8410 5515 (10 am to 5 pm Cabaret Soiree: Two Weeks In weekdays, noon to 7 pm).

Paris by Analisa Bell. Perth Western Australia Theatre Trust and Downstairs at The Beast and the Beauty by the Maj. Analisa Bell reminds us David Herbert. Old Mill Theatre. why we love Paris. July 11-14.

Until Jul 14. World Premiere set Downstairs at the Maj, His in outback Australia. Old Mill Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. BOCS Theatre, South Perth. 9367 9484 1133.

8719.

A School for Wives by Moliere.

It’s Dark Outside by Tim Watts Perth Theatre Trust and Bell and Arielle Gray. Perth Theatre Shakespeare. Jul 11-14. Heath Company. Puppetry, mask, Ledger Theatre, State Theatre mime and live performance.

Centre of WA. BOCS 9484 Until July14. Studio 1133.

Underground in the Lucia Di Lammermoor by State Theatre Centre, Perth.

Gaetano Donizetti. West BOCS 9484 1133.

Australian Opera. Based on Sir Deathtrap by Ira Levin, Garrick Walter Scott’s Bride of Theatre. Until Jul 7. Garrick Lammermoor. July 14-21. His Theatre, Guildford. 9378 1990.

Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. BOCS Sex Please We’re Sixty by 9484 1133.

Michael and Susan Parker.

How To Succeed in Business Spectrum Theatre. Comedy set Without Really Trying by Frank in B & B. Until July 7. Spectrum Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Theatre, Albany. BOCS 9484 Weinstock and Willie Gilbert.

1133.

WAAPA. Pullitzer Prize Winning Black As Michael Jackson and Musical. July 15-23. Regal Other Identity Monologues by Theatre, Subiaco. Ticketek various. Yirra Yaakin Theatre.

Cabaret Soiree: Kitchmas in July!

Celebration of identity, culture A Stocking Thriller by Chloe and theatre – Blackfella style.

King and Rhoda Lopez. Perth Until Jul 7. The Blue Room, Theatre Trust and Downstairs at Northbridge. 9227 7005. the Maj. July 18-21. Downstairs Yirra Yarns by various. Yirra at the Maj, His Majesty’s Yaakin Theatre. Poetry, Theatre, Perth. BOCS 9484 improvisation, comedy and 1133. storytelling celebrating Much Ado About Nothing by NAIDOC. Jul 3-7. The Blue William Shakespeare. Roleystone Room, Northbridge. 9227 7005.

54 Stage Whispers

Theatre. July 20-28. Roleystone Theatre. 9397 5730.

Private Lives by Noel Coward.

KADS. 1930 comedy of manners. Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda. Jul 20 – Aug 11. 9293 1412.

We’ll Always Have Paris by Jill Hyem. Harbour Theatre. Jul 20 Aug 4. Comedy romance and the advantages of aging. Harbour Theatre, Port Cineaste Building, Fremantle.

BOCS 9484 1133.

Signs of Life by Tim Winton.

Black Swan State Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. World Premiere starring Helen Morse and Ernie Dingo. Jul 21 – Aug 12. Heath Ledger Theatre in the State Theatre Centre, Perth.

BOCS 9484 1133.

Barefaced Stories by various.

Barefaced. Storytelling Nights.

July 24 and Aug 28. The Bird, Northbridge. Tickets on the door.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Prompt Corner. July school holiday production. Leederville Town Hall. BOCS 9484 1133.

Dora the Explorer Live. Nick Junior. Children’s entertainment. July 20-21.

Burswood Theatre, Perth.

Ticketek Cash on Delivery by Michael Cooney. Wanneroo Repertory.

English farce. Aug 2-18.

Limelight Theatre, Wanneroo.

9571 8591.

The Nutcracker on Ice. Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. Imperial Ice Stars.

Aug 2-12. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. BOCS 9484 1133.

Caravan by Donald McDonald.

Murray Music and Drama.

Australian comedy. Aug 3-11.

Pinjarra Town Hall. 0458 046 414.

Theatresports 2012 Live at the Hollywood Bowls. Just Improvise. Improvised theatre for the whole family. Aug 5.

Hollywood-Subiaco Bowls Club.

BOCS 9484 1133.

In Tender Hands by Peter Bibby.

Janus Entertainment. Aug 8-18.

World Premiere set in Broome. State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth. BOCS 9484 1133 Mid Year Show. Tivoli Club of WA. Singing, dancing and comedy. Aug 10-Sep 9. Tivoli Club of WA, Applecross. 9364 5463.

Lloyd George Knew My Father

by William Douglas-Home.

Darlington Theatre Players. Aug 10-25. Marloo Theatre, Greenmount. 9255 1783.

The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, Michael Coppel, Louise Withers in Association with Adrian Barnsly by arrangement with Mousetrap Productions Ltd London. Aug 14-26. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. BOCS 9484 1133.

Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. Old Mill Theatre. Aug 17 – Sep 1. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth. 9367 8719.

Breaking Out. WAAPA Third Year Dance Students. Aug 2125. Selection of new work. Dolphin Theatre University of WA. BOCS 9484 1133.

Night Was Our Friend by Michael Pertwee. Garrick Theatre. Aug 24 - Sep 15.

Psychological thriller. Garrick Theatre, Guildford. 9378 1990.

Pam Ann Around The World by Pam Ann. Fox in the Snow.

Buckle op. Adventure calls. Aug 24. Astor Theatre, Mt Lawley.

BOCS 9484 1133.

Annie by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin and Thomas Meehan. GFO Entertainment.

Aug 25 – Sep 16. Burswood Theatre, Perth. Ticketek.

Youth on Health Festival (YOH Fest). Perth heats. Act, Belong, Commit. Youth Performing Arts Event. Aug 27 – 29. Subiaco Arts Centre, Subiaco. BOCS 9484 1133.

Tiny Little Tragedies by Alice Lee Holland. Strut Dance. World Premiere of WA. Contemporary Dance work. Aug 29 - Sep

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

On Stage 1. State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth. BOCS 9484 1133.

Faun and Harakiri by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Didier Theron.

Strut Dance. Aug 29-30. Double Bill. State Theatre Centre of WA, Perth. BOCS 9484 1133.

One Act Play Season. KADS. Aug – Sep. Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda. 9293 1412.

New Zealand Black Confetti by Eli Kent.

Auckland Theatre Company.

Until July 22. Herald Theatre.

An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. Hutt Repertory Theatre.

July 4 – 14. Theatre 108.

Western Australia and New Zealand

Chicago – A Musical Vaudeville.

Tabard Theatre, Napier. July 7 – 28.

Entertaining Angels by Richard Everett. Howick Little Theatre.

July 14 – Aug 4. (09) 5341406.

Scarlet Women by Jan Beets.

Tauranga Repertory Society.

July 18 - 28. Sixteenth Street Theatre. (07) 577 7188.

John Gabriel Borkman by Henrik Ibsen. Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe at Eastbourne, Wellington. Jul 19 – 28.

Awatea by Bruce Mason.

Auckland Theatre Company. Jul 19 – Aug 11. Maidment Theatre.

Auditions

Queensland The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie. Centenary Theatre Group. Aug 26. 0435 591 720 Victoria Doubt by John Patrick Shanley. Williamstown Little Theatre. July 8 & 9. 0402 231 724.

Murdered to Death by Peter Gordon. Frankston Theatre Group. July 15 – 17. 0411 869 407.

Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett adapted for stage by Stephen Briggs. Gemco Players Community Theatre Inc. July 28 & 29. 0400 327 970.

For the Good of the Family by George Douglas Lee. Heretaunga Players. July 25 – Aug 6.

West Side Story by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.

AMDRAM Musical Theatre Wanganui. July 27 – Aug 5. Royal Opera House Wanganui.

The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Invercargill Musical Theatre. July 26 – Aug 4. Cue Centrestage Theatre.

Oliver! by Lionel Bart.

Otamatea Repertory Theatre.

July 27 – Aug 19. (09) 431 8058

Miss Saigon by Rotorua Musical Theatre. July 27 - Aug 11. Civic Theatre, Rotorua.

ENRON by Lucy Prebble.

Stagecraft, Wellington. Aug 1 – 11. 0508 484 253 / (04) 974 4111.

Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson And Bjorn Ulvaeus.

Abbey Musical Theatre, Palmerston North. Aug 17 – 25. Regent Theatre.

The Producers by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. New Plymouth Operatic. Aug 30 – Sep 8. TSB Theatre.

Dangerous Liaisons by Christopher Hampton.

Whangarei Theatre Company.

Aug 31 – Sep 15.

Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey.

Williamstown Musical Theatre Company Inc. July 22 & 23.

1300 881 545.

Western Australia Over My Dead Body by Derek Benfield. Harbour Theatre.

July 11. 0435 503 639.

New Zealand Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: Featuring the Songs of Neil Sedaka. Book By Erik Jackson & Ben H. Winters. Music By Neil Sedaka. Rotorua Musical. Aug 17. + 64 7 347 6330.

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For more auditions, visit www.stagewhispers.com.au/auditions

Stage Whispers 55

Reviews: Premieres

Online extras!

Check out an interview with the cast by scanning the QR code or visiting http://youtu.be/Qb69KV1S4AQ Moonshadow

Moonshadow

By Yusuf (Cat Stevens), Rachel Wagstaff and Anders Albien.

Music: Cat Stevens/Yusuf. Director: Anders Albien. Musical Director / Orchestrator: Stephen Amos. Set Designer: Adam Gardnir. Choreographer: Yvette Lee. World Premiere.

Princess Theatre, Melbourne (Vic). May 31 2012.

Moonshadow is beautiful - to look at, and listen to.

With 40 songs by Yusuf (Cat Stevens) one motivation for going is for the songs alone, but they are not the end of it.

Moonshadow was always going to be different.

Moonshadow is set on the planet Alaylia, where people live in darkness and poverty. A young man, Stormy (Gareth Keegan), dreams of a better life and journeys to the edge of darkness with his Moonshadow (Jolyon James), a conscience figure who strides about on stilts. Leaving loveinterest Lisa (Gemma-Ashley Kaplan), now being courted by Pat (Blake Bowden), the son of tyrannical employer Mr. Matthew (Rodney Dobson), Stormy’s quest brings him face to face with Princess Zeena (Marney McQueen), and life hangs in the balance.

Gareth Keegan conveys Stormy’s rollercoaster existence with buoyant, boyish charm. His clear ringing voice is a delight, blending pleasingly with Gemma-Ashley Kaplan, whose sweet vocal in The First Cut is the Deepest is wonderfully poignant.

Blake Bowden (Patrick) and three accomplices are wonderfully funny in Who’ll be my love and the merciless boy-band take-off, Crazy. Stormy’s mother (Sally Bourne) brings every parent along with her in Wild World, and his gruff father (Robert Grubb) teams wonderfully with Keegan in Father and Son, a high point.

56 Stage Whispers

There is nothing garish about the utilisation of light, reflection, colour, shadows, projected images, bubbles and fabric. Some set designs, such as the Whisper Woods and Deepsea Port, are so picturesque they hold the show to ransom for a few moments.

Costuming is dominated by floor-length garments, creating an old-world feel, and physical distance is implied between genders in the choreography. Perhaps these are concessions to Muslim sensibilities.

While the music and visual components cannot fail to impress, some dramatic moments are confusing: Is the resurrected canary a metaphor for hope? Stormy’s escape from the cage is incomprehensible, one character is somehow resurrected by an unborn child, and ‘The Spiritual Marketplace’, apparently mocking the 70s peace movement, is irrelevant and interrupts the narrative.

Autobiographically these may be significant to the author, but as theatre, the audience are left in the dark (if you’ll pardon the pun).

There are several brief but unmistakable references to The Holy, and a homely corniness about the finale that some will be unable to stomach. The ending is too good to be true, but that’s the musical’s default position. Isn’t it?

Cat Stevens fans will relish the rebirth of such wonderful songs. I find them even more beautiful and poignant in the Moonshadow orchestral arrangements. When Yusuf graced the stage last night, he can have been in no doubt that the ability to craft songs from heart, mind and soul is a gift to be cherished.

Lucy Graham

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical Book by Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen.

Music and Lyrics by Ken Hirsch and Robin Lerner. Based on the movie written by Douglas Day Stewart. Director: Simon Phillips. Lyric Theatre, The Star. May 18 to July 1, 2012.

IT opens with the sound of a jet fighter screaming overhead. We were strapped in for a night of musical theatre quite unlike any other. If the production was an aircraft carrier I’d say the first act was steady as she goes – but the second act roared into action, pressing all the right entertainment buttons.

The first scene is set amidst the seedy nightlife of World War 2 Manila, as young Zack confronts the dark side of his father. Then rigorous Officer training begins. Ben Mingay as Zack Mayo keeps taking his shirt off. Whether he was trying on a uniform, getting into bed or fighting you didn’t ever have to wait long to see his impressive abs.

He earns his pay cheque many times over. The push-ups are real, the exercises grueling and the fight looks dangerous. Yes, and he has to sing and act a lot in between.

Just as Ben looks like he was chiseled out of stone, so do some of the songs. They have an earthy rock feel. I’m Gonna Fly is the stand out.

Amanda Harrison as his girlfriend Paula Pokrifki has sweeter music. Her ballad If you Believe in Love the Way I do and Wings of My Own are light and pure, setting the tone for her character.

The best part in the musical is that of Sid Worley (Alex Rathgeber). As the son of an Admiral he has the world at his feet. The journey he undergoes was portrayed with great sincerity.

Bert Labonte as Sgt Emil Foley also has many opportunities to shine, which were grasped with flying colours.

This was a crisp and disciplined production, tightly directed and beautifully staged.

We all knew what was going to happen in the last scene. It was still an emotional experience as the Officer swept his factory worker off her feet.

The opening night standing ovation was well deserved.

David Spicer

Strange Interlude

By Simon Stone ‘after Eugene O’Neill’. Belvoir Theatre, Sydney. Director: Simon Stone. May 9 – June 17.

EUGENE O’Neill’s 1928 Pulitzer Prize winning Strange Interlude nearly gets a rare showing at the Belvoir. The bones of the modernistic milestone are there, but the original post-WW1 characters can only be perceived through a filter of laptops, smartphones and obscenityladen Aussie language. For this is Simon Stone’s Strange Encounter, not O’Neill’s.

Troubled, distraught Nina (Emily Barclay) has lost her airman fiancé in combat and the remaining men in her life try hard to comfort her. These include her professor father (Anthony Phelan), his former star pupil known to Nina as Uncle Charlie (Mitchell Butel), fast-talking doctor/ psychologist Ned (Toby Schmitz), and goofily likeable Ben (Toby Truslove).

Needless to say, all are hopelessly in fragile Nina’s thrall, often revealing their desires and fears to the audience in a series of asides. Such asides and soliloquies are what made the original so ground breaking: Stone includes them in much abbreviated form.

The tattooed Barclay convincingly drives her declared and/or secretive suitors to near distraction over the 25-year span of the action. Truslove is a true comedian whose Ben starts as hopelessly shy and grows unexpectedly into a wealthy bully. Butel’s wounded Uncle Charlie becomes increasingly bitter and dangerous: a fine study.

The fast-rising young Stone has certainly created a powerful piece of 2012 theatre here. But if we want to experience what the original author originally wrote we must wait for the next production of Strange Interlude to come along.

Frank Hatherley

Australia Day

By Jonathan Biggins. Playhouse Theatre, Arts Centre, Melbourne. Ap 26 – May 26.

FANS of Jonathan Biggins know what to expect – lots of political incorrectness, some searing original one-liners mixed with reworked old gags, and belly laughs galore.

They weren’t let down on opening night of this new play.

Fans of theatre, however, Ben Mingay and Amanda Harrison in An Officer and a Gentleman. expecting a fully developed play Photo: Brian Geach. which made them laugh, cry, and confront them with real satire forcing them to question their own opinions and values, may feel let down.

Set in the coastal town of Coriole, the first act centres on The Australia Day Shire Committee meeting to decide how to celebrate, in a more multi-cultural way, the next Australia Day. The Online extras! second act covers the celebrations Get front row seats at the world premiere themselves, as they degenerate by scanning the QR code or visiting into predictable chaos. http://youtu.be/tT4Mmp1x540

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Stage Whispers 57

Director Richard Cottrell handles an excellent cast well, but too often he’s dealing with what seems like a series of blackout sketches rather than a cohesive narrative.

Valerie Bader gives an endearing performance as the local CWA chairman Marie, a relic of an older, much kinder Australia. Alison Whyte as Helen, a city Greenie with her own political agenda and a disabled child to manage, brings a suitable brittleness to the first act. All of the male actors rise above the stereotypes of the script to give excellent performances.

If I sound disappointed it’s because I am. Satire must lampoon mores and traditions; institutions and policies; but not at the expense of losing the heart and humanity of the people caught up in all around them. I had hoped for a feast, but ultimately I found Australia Day less satisfying than a sausage sizzle. I suspect I will be in the minority.

Coral Drouyn

John Dashwood (Philip McGrath) heeds the declaration by avaricious wife Fanny (Fiona Mundie) that he has no financial responsibility for his stepmother (Claire Williams) and her two daughters of marriageable age, Elinor (Alison Cox) and Marianne (Renee Thomas).

The three women settle in a cottage on the estate of relative Sir John Middleton (Brian Wark), with the sisters becoming involved in romances. Elinor, unlike the passionate Marianne, tries to avoid becoming too deeply engaged with potential suitors. But, as her mother tells her, “it does not always pay to put sense before sensibility.

Sometimes one should be ruled by one’s heart instead of one’s head”.

