Stage Whispers November/December 2016

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In this issue

Aussies Conquering Musical Mountains .................................................... 8 Young Australians star on Broadway and in the West End Ready Please Mr Musicals ....................................................................... 12 Simon Phillips on the art of creating hit musicals 25 Years Of Stage Whispering ................................................................ 16 How theatre has changed over the last quarter of a century Seasons 2017 ........................................................................................ 22 The best plays which our theatre companies will stage next year

14

Musicals In 2017 And Beyond ................................................................ 30 The mix of international hits and local musicals headed our way When Police Censored Theatre ............................................................... 34 Our History feature on Victoria’s notorious Vice Squad

22

Stage On Disc ........................................................................................ 38 Latest Musical Theatre CDs reviewed On Stage ............................................................................................... 48 What’s On across Australia and New Zealand

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77

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Reviews ................................................................................................. 58 Premieres, Plays and Musicals

Regular Features Stage Briefs

51

6

Stage On Disc

38

Stage To Page

40

London Calling

42

Broadway Buzz

43

Choosing A Show

44

Amateur Stage Briefs

46

On Stage - What’s On

48

Auditions

54

Reviews

58

Musical Spice

84

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THE NEXT ISSUE OF STAGE WHISPERS IS FOCUSSING ON THE UPCOMING 2017 COMMUNITY THEATRE SEASONS

82 4 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

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Editorial

Dear theatre-goers and theatre-doers, As you’re kicking back reading these words, I’m guessing that you too enjoy setting aside your ‘devices’ for a while and reading a magazine in the old fashioned way.

It’s now 25 years since Stage Whispers began life as a black and white newspaper - a far cry from our current colour format - promoting amateur theatre in suburban Melbourne.

It’s also well over 20 years since I began my association with the publication.

Even in the very early days, the original publishers were ambitious to broaden their coverage and audience. I’d been involved in Sydney community theatre since 1971, and by 1989 I’d also begun to promote it through another local publication. Just a couple of years later, Stage Whispers’ original editor approached me to help expand the magazine’s coverage into NSW. In those pre-email days, I would snail mail my copy from Sydney to the editor in Melbourne on a floppy disc, several days ahead of deadline. Now copy and images arrive on my laptop via a steady stream of emails.

Since becoming Editor and co-owner in 2008, I have watched Stage Whispers’ rapid evolution in an increasingly digital age from a stand-alone magazine to part of a far broader Performing Arts communication network, embracing a website, social media and video.

Just last month we passed 20,000 followers on social media, while our website is on target to receive 1.4 million visits in 2016.

I look forward to sharing whatever changes lie ahead for Stage Whispers with you, at the same time continuing the 45-year love affair with performing in Community Theatre which started me down this path.

David Campbell, starring as Bobby Darin in Dream Lover at Sydney Lyric, checks out Stage Whispers. Photo: Lightbox Photography.

Cover image: This edition Stage Whispers celebrates our 25th Anniversary.

Read more about those 25 years in our feature article, commencing on page 16.

Yours in Theatre,

Neil Litchfield Editor

CONNECT www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 5

Stage Briefs

 Scott Irwin and Angelique Cassimatis star in the title roles of the Jerry Herman musical Mack and Mabel, which will have its first Sydney professional production at the Hayes Theatre Co from November 18 to December 18. Mack and Mabel is based on the tumultuous real-life romantic relationship between legendary silent filmmaker Mack Sennett and his star Mabel Normand.

Photo: Kurt Sneddon.

More details: http://bit.ly/2ewnr1Z  Two-time Helpmann Award winner Verity Hunt-Ballard (Sweet Charity, Mary Poppins) and Josh Piterman (CATS, West Side Story) appear in Vic Theatre Company’s production of The Last 5 Years at 45 Downstairs, Melbourne from November 25 to December 11.

Photo: James Terry.