Like the sisters, the men in their lives were wellcontrasted. Lee Mayne’s Edward Ferrars, the object of Elinor’s hopes, matched her restraint, while Marianne was wooed by the quiet and older Colonel Brandon (Lance Hawkins), and by the dashing John Willoughby (Glen Waterhouse).

The Girls in Grey

By Carolyn Bock and Helen Hopkins. The Shift Theatre in Mat Lee gave a wryly comic touch to Edward’s fashionassociation with Theatre Works. Director: Karen Martin. and status-conscious younger brother, Robert, and Jan Theatre Works. April 25 to May 13.

Hunt invested the attractive Lucy Steele with a manipulative THE Girls in Grey is an amalgam of experiences of cunning.

Australian Army Nurses serving in World War One. Much of Ken Longworth the text comes from diary entries and letters. It is a work that ‘tells it like it really was’ through the sensibilities of the A Hoax women of the era.

By Rick Viede. La Boite and Griffin Theatre Company. May 5 Written by Helen Hopkins and Carolyn Bock as a result - 26 at The Roundhouse, Brisbane and July 20 – Sep 1 at of two years of research and creative development, real-life The SBW Stables, Sydney. experience is adapted for performance without being THIS dark comedy is as modern as yesterday: mobile reinterpreted to satisfy contemporary insights or phones, Facebook, YouTube, familiar morning TV shows … expectations. you’re right in the picture.

In this meaningful actors’ vehicle, all performers, and But it cannot be taken lightly. Behind the comedy are most particularly Helen Hopkins and Carolyn Bock, excel in acerbic satire and studies of twisted psyches as four conveying the social mores of the time. They are amply characters, all associated with the development, publishing and marketing of a popular ‘misery memoir’ (the hoax of assisted by excellent costumes designed by Lyn Wilson.

Director Karen Martin displays deep respect for the the title), who manipulate it to suit their own lust for material and the skill of her actors by staging the whole in identity and career aggrandisement. an uncomplicated fluid manner. The set (Alexandra Hiller) is Part-aboriginal girl, Miri Smith (played superbly by Shari a wooden rostrum with a backdrop of a symbolic trench.

Sebbens – she grabs top billing) agrees to masquerade, for The depth of empathy and understanding as expressed a price, as Currah, the sexually-abused girl of the memoir. by the actors, most particularly in moments of heightened Actual writer of Nobody’s Child is Anthony (Ant) Dooley emotional experience, is elucidating and convincing.

(Glenn Hazeldine). Ant is a nice guy who desperately wants In all, The Girls in Grey is a sensible, well-constructed, to be recognised as a writer. interpreted and presented testimony of experiences of our Sally McKenzie plays Ronnie Lowe, a tough, take-nonurses working by the side of our soldiers in WWI. enemies author agent. She respects no one but herself, and she knows what memoir readers want ─ scandal and It will move and delight many people.

Suzanne Sandow depravity.

Carrying much of the comedy (for all the wrong Sense and Sensibility: a play reasons) is Tyrelle Parks (Charles Allen), self-styled Adapted by Pamela Whalan from Jane Austen’s novel. outrageous black camp queen whose character transforms Blank Page Theatre. DAPA Theatre, Hamilton (NSW). May 4 across the four-year period of the play, and so does his career. As a short video maker, he reveals the hoax, at the to 20.

THE success of Pride and Prejudice last year led Blank same time opening an opportunity for Ant to write another Page Theatre to decide to stage one of writer-director hoax memoir of his ‘own miserable life’ as suggested by Pamela Whalan’s Jane Austen adaptations each year. And Ronnie, attempting to further her own career. once again, a 200-year-old tale came enjoyably alive with Director Lee Lewis plays each scene like a movement of an excellent cast, showing that human nature has changed a grand symphony, little in that time.

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Linden Wilkinson, Julie Hudspeth, Maggie Blinco, Annie Byron, and Donna Lee in Biddies.

with talented support from Renée Mulder (designer), Jason Glenwright (lighting design), Steve Toulmin (music, sound and AV designer) and a bevy of technicians.

Jay McKee Biddies

By Don Reid. CDP. Director: Wayne Harrison. The Street, Canberra May 8 to 12 and touring.

BIDDIES is an exploration of the womanhood of six women. It looks beyond the external descriptions we use of ourselves and others —such as dux of school; marriage; children; loss of a spouse; and doing one’s duty in society— to the essentials within each of us that lie beyond those external factors.

These women meet at their old alma mater, decades after leaving school. They reminisce, do a little pushing and shoving, and gradually reveal the truths about their lives as they overcome their fears, self-doubt, ingrained prejudices, and petty jealousies. New beginnings become possible as they rediscover the girls within who have always been there, even if a little squashed. They learn that life is far from over for any of them.

Delightfully performed, the play itself sadly lacks subtlety and depth. The plot is simple and thinly developed, and the women's stories are predictable and unremarkable, providing little scope for these fine actors to engage in much character development. In spite of these limitations,

the play was enjoyable, and the surprise ending was a highlight.

Michele E. Hawkins Plague Dances

By Four Larks (Mat Diafos Sweeney, Sebastian Peters-Lazaro & Jesse Rasumssen) and Marcel Dorney. The Tower – Malthouse Theatre. April 14 -29.

PLAGUE Dances is a well-crafted, evocative and haunting work melded with the exquisite use of instrumentation and the singing voice.

Although Plague Dances is less edgy and confrontational than I expected, Fours Larks have amazingly created and rendered experiential, broad themed theatre that fits in a small space.

It is the story of a young woman Hannelore (Esther Hannaford), a stranger, who arrives in a Medieval Village.

Under the protection of the priest (Kevin Kiernan-Molloy) she is inspected by the doctor (Matt Crosby), given a clean bill of health from the Bubonic Plague and conditionally allowed to remain in the community.

The Tower Theatre is completely transformed to into an atmospheric Medieval environment by set designers, Ellen Strasser and Sebastian Peters-Lazaro, whilst, the costuming (Ellen Strasser) suggests the repression of the Salem Witch Hunts.

Choreographically (Sebastian Peters-Lazaro) the whole is skillfully coordinated, structured and staged with flowing

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Stage Whispers 59

set changes deftly executed by proficient performers. An ingenious use of soil is exquisitely managed and the ‘Danse Macabre’ is reduced to a very effective succinct contorted writhing.

The lighting by Tom Willis enhances the atmosphere and he positions some light sources ingeniously.

Over all Plague Dances was a very earnest and deserving work.

Suzanne Sandow

Julia Blake (June Stewart) in National Interest.

Photo: Gary Marsh.

Lucy Black

By Paul Gilchrist. Subtlenuance Theatre Company. Musical Director/Performer: Heidi Lupprian. Designer: Chloe Lawrence-Hartcher. Tap Gallery (NSW).

May 24 to June 3.

THE major impact of Lucy Black is the beautiful language. Paul Gilchrist has set his story in Elizabethan England and his five characters speak in the mode of their times.

Listening to this unfamiliar language keeps us on our toes as we navigate this metaphysical tale.

The story deals with the carnal versus spiritual world and how experimental dissection may provide a means to discover the soul. The five characters represent aspects of the carnal world. The butcher wants to discover what lies within by the brutal means. The lovers demonstrate both carnal lust and romantic passion. Lucy is a blithe spirit adrift in a carnal world.

The narrative is somewhat mysterious, but filial bonds, love, passion, lust, food, poisons and butcher’s knives play significant roles. The play elevates its emotional tone through the language and song. The songs, beautifully sung by Heidi Lupprian, lead us from scene to scene and provide the transitions.

The production does suffer from uninspired lighting, a bland set and restricted physical action.

Stand out performances come from Richard Hilliar, who is menacing as the butcher, and Zara Zoe, who is gorgeous and passionate as one of the lovers.

See this play to experience the beauty of Elizabethan language that was not written by Shakespeare or Marlowe.

Stephen Carnell

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National Interest Written and Directed by Aidan Fennessy. Melbourne Theatre Company. Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio.

June 6 – July 21, 2012.

THE Balibo Five story is well-known to Australians, especially since an official court confirmed the five Australian journalists were murdered by Indonesian forces in Balibo, East Timor in 1975.

Aidan Fennessy's play, National Interest, is a moving, close examination of the story through the eyes of June Stewart (Julia Blake), the mother of Channel 7 soundrecordist Tony Stewart. In a flawless performance, Blake portrays June as a strong woman who found a way to cope with tragedy and injustice. In one of the play's best scenes, June tells her daughter Jane (Michelle Fornasier) that she doesn't want to hear another inquiry. No report can reveal what her son said in his final moments. It's a brilliant piece of writing and acting, and gets to the core of the tragedy.

The play is dominated by ghosts representing June's son Tony (played by James Bell), and his colleagues Greg Shackleton (Stuart Halusz) and Gary Cunningham (Grant Cartwright). June sits back, aghast, while the ghosts re-play their risky journey to Balibo, the many warnings to turn back, and their determination to film the impending incursion. There is a barrage of material about the case acted out by the ghosts, and it starts to become overwhelming. Another layer is added by the Coroner (Polly Low), who gives her findings over June's kitchen table.

While the ghost story is enthralling and at times shocking, it overshadows June's personal story. National Interest is at its most potent when it shows us a mother who lost a son, and three young men who thought being Australian was all the protection they needed.

Sara Bannister

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The Nutcracker on Ice The Imperial Ice Stars. Capitol Theatre, Sydney. June 6 – 10, 2012; Canberra Theatre Centre, June 13 – 17; Lyric Theatre, QPAC, June 20 – 24; Adelaide Festival Centre, July 18 – 22; Arts Centre, Melbourne, July 25 – 29; His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth, Aug 2 – 12.

THESE bravado Russians on ice have skated across Australia already with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and twice with Swan Lake. Now they’re back with an ice version of Tchaikovsky’s 1890’s ballet, The Nutcracker.

It’s snowy Christmas in St Petersburg and young Marie Pavlov is entranced by the gift of the Nutcracker doll. Later she watches the living room magically shrink to miniature and a battle ensure between the mice and the soldier dolls.

That’s about it for the story. In the second act, she and her doll – now fleshed out into a gorgeous Prince – arrive at his Kingdom of Sweets, and settle in for a dancing roll call of divertissements from China to Spain.

This Nutcracker is for all of us who admire twenty or so world champion skaters bringing speed, leaps and spins to an old pantomime. Their skills are astonishing, spinning into a blur, flying through the air as Arabian dancers on trapeze and spraying up the ice. Nutcracker truly satisfies in those moments when this mix of sports and circus expertise lifts into virtuosic dance.

As Marie and her Prince, Anastasia Ignatyeva and Bogdan Berezenko sublimely combine all forms when they dance and skate together to Tchaikovsky’s soaring romantic climax. It’s a pity the music is recorded but when the dull forces of pantomime threaten, high sports skills and some emotional moments of pure artistry lift this show into another realm.

Martin Portus The Neverending Story Adapted by Tim O’Connor from the book by Michael Ende.

Music: Klaus Doldinger. Additional Music: Maitlohn John.

Harvest Rain (Qld). Cremorne Theatre, QPAC. Director: Tim O’Connor; Musical Director: Maitlohn John. Set & Costume design: Josh McIntosh. April 28 – May 12.

THE star of the evening of this premiere movie-to-stage adaptation was Josh McIntosh’s puppet and costume designs. Brilliantly imaginative they set the bar high for a theatrical version of the popular children’s fantasy that has spawned three movies plus an animated TV-movie and series. Tim O’Connor’s direction was also imaginative and helped by the use of the film’s original music score by Klaus Doldinger, re-orchestrated for a string quartet by Maitlohm John. It was a highly stylistic version of the land of Fantasia where the story was set. Unfortunately O’Connor’s book adaptation relied far too much on narration with scant development of character. Mind you, it’s a large story canvas to fit into a running-time of 70 minutes. Anthony Standish as the white luck dragon Falkor was an arresting presence throughout. Dan Venz in the central role of the warrior Atreyu lacked color, but Dan Crestini did good work as his equinine sidekick Artax. Also noticed was Casey McCollow as the giant spider Ygramul and Jason Glenwright’s moody and spot-on lighting effects.

Peter Pinne Better Man

By Alex Lycos. Bulldog Theatre Company. Director Alex Lycos. Lighting Design: Bill Illiades. Sidetrack Theatre, Marrickville (NSW). May 24 to June 10.

BETTER Man opened at the Sidetrack, where the Alex & Eve phenomenon began in 2008.

The first half of Better Man is in the mode of a ribald daytime sit-com, similar to Alex & Eve. Jimmy, the still at home twenty-something son of immigrant Greek parents, seeks to make good but cannot satisfy a father who demands ownership of an investment property and a mother who wants veto on any bride-to-be.

There are many scenes, with blackouts and set shuffles.

This does distract from the intersecting narratives about crime, passion and filial obligation, because connection and energy are lost on stage and the audience is left in the dark.

Directorial choices on more complex character interactions, scene transitions and creative use of lighting/ sound would have enhanced the action on stage. The first half drags.

The second half adds more sizzle to the stakes. Secrets are revealed, love gushes and tensions rise. But the outcome is predictable. The play is too long and does ramble. More objectivity is required on the journey from page to stage.

Stand out performances are delivered by Natalia Ladyko and Panda Likoudis.

Better Man is amusing and enervating, so consider a look at this work-in-progress from one of Sydney’s more prolific, passionate and successful writer/producers.

Stephen Carnell The Culpepper Code

By Stephen Jean De Jonghe. KADS Theatre (WA). May 11 – June 2.

DIRECTED by the author, The Culpepper Code is an intriguing historical comedy with a plethora of pop culture references and nods to Dr Who and the 'science' of time travel.

On a split stage we meet Nicholas Culpepper, a herbalist and doctor in 1600s England (Keith Scrivens) his family and employee, while opposite is the present day office of Culpepper's, a Perth based supplier of herbs and spices, its director Graham (Graham Miles) and his business partner family.

A time exchange results, the men switching time and place, and while both learn about each other and the time in which they find themselves, they work to return to their own time.

The plot is interesting and the characters nicely written, although I found myself distracted by some of the anachronistic language used in the 'past' scenes.

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Performances were solid throughout. I particularly enjoyed seeing Diana Graham returning to the stage after serious illness. She joked that she wanted to prove that she is still "with it" and showed that she remains a very competent actress. Edward Campbell made a promising debut as Culpepper's employee, Robert.

This short full length play might translate to a tighter single act play, but in its present form may be a good choice for other theatre companies looking for a fresh, easy to stage comedy.

Kimberley Shaw

The Underground Ark Written and produced by Bruce Hoogendoorn. Long Run Theatre Productions. Directed by Fiona Fox. The Courtyard Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre. June 13–23.

PREMISED on a government priority for 400 handpicked Australians to see runaway climate change through in a large underground shelter, this deft play explores the survival of politics and human nature through rigorous indoctrination and committee selection of breeding pairs.

Its ending leaves the audience with several questions to debate, but it moves along and is penned beautifully.

The play is fortunate to have very competent actors. In Perve particular, Ethan Gibson was most convincing as an

By Stacey Gregg. Centenary Theatre Group (Qld). May 5-26. unpleasantly doctrinaire (if understandable) medical THIS is a coup for CTG ─ the world amateur première of student; and David Villanti's character, with more than one Perve, which opened at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in May side to his nature, indulged convincingly in a taste for his 2011. growing power in a closed community. And not only the A highly charged piece, it is a cautionary tale for every acting was of consistently high standard: lighting, set design, and sound were faultless; costuming was, as it young adult – or, in fact, for anyone with a computer. It captures our modern lifestyle, in particular our obsession should have been, unnoticeable; and the play's pace made with sex and more specifically the hysteria surrounding any it feel shorter than it was. whiff of pedophilia.

If I have one criticism, it is only that the play reveals too Gethin has just completed his Diploma in Film Making much too soon, forcing the revelation to be repeated more and is anxious to take the world by storm with a film of than once. But this is a play less of mystery than of alternations, between tension and delight, acceptance and some substance. His home town is festering with rumours about a pedophile in its midst, and the locals have rebellion, comedy and tragedy. In so being, this tapestry of graffitied his home. Gethin films the result and believes he human nature is rich enough to keep you thinking for some caught a glimpse of the rogue at a window. time after the final bow.

This playwright has talent to spare. Watch him.

Perve John P. Harvey Grounded

By Alana Valentine. Tantrum Theatre and Australian Theatre for Young People. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle, May 10 to 19. ATYP, Sydney, May 30 to June 2.

FARRAH, the 15-year-old central character in Grounded, wants to have a seagoing career, but her Newcastle classmates ridicule her ambition. And when the bulk carrier Pasha Bulker runs ashore on the city’s Nobbys Beach in a fierce storm in 2007, Farrah wonders whether her dream has been grounded as well.

Playwright Alana Valentine heard stories about what is known in Newcastle as the Pasha Bulker storm when she mentored young playwrights at the city’s Tantrum Theatre.

Her interest led Tantrum and ATYP to jointly commission the play that became Grounded.

Director Toni Main referred to it in a program note as a A concept strikes him: a film about the way such an complex script, but the actors and production team made it issue affects a whole community. His fascination with the come vividly alive for most of its 90-minute running time. topic ends up embroiling his family and friends in a major The scenes have very different styles. The taunting by police investigation. classmates of Jemima Webber’s rarely offstage Farrah had a Director John Boyce assembled a splendid cast of seven darkly comic rhythm, while sequences showing the and they have done a slick professional job of it. Special developing friendship and affection between Farrah and kudos to the lighting designer Elliot Price. Apart from Jason Jack (Mathew Baird-Steele), the leader of a gang called the Nash as Gethin, it would be unfair to single out any of the Blue Jays, had a gentle warmth. The storm scene which other actors – every one a star. culminated in the grounding of the ship used sound and It’s thought-provoking stuff. I left the theatre lighting to create remarkable images. Small blue lights on emotionally wrung out. the hands of several actors on a darkened stage suggested Jay McKee the developing ferocity of the ocean waves, with constantly 62 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

moving red lighting subsequently showing the buffeting of the ship.

Valentine certainly showed a good ear for street talk in scenes where business people talked about the influx of sightseers and media people in the wake of the ship’s grounding, while a series of short monologues by students about the post-school jobs they were considering could come from any playground.

The production had an excellent mainly teenaged cast, with professional actor Paul Kelman showing what could be done with the small but important roles of a librarian, the harbourmaster and a pilot who helps bring the Pasha Bulker into Newcastle Harbour after it is pulled off the beach.

Ken Longworth

Andrew McFarlane (Prof Kevin Maloney) and Noni Hazlehurst (Dr Diane Cassell) in MTC’s The Heretic. Photo: Jeff Busby.

Online extras!

Watch the director of The Heretic discuss the play. Scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/v-ydVKjfQG0

The Heretic

By Richard Bean. Melbourne Theatre Company. Director: Matt Scholten. Sumner Theatre, MTC. May 12 – June 23.

WHEN Doctor Diane Cassell (Noni Hazlehurst) publicly questions fellow academics’ data on climate change she loses her job, and even her life is threatened. Scepticism is a threat to political correctness. Add to that her department head who loves her, an anorexic and disturbed daughter, and a gormless but brilliant super-green student who wants to kill himself rather than pollute the world, and you have the recipe for a highly palatable night’s entertainment.

This is one of the strongest casts MTC has assembled in a very long time. Noni Hazlehurst makes a welcome return in the title role, and is rock solid throughout. “I’m a scientist, I don’t believe in anything.” She tells us with absolute conviction. Andrew McFarlane (Professor Kevin Maloney) shines as the nerdy professor, brilliant in his field but out of step with every other aspect of the world. Two MTC neophytes, Shaun Goss (as Ben Schotter) and Anna Samson (as Phoebe) give fine performances. Goss in particular gives us a real three dimensional insight into Ben, the youth who wants to make the world a greener place even though he’s told “To get your carbon footprint down to nothing you would have to kill yourself and NOT be cremated “. Lyall Brooks (Geoff Tordoff) is a real stage presence who taps all facets of Tordoff’s (an ex-marine greenie) off-kilter character and Katy Warner acquits herself well in a cameo.

Despite terrific performances; a great soundscape by Jethro Woodward; and an impressive set by Shaun Gorton, Director Matt Scholten isn’t able to overcome the inadequacies of the script in Act Two. Writer Richard Bean gives us satire in Act One, and humanist domestic drama in Act Two. There’s even a song with a guitar which seems like

wasted stage time, and the plot-point discovery of the “Glaciergate emails” truth, is blithely forgotten in favour of the (inevitable) marriage of the two young misfits. The promise of exploring Cassell’s statement “Green is the perfect religion for the narcissistic age” is not fulfilled and some dangling plot participles are downright confusing.

Coral Drouyn The Unspeakable Itch

By Kate Smith & Drew Fairley. Darlinghurst Theatre (NSW).

June 8 – July 8, 2012.

BUILDING on two earlier comic collaborations, Kate Smith and Drew Fairley are well-placed to now explore what happens when a (theatrical) marriage gets a little boring. As they say about The Unspeakable Itch, how do you keep happily ever after happy ever after?

For this hideous couple, the answer is to spend – a new deck, a turbo barbecue, shiny new accessories, anything to intimidate friends and keep their ranking as a Bondi real estate agent and a hot clothes designer. With the sex dried up and credit crashing, this is high camp farce with terrible wigs. Most of it is an overplayed wash of nonsense but studded with occasional gems of wit and insight into a marriage yawning into familiarity.

As with their other shows, Smith and Fairley wrote the script but as performers, they semaphore their comedy instead of playing the truth from which it springs. Funnily enough, there’s more truth and poignancy in their songs together, written by Phil Scott, who’s a regular joy every year in the Wharf Revue.

Only in the second half does engagement begin to bite, as financial ruin and a funny tabloid television exposure bring darker, almost Strindbergian elements to this rambling panto. As for the taudry Matt and Bec Shakespeare, they learn a lesson in life, but who cares?

Martin Portus www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 63

Reviews: Musicals

Chess - The Musical

Chess - The Musical

By Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Auckland Music Theatre Inc. Westpoint Performing Arts Centre, Westmere, Auckland. NZ, May 12 – 26.

CHESS, The Cold War and a love story are the base upon which the 1984 rock opera Chess rests; told in true 80’s rock style, with big songs, big hair and big egos.

Auckland Music Theatre’s Chess is a tribute to all things 80’s, with Director Richard Neame taking as his inspiration the genre of 1980’s pop videos. The production sits very well styled this way, with the minimalism of the set suggesting a TV set of old. The cast handles set dressing seamlessly, with pieces appearing from all corners of the room. Played on a raised stage with audience on three sides, it takes on very much a rock opera feel. The stunning lighting design by Andrew Potvin reinforces that genre, and with hair and makeup (The Cut Above Academy) and costumes (Emma Bishop and team), the fond 80’s tribute is complete.

The ensemble cast showed a great sense of fun and energy. The 4 Arbiter Girls are HOT, their dancing superb and they certainly add that Rockglam that the show needs.

Choreographer Teesh Szabo moved it with class, humour and sex in 1980’s abandon.

Very creditable performances were given by Kit Haines (The Arbiter), Nick Brown (Molokov) and Emma Leon (playing a female version of Walter De Courcey) as Barbara De Courcey – a piece of casting that worked particularly well, losing none of the machinations.

64 Stage Whispers

The vocals were particularly strong, however they were marred by sound issues. Martin Rhodes sang ‘Anthem’ particularly well.

Gabby Smith (Florence) grabbed the audience by the heart from her first entrance. Hers was an outstanding opening performance both in wonderful vocals and storytelling.

This is exciting, vibrant, fun and passionate – a ‘must see’, especially for nostalgia if the 80’s was your era.

Pauline Vella Hairspray Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Music by Marc Shaiman and Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. Rockdale Musical Society and Canterbury Theatre Guild. Director: Chris Scarpellino. Musical Director: Andy Peterson. Choreographer: Craig Nhobbs. Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club. May 25 to June 3.

BURSTING from the stage with vitality and colour from its first lively, jiving ensemble number, striking choreography, vibrant costuming and extravagant wigs are early stars of Hairspray. The energy and enthusiasm with which the ensemble nailed choreographer Craig Nhobbs snappy routines, and swirled designer James Worner’s splendid, colourful 60s costumes set benchmarks sustained until the high-energy finale.

The splendid cast is led by Sally Redman’s joyous, exuberant Tracy Turnblad and Chae Rogan’s drag celebration of Edna Turnblad. Other key performances include Jessica Bennett-Griffiths’ delightfully kooky Penny Pingleton, Michele Lansdown’s arch, gloriously two—

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dimensionally bitchy Velma Von Tussle, Tim Watson’s earnest Link Larkin and Zoë Jessie-Rose McDonald’s Amber Von Tussle, a suitably catty little drama queen. Nelson Padilla’s Seaweed and Stephanie Pennass as Little Inex engagingly navigate the path across the racial divide, with Leslea Clements belting out the blues / soul portion of the score splendidly as Motormouth Maybelle. Clinton Griffiths is a sympathetic Wilbur Turnblad, and his duet with Edna is pure traditional song and dance.

They lead an enthusiastic, youthful and disciplined company, who put it out there energetically throughout.

Fold-out comic book set pieces look great, though the concept might have been carried through just a little more completely.

The show has a big rock / blues / soul sound, which Musical Director Andy Peterson, the orchestra and pit singers create impressively, though sound issues somewhat marred the opening night.

Hairspray is a feel-good piece of theatre, entertaining and engaging as it delivers its message of racial tolerance.

Neil Litchfield Xanadu

By Douglas Carter Beane, Jeff Lynne and John Farrar.

Mosman Musical Society (NSW). Director: Anthony Young.

Zenith Theatre, Chatswood. April 20 – 28.

THIS affectionate stage musical send-up turns cult classic Xanadu into a zany laugh-filled romp for all the right reasons.

Mosman’s production is a cute, cheeky, high-camp disco frolic. Director Anthony Young and choreographer Sammi O’Key nail a stream of comic moments, springing variously from lines, characters and visuals, recycling just about every 80s cliché, move, fad and fashion, as cheeky gags.

The classical muse Klio (Jessica Burns) comes to LA to inspire artist Sonny (Daniel O’Connell), disguised as rollerskating Aussie Kira with a broad, joyously awful accent. Her cheeky smile, comic timing and strong pop vocals, combined with warmth and sincerity, are central to the show’s success.

The two men in her life also push the boundaries as far beyond the two-dimensional as the piece allows.

O’Connell’s Sonny is an earnest, engaging portrayal - he’s a bit of a naïve hero stereotype, but he carries it off smoothly and engagingly. As Danny, Christopher Hamilton layers the role of the older artist-turned-developer nicely, giving him tangible feelings.

Klio’s two wickedly funny sisters, outrageously played by Jill Munt and Suzie Blackwell, give performances that cross between clowning and panto.

The title tune, and other well-loved pop hits like ‘Suddenly’ and ‘Magic’, delight, popping up at the corniest of cues. Musical Director Melinda Hole and her on-stage band support the vocals effectively. Susan Boyle’s costumes are bright and attractive, and Alex Cotton keeps the setting sparse and simple.

Xanadu is a fun-filled and silly night of musical comedy.

Neil Litchfield

Next to Normal

By Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. FabNobs Theatre Co. The Fab Factory Theatre, Bayswater (Vic). June 15 - 30.

I’M not going to say a lot about the story of Next To Normal. The space for reviews is limited, and I need it for superlatives. Suffice to say that it’s about a wife struggling with psychotic bi-polar disease; a husband trying to hold her together; a daughter disenfranchised who turns to drugs - and love. Though often harrowing, it is brilliant theatre (it won three Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and the cast will take your breath away.

Lizzie Matjacic (Diana) is a revelation. Yes, her background as a psychologist gives her insight, but she is blessed with consummate acting skills and a brilliant voice.

Quite simply, she is luminescent. Jonathan Guthrie-Jones is a powerful stage presence as Dan (Diana’s husband) with the right combination of strength and stubborn weakness.

Kate Warner is totally convincing as Natalie, who dallies with drugs in her own private hell. Robbie Medica makes Gabe both gentle and loving, and manipulative and needy depending on his mother’s mood swings. Matt Allen is a delight as Henry…the stoner boyfriend who just wants to love Natalie. Tony Burge, in the dual role of two psychiatrists, complements the cast in every way.

Director Nick Kong is surely a force to be reckoned with in years to come. He understands the spiritual subtext of

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Xanadu

Stage Whispers 65

Avenue Q

Online extras!

Visit Nicky and Rod from Avenue Q at home by scanning the QR code or visiting http://youtu.be/_ScP61acAUU this piece and draws fantastic performances from all. The singing excels throughout, and Naomi Osborne inspires one of the best bands I have heard for many a long year.

Somewhere along the journey – in the limited eightweek rehearsal schedule, FabNobs has created something that has that intangible magic needed for great theatre.

Coral Drouyn

The orchestra is also pitch perfect, led by Musical Director Philip Setton who manages to conduct whilst playing guitar. Choreography by Yakira Abraham, whilst simple, is effective. A few well timed nods and visits into the auditorium are appropriate for the style of show.

The set, whilst a design copy from the New York stage, is a construction triumph. Led by Yossi Torbiner, the main set is the dilapidated Avenue Q apartment block exterior.

Avenue Q Every door and window is utilised. The audience quickly

By Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty. JYM Theatre Co. learns who lives where, and how they live.

(Vic). Phoenix Theatre, Elwood. May 5 – 19.

JYM’s production of Avenue Q truly is a professional SOLD out before opening night, Avenue Q is a delight. show made (mainly) by and (mainly) for the Jewish Professional, riveting, moving; JYM Theatre Company’s community of Melbourne. purpose is achieved.

Tammy Shmerling The music and dialogue is accomplished in itself, with a Tony Award to prove it. But on a local level, director Pip Singin’ In The Rain Mushin seeks out every opportunity to enhance the

By Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed, Al Goodhart, Al audience’s experience. Whether it’s innovative lighting for a Hoffman, Roger Edens, Edward Heyman, Betty Comden and vignette, or witty projection, the audience is invited to share Adolph Green. Director: Madeleine Johns. Musical Director: the woes and celebrations with a crazy cast of puppets and Sherree Drummond. Choreographer: Meredith Johns. their human counterparts (oh, and human neighbours Gary Redcliffe Musical Theatre. Redcliffe Cultural Centre (Qld).

Coleman, Brian and Christmas Eve).

April 20 – 29.

The cast are equally strong in singing, acting and I’D give Redcliffe Musical Theatre’s production of Singin’ maneuvering the puppets. Their animated faces breathe life In the Rain 3 stars out of 5. It’s not an easy show to stage into the puppets, and their bodies complete the image. with its black-and-white movie clips and a first-act finale Standouts include Emma Harris as Kate Monster, Grant with the leading character dancing in the rain, but director Buse as Rod, and Courtney Krulis as Lucy the Slut. However Madeleine Johns achieved it. The black-and-white video they all master the beloved voices that is synonymous with clips were excellent and time and time again punched life their characters. into piece. Barbara Bloodworth’s wonderfully evocative 66 Stage Whispers

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Singin’ In The Rain

flapper-era costumes were a plus as was Meredith Johns’ choreography. Performance-wise, Sydney import, the lanky six-foot-five James Barry was a funny Cosmo and the best tap-dancer on stage, with good work being done by Kelly Smith as the ingénue Kathy. Clay English’s Don Lockwood had pitch problems, but handled his terpsichorean duties well, while Liana Hanson as the squeaky-voiced Lina Lamont almost walked away with the show. Her second-act solo “What’s Wrong with Me?” was the best song on the night.

John Sayles, as the studio boss R.F. Simpson, was solid, with Dale Shearman’s movie director Roscoe Dexter also making his mark. Musically the orchestrations were frequently beyond the capabilities of the young musicians, and the production would have benefited by some scene change music, tighter lighting cues, and dropping the unnecessary video compilation shown during the play-out music. But hey, the company is young, this is only their fourth show, and the talent on display, in a show that’s a technical minefield, deserves encouragement.

Peter Pinne Miss Saigon

By Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr. Chatswood Musical Society. Director: Anne Veitch. Concourse Theatre, Chatswood. May 4 - 12.

THIS was Chatswood’s first production in the sparkling new Concourse and the first challenge, to fill the vast new

stage, was passed with flying colours. The set was spectacular.

The arrival of a helicopter and a period car gave the audience two gee whiz moments.

The musical was anchored by an orchestra under the baton of Greg Jones that was crisp and always on the money.

Veronica Alonzo as Kim looked the picture of innocence when she was introduced to the American troops as fresh meat. She sang passionately and acted beautifully throughout the performance.

Jeremy Curtin as Chris matched her in the singing stakes.

Mike Curtin (Chris’s real life brother) shone as the Engineer. He crafted his way around the stage, as the character wheeled and dealed his way in and out of trouble. He rightfully got the biggest ovation of the night.

Daniel Placido as Thuy and Helen Harris as Ellen provided solid support.

The chorus sang very well but some of the large dance numbers needed a little polish.

By midway through the first act all distractions caused by small indiscretions like this and the breakage of a light globe in a collision with a hut had been swept away and I was fully engrossed in the drama.

The Chatswood Musical Society threw everything but the kitchen sink at this production and deserved the standing ovation they received on opening night.

David Spicer

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Stage Whispers 67

Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision

By Craig Christie and Andrew Patterson. The Hills Musical Society (NSW). Don Moore Community Centre. June 15 – 23, 2012.

SO effectively self-satirizing is Eurovision, that further send-up seems almost redundant.

Community Theatre directors and performers need to deliver a high-energy performance, drawing inspiration for their deliberate excesses from Michael Green’s The Art of Coarse Acting for this piece of theatrical froth and bubble.

Director Jan Maloney and her cast achieve just that.

Audiences vote for the winning act in Eurobeat each night, with votes counted during interval, then presented via live tally video crosses to the various national capitals, effectively and entertainingly. (I was given a tour of the makeshift low-tech studio – three computers, a video camera and a green screen. Impressive!)

Opening night winner Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision was Vesuvia Versace (Suzanne Spiteri) from Italy, helped by one of the show’s better songs, Don’t Say “Ti Amo”, delivered in dynamic voice, with strong presence.

Other highlights included Laura Reid’s confident, cheeky Nana Mouskouri turn; a boisterous, witty Viking number; Bang Me, with raunchy lyrics delivered with absolute naïve innocence by Valerie Miller; big laughs landed by the surtitles for the French entry (Leonie Klopper); John Adams’ engaging leprechaun; Annette Alexander’s ice maiden-ish delivery of Love Ballad #3a; Briony Visser’s standout performance as the blonde in the ABBA take-off, and Lichtenstein’s wordless post modern Be-Bop for Veronda.

As co-host Boyka, Ashli Martin has a sparkling personality, the figure to stylishly parade elegant gowns, and her singing at the start of Act 2 is another highlight.

Rick Barta makes not-so-bright, sleazy co-host Sergei the sort of guy you’d expect to meet in a dark alleyway selling dirty postcards.

The video crosses were well-handled and good fun, with deliberately grainy transitions and some particularly amusing visuals. It’s a shame this portion of the short second act drags a little, just as many awards counts do.

There’s plenty of silly, if slightly uneven, fun to enjoy in The Hills Musical Society’s production.