More details: http://bit.ly/2ewoHlX  Amy Lehpamer stars as Dusty in a new production of DUSTY the musical, to be presented by The Production Company. DUSTY opens at Arts Centre Melbourne on 12 November to be followed by an Adelaide season opening on 31 December at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/2dNc9GP

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Lead Story

Aussies Musical Young Australians are scoring lead roles in major Broadway and West End musicals. David Spicer and Sally Alrich-Smythe spoke to stars of An American in Paris and Jersey Boys on both sides of the Atlantic.

Sydney-born dancer Dimitri Kleioris has quite a tale to tell his grandchildren. “The first time I ever spoke or sang in public was as a lead on Broadway with a full orchestra.”

You might ask, how could anyone be allowed to make a debut on

Broadway without having sung on stage before, even at school. It was made possible due to the nature of the musical An American in Paris, a multiple Tony Award winning adaptation of the legendary post World War II movie.

To play the lead (Jerry Mulligan) you first need to be a ballet dancer of

Online extras!

L-R: Matt Hunt, Matt Corner, Declan Egan and Simon Bailey in Jersey Boys.

Photo: Brinkhoff & Mögenburg.

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Experience the Aussie invasion of the West End. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/FuW2_V6P6U4

Conquering Mountains the highest order. The singing and acting training follows. To have an Australian playing a quintessentially American character (originated by Gene Kelly) is also extraordinary.

Dimitri’s performing journey began as a jazz and tap student at Sydney’s McDonald College at the age of 14.

Two years later a teacher asked him to concentrate on ballet for a year and stop all other forms of dance.

“I initially said no way,” but soon “fell in love with it.”

He was planning on studying overseas after school, but decided to follow a friend to the audition for the Australian Ballet School.

“I thought it would be good practice at auditioning, as I had no expectation or desire to attend the school. I was accepted and within two months, at the age of 17, I was moving to Melbourne.”

Three years later he auditioned for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and was “hired on the spot”. He toured the country as a principal and ensemble member, enjoying what now seems a

leisurely pace - six weeks on and six weeks off.

But how did he leap from New Zealand to New York?

“I moved to New York and got a job on a TV show (Flesh and Bone - a dance drama). Whilst in New York I thought I may as well try to hold a tune. I was pretty sure I was terrible.

But I found a lovely teacher who gave me confidence.

“I had my first audition for An American in Paris in September of last year. It is a challenge to find someone who can portray the part in all areas.

Initially they sought classically trained ballet dancers from London.”

Dimitri was offered a job and had to get a visa approved by Actors Equity. He started off as an alternate for the lead role, playing two performances a week, and graduated to a full time position from the middle of the year until the show closed in October.

The originating lead Robert Fairchild used to take an ice bath after each performance to recover from its

An American In Paris.

Photo: Matthew Murphy.

grueling demands. Dimitri warms up with a half an hour stretch and half an hour voice warm up. He also does Pilates once a week.

“It is sort of like doing a full ballet every night on top of driving a show in terms of acting scenes. You don’t really get a break.”

(Continued on page 10)

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Lead Story

Since January 27, until the show closed, apart from the regulation break on a Monday, he had only had two days off.

“You have to give everything you have, but realise you have to do it six times a week. I have learnt to be very efficient.”

US fans are surprised to learn he is an Australian with a Greek and Maltese background.

“When I sign autographs people are surprised by my accent.”

There are only a few words he has struggled with. The Australian way of saying love is “luv” - in America they say “lurv”.

An American in Paris is now setting off for a tour of the US and word around town is that a season in Australia is a distinct possibility. Guess who would be in the box seat to lead it here.

Dimitri is keeping his fingers crossed.

Sally Alrich-Smythe spoke to two Aussies playing lead roles in the West End. There’s a lot to say for dreaming big, and our very own Declan Egan and Matt Hunt are a walking, talking, singing and dancing cases in point. The two boys are currently playing lead roles in the West End production of Jersey Boys, both having previously been in the Australian production.