Neil Litchfield Sunset Boulevard

By Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton. CLOC Musical Theatre (Vic). National Theatre, St Kilda. May 4 – 19.

FROM May 4 to 19, the National Theatre was the proud host of an extravagant CLOC production of Sunset Boulevard.

68 Stage Whispers

CLOC’s show is the first fully staged Australian production since 1996. Directed by Chris Bradtke, it’s a technical marvel. Costume designer Nerissa Seville’s work is a standout. Set Designer Brenton Staples and Set Construction Grant Alley worked very hard too, designing and creating the opulent and grand Desmond mansion, as well as portable Hollywood icons like the Paramount Pictures gates, Stage 18 and Schwab’s Drug Store.

Set changes and lighting cues are tight and sharp, but group scenes are difficult to maneuver. Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to look, and who’s talking. A spotlight might aid in this. Having said this, the audience is rewarded for watching. The large ensemble consists of skilled performers who have established character mannerisms and quirks.

The enormous cast, however, is not necessarily utilised.

Most scenes consist of Joe, Norma and Max. Group numbers are easy on the ear, however; no doubt the accomplishment of Musical Director Andrew McCalman.

Among the cast of 26, performances are solid and perfectly fine, but no one shines. This includes Maureen Andrew as Norma Desmond, Mark Doran as Joe Gillis, Phillip Lambert as Max, and Alexandra Clover as Betty.

Choreographer James Rooney missed opportunities to enhance the show. Too many song numbers consisted of cast members standing motionless. This compromised the natural momentum of the show.

CLOC’s production is an enjoyable comeback (sorry, return) of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Tammy Shmerling Looking Through A Glass Onion John Waters with Stewart D’Arietta. Chapel Off Chapel (Vic). May 2 – May 6 and touring.

JOHN Waters and Stewart D’Arietta first performed this show at The Tilbury Hotel just on twenty years ago now.

Over the years it grew to be something bigger and more theatrical. Now it returns to its roots and original intimacy – with just Waters and D’Arietta accompanied by pure talent.

Stripped bare, the show has lost none of its edge or its freshness, despite its age.

Waters’ singing is masterful, but this is an insight into what made Lennon tick as much as it is an homage, and it’s the monologues; the musings, the connection that Waters has with his audience that makes this so special. Like Lennon, Waters has charisma and understands its power.

The writing is masterful, balancing the humour, anger, disdain and poignancy that were all part of Lennon’s makeup. D’Arietta’s accompaniment and vignettes are just as breathtaking and when the two sing in harmony there’s a

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seamlessness about the vocal meld which is as poignant as it is perfect. For those of us who were “there” for The Beatles era, this is an emotional journey. For those of us too young to know, Waters shows us how to Imagine…. And that’s a gift.

Coral Drouyn The Gondoliers

By Gilbert and Sullivan. Berowra Musical Society (NSW).

Director: Andrew Cousins. Musical Director: Sally Cousins.

Choreographer: Jess Edward. May 19 – 26.

TRADITIONAL at heart, Berowra’s production of The Gondoliers has sufficient freshness and variations on a theme to enliven it.

The spirited ensemble is attractively dressed, and their movement and groupings, in operetta style, are effective and generally well executed, though there’s an imbalance in harmonies from time-to-time.

Star of the show is the sleazy, manic, cod-Spanish villain Don Alhambra of Andrew Jackson. His theatrical hi-jinks like breaking the fourth wall to cue the conductor, tend to steal the comic thunder usually shared more generously with the Duke of Plaza Toro and entourage. Mathew Siedl’s Duke seemed rather sedate by comparison. Louise Longhurst’s Duchess has attitude to spare. Suzanne Chin puts on some very snooty sneers as Casilda, but swings sweetly into the romantic scenes with Luiz (Dan Ferris).

Tom Cousins and Michael Handy cut a dashing, appropriately conceited pair as Gondoliers Giuseppe and Marco. Cousins has a fine, assured baritone, while Handy does well, though his Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes isn’t a pure classical tenor rendition.

Jessica Jongens (Tessa) and Iolanda Caruana (Gianetta) combine pleasing vocals with lively comic acting.

The sets provide vivid, attractive backdrops, with caricature portraits of the two Gondoliers seeming to share a wink or two with the audience.

A large pit orchestra, under conductor Sally Cousins, does full justice to the orchestrations, with the audience remaining glued to their seats throughout the playout.

Neil Litchfield Blood Brothers

By Willy Russell. NUCMS (NSW). Co-Directors: Francis Voon and David Russell. Musical Director: Jeff Fisher. May 4 – 19, 2012.

THERE’S an aura of Greek Tragedy about Blood Brothers and its tale of twin brothers, Mickey and Edward, split at birth, raised in respective poverty and wealth, becoming best friends (unaware of their connection), before dying as a consequence of a tragic love triangle.

NUCMS presents a clear, creditable interpretation, with a strong sense of narrative, making a virtue of venueenforced simplicity.

The formidable Mrs Johnstone, mother of the twins, is given a convincing, dynamic portrayal by Elizabeth Hogan, dramatically and vocally.

It’s a delight when adults play kids and genuinely capture the playful, innocent essence. Co-director David

Russell (Mickey) and Alex Giles (Edward) begin the performance establishing a delightfully credible contrast at age seven, almost eight, then progressively characterise the roles, and the widening gulf between themselves, effectively and credibly.

Victor Reyes isn’t as effortlessly malevolent a Narrator as some but his telling is strong and clear, and his singing impresses.

Blood Brothers’ villain, for mine, is adoptive mother Mrs Lyons and Barbara Sanders infuses her with a suitably cold, snooty selfishness.

With the band placed behind the scenery, an effective sound mix is maintained throughout under the control of Musical Director Jeff Fisher.

Minor criticisms include - some movement might have benefitted from more structure; the Liverpudlian accents of some performers drifted in and out, while less experienced players rushed their dialogue from time to time.

Blood Brothers is well-served in this simple, effective production.

Neil Litchfield Chicago

By John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Neptune Productions. Tweed Heads Civic Centre. May 18 to 27.

CO-DIRECTORS Wendy Fahey and Caroline Thomas were two busy ladies, with Wendy doubling as M.D. and Caroline trebling as choreographer and Velma Kelly.

The orchestra was at the back of the stage on scaffolding, with the show unfolding in front, using props and plenty of colourful costumes.

Caroline, Cherie Goosey as Roxie Hart and the other inmates of the Cook County Jail (all scantily dressed), danced up a storm.

Matron Mama Morton was beautifully crafted by Debbie Tanna, with Leigh Harrison as the lawyer Billy Flynn, Neptune stalwart Andy Fahey as Amos Hart and Jay Ahrens believable as Mary Sunshine. The supporting cast and chorus worked hard and had a great time.

Audiences at the sell-out season really got into the era, with many dressing for the occasion.

A good team effort from Neptune Productions.

Roger McKenzie Avenue Q

By Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty. Brisbane Arts Theatre (Qld). June 2 – July 14.

THERE was a buzz of anticipation and excitement in the opening night’s full-house audience signalling a great season ahead. From curtain-up the show rose to our expectations. Avenue Q is a great choice for this intimate, welcoming theatre.

It is definitely a Gen Y show ─ situations, speech patterns, lifestyles, attitudes and the TV backgrounds of the characters. The multi-talented young cast of twelve bounced onto the stage and carried us along with them.

Sure there were a few opening night technical glitches but the actors performed through them or improvised round them.

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Stage Whispers 69

This show is infectious. It’s about 20-somethings trying to find their niche in life. And of course it’s about sex ─ why else the THIS IS NOT A KIDS' SHOW warning?

The programme credits Dunedin Fortune Theatre from whom Arts Theatre hired the puppets and allied technical effects (a timely move while Arts Theatre was undergoing relocation of their costume department). But local actors and instrumentalists made it the seductive night-out that will draw patrons.

I congratulate Director, Miranda Selwood, Choreographer, Lauren Ware and Musical Director, Luke Volker for pulling the show together. I’d like to isolate individual performers, but how can you separate muppet/ puppets from their manipulators? In that cast there are twelve potential professionals acting their hearts out.

Jay McKee

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

By Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert. MDMS (Vic). Direcor: Richard Perdriau. Karralyka Theatre, Ringwood. June 15 – 23.

HOW to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is like TV’s Mad Men with singing. The score is witty, and the show thumbs its nose at corporate America in the 1950s… but a closer look shows it is dated and needs to be handled with care.

There are some weaknesses in Mountain Districts Musical Society’s lavish and ambitious version, but when you have a lead actor with the quality of Tyler Hess, you’re prepared to overlook any shortcomings. He dominates the stage with electrifying energy, cheekiness, adorable boyishness, and great singing. Best of all, he’s one of the few in the cast that understands the period and the satire of the time.

Forbidden Broadway Peter Smitheram is a nicely layered JB Biggley, and Chris

By Gerard Alessandrini. The Space, The Arts Centre Gold Handley presented a larger than life Bud Frump, with very Coast. Director: Brad Rush. May 10 – 12 strong vocals and comic skills. Lucia Craven made a THE cream of the Gold Coast talent presented the revue banquet out of Hedy La Rue. Will Deumer (Twimble/ Forbidden Broadway, an irreverent send-up of popular Womper) has two of the show’s best songs and shows the musicals and those associated with their success; a legacy of 40 years as a professional.

Broadway tradition originating in the mid 80s.

The rest of the cast tries hard but are out of touch with the period. Director Richard Perdriau must take A multi-talented cast of show stealers lampooned all that was holy on the Great White Way. responsibility. On the other hand he gets praise for the Under the tight direction of Director Brad Rush, Musical lovely touch of having the “How to Succeed” book in a Director Matthew Nutley and Choreographer Andrew different colour whenever Finch pulls it out; co-ordinating Millar, the audience was treated to an hilarious procession with the set and costumes: Inspirational. Choreography was of quirky twists on Music Theatre favourites. good but seemed under-rehearsed.

Technical support was integral in a production which Director and star also designed the set and costumes relied on precision onstage and off. respectively and the colour palette is terrific throughout.

With such an array of talent it was hard to single anyone Danny Isko’s lighting design is as striking as the sets and out however Liza Minnelli, Ethel Merman and Barbra costumes, but sound designer Phillip Van Nes would be Streisand made their presence felt! justified in doing serious harm to whomever was controlling sound on Saturday night. The band is good, but the Roger McKenzie transitions and pick-ups are sometimes slow. Set changes Blood Brothers too sometimes take too long.

By Willy Russell. Spotlight Theatrical Company. Benowa, Despite the problems, this production is well worth Gold Coast. Director: Clem Halpin. May 18 - June 9. seeing. The show is beautifully presented, and the line between commercial theatre and community theatre is CLEM Halpin, reproducing the successful 2007 being all but obliterated by stylish productions like this. production of this musical drama, was fortunate to also have Helen Maden recreating the childless yet affluent Mrs Coral Drouyn Lyons.

Alex Downey and Tim Carroll were outstanding as the Thoroughly Modern Millie twins separated at birth; Alex as the poor twin Mickey who Richard Morris, Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori. North remained with birth mother Mrs Johnstone (played with Shore Music Theatre. Centrestage Theatre, Orewa, great empathy by Alison Pattinson) and Tim as the wellAuckland (NZ). June 9 to 23. educated Edward Lyons. Alex and Tim aged successfully TMM is one of the old fashioned, feel good, all singing, from 7 years old to their early twenties. all dancing musicals. Set in the Roaring Twenties with David McNeven’s musical direction and Shani McKay’s bobbed hair and short skirts for the “modern flapper’ all choreography were effective in capturing the atmosphere the rage, the book is extremely funny, with romance, gold of 1960’s Liverpool (UK). diggers, slave traders and hilarious Chinese hotel porters.

The effective set gave us the poor but proud Johnstone Director Sherrin Scelly and Choreographer Val Hemphill tenement house and the more lavish dwelling of the Lyons. both demonstrated what has been universally recognised as Attention to detail by Kate Tardy and Shelley Halpin in both their particular expertise; Sherrin in casting and attention to the costumes and decor captured the class divide to detail and Val for wonderful tap routines and innate advantage. passion and talent to turn any cast into a creditable line up Roger McKenzie of tap dancers.

70 Stage Whispers

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Online extras!

Go behind the scenes of MDMS’ rehearsals. Just scan the QR code or visit http://youtu.be/yhhvhq_rPmA How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying

All the principals give strong performances. Melinda Joe as Millie Dillmount is most suitably enthusiastic, adventurous and determined to make her mark in New York City of 1922. Grant Meese plays the part of Jimmy with grace and humour. Janine Donnell (Mrs Meers), Greg Milner-White (Trevor Graydon) and Kirsten Robinson (Miss Dorothy) have great comic flair while Debby Penney brings her fabulous vocal dexterity to the role of Muzzy. Some of the biggest laughs were for Romel Gonzales who brought a delicious, ridiculous sincerity to the role of Ching Ho. With costumes, props, lighting, sound and orchestra all as expected, opening night was marred by a few technical hitches, mostly to do with set changes. The set is large and ambitious and will no doubt be wrangled under control after a few performances.

Fun, frivolity and a jolly good laugh all wrapped up with some great acting, singing and of course tap dancing.

Pauline Vella Oklahoma!

By Rodgers and Hammerstein. Manly Musical Society (NSW). Director: Dave Izzard. Musical Director: Chris Bennie. Choreographer: Jess Grimmond. Star of the Sea Theatre, Manly. May 18 – 26.

MANLY Musical Society is an enthusiastic youthful company, presenting a small-scale production of Oklahoma!

Talented principals provide the highlights of this bare bones staging.

Danielle Anthony-Goodwin nails the naïve coquetry and comedy of Ado Annie in a bright, sassy performance.

As swaggering Curly, Christopher Lewis gives an assured portrayal, singing impressively. Sarah Dwyer sings the role of Laurie attractively, creating a nicely balanced characterization. Theirs is a credible central romance.

Christina Stagg is a bustling, salt-of-the earth Aunt Ella, though her grey hair seemed a little overdone. Anthony Swadling plays Ali Hakim with dry, well-timed wit.

Raymond Cullen’s Will Parker is energetic and likeable, but his stagecraft disappoints. Apenera Tupon sings Judd’s songs well, but isn’t genuinely menacing.

The set is basic – some bales of hay and rostra with minimal props and decorations. Colourful dresses and western outfits set the scene.

With an approach so simple, though, the devil lies in the (limited) detail.

Curly suggests Judd hang himself from a hook so low that suicide is clearly impossible, the sky frequently ripples distractingly, and, given the simplicity of the setting, several blackouts were hard to fathom.

Choreographer Jess Grimmond’s effective dance and movement is enthusiastically hoofed by the company, though the Dream Ballet is too large a challenge.

Chris Bennie’s orchestra, while smallish, serves the score well.

The production clearly struck a chord, though, with Oklahoma! first-timers; a reminder that the classic musical retains its power to please.

Neil Litchfield Oliver!

By Lionel Bart. Babirra Music Theatre. Director: Sue Salvato.

Musical Director: Ryan Jacobs. Choreographers: Cameron O’Reilly/Lisa-Maree David. The Whitehorse Centre (Vic). June 1 – 10.

SINCE the demise of Whitehorse, Babirra Music Theatre seems to have moved up a gear to seriously challenge as one of the best amateur companies in Melbourne.

Everything about this production showed class.

Particularly impressive were the abstract sets. The flies were rarely used as these large structures were spun around

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Stage Whispers 71

Emma Paul in Pippin.

Photo: Andre Moonen Creative Photography.

to reveal another side, the action continuing as the sets moved around it. The lighting was constantly enhancing the production.

Shows like this are often let down by the sound. Not this time. Every word could be heard and it came as a surprise when the operators were late turning on a couple of mikes and the tenor line drowned the melody in one chorus.

I have seen many good Nancys but I don’t recall seeing one as strong as Rosa McCarty. She lived the role and her voice was amazing. Peter Roberts was very good as Fagin, but I didn’t get the sleaziness of the role. He had some very funny moments and his timing was superb.

Jordie Race-Coldrey was an excellent Oliver and Ryland Lack-Powell an energetic Dodger. Both of them had songs rewritten to avoid top notes. Matt Hillman was a scary Bill Sykes. The chorus had some very impressive choreography and they didn’t miss a beat.

The season sold out. It deserved to.

Graham Ford

Leahy’s female casting of the Leading Player works well thanks to Emma Paul’s seductive, sensuous performance.

Garth Saville’s Charlemagne is impressively sung, with Godfather overtones, a la Tony Soprano. Melissa Lammers’ manipulative vamp Fastrada has all the stagey sexiness the part demands. As Pippin’s grandmother Robyn Lassman is pure showbiz; the veteran vaudeville hoofer to a tee. James Jonathon nails the role of Pippin’s narcissistic, vacuous halfbrother. Jennifer Parbery’s Katherine is a cleverly layered portrayal, with her self-accompanied solo near show’s end a highlight. Young Daniel Simpson is a cheeky scene-stealer as Katherine’s son Theo.

Visually Rory Chatterton’s Pippin is very different from the rest, dressed plain, casual contemporary, just as his performance style is straight and naturalistic by contrast. As prince and heir to the throne, though, he sometimes needed a more assured stance and bearing.

A small ensemble makes a very large contribution; girls corseted, and uplifted and buxom, boys androgynous, in individualized, stylized, and finely detailed performances.

Pippin Their physicality is striking.

By Roger O Hirson and Stephen Schwartz. Miranda Musical A storytelling piece, Pippin is a relatively blank canvas, Society (NSW). Sutherland Memorial School of Arts. June 15 open to a broad sweep of interpretations, which Gavin – 24.

Leahy and his cast have coloured vividly.

MIRANDA’s production of Pippin serves the 70s soft Neil Litchfield rock musical particularly well.

Reveling in the sultry, grotesque vaudeville carnival Matilda Women theatricality of Gavin Leahy’s interpretation, the wellBy Sue Rider. Atherton Performing Arts. Director: Tom balanced ensemble creates delightful individualities, O’Connor. May 25 - June 2. blending organically into a quirky unity.

MATILDA Women is a history lesson of events in late Pippin is the story of a young man’s quest for nineteenth century Queensland as seen from a female fulfillment, narrated and guided by the Leading Player. perspective. Dressed in colourful period costumes, the cast tell their stories in fast-paced dialogue and song.

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Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

The acting is very strong particularly from Clare Reitsma as Margaret Ogg the feminist, Jacqui Williamson as Emma Miller the fiery unionist, and Maddie Williamson as the famous Gladys Moncrieff. Lydia Beaton as Lillian Cooper gives a humorous performance as a female doctor who has trouble convincing the public that she is a doctor, while Sarah Broomhall holds the stage with a powerful portrayal of artist Vida Lahey. Frida Garate as Agnes Stokes and Ashleigh Short as the unfortunate Mary Watson also gave engaging performances. Shelley Berry-Porter’s performance as Ellen Thompson, the last woman to hang in Queensland, was captivating as was Jacqui Stephens’s role as a male judge. Brian O’Connor, the only male in the cast, did a great job in various roles.

This is a very entertaining team effort by the cast who were all convincing in telling the life stories of these very brave pioneering women.

Ken Cotterill

The Witches of Eastwick

By John Dempsey and Dana Rowe. MLOC Productions.

Phoenix Theatre, Elwood (Vic). Director: Jane Court. Musical Director: Martine Wengrow. Choreographer: Merilyn Young. Lighting Design/Operation: Michael Richardson, Jacinta Lyne. June 15 - 23.

MLOC’s production of The Witches of Eastwick opened to an enthusiastic audience of family and friends. While the cast appeared flat in Act 1, they made up for it after interval with vigorous chorus action.

Michael Young (Darryl Van Horne), as the ‘ideal man’, was smooth, sleazy and seductive, even if his mature vintage required some suspension of belief. The Witches; Lucy MacVicar (Jane), Erin Keleher (Alexandra) and Susie McCann (Sukie), worked tightly together with some good three-part vocal work. Sean Loughlin (Fidel) was funny, and will build on last night’s laughs.

Crowd-pleasing scenes, mostly in Act 2, include Dance with the Devil, where the cast let loose with raunchy Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat dancing, red light wash and some ‘out-there’ and

By Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Engadine Musical overstated choreography. In The Glory of Me Young Society. Director: Kerrie Hartin. Musical Director: Valerie relished his Elvis-eat-your-heart-out moves.

Hull. Choreographer: Kirstie Bell. Sutherland Entertainment Dirty Laundry features a t-towel and washing basket Centre. May 9 – 13. sequence that will realize its potential with either smaller EMS has staged a happy, energetic production of baskets or fewer cast on stage. Act 2 did not begin until Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s retelling of the almost 10.00pm and should be clipped to maintain biblical story of the coat of many colours. momentum.

Andrew Fabris is a boyishly good-looking, engaging, Set design, when featured, was very effective with white personable Joseph, with a terrific voice. picket fence and autumnal backdrop, Darryl’s house, and A livelier bunch of onstage reprobates you couldn’t wish later the Chapel. The show would benefit from more for than the eleven brothers Engadine has assembled. colour, or a half-stage in some scenes. The lighting They’re just the type of animated, confident young men designers are warmly congratulated. that it takes to make this show work, establishing individual Lucy Graham characters, while generating terrific group chemistry.

Their choreography was kept extremely simple when the Miss Saigon brothers were working by themselves, but when the dance- By Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil & Richard talented female ensemble joined in, they stepped up to the Maltby Jnr. Savoyards. Director: David Williams. Musical mark as strong partners, in tight, energetic routines.

Director: Geoffrey Secomb. Choreographer: Tamsin Choreographer Kirstie Bell marshaled her adult and child Sutherland. Iona Performing Arts Centre, Wynnam (Qld). forces particularly effectively in a couple of big, whole June 2 – 23. company numbers too.

FULL disclosure; I love Miss Saigon and consider it one of Two narrators, Tanya Boyle and Rebecca Gordon, shared the best written musicals of the last 25 years. Schonberg a role originally designed for one performer. Both and Boublil’s richly layered score never fails to move me. performed well in their own right, and harmonized I can report that Savoyards production of it hit all the effectively, but the choice to divide the role often split the right buttons with a strong cast headed by the focus of the narration. incomparable Kimie Tsukakoshi as Kim. The demanding role The kids’ cast I saw (there are two) thoroughly enjoyed could not have been in better hands. Tsukakoshi who has themselves, infectiously, as always, for the audience. played the role before, was the perfect Kim; pretty, vocally Cameo roles, all sung, were delivered with varied sure, and heartbreakingly real. Her readings of “Sun and degrees of confidence, with the strongest very impressive.

Moon,” “I Still Believe” and “Please,” were emotional A single set, three structures of stairs and platforms, highlights. works well, providing effective levels throughout.

Lionel Theunisson also excelled in the pivotal Engineer A handful of just-too-lengthy blackouts between some part and made the most of his “If You Want To Die In Bed,” numbers slowed the pace at times. and “The American Dream.” Newcomer Conor Ensor as A bright, family friendly show for performers and Chris showed distinct promise despite being hampered by a audiences of all ages. last-minute throat problem. Others to be noticed were Neil Litchfield Shane McLennan (John) who scored with “Bui Doi,” Pette Zetterstrom (Thuy) and Vanessa Wainwright (Ellen).

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Stage Whispers 73

David Williams’ direction was tight with the steamy, seamy raunch of the bar scenes nicely contrasted with the soft and tender love scenes of Kim and Chris.

Miss Saigon would not be Miss Saigon without the infamous helicopter scene which in this production was the nose of the machine being lowered on the right-hand side of the stage with appropriate lighting and sound effects. It was believable, as was the entire production.

Peter Pinne Chicago

By John Kander and Fred Ebb. Blue Fish Theatrical. Schonell Theatre. Director: Tony Campbell. April 19 – 28.

AMID the Razzle Dazzle and All That Jazz of Kander and Ebb’s Chicago, Tony Campbell delivered a production of professional standard. With a simple set and the orchestra centre stage, the show relied on the outstanding performances of the very talented cast.

Julie Whiting’s musical direction was, once again, fantastic and at the conclusion of the performance the audience were treated to a great “jazz orientated” playout.

Under Jenny Usher, the company presented well choreographed and executed routines.

As is the modern interpretation of the show, the costuming was basic black with minimum props and the occasional use of colour.

This show certainly ticked all of the boxes when it comes to entertainment!

Roger McKenzie

Sweet Charity

Scrubbers

By Cenarth Fox. Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group (Vic).

Director: Cenarth Fox. Choreographer: Margaret Rawlinson.

Strathmore Community Centre. May 31 – June 9.

I WASN’T sure what to expect of Scrubbers, but it sounded like fun and it was. It was an Australian fivehander by Cenarth Fox, who was there to direct and get the best out of his players.

The musical is about five cleaning ladies, all with various disappointments in their lives. Dee has been struggling to become a singer, and when the others join her as an all girl band, they forget their woes and embrace this new goal.

The play is well written with some very funny lines, and the five interacted well. Dee had two very funny songs in the first half: one where she moans about writing songs no one wants to hear, and the other complaining about having to sing covers. The songs in the second half did not maintain that standard.

As this was a drama group, the acting was uniformly strong but the singing not so, though quite acceptable.

They sang in tune and there was some harmony. The choreography was tight.

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Margaret Rawlinson as the older Mo had lovely comic timing. Helen Wentworth played a strong Dee, but tended to switch off when singing. If she’d been able to play the guitar that would have been a bonus, but she was in sync with the backing. Michelle Tanner, Francesca Ferra-Macri and Theresa Brancatisano completed the strong ensemble as Liz, Helly and Chrissie.

I would suggest replacing the songs in the second half and having a bit more harmony but this was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Graham Ford Sweet Charity

By Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields and Neil Simon. The Regals Musical Society. St George Auditorium, Kogarah. May 15 – 19.

PARED back to a stylish single setting, incorporating effective use of projections and mostly minimal carry-on props, Director / Choreographer Ste Casimiro has come up with a pacy, high-energy production.

Though the setting is simple, the show has enormous visual appeal, thanks largely to James Worner’s stunning, varied array of 60s costumes and wigs.

In the marathon triple threat performance that is title role, Jessica Shanks sings, acts and dances splendidly, nailing its deliciously idiosyncratic humanity.

As her Fandango Ballroom sidekicks Nickie and Helene, Lauren Nalty and Charisse Graber completed the key friendship trio with joy and gusto. The Fandango Ballroom girls make the most of their work, particularly the in-your-face Big Spender.

As Oscar Lindquist, Charity’s big love interest, Julian Batchelor, gives a truthful, in-the-moment characterization, singing the role well.

Virginia Natoli, in a gender-switched Mamma Brubeck, and her off-siders lead a spirited Rhythm of Life scene, while Ken Dillon finds a strong, sometimes shadowy, presence as ballroom owner Herman, though it’s a pity the role had to be cast out of vocal range.

The ensemble give their all in high energy choreography.

The varied dance routines are lifted by the visual pleasure of a continuous stream of costume and wig changes. There’s a good balance of joyous individuality, work pitched to the dance ability of the performers, and tightness.

Another challenge was well met by Kane Wheatley and his on-stage orchestra. On moving into the theatre it was discovered that the band would be split into three ‘pits’. By opening night you would have sworn it was all part of the grand plan.

Neil Litchfield

Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Reviews: Dance

The Land of Yes and The Land of No

120 Birds Choreographer: Liz Lea. Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. May 23 – 26.

THIS lovingly compiled story of a fictional Australian dance company touring the world in the 1920s and 30s is based on Anna Pavlova’s many tours. It depicts the excitement and charm of the period, mixed with the setbacks that could befall a company in that heady yet depressing time.

Liz Lea’s concept works beautifully. Supported by vintage film clips from the National Film and Sound Archive, and stills of costume designs from Les Ballets Russes and the fabrics of Florence Broadhurst, Lea herself narrates the story. She creates a character and engages the audience in a voice that conjures the enunciation of the time … with slight overtones of Joanna Lumley!

The set is simple yet evocative. Two Florence Broadhurst screens set the period. Dominating all is a cycloramic screen, where projections take the audience back into the period.

In swirling fabrics, sparkles, sweeping fans, and, of course, feathers, the four principal dancers – Liz Lea herself, Melanie Fayd’herbe de Maudave, Miranda Wheen and Ash Bee – bring the imaginary company to life and take it through the classical and ballroom choreography of the time.

The finale, to Rhapsody in Blue, is a combination of costumes and choreography that is a touching précis of the production and the period.

Liz Lea has mixed dance, storytelling, theatre, film and history in a carefully constructed, fast paced production, which has wide audience appeal.

Carol Wimmer

Through the suggested doorways, the dancers move out of their sanctuary, sometimes hesitantly, sometimes confidently, to face a world where nothing remains the same, where shadows haunt, and light exposes and glances and tiny movements betray.

Through exquisite and perfectly articulated and controlled movement, the dancers begin their journeys facing symbolic signs and messages that bring them almost together, then scatter them apart. In pairs alone, they work through emotional signs and implications that are touchingly sensual and breath-taking to watch. As an ensemble they move into a cityscape that is fraught with crossing paths and blocked ways and varied

speeds.

The choreography is intricate. An open hand articulates to an arm that weaves around the body, reaches out, then pulls the body away. The movement is picked up as another dancer moves from safety to a similar diversion. Every tiny movement, every graceful leap, is perfectly timed and dexterously executed. Lightness is accentuated in the airy white fabric of the costumes.

This re-staging of the work uses a larger cast than Boachela’s original London creation which toured from London to Shanghai and Venice. It is an amazing physical interpretation of the things that control and order our lives and the decisions we are forced to make.

Carol Wimmer

Don Quixote Queensland Ballet. Playhouse, QPAC, Brisbane. May 19 – June 2.

FRANÇOIS Klaus’s version of the classic Cervantes novel celebrates another milestone in the final year of his eight-year tenure with Queensland Ballet.

The lavish production captures everything most ballet goers seek: spectacular scenery, gorgeous costumes, and brilliant dancers weaving magic to transport us to illusiondom where we escape our everyday routine.

Klaus uses the artistic conceit of a film being made of the Don Quixote ballet. The lead actor begins to assume the character of the hero he portrays. Action embraces the present and the Renaissance, capturing the essence of the book as well as high points of the Minkus version of the ballet.

Blair Wood’s transformation into Cervantes’ hero is The Land of Yes and the Land of No superlative theatre. Keian Langdon as Sancho Panza ably Sydney Dance Company. Choreographer: Rafael Boachela. supports him. Sancho’s gentle indulgence, care and protection Riverside Theatres, Parramatta. June 21 – 23 and touring. of his master won me over.

THE words of choreographer Rafael Boachela and Stars of the movie segments, Meng Ningning (Kitri) and production designer Alan Macdonald as they describe the Piran Scott (Basilio), thrilled the audience in their weddingcreation of this work are almost as graphic and emotional as scene cameos. As Dulcinea, Lisa Edwards (in the movie) and the performance itself. The essence of the work is signs and Clare Morehen (in the Quest sequence) were impressive. symbols – how they direct us, divert us, warn us, alter our way.

I applaud Klaus’s vision to meld past and present in his Macdonald uses fluorescent light tubes as architectural concept. I especially enjoyed the Piazzola tango segment that symbols – windows, doorways, scaffolding – and washes of showcased many dancers in a different style. pure primary light that suggest time and change and The finale (to a Dvořák cello concerto) was very moving as uncertainty. They accent Ezio Bosso’s music – irregular sound the Don actor finds he cannot live in our modern world patterns, sometimes discordant, sometimes almost silent, but without his dreams. always eerily beautiful.

Jay McKee Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 75

Romeo and Juliet.

Queensland Theatre Company

Reviews: Plays Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare. Queensland Theatre Company.

Playhouse, QPAC. April 21– May 13.

OVERENTHUSIASTIC morality police complained about billboard pictures of the lead actors embracing because 2011 Matilda-award-winner Melanie Zanetti looked ‘underage’. She played a very convincing fourteen year-old Juliet and deserved the praise and love the audience showered on her. They also loved Thomas Larkin’s Romeo, his second performance as a Shakespearean hero within three months.

Caroline Kennison was deliciously feisty, brash and bawdy as Juliet’s Nurse, a coup de théâtre performance.

Director, Jennifer Flowers drew together a star-studded cast of actors of all ages and gave them free rein with the juicy language. This was probably the most lewd and roisterous bunch of young Italians studs I have seen in any production of this play. Barefoot, bare-chested and lascivious they romped through their Verona, courting disaster at every turn.

Bill Haycock’s very practical and universal set looked solidly aristocratic, while his costume designs brought a colourful balance to the tragic plot. David Walters carried this theme through in his lighting and Phil Slade created an unobtrusive soundscape initially, which built towards impending doom, nicely capturing the mood of the action.

Quibbles? Yes. I was confused by the casting of Veronica Neave as Mercutio, and the show ran two and a quarter hours without interval. Audiences need forewarning.

Nevertheless, this was a truly memorable theatre occasion.

Jay McKee 76 Stage Whispers

When Dad Married Fury

By David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Sandra Bates. May 9 – June 16.

WITH three major productions to his name, David Williamson is the Ensemble’s house dramatist for 2012. The year started with Greta Scacchi in Nothing Personal and will end with Garry McDonald in Managing Carmen. Meanwhile here’s Nick Tate in When Dad Married Fury, immediately extended ‘due to overwhelming demand’.

But this one isn’t a ‘world premiere’; it’s a streamlined version of the play that opened Perth’s new Metcalfe Playhouse last July. In an exposition-heavy first scene the back story is plonked before us.

Contrasted brothers – engineer Ian (Warren Jones) and academic Ben (Jamie Oxenbould) — discuss the imminent arrival from America of their stockbroker father Alan (Nick Tate). Dad is worth $100 million. He’s here to celebrate his 70th birthday. His wife (their mother) has died recently. He’s bringing a new young American wife named Fury with him.

He’s had two heart attacks already and his sons are desperately concerned about their suddenly shaky inheritance.

Equally contrasted are Ian’s bitchy lawyer wife Sue (Lenore Smith) and Ben’s lefty/greenie wife Laura (Di Adams). Everyone’s social and political positions are amusingly established before the late arrival of Fury (Cheree Cassidy) — blonde, buxom, bible-quoting and far-far-rightwing.

Sandra Bates’ production is not helped by Marissa DaleJohnson’s unspecific set design, an acting area wallpapered and floor-tiled with an over-insistent dollar bill motif.

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Though the actors must shuffle chairs and props around during the blackouts, they relish their many comic, if sometimes clichéd, moments. The Ensemble audience is entertained throughout. Well, of course they are: it’s the new Williamson!

Frank Hatherley Amadeus

By Peter Shaffer. The Launceston Players. Earl Arts Centre, Launceston (Tas). Director: Jeff Hockley. April 19 – 28, 2012 AMADEUS is not a history play of the life of Mozart, although peopled by many of the grand characters of the time. It is also a way to investigate Shaffer’s own creative question: if there is a God, is God acting and caring for us?

The ghosts of Salieri and Mozart pursue that argument using the audience as the sounding board: a ploy cleverly executed by director Jeff Hockley.