Matt Hunt is playing Norm and covering two of the Four Seasons, Tommy and Nick. He grew up in rural Orange, where his passion for performing was well nurtured.

10 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

The opportunity to break into the scene in London’s West End doesn’t come around every day, a fact both Declan and Matt fully appreciate.

Despite having been in the show already, both went through the same audition process as everyone else, making the reward so much sweeter.

Declan remarks that Jersey Boys has a well-established network of casts around the world, past and present, which helped both the boys keep in touch with what opportunities were around the corner. Even so, Matt doesn’t think that being in the previous cast helped pave the way to his success today in London. Still, he acknowledges that he “had timing and “Where I grew up, it was either a lot of luck” on his side. He adds that, sport or music. I did both, but the “having dual citizenship helped a lot.” music and theatre community It’s clear to both that connections resonated with me. In a small town and experience aside, it all came down everyone knows each other. I learnt a to them alone once they stepped into lot from other actors and musicians the audition space. Matt modestly who were family friends. Even my stresses that he had to “work his butt dentist was a part of the amateur off” to get to this position: his first lead scene. You associate with people who role in a professional production. have the same passions and that’s very Declan remarks that the knowledge he motivating as a young kid.” got the role, having auditioned Declan Egan is revisiting the dream lead role of Bob Gaudio in the West End, two and half years after having scored the same part in Australia as a 21 year old.

Declan’s passion for the Performing Arts began in his hometown of Newcastle. I asked the proud Novocastrian how his origins helped him play this part.

“Newcastle has a very strong working class attitude and people are very proud to come from the area.

These characters show the same loyalty and pride towards where they are from. Coming from a smallish town also creates a very driven and ambitious mentality to reach for the stars.

“In that way, I think I have easily connected with Bob as he was always looking ahead and planning the next move.”

This image and main: An American In Paris.

Photos: Matthew Murphy.

Online extras!

Go backstage at rehearsals with Dimitri Kleioris. Simply scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/ORAzfHRzBIM

alongside the entire West End community, leaves him feeling nothing short of “ecstatic”.

When asked to pinpoint the crucial moment that got them to where they are now, Matt simply answered it all comes down to the audition.

Declan reflected on the snowball effect that the last few years have had for him.

“I moved to London shortly after I finished Jersey Boys in Australia and

door and gave me all the tools I needed to get my first break!”

The great difference between a West End show and an Australian production is the season length. Even when acting under a contract, you might be playing the role for an amount of time substantially longer than a show-run in all of Australia’s touring stages combined. The shows in the West End can be open ended, and generally out-live their performers too.

“I think it would be fantastic for Australia to embrace our accent, story and identity.” then signed with an agent and started auditioning. I was then cast as standby Elder Price in The Book of Mormon on the US national tour. I think all these things contributed to playing Bob Gaudio in the West End - a snowball effect. It has been a series of stepping stones. Getting into the musical theatre course at NIDA straight from high school was a major foot in the

Both Matt and Declan continue to discover and grow throughout this experience.

Declan says, “I’ve definitely grown into Bob. His grounded business-like side, that you see more of in the second act, definitely comes more naturally now. I got this role when I was 19. I’m now 25, so naturally with age, experience and growing confidence I understand the role, and

myself as a performer, in a much more in-depth way”.

This is Matt’s first time in a lead role, having previously played four different parts and understudies. He adds to this sentiment simply.

“You can’t help but grow into the role. Playing the part eight shows a week and over a long time, you have to keep true to the character.”

What could Australia learn from the West End? Encouraged by the shifts in our industry that have occurred over the past five years, Declan is “confident” that Australia will soon catch up to the West End. “London is such an amazing place with such a history in the arts. Australia is so young in comparison. It would be great if more shows came down under.”

Declan says, “I think it would be fantastic for Australia to embrace our accent, story and identity so Australian music theatre becomes unique, sought after and establishes longevity and maybe even starts being a big Aussie export.”

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Simon Phillips.