Ray Sangston, the spiteful and jealous Antonio Salieri, and Travis Hennessy, charming as genius Wolfgang Mozart, treated the audience to an epic battle between innocence and jealousy, genius and mediocrity. Sangston is brilliant as the articulate, urbane and deeply ambitious Salieri.

Hennessey gives a wonderful performance as Mozart. Other notable performances were Tracy Ollington (Constanze, Mozart’s wife), Christopher Bryg (Joseph 11, Emperor of Austria), Bonnie Harris (Katherina Cavalieri) and David Towns and Matthew Hyde as Venticelli 1 and 11.

The huge, intricately carved portal at front stage drew attention to the action. Scene changes were projected on to a series of ornate frames suspended high above the action. Smoothly executed set and scene changes allowed the tableaux of court scenes and private meetings to flow effortlessly.

Superb costumes designed by Sonja Hindrum were lush, extravagant and beautifully made – 200 costumes for the 21 cast members. Lighting, music and technical effects were also competently handled.

Merlene Abbott Speaking in Tongues

By Andrew Bovell. Canberra Repertory Society. Director: Ross McGregor. Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra. May 4 – 19.

NINE characters’ lives twist and weave in this swim through the murky side of suburban behaviours. You dip your toes in the water as two couples make tentative steps towards adultery. The current gets stronger as a man pines for the fiancée who fled to Europe before the wedding and never came back. Before you know it, you’re in over your head as another woman disappears without trace.

Ross McGregor has overseen an imaginative production and coaxed faultless performances from his cast. All must handle complex and flawed characters and each does well.

Helen MacFarlane in particular glows in an incandescent performance—the strongest I’ve ever seen her. Bridgette Black, in her first stage role, impresses by conveying all the hypocrisy of a psychologically damaged psychoanalyst.

McGregor has used a minimalist set and lighting to convey moods from sombre, through heartbreakingly sad, to sordid and sleazy, using bold, dark colours. Soon after

the beginning of the second act, the set, through lighting changes alone, changes to eerie bush gothic, emphasising the most surprising plot twist. The neon colours of the costuming mirror the lighting and set, giving the play a very distinctive look and feel.

Canberra Rep is to be congratulated for continuing to bring to the Canberra audience such quality work.

Cathy Bannister Great Expectations

By Charles Dickens, adapted by Roger Gimblett. Genesian Theatre, Sydney. May 26 – June 30.

THE adaptation by Roger Gimblett is true to Dickens’ story and his characters speak in the same delightful dialogue, voicing their aspirations, fears and failings in accents true to their class and their time.

With the action moving through so many scenes and locations, set design could be a nightmare. But on Owen Gimblett’s very carefully planned set, the scenes unfold … literally! Side walls unfold and tall hedges slide across the stage, smoothly and relatively fast and quietly.

Michael Schell’s sound and lighting design conjure the cold dankness of the marshes and the crowded fogginess of 18th century London. The eerie, echoing soundscape of the opening scene, with young Pip (Sam Seccombe) visiting his parents’ graves on edges of the marsh and Magwitch (Tom Massey) rising from the gravestones is suitably frightening.

Of the cast of sixteen, Martin Searles, as Joe Gargery is outstanding, his careful timing and halting gesture, creating the warm, understanding character whose steadfast acceptance of life and honest love for Pip is the rock on which the story is built.

Lachlan Edmonds-Munro playing the older Pip, mixes wide-eyed innocence with awkward social ambition.

As Herbert Pocket, Pip’s guide to the social niceties of the upper class, Nichols Pond is fast and funny, his energy and vitality setting a pace that sustains throughout the play.

Carol Wimmer April’s Fool

By David Burton. Judith Wright Centre of Creative Arts, Brisbane. April 20-21, then on national tour until June.

THIS is one of the finest pieces of educational theatre I have seen.

We become engrossed and finally shattered by the ending, despite its inevitability. Credit must go to the inspired casting and direction of David Burton’s script by Lewis Jones.

After Toowoomba teenager, Kristjan Terauds’ drugrelated death in 2009, Burton hit on the idea of creating a docudrama that might illuminate the event without sensationalising it. He approached Kris’s family, doctors and nurses, and Kris’s friends and drug buddies. Most agreed to chat while Burton recorded; some requested name changes.

Without intentionally portraying a message, Burton cobbled together an inspiring theatre piece that introduces

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Stage Whispers 77

us to Kris’s return from a Gold Coast music festival.

Unexpected events upset a daily routine until Kris’s Dad can’t wake him next morning. He tries CPR with a surprise outcome. The ambulance declares Kris dead, he is revived in hospital but hangs in the balance for nine days.

Gradually the pieces fall together. We get to form our own conclusions. This dialogue is real – confusions, nonsequiturs, unfinished implications, pregnant pauses, anger…

Barbara Lowing (mother, Helena) and Allen Laverty (father, David) engage us while Sam Clark (Kris’s brother Ari) and Jessica Harm (sister, Danika) portray love and confusion. All four plus Belinda Raisin play multiple roles to create a whole community.

Heart-breakingly beautiful theatre.

Jay McKee Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare. Pavilion Theatre Castle Hill (NSW).

Director: Peter Rhodes. Set design and art: Peter Rhodes.

Lighting Design: Sean Churchward. Fight Trainer: Karin Kennedy. June 1 – 23.

THE curtain opens to reveal two poster-strewn, red brick walls and an alley way. One wall proclaims “Montague” in huge, blue graffiti-style letters; the other, “Capulet” in stark orange. There are four silver beer kegs, some scaffolding and dimly shining street lights.

It’s simple, but striking – and sets the perfect mood for this fast moving, contemporary production which is interspersed with modern music grabs – and Romeo’s tweets on a large computer screen.

In costumes colour coded to the graffiti, the cast projects the underlying fierceness of the family feud in the first fight scene. Carefully choreographed and rehearsed, it is fast and furious …as is the Capulet party! Here a fast, full -cast dance segment is a high spot of the production.

With careful and relatively fast rearranging and addition, the scaffold becomes the balcony, allowing some moments of inspired direction and carefully controlled acting. Romeo (Jack Crumlin) and Juliet (Jessica Paterson) make this scene fresh and new and very pretty to watch, establishing a believable chemistry.

Of the remainder of the busy cast of seventeen, Robert Snars is energetically enchanting as Mercutio, in sharp contrast to Jawad Beedar’s darkly brooding Tybalt.

Director Peter Rhodes has brought the love story that has triumphed for over five hundred years very successfully into the 21st century.

Carol Wimmer

regular choir practice, cups of tea and gossip. Over the course of the play we discover that things aren’t always what they seem and behind the veneer the harsh reality of life lurks.

I really liked the approach, the idea and the overall creation of the piece, however some scenes seemed less polished than others. There were some moments of stalling on lines and some of the direction seemed a bit unsophisticated for this kind of work. At times I thought this piece was trying to be a musical and at other times I thought it was trying to say something about the fraught insecurity of these women in Australia in this period. If you loved Mad Men, with all its glamour, hair do’s and airs and graces you’ll love this!

Emma Bell The Glass Menagerie

By Tennessee Williams. STCSA. Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Theatre. May 4-26.

WHAT a stunning opening gambit! I imagine it was the brainchild of Director Adam Cook and his Designer Victoria Lamb. The smoke and Mark Pennington’s magic lighting effects, while set pieces rose or fell into place (not quite fitting together – deliberately, to remind us this is a memory play and memory is fallible) to Composer Stuart Day’s haunting sounds of the era, remain fast in my memory.

Out of that emerged Anthony Gooley (as Tom Wingfield) to set the scene and family circumstances into which, as his prologue ended, he merged to play his part in this significant slice of his life. This was his play.

Deidre Rubenstein (as Amanda Wingfield, deserted wife and overprotective mother, did a splendid job in her essentially unlovable role. Kate Cheel (Laura) created a vulnerable, introverted, disabled young woman who, for a moment, blossoms as romance seems a possibility – but the moment fades.

The scene between Laura and the gentleman caller – Jim O’Connor (played by Nic English) – was warm and poignant after Laura got over her initial anxiety attack. English created a wholesome all-American boy, charming, gracious and the ideal man for Laura in her mother’s eyes. In his presence, and with his gentle urging, we see Laura gain confidence. This long sequence in Act 2 was engrossing and a fine piece of theatre.

In fact, the whole show captivated the audience.

Jay McKee

Elizabeth - almost by chance a woman.

By Dario Fo, adapted by Luke Devenish and Louise Fox. Keep Smiling! The Housewife’s Guide Queensland Theatre Company at The Powerhouse. May 26 The Colour Blind Project. Bondi Pavillion. May 1 – 19.

– June 24.

IT’S the 1960’s, the Vietnam War is upon us and any WHAT a roisterous bawdy romp this proved to be! Not housewife worth her weight looks perfect, sounds perfect so much a history lesson, more a satirical look at social and and cooks perfectly! Keep Smiling! The Housewife’s Guide political situations in our own country nowadays. is a kitsch, melodramatic piece, showcasing a snapshot into Two of our theatre royals, Carol Burns (as Elizabeth in the life and times of six middle class women in Australia. her final days) and Eugene Gilfedder (doubling as Characters including Mrs Practical and True, Mrs So and Shakespeare, and as the royal dresser, Grosslady) lead the So, and Mrs Making-Ends-Meet all get together for their cast of six through the political fears and intrigues of 78 Stage Whispers

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Dash Kruck (partly obscured), Carol Burns and Sarah Kennedy in Elizabeth.

Photo: Rob McColl.

leadership, ably supported by Dash Kruck (Court Jester ─ with parallels to our spin doctors, perhaps?), Sarah Kennedy (Martha ─ Elizabeth’s Lady-in-Waiting), Jason Klarwein (her political advisor and spy, Egerton), and John Rodgers (court musician. Mr Byrd; he also provides incidental music).

Inspirational was Simone Romaniuk’s boldly smocked fabric design representing the Queen’s befuddled brain, through which characters slip in and out discreetly, depending where her thoughts turn. David Walters enhanced this effect with colour washes, and carefully projected lighting to point up areas of main focus.

Champion of the Fo style, director Wesley Enoch exploited facets of Commedia dell’arte, farce, travesty and scatology to point up the political moments and events he and his cast were exploring: you’ll find Anna Bligh there; Can Do, Craig Thompson; Julia’s distinctive speech pattern.

The Queen’s fears, cries and abuse directed to Robert (Earl of Essex) parallel so many political coup situations here in recent years.

The dialogue is free-wheeling; I daresay this show will continue to embrace political developments in the course of the season.

Jay McKee

In 1998 international media attention swamped the town of Laramie, Wyoming, when young gay university student, Mathew Shepard, was brutally bashed, tied to a fence on the town’s perimeter and left to die. One month later members of the Tectonic Theater Project conducted interviews of the town’s residents and presented a collage of their responses in The Laramie Project. Ten years later, the Tectonic Theater Project members return to Laramie and find memory being transformed by folklore and rumour, despite the documented facts.

It is impossible to credit all the superb individual performances, although Paul Ashcroft’s quietly hopeless portrayal of the imprisoned Russell was captivating, Kate Cole’s traumatised police officer was impressive, and Chris Connelly’s barely contained public grief as Matthew Shepard’s father is heart-stopping. Congratulations go to the whole company.

Minimal costume changes facilitate the many characterisations, a jacket here - a scarf there, and are simple and effective. Modular panels, manoeuvred by the cast, further contain the compact palette on which this drama is born.

The Laramie Project – 10 Years Later is a disturbing reflection on society that demands the audience’s concentration and commands its respect.

Lucy Graham

Stockholm

By Bryony Lavery. Red Stitch Actors Theatre. Director: Tanya Gerstle. Ap 27 - May 26.

STOCKHOLM begins with Todd (Brett Cousins) seated with his back to girlfriend Kali (Luisa Hastings-Edge). She reaches behind her and wraps her hands around his face creating a mask with her elegant fingers. It's a fitting The Laramie Project – 10 Years Later metaphor for a relationship in which cruelty and desire,

By Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater beauty and pain are intertwined. Written by British Project. Red Stitch Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne (Vic). dramatist Bryony Lavery, Stockholm alludes to the Fairfax Studio. Director: Gary Abrahams. Set Designer: Peter phenomenon 'Stockholm Syndrome', in which trapped Mumford. Costume Designer: Yunuen Perez. May 16 – 26. victims develop feelings for their captors.

NINE actors take on 60 characters in an expertely-paced Todd and Kali seem to have it all. They have renovated a and intensely compact theatrical experience lasting just over house and celebrate birthdays with a getaway to Europe 100 minutes, without interval, in The Laramie Project – 10 (Stockholm, to be specific). Why then do they inflict Years Later. damage on each other? Cousins and Hastings-Edge are superb and convincing as a couple that alternate between a Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 79

The Mousetrap - Hobart Repertory Theatre. Photo: John King-Smith

caress and a cagefight. In one telling scene, after they have both pushed each other to extremes, Todd explains that people on the outer wouldn't understand how attractive the violence is. It's as though hurting each other makes them feel more alive. This leads to the one problem with stories like this: an abusive relationship is not attractive, nor should it be. Also, why should we care about two people who mistreat each other like this? Stockholm doesn't really have the answers. But Cousins and Hastings-Edge will have you spellbound with the questions.

Sara Bannister

nervy Inspector Trotter. Jeff Keogh rounded out the cast as Mr Paravicini, with extravagant accent and makeup.

Designer and scenic art whizz William Dowd created an excellent set, allowing plenty of scope for the expected comings and goings of drawing room comedy. Subtle but effective scene and mood changes through lighting design

by Peter West, was ably executed by Liz Lewinski. Keep ‘em guessing until the very last is the formula: it worked a treat with another ensemble success by Hobart Repertory Theatre Society.

Merlene Abbott

The Mousetrap

By Agatha Christie. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society.

Playhouse Theatre, Hobart. Director: Ingrid Ganley. May 25 – June 9.

THE Mousetrap sets a standard for the “whodunit” genre. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society’s production is faithful to the Christie mould. Enthusiastic audiences approved this tightly woven production, laughing, gasping, anticipating and trying to solve “whodunit”. Director Ingrid Ganley extracted good performances from a good cast.

Believable accents were well maintained throughout. Mike Edwards’ top-notch performance as the upright and dependable although mysterious Major Metcalf was a foil for the irritatingly crotchety Cathy Spencer as Mrs Boyle.

Newcomer Eleanor Morgan played nervously fussing Mrs Ralston well. Jared Goldsmith as Giles Ralston and Aidan Furst as the scatty Christopher Wren showed good timing and ensemble form. Sarah Phillips’ lovely diction and haughty manner was perfectly believable as Miss Casewell.

David Bannister did a wonderful job as the officious and

I Hate Hamlet

By Paul Rudnick. The 1812 Theatre (Vic). Director: John Mills. May 24 – June 16.

1812 THEATRE’S builders did a wonderful job of creating an apartment, the former home of actor John Barrymore, decorated as a medieval castle, featuring a wide central stairway, arched side doorways, a suit of armour and an antique style desk.

TV actor Andrew Rally, cast to play Hamlet in an openair production in New York’s Central Park, has rented the apartment.

Matt Phillips gave an excellent portrayal of a TV actor, unaccustomed to live performance. Some scenes, particularly the fencing duel with John Barrymore, were really well done; across the stage, up and down the stairs in Hollywood blockbuster style and the energy was amazing.

Shades of Errol Flynn!

Richard Foster gave an amazing, energetic performance as the ghost of John Barrymore.

80 Stage Whispers

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Donna Pope gave a great over-the-top interpretation of Andrew’s 29-year-old virgin despite his best efforts girlfriend Deidre McDavey, enthusiastic about Shakespeare which she considered more important than a new TV series for Andrew.

Ian Johnson as Gary Lefkowitz was appropriately over the top as the TV agent from Los Angeles. Patricia McCracken as Andrew’s agent Lillian Troy and Mandy Murray as Estate Agent both impressed.

A great evening of theatre.

Peter Kemp

as a litigator, while she loathes his membership of the old boys club.

The play shows the cross-examination of key witnesses in three days of the trial, with questions and doubts arising as each is questioned.

Director Adelle Richards kept the court proceedings moving smoothly along, with the witnesses a diverse and intriguing bunch. Like the judge and court officials, they were very much the real thing. And the Old Bailey courtroom set certainly helped to make the audience feel that they were indeed sitting in a jury box.

Ken Longworth

The Truth About Kookaburras

By Sven Swenson. La Boite Indie and Pentimento Productions. The Roundhouse. June 6 – 27.

THE 2009 KOOKABURRAS version sold out at Metro Arts. That probably accounts for the ticket rush this season.

The frisson of watching thirteen nude AFL players in their locker room cavorting in politically incorrect ways during Act I led to that 2009 ticket rush. This version has a full AFL team! Any wonder they’re selling out?

Arts Queensland sponsored a session for Swenson with triple-Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee at The Master Teaches the Masters 2010 in Sydney. Albee’s advice to him, in essence, was: You’re saying something important about masculinity in this century; if you need to increase your cast, do it.

The play remains a powerful piece of theatre with much to say about man’s place in modern life. It was superbly played but I’m not convinced the new version ─ 28 actors took the final bow ─ is better than the original. It’s a multilayered plot but Act 3 became too pedantic, too academic, and that diminished the surprise ending.

Despite the unwieldy cast, this is fine theatre. The Truth About Kookaburras deserves a place in the canon of great Australian plays.

Jay McKee

Parramatta Girls

By Alana Valentine. Director: Siobhan O'Gara. Old Mill Theatre, South Perth (WA). May 11-26.

I WAS surprised to learn after seeing Old Mill's production of Parramatta Girls, that the season had been punctuated by audience walkouts. It was certainly not because of quality; this was a moving, well-performed and well-produced offering. Perhaps the material was too graphic and touched a raw nerve in some.

Very much an actors’ piece, it was performed essentially on a bare stage with props and furniture carried on as needed. The only disappointment was that sometimes the transitions, as actors exchanged set dressings, disrupted the emotional flow and solid pace.

Set at a reunion of Parramatta Girls Training School, we meet former residents who served time at the institution during the sixties and seventies. With them and through them, we travel back in time as they reminisce about their experiences in this harsh juvenile prison.

Well-rounded performances abound. Siobhan O'Gara has sourced three outstanding indigenous actresses. Dionne Hall made an impressive community theatre debut as the tough but vulnerable Marlene. WAAPA graduate Rebecca Garlett was excellent as Kerry, while Andrea Fernandez shone as gentle Coral.

The Accused Eva Calderwood portrayed Judi, a girl with a secret, with

By Jeffrey Archer. Newcastle Theatre Company. NTC great understanding. Marsha Holt had the beautiful tone and bearing of a St Catherine's Waverley student out of her Theatre, Lambton (NSW). April 21 to May 5. comfort zone. Susan Lynch captured rough round the THIS is a court room drama with a difference. The audience serves as the jury and, in a majority vote, chooses edges Melanie beautifully, while Yvette Wall's final speech the verdict. Then, in the final moments, they learn whether as Gayle was very moving. their decision was the right one.

Much younger than the rest of the cast, Anka Cikic's While the script is full of trial story clichés, the excellence character was caught in time and had the saddest story of all. Her portrayal of Maree was outstanding. of this production disguised that, with audience members Parramatta Girls was a very sad story, thoughtfully told eagerly discussing during the interval the evidence that pointed to guilt or innocence, and revisiting their respective and a privilege to see. verdicts after the show.

Kimberley Shaw The man on trial, Patrick Sherwood (Graham Wilson), a leading medical specialist, is accused of murdering his wife Summer of the Seventeenth Doll

By Ray Lawler. Maitland Repertory (NSW). April 18 to May with a drug that can poison in accumulated doses.

5.

Sherwood is defended by a titled barrister, Sir James Barrington (Lawrence Aitchison), with the Crown case put THIS excellent production confirmed the standing of

by Tanya Kersley, QC (Emma Wood). There is more than the Summer of the Seventeenth Doll as one of Australia’s finest usual cut and thrust between the opposing counsels stage works. Ray Lawler’s play has lost none of the because Sir James resents the success of Tanya, a woman, poignancy and humour of its look at the way time changes relationships.

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Stage Whispers 81

The title refers to a kewpie doll that cane-cutting gang team-leader Roo (Craig Lindeman) gives to seasonal partner Olive (Jessica Birchall) each year as a joyful reminder of an incident in their first summer together. Olive is stuck in time, with the kewpie dolls decorating the lounge room of the former boarding-house of her mother Emma (Diane McDonald).

There is change to the arrangements before the men arrive. Nancy, the partner of Roo’s mate, Barney (Robert Comber), has married in the men’s absence. Olive persuades another barmaid, widowed Pearl (Charmain Brinks), to look at pairing with Barney, but from the start Pearl has reservations.

The impact of advancing years is reinforced when Johnnie Dowd (Alexander Spinks), a young canecutter who has challenged Roo’s leadership, arrives and is attracted to Bubba (Emma Ralph), a young neighbour of Olive.

Director Noel Grivas and his cast made this one of the best productions I have seen of the Doll, with the relationships amusingly and movingly established.

Lindeman and Comber showed how the bonds of friendship can be used to preserve dignity in moments when weakness and decline are revealed. And while the younger people treat Emma as a figure of fun, McDonald brought out the perceptive nature that had made the woman a survivor through years when her life had been affected by economic depression and warfare.

Ken Longworth Duets

By Peter Quilter. Cairns Little Theatre. Director: Jimmy Barton. Ap 27 to May 5.

THREE quality actors provided a great night of comedy.

Duets is about four separate romantic encounters. The versatile Shawn Brack portrayed four very different roles alongside Sarah Urquhart and Caroline Morgan.

In the first scenario Brack and Urquhart played two socially desperate individuals who meet through a dating agency. Both gave excellent performances as they explored their socially inept characters.

Brack then played a gay man in the next story as he tried to find a husband for his secretary, played by Caroline Morgan. The kissing scene in this story was a classic, although this was possibly the weakest of the four plots.

Next we had Brack and Urquhart playing an English couple on holiday in Spain. The irony was that they are having a final fling before they divorce. Urquhart was brilliant in her role as the dominant boozy wife, with Brack playing a strong role as the confused Harry Potter loving husband.

The final scenario had Brack playing the brother to Morgan’s character, as Morgan was about to marry for the third time. Both showed excellent comedy timing as everything that could possibly go wrong before a wedding did.

All in all, a great night of comedy that was superbly directed by Jimmy Barton.

Ken Cotterill 82 Stage Whispers

Hobson's Choice

By Harold Brighouse. Director: James Hough Neilson.

Hackett Hall, Floreat (WA). Ap 27-May12.

DIRECTOR James Hough Neilson's professional background is evident in his warm direction of this production. This North country classic was brought to life with a great understanding of the people and a lovely sense of the era.

While sisters Alice, Maggie and Vickey Hobson bore little family resemblance and were difficult to imagine as sisters, the actresses Nicole Kaminsky, Jeanette Hotop and Kate O'Sullivan all worked hard in their roles, especially Jeanette Hotop, whose character dominates the show.

In the title role, Andy Markland was charming and likeable.

The suitors were nicely played, with Gordon Park as the hapless Willy Mossop, while Brendan Ellis and Alex Hickman delivered enthusiastic performances.

Norma Davis made a cameo appearance and was particularly memorable playing her 'specialty' as she quips in the program, a bossy old lady with a curt manner and good clothes.

The clothes throughout were impressive, whether they were the "good" clothes of the customers in Hobson's shoe shop or working men's clothes, with costumes and set decor in the capable hands of Terry McAuley and David Young. Every outfit told its own story.

Apparently it rains continually in Lancashire, with the cast battling the elements on the night I saw the show. A storm in this venue is a true challenge, but the cast rose to this difficult task and maintained a valiant effort.

A well-handled and interesting production.

Kimberley Shaw Daughters of Heaven

By Michelanne Forster. Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport.

Director: Pam Sexton. April 14 – May 5.

THIS NZ play, billed as a ‘Romantic Obsession and Murder Most Foul’, is based on true events in Christchurch in 1954.

Two teenage school girls, infatuated with each other and obsessed with a fantasy world of their own, set out to murder the mother of the lower class girl and then endure the consequences that follow.

Playing the spoilt daughter of the ‘well-to-do’ family, Courtney Bell as Juliet Hulme was convincingly conniving and the more dominant of the two while Alexandra Nel as Pauline Parker (Rieper) played the less affluent girl willing to do anything for her friendship with Juliet.

Skilfully directed by Pam Sexton, the play explores the relationships and disfunctions of the characters involved.

Although dealing with a serious subject, the story is told with humour and pathos making for an enthralling piece of theatre.

Roger McKenzie

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Starchaser.

Starchaser Photo: Vivian Cooper Smith

By Lally Katz. Arena Theatre Company and Arts Centre Melbourne. Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. Director: Christian Leavesley. Set: Jonathon Oxlade. Sound: Jethro Woodward.

AT the World Premiere performance of Starchaser, writer Lally Katz told the school children gathered that she had wanted ‘to write something about longing’.

‘I just really like outer space,’ she shrugged, ‘and it’s my dream to go to space in my bed.’

Thirteen-year-old Kata travels to the planet Attalia and back to the past to try to stop her parents from dying. With the help of her bed-toy Lion, who has incredibly transformed into a living, breathing animal, Kata’s bed is transformed into a spacecraft. Space enthusiasts will enjoy her encounters with a black hole, the planet powered by girls’ tears, and the sea of second chances.

Starchaser has some wonderful visual tricks that appealed to the all-boy audience, as did the sound effects and lion fights. The cast of four (Anne-Louise Sarks, Phil McInnes, Jamieson Caldwell, and Jessica Clarke) cover approximately a dozen roles between them.

Speaking after the performance, director Christian Leavesley talked about the need to condense Katz’s story into manageable fare and yet retain the key storylines. It seems there is a deal of material on the cutting room floor to be the starting point for a sequel.

Perhaps the cuts should have been more ruthless.

Extended sections of dialogue with complex concepts brought out the fidgets in the all-boy audience, and far too many philosophical statements are inadequately fleshed out: ‘I am braver and stronger when I remember’, ‘You must never cry or our mission is over’, ‘The lies we tell ourselves are the biggest lies of all.‘ These notions are unlikely to be accessible to the target audience in the theatre format.

Starchaser will appeal to space fans, and with the help of the educational notes available online, may begin to unpack some of the themes raised in the story.

Unfortunately the controllers only appeared to work Lucy Graham successfully for little people, and I didn’t have a small person to assist me, so my vote wasn’t always what I intended.

Escape to Peligro Island Windmill Theatre. Arts Centre Melbourne.

It was a typical children’s story with villains, a plane ALTHOUGH I’ve taken many a grandchild to the wreck, a vampire island, pirates and the like. The three pictures, I don’t recall taking them to live theatre. adults played a variety of characters, but mainly the 12-year -old nerd and the gorgeous vampire he falls for.

Unfortunately I didn’t have one available to come when I The island sat on a table and was about one metre high attended a school preview of Escape to Peligro Island. I and a bit more in diameter. Three video cameras trained on wish I had.

There were school children aplenty attending and they this would depict scenes on a screen with little miniature were captivated. And why not? Each was given an cartoon characters on the island. At the end of each vote the lights went down and the music came up while the electronic controller to record their vote on alternative situations proposed by the cast, and the voting determined characters changed various aspects so they could continue the story in the direction decided by the audience. the outcome of the story. The controller would turn a different colour, depending on how it was held, to record a Even the adults found it entertaining and the younger vote. members were right into it. There was question time at the The voting was very enthusiastic! Each voting round end and “was that a real kiss?” was the most eagerly took about thirty seconds and there were cheers when the anticipated question. Of course the audience had to vote on whether the kiss took place. result was confirmed. You could also see how the voting was progressing, which added to the excitement.

Graham Ford

Reviews: Youth

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Stage Whispers 83

Lucy and the Lost Boy. Photo: David Wyatt.

fluently interwoven into a story about a young girl who dreams of becoming an artist, runs away from home, clashes with the law and falls in love. It may not sound like the most original account but that does not matter, as the spirit of the story, which is the artist’s determination to express and create despite authorities’ attempts to suppress, shines through.

NICA’s 2012 production is a collaboration of physical and visual art that reaches from the ground to the towering ceiling, making for a multi-level, threedimensional theatre experience. It’s funny, sad, funky and edgy, with enough restraint that you can take your kids – who may get inspired to run away and join the circus, or better still, finish school and study circus arts at NICA. Karen Coombs

Circa Created by Yaron Lifschitz and the Circa ensemble. A Circa Production, presented

by Malthouse Theatre. Director: Yaron Lifschitz. Merlyn Theatre. May 29 – June 10.

SEVEN vibrant, talented and highly trained young artists strut their stuff at a relentless pace - backed by a loud and engulfing soundtrack. As unique individuals, who almost all trained at NICA, they are representative of their peers – many of whom are surely in the audience.

Lucy and the Lost Boy Circa is a wonderfully entertaining and moving work for Directed and devised by Sally Richardson. National Institute a number of reasons but most particularly because of of Circus Arts (VIC). NICA National Circus Centre, Prahran. immaculate split-second timing and the focused wholly June 13 – 23. supportive, yet yielding, teamwork.

IF you ever imagined running away from home to join On an unfettered and uncluttered stage the personalities the circus as a kid, there is now no need for such measures. and talents of individual performers shine through. There is In fact, you can stay put and gain a university degree in a base honesty and sense of integrity throughout. circus arts, right here in Melbourne at NICA. Although, it is Circus is dangerous work and a touch of the not a fancy you can simply take-up on leaving school; the sadomasochistic re-occurs throughout the crisp seventy stunning feats put-on-show in this performance by the minutes. This is partly thematic and reinforced in the institute’s final year students would surely call for some execution, because the strain of the work is not hidden significant training as a youngster. from the spectators, thus, poignantly highlighting risks Lucy and the Lost Boy, directed and devised by Sally taken by acrobats. There is a hint of sacrifice.

Richardson, is a creative event inspired by some of Skills exhibited include acrobalance, trapeze, ribbons, Melbourne’s iconic characters of the city’s infamous street hoops, body percussion and heaps of pas de deux like miniart. Street Artists Urban Cake Lady’s red-hooded young balances and counter tensions that deftly flow across the woman with stripy-blue leggings and Vexta’s Flying Boy are stage. two such characters brought to life in a fascinating Circa is in turn exhilarating, moving, touching shocking narrative that serves as a platform for the display of the and bemusing and with many stand out moments and artists exploits - requiring them to be more than acrobats, considerable variety it is completely engaging and highly but also actors, dancers and comedians. So intriguing is the satisfying. imagery that at times you forget that you are watching Truly a treat. someone swinging from a rope using little more than the Suzanne Sandow strength of their ankle joint - feats that are somehow

Reviews: Circus

84 Stage Whispers

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Byron Watson (Ray Clark) and Antoinette Halloran (Marisa Clark) in Midnight Son Victorian Opera's Midnight Son. Photo: Jeff Busby

By Gordon Kerry. Victorian Opera.

Conductor: Ollivier Philippe Cunéo.

Director: Nicki Wendt. Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse. May 16 – 23.

I WAS one of a privileged crowd to experience the World Premiere of Gordon Kerry’s latest opera, Midnight Son. Based on the 2005 murder of Maria Korp.

Names were changed and there was probably some licence taken with the story line, but it was a powerful drama.

Online extras!

Usually with opera one goes to appreciate the music and the Watch ABC 7:30’s interview with Nicki voices, but with this opera drama Wendt. Simply scan the QR code or visit and characterizations were to the http://bit.ly/KecsBN fore. The chemistry and sexual tension between the three leads was as good as I’ve seen. These were real characters and the edgy couple though Matthew was uncomfortable in the audience was with them all the way. upper register. Caroline’s rich voice was a delight.

The story was told in reverse, starting with Ray’s suicide.

Director Nathan Gilkes made very good use of a trio, As each scene was presented new layers were revealed, integral to the production, constantly in the background commenting on the action. However, though their voices culminating in Ray meeting his wife, Marisa. Then the lover appeared, the rope Ray used to hang himself in the first blended well, they weren’t always heard over the small scene dropped from the ceiling, and the lights went out. orchestra.

The static set was based, very appropriately, on a garage The cluttered set was interesting and the direction, roller-door. Ray hanged himself in the garage and Clara particularly the use of the trio, was very effective. The strangled Marisa in the same place. There were projections orchestra did well. on the door; heartbeats when Marisa was dying in hospital, Graham Ford and grainy video footage of Ray’s house as he filmed a final message. Couches, a barbecue, tables and chairs were A Midsummer Night’s Dream moved on and off for different scenes and the action flowed. By Benjamin Britten. Libretto after William Shakespeare by The lighting was very effective.

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Opera Australia. Director: The opera was cast from strength with Antoinette Baz Luhrmann. Conductor: Paul Kildea. Choreographer: John Halloran and Byron Watson as Ray and Marisa and Dimity O’Connell. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. May 26 - June 8.

Shepherd as Clara. Roxane Hislop and Jonathan Bode played OPERA Australia’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a various other characters with great aplomb. Sung in English, heady mix of Bollywood, Shakespeare, Britten, and a little bit the surtitles were almost unnecessary. of Dad’s Army thrown in for good measure. Baz Lurmann’s Though modern, Gordon Kerry’s music was approachable award-winning production reset the story in India in 1923, and the chamber orchestra did well. Louis Nowra’s libretto during the British Raj. It was spectacular, kaleidoscopic and was brilliant, making the story in reverse easily understood. overwhelmed the work which in my book was a good thing.

Graham Ford This is an opera without any arias, and every time it looked like a melody was creeping in Britten well and truly nipped it The Red Apple / Trouble in Tahiti in the bud. The music was clever, atonal and cold. The third

By Jacques Offenbach / Leonard Bernstein. Lyric Opera of act play-within-a-play, done as an opera buffo, worked best Melbourne. Chapel off Chapel. Director: Nathan Gilkes. of all musically, with Conal Coad as Bottom and Graeme Conductor: Pat Miller. Ap 21 – 29.

Macfarlane as Flute in their comic element. James Egglestone LYRIC Opera of Melbourne continues to introduce rarely (Lysander), Sian Pendry (Hermia), Luke Gabbedy (Demetrius) heard operas to the Melbourne public. and Jane Ede (Helena) were delightful and amusing as the The Red Apple is an Offenbach operetta with a new two pairs of lovers, with Tyler Coppin a sprightly Puck. translation by Pat Miller. In spite of the flimsy plot Kate Catherine Martin and Bill Marron’s set of a rotunda which Amos, Michael Lapina and Bruce Raggatt gave convincing housed the onstage Queensland Symphony Orchestra was performances. Michael was in thrilling form, while Kate and appropriately colonial, along with their traditional costume Bruce, a G&S specialist, were also strong performers. designs, in keeping with the period. The large Children’s Trouble in Tahiti is a Leonard Bernstein opera about a Chorus not only danced and sang with precision but added post-war couple struggling to relate to each other. Caroline an innocent flavor to the work.