What is the secret to making a new hit musical? Simon Phillips, who directed Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Dream Lover - the Bobby Darin Musical, Ladies in Black, Lover Never Dies, An Officer and a Gentleman, and will next year direct Muriel’s Wedding the Musical, believes he has finally worked out the recipe. He explained his thinking to a breakfast organised by Currency House.

I am surprised to find myself the current uber musical director in Australia because it’s really not anything I planned. I only did my first musical Oliver! (in New Zealand) because the person who was to direct it jumped ship at the last minute. In the process I became fascinated by the ingredients that make a musical work.

You have to find coherence between the musical elements, the choreographic elements and the scenic elements. Most are predicated on the fact that you

can move very fluidly (in the case of Oliver! from Mr Brownlow’s study to the slums of Soho). There is a lot of scenic fluidity that is required, then there is the drama, so they all have to come together in a particular way.

After the success of Oliver! I became Mr Musical in New Zealand for a bit.

When I came to Australia, there were so many other Mr and Mrs Musicals that I stopped working in this area. Instead,

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Priscilla Queen Of The Desert.

working with writers of new plays became a fascinating area for me.

I found I could help develop the structure and rhythm of a new work to maximise its effectiveness. I could never in a million years contribute to the grist of writing, but sometimes writers with a brilliant talent for dialogue and plot can be less experienced in the kind of bricks and mortar that ultimately help the piece to realise its full potential. So I enjoy ‘mid-wifing’ new plays into life.

I don’t know what persuaded Nullarbor Productions (in the UK) to approach me (while I was still the Artistic Director of the Melbourne Theatre Company) to direct Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical, but because the work is quintessentially Australian, they were keen that it be made here and when they hired me they inherited those theatre making skills I had honed on drama.

If making a new play is complex and fraught with misadventure then making a new musical quadruples the possibility of a disaster. All the disciplines I find so challenging and exciting to bind together can just as

easily run amuck. And for every rule about how successful musicals are made, there is a counter story about a musical that’s ignored those rules, taken a completely different tack, and still knocked it out of the park.

Americans never tire of anecdotes about the brilliant piece of playdoctoring that made some show, doomed to failure, a legendary success.

Of course no doubt there are a thousand un-talked-about shows that no amount of play-doctoring could save from ignominy.

I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but the essence of making a musical is a relatively simple idea. You take your story and identify within it the high emotional or dramatic points and you convert them into music. The bottom line is the character breaks into song where words no longer serve (the drama).

That is the essence of nearly every musical. There are many subsets of this basic notion. In My Fair Lady Eliza sings Wouldn’t it be Lovely really early so you know what she wants. Then she goes out to get it.

I don’t think musicals are very good at discussing ideas; that is the forum where straight drama excels. If the essence is emotional and the trajectory is relatively simple it will convert to a musical.

An emotional energy informs a musical. You can insert politics, as you can see from Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music, with such dark and important subject matter, but the characters need to go on a great personal learning curve as well.

I have never worked on a totally original musical. I have only worked on musicals that have some level of adaptation. This is probably largely due to the nervousness of producers.

Musicals cost a lot to put on, so some level of comfort (or familiarity) is a good thing. Nowadays that comfort factor more often than not comes from a film. The logic is that if the public has seen the movie, they might like to see it musicalised. It often used to be a play such as Pygmalion. In the recent case of Ladies in Black, it was a book.

(Continued on page 14)

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(Continued from page 13)

With a jukebox musical that comfort comes from the catalogue of songs the Mamma Mia! model. You start with a great catalogue of songs, and write a story around it. It is hard to imagine Mamma Mia! would have much of a look in without Abba. It’s not the most fascinating story. In the case of Priscilla there was both the film, and genre of music around which it was based.

With Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, which has original music, we have just been through the process of going through the entire story with the composers. We took PJ’s new script, (which he’s adapted from his own film), and all talked it through, defining the positions of the songs and discussing their function and tone.

The complexity starts after that.