Vercoe and Matthew Thomas were very convincing as the Peter Pinne

Reviews: Opera

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Stage Whispers 85

Reviews: Cabaret

The Best (and Worst) of Queenie Van De Zandt

The Best (and Worst) of Queenie Van De Zandt Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane, 18 May 2012 QUEENIE Van De Zandt’s new cabaret show The Best (and Worst) of Queenie Van De Zandt was a salute to her 20-years C'est Ci Bon survival in musical theatre. It was a funny walk down her memory lane which an enthusiastic audience embraced wholeheartedly. Using archival video clips of her various performances and songs that meant something to her for one reason or another, her act was a lesson in the art of self-deprecating humor. She topped and tailed the act with songs by ABBA (“I Wonder” /”Happy New Year”), sang iOTA’s “Come Back For Me” (Smoke and Mirrors), and paid homage to her mentor Nick Enright with “I’ll Hold On” from Miracle City. Her patter was almost entirely built around genitalia raunch with the “Dick Song” from The Vagina Monologues scoring big laughs. “50 Percent” from Ballroom was a nice emotional moment. A warm performer, Queenie connected in spades with her audience, helped by the skill of longtime accompanist Lucy Birmingham on piano.

Peter Pinne c'est si bon (It's a Wonderful Life) Director: Deb Sonenberg. Pianist Trevor Jones. The Butterfly Club, South Melbourne. May 22 – 27.

SONGSTRESS Rebecca Morton glows in this infectious cabaret which combines sublime songs with a tale of a single mum searching for love. While Morton has a 86 Stage Whispers

washing line as a prop, this is no kitchen sink drama. With Trevor Jones on the piano, Morton presents a diverse range of traditional and contemporary songs, including “Both Sides, Now” and “The Trolley Song”. Morton makes the Judy Garland number sexy and fun, and draws out the ache and longing that lies just below the surface of Joni Mitchell's song. Every number makes a strong impact, including the rousing “Que Sera Sera”, which had the audience smiling and swaying along towards the end of the show.

Another highlight was her revenge song, Kurt Weill's “Pirate Jenny”. Morton has fun with the swashbuckling tale and the dark, sardonic tone. Who can blame her for injecting darkness into the story? Her (or her character's) losses and disappointments in love would make anyone start searching the horizon for the skull and crossbones flag on the 'black freighter'.

Sara Bannister Cabaret Whore Written and performed by Sarah Louise Young. SLIDE. (Darlinghurst, NSW). June 17.

CABARET Whore is a tableau of five female cabaret performers, each a diva in her own right.

Sarah Louise Young is a versatile and inventive stage presence. She simultaneously relaxes her audience and effortlessly draws them in to the seamlessly executed worlds of her characters.

Every new costume change exploits a different stereotype with quick wit, double entendre and unique motivations.

By creating layered back-stories and hardships for each, the almost-real one-woman ensemble makes for riveting entertainment.

With masterful audience banter, catchy tunes and endless dirty jokes, Young has also found a great balance between lament and silver lining- as a true cabaret show must.

One costume change did not go as planned and the zip on the dress of her new age nun character refused to go up, the irony of which was not lost on the Oxford Street crowd. Instead of delaying her transition however, an audience member was enlisted to help, to no avail. It must have been 'a sign from god' she proclaimed.

Young brings a voice perfectly suited to all the original songs (both in range and in character) and the ability to truly commit to each of these hilarious, borderline insane characters.

She keeps the tone light and the audience laughing throughout, using every euphemism you've ever heard - and just as many you haven't.

Lilli Paul

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Adelaide Cabaret Festival Artistic Director Kate Ceberano, Festival Designer David Bromley.

Adelaide Festival Centre, June 8-23.

THERE were two shows at this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival that embraced the true spirit of cabaret.

Both artists, Kim Smith and Mark Nadler, performed superb Weimar-inspired shows.

New York piano-man Nadler explored the depths of the German expatriate experience by examining the lives of the Weimer Republic composers as well as those of ordinary German citizens.

It was a true masterclass of the period as Nadler touched on the lives and songs of influential lyricists and composers Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz, Kurt Weill, Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoilansky and Charles Aznavour.

Nadler performed every song with such zest and feeling, and highlights included the gay anthem The Lavender Song, Weill’s Bilbao Song and I’m A Stranger Here Myself and Dietz’s humourous take on Hitler’s true birth name and status, Schickelgruber.

Most of the songs were sung in German and Nadler tied all of the lives together nicely for Kim Smith. Phot a brilliant ending to the highly o: Christian Couls on charged performance.

While Smith’s show Misfit also had a 1920s feel it was a Lea Salonga much darker beast.

Originally from Victoria and now receiving rave reviews in Salonga made her professional debut New York, Smith was in the Philippines at the age of seven mesmerising as he lured in the King and I, but it was her role audience members into his as the original Kim in Miss Saigon that own world as he re-interpreted catapulted her to international fame. songs by Hollaender and Weill The charming Salonga was no theatre as well as Kylie Minogue and diva, more musical princess. She’s wellOlivia Newton-John. known as the singing voice of Disney’s It was hard to take your eyes off of the flirty and, at times, Princess Jasmine and Fa Mulan. Her version of A Whole New crude performer who sang Minogue’s I Should Be So Lucky in World was heart-stopping, especially as she had help from German and had the audience in the palm of his hand for his an audience member. Her pure voice soared as she sang I version of Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit.

Dreamed A Dream (Les Mis), I’d Give My Life For You (Miss One of the world premieres at this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Saigon) and Defying Gravity (Wicked).

Festival was Circa and Katie Noonan’s Love-Song-Circus, Also Defying Gravity, powerful vocalist Eden Espinosa which was based on the stories of Australia’s first female kicked off her show with the Wicked hit, since she’s bestconvicts. known for her role as Elphaba in the Broadway production.

Composed and conceptualised by Noonan, the While Salonga may be sweet, Espinosa had more of a performance was haunting as the ARIA award-winning artist rock edge and took her show to the limit as she tried new brought these women’s lives to life through song and arrangements for many well-known musical theatre performance. numbers.

The visual element of the show added such depth as the Espinosa wowed the crowd with hits from Rent, Ghost three female performers played on the ideas of individual and Miss Saigon. strength, female friendship and solidarity.

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival ran for 13 nights and The three female Circa performers – Kathryn O’Keefe, featured a plethora of talented artists from around the Kimberly Rossi and Billie Wilson-Coffey – were riveting as they globe – choosing just a few favourites was no mean feat. showed their strength swinging from ribbons or ropes and Others that deserve honourable mentions include the contorting their bodies alone and together. passionate Debra Byrne (who performed even though she The ladies of musical theatre certainly set the Cabaret was injured), the beguiling Clare Bowditch and the feisty/ Festival alight this year with two greats, Lea Salonga and flirty alternative pop and electro-soul sister Paris Wells with a Eden Espinosa, both performing in Australia for the first highly visual show – Projected. time.

Melissa Phillips Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 87

Puzzles

Compiled by Aaron Ware

www.thepuzzlehub.com

Solution to last issue’s puzzle For heaps more puzzles and brain teasers scan the code or visit http://bit.ly/KlYNbT 88 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Schools on Stage

Pippin Knox Grammar School (NSW) Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga, Sydney, has staged a highly successful production of Steven Schwartz and Roger O Hirson’s twisted musical, Pippin. The show was performed from 3 to 6 May 2012 and was the first ever musical performed in the new Knox Great Hall, a multipurpose space which opened in August 2011.

Pulling together a cast of a 46 students, including students from girls’ schools Abbotsleigh, Ravenswood, Pymble Ladies College and Roseville College, the room was transformed into a colourful circus tent through a vibrant set design by Deirdre Burges and a dynamic digital lighting display

by Innovative Lighting Technologies.

The atmosphere was ignited at the

school gates where audiences were greeted with fire twirling and juggling.

14-year-old Sam Suleyman led the cast in the role of Pippin. At Knox, the lead role is a huge honour; the Knox musical was the first stepping stone to Broadway for former student Hugh Jackman. The cast was supported by a live 26-piece orchestra and a technical crew of about 10 students.

Charles Hambling, Head of the Knox Academy of Performing Arts, directed the show. “Pippin is the story of a privileged teenager who goes looking for meaning in a confusing society,” said Charles. “For this production I chose to divide the role of Leading Player among five actors.

Good and evil do not need to be embodied by one entity, they are present throughout society.”

Knox Grammar stages one musical and around three plays each year. In addition to curriculum drama, Knox students have the opportunity to hone their theatrical skills through theatresports, an annual film festival and weekly after-school drama classes.

Have your school production featured in the special expanded Schools on Stage feature in our Sept/Oct issue.

Contact Neil neil@stagewhispers.com.au

www.stagewhispers.com.au/schools www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 89

Director’s Diary

The BIG MAKado or Three Little Maids From Schoolies Melvyn Morrow, the co-writer of Dusty and SHOUT! and veteran Auditions Auditions were heavy going, especially on our two highly gifted Gilbert and Sullivan updater for both Opera Australia and Simon accompanists who had to play almost every audition piece without Gallaher, goes back to his old school for an all new G& S romp. the dots. Some of the girls were adequately prepared; most of the boys weren’t. One girl essayed Send In The Clowns, surely a ludicrous The Gig choice for a fifteen year old. A couple of boys brought in CD’s and When my old school, St Aloysius’ College, Milson’s Point, Sydney, approached me to direct The Mikado, I wasn’t remotely interested in sang along with them. Sort of. Nonetheless, we found a fine NankiPoo, a terrific Big Mak, a superb male Frank-N-Furter Katisha, a a traditional production, and nor, I gathered, were the students. I gifted Ko-Ko, a delightful Yum-Yum, five other pert little think that after a century and a quarter, maids (I added Sa-Ki, Su-Shi and Ding-Dong much of the topicality of G & S has to the original three) and twins to play Pishfaded. Gilbert himself updated his Little Tush and Tush-Pish. Add to this a local Police List song, so I suggested an entirely new Chief, Go-To, and we had our principals. We take on the original. Keeping the premise also found one quite sensational Year 5 of the original plot, I offered to totally dancer/gymnast.

Hip hop was the principal rewrite the libretto, setting my new dance language, so the brilliant Head of Music, version on Titipu Beach in Queensland wrote witty dance breaks for our rappers during Schoolies. The conceit would be that and hoppers to hoof.

Australia has been taken over by a Luxury bizarre right wing leader who revels in More and more these days, community theatre frightful fantasies of the punishment and schools are employing professional directors, fitting the crime as well as a choreographers and designers for musicals, and determination to stop all teenage nookie. the resultant efficiency and edge repays the The music would be sung strictly as cost on every front. Choreographer Pamela Sullivan wrote it – well, with some French works wonders with dancing talent and crazy contemporary dance sequences miracles with un-talent. NIDA graduate designer between verses – and the new show Claire Moloney accepted the brief to make a set would be called The BIG MAKado or and costume budget of $2,000 look like twice Three Little Maids From Schoolies.

90 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

that and more. We worked on drama boxes as modules with different colours in each act. To make the St Aloysius’ College Great Hall (read basketball court with wingless and flyless stage at one end) more audience and music theatre friendly, I decided to wrap the 24 piece orchestra (including a rock band) in a passarelle with a large thrust stage in front.

Challenges By far the greatest challenge was to the already busy Music Department staff, who were accustomed to ready-made musicals with libretto and scores tried, tested and written in concrete. Our work in progress meant a sentence of hard labour for the Head of Music who had to transcribe my new lyrics into the original score. There was a similar nightmare for the Musical Director who had to constantly jump from original orchestral score to my new one, which included comic encores, not to mention cuts and sudden breaks in the music for book jokes. The cast were fine with rewrites right up to opening night, but the pressure on the music creatives was wearing. It was a steep learning curve for all of us, but a resilient first time producer and a serene rehearsal pianist squared the circle and poured oil on troubled waters. It reminded me of Dusty rehearsals in Melbourne with a similar, albeit louder, creative conversation!

Rehearsals These days, all schools are busy beyond belief. With so many gifted students keen to involve themselves in so many co-curricular activities, bilocation seems to be a necessity for any talented student since much of the school’s really valuable education starts at 3.30pm.

We had one and a half hours of a Tuesday and then Sunday from 1 – 5, but illness (most of which I questioned), ‘family events’ (a universal get-out which is gloriously flexible but, alas, unchallengeable) and the girls’ quite correct first priority to their own schools’ weekend events meant that we never had a full ensemble rehearsal until the dress. That’s just the way it is.

Production Week Our tenor had lost his voice from a music camp in the previous holidays, our four Year 12’s had HSC trials looming, one principal girl was genuinely ill and for good measure, our designer had to twice drive up from and back to Wagga where she was lecturing at Charles Sturt University. All part of the fun. The arrival of the hired passarelle and apron stage lifted everyone’s spirits and foregrounded the dialogue and the choreography. The orchestra combined increasing command with heroic patience.

There were spirited exchanges about tempi (I was right!) and far, far too many encores (I was wrong!). I’d also made a major mistake in allowing an already overlong original to become even longer. Our fledgling producer tap-danced on eggshells and sprinkled company and creatives with crisp decisions and the fairy dust of optimism. He’d also wisely insisted on a free midweek evening during production week for everyone to recuperate. Shrewd move. Sound was excellent. Lighting was feeling its way, mostly in the dark. Bookings were great, and there was a witty puff in the Herald Diary, so excitement mounted. Scene changes were all over the place, usually the wrong one. And I learnt a new rule in school productions: apparently stage crew may never be shouted at. Poor loves.

Performances We were lucky. Actually, no we weren’t; the cast, crew and orchestra rose to the challenge. The dress rehearsal was ludicrously long but promising nonetheless. The first performance was goodish.

The second performance was a hit. The third performance, a matinee, was OK, though in retrospect, I’d never again do two school performances in one day; the cast’s singing voices are simply not up to it. And in the last performance, the actors were much better than the audience. That said, audiences absolutely lapped up this new, irreverent version of The Mikado and cheered the performers to the basketball hoops. It seemed that the younger or older the audience members, the more they loved the satiric naughtiness of the take. A conservative few were outraged, which the company and librettist/ director took as accolades.

Updated & Directed by Melvyn And… Morrow … as a footnote, after four Producer: Jeremy Curtin performances, I’ve now been able to Musical Director: Sia Mastro savagely edit The BIG MAKado to a Musical Supervision: Lindy Montgomery two hour Gilbert and Sullivan romp for Choreographer: Pamela French adventurous school producers.

Designer: Claire Moloney

Gilbert and Sullivan’s The BIG MAKado

Poster: Michael Curtin Set: Simon Turner, David Clancy

melvyn@popinjay.com.au www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 91

Musical Spice

The Perils of Launching New Musicals

The earlier than expected closure of An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical in Sydney and mixed response to Moonshadow in Melbourne has been disappointing to the local industry.

Critics and the general public have at times been cruel and unkind.

Douglas Day Stewart, the co-writer of An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical, was so upset at what one reviewer said about his work that he wrote a letter to the Editor of the Australian.

"After four decades in this business I can tell you this was not a review by any standards. It was an 'execution' by someone clearly unable to feel human emotion, or to put it in a kinder way, by someone whose highbrow tastes do not represent you."

I agreed with him that some of the reviews were over the top. I particularly enjoyed the second half but thought the first act needed work. Regardless, responding to a reviewer is a mistake. All it did was publicise the bad review, even making headlines in the USA. The Los Angeles Times did not know anything about the review but ran a story about his reaction to the review.

An Officer And A Gentleman Photo: Brian Geach

92 Stage Whispers July - August 2012

Moonshadow, by contrast, was treated with kid gloves by critics in Melbourne.

“Making a new musical from scratch is incredibly difficult, and this world premiere has teething problems,” wrote The Age’s Cameron Woodhead in a generous mood.

“Still, I don't doubt that, on the strength of the spectacle, music and story, Moonshadow will in time take the West End by storm.”

Some observers have noted that the Melbourne press were kinder and more appreciative that you don’t stomp on a new flower.

More important than what the press say is how the show works and what the general public think.

Making a new musical is a bit like solving a Rubik’s Cube. You have to keep turning the panels until you get it right.

An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical is going back into development and the producers are confident it has a future, particularly in the United States.

One of the producers said that only by seeing how an audience reacts to a show can you get it right.

An Officer and A Gentleman, in its first foray, had some adult content which did not encourage ticket sales. There was a sex scene which would have been uncomfortable viewing if you had a child sitting next to you. I heard of people cancelling ticket orders when they heard about it in advance.

No doubt the next adaptation will be closer to a PG than an M rating.

Some in the audience also wanted to hear more of the theme song Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong.

Apparently the writers of the new music pushed for their songs to be more prominent in the

production, so there are more turns of the Rubik’s Cube ahead.

In Moonshadow, even though the musical had been written over five years, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) was still haggling with the Director about the shape of the script in the final weeks.

It was a similar story with the Melbourne adaptation of Love Never Dies. Even though Andrew Lloyd-Webber raved about the production, he undid some of Simon Phillips’ changes in the final weeks of the rehearsal period.

Ben Lewis, who played the Phantom, was famously so bewildered by the changing script that he wrote prompts on the back of his mask.

Such are the perils of developing a new show.

But despite latest crop not turning into smash hits just yet…more new musicals are coming. Strictly Ballroom the Musical, Dream Lover and also Red Dog the Musical are in the melting pot as we speak.

At the other end of the scale, little theatres put on shows in the local halls year after year. I visited the Milton Follies on the south coast of NSW during June to see a production of a musical called Arabian Nights that I represent.

When I looked at their roll call of past and future productions the penny dropped that of the 15 shows they have produced over a decade, I represent the rights to just under half. Milton Follies take a bow!

David Spicer

Third year NIDA actors in the 2011 production of Noises Off!.

Directed by Rodney Fisher

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