The level of complexity is usually predicated on the egos of the people involved in putting it all together; be they book-writer, writer of the original material or composer. Or director of course. Often this can be simplified depending on how many people are still alive!

If you’re making a work of art, ego is an important part of it. The difficult thing is that you have to disassociate the amount of sweat and blood it’s taken to create a scene or a song from its ultimate usefulness to the work at hand.

If you spend six months writing something, it’s hard to acknowledge that the work doesn’t in the end require it.

(Playwright) Tom Stoppard once told me that when he handed over the manuscript of a play he was always perfectly convinced he had written the ultimate work of literary genius. He would not let anyone touch it. But as soon as he sat in a theatre with an audience watching it, he was ripping pages out and savaging it like a madman, because his instinct as to what was actually working in the theatre was suddenly alerted. The audience is the last vital ingredient.

Something that seems utterly moving in the rehearsal room can fall into a pit of languor when you are in the theatre.

There is no way of anticipating it.

My failures in the genre have, not exclusively but most often, been to do with composers really wanting to have their next big commercial hit in the musical - a song they think will ultimately top the charts. You get into a situation where the wrong songs have to be in the show because the composers can’t let them go.

Depending on who has the power (usually not me) that can create serious difficulties.

It’s not a question of whether they’re good or bad. Everyone has to be prepared to throw out their favourite babies for the good of the bathwater.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert was interesting. Stephan Elliott (the original screen writer) was initially keen that the film’s story be presented in a context a kind of show within a show idea.

Apart from the fact that no one could Ladies In Black.

Photo: Joseph Byford.

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Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical.

Photo: Lightbox Photography.

agree on what that contextual story should be, it had the natural effect of doubling the length of the show.

I’m in the happy position of being able to say that within a day of its first reading, that script was thrown out.

We began the nuts and bolts process of - you guessed it - taking the story and working out what the musical high points were.

There are still songs in Priscilla suggested by those actors around the table in the first workshop. When you work on a new musical the number of contributors is extraordinary; anyone can have a good idea.

There were plenty of parties whilst we put on Priscilla. Once I got home at five o’clock in the morning, put on the radio and heard a song I had never heard before, ‘We Belong to the Light’.

I scrawled it down in an alcoholic haze,

Love Never Dies.

Tim is so lucky. He gets up and writes a song before breakfast. He had already gone through the book and identified the high moments for a song.

So we had a very flexible and prolific composer to work with, who it transpired also has a great feeling for character. If Carolyn needed a particular song for the script, it usually arrived about 20 seconds after she requested it.

In some ways Ladies in Black is not actually an obvious choice for a musical. It has many different story lines - more than most musicals. It is a very gentle story with no obvious dramatic high points. But it is an

Darin so astonished me that I thought if someone brought it to me as an original work I would still have been compelled by it. Secondly - that curly issue of what makes a musical economically reassuring to producers the catalogue is crackerjack.

It took all my intellectual rigour to find 80’s disco hits for Priscilla, whereas the Bobby Darin songbook is right up my alley. I sacrificed all scenic whizbangery to the idea that we would have an 18-piece big band on stage to play those marvellous standards.

Then we started the process of taking that script, workshopping it, and honing it down to deliver the drama.

Apart from the anxiety about why Australians are putting on an American story, the drama is so intense that it’s been very interesting finding the balance between hearing the thrill and excitement of that big band music and focusing the staging down to deliver the small and moving dramatic incredibly light, entertaining and elements. engaging book to read. We knew I hope it transfers from rehearsal something in that story would make a room to the stage. I spent the last week connection to people’s hearts. I knew in rehearsal room sobbing, which I there was a bit of magic to it. never do. The only other time I cried in Now I am working on Dream Lover, a rehearsal room was when the small a hybrid idea. I hope it is not harshly boys in Japan found their dead mother judged because of the American base. in Love Never Dies - those 10 year-old Obviously the thing I am most Japanese actors were right up there committed to is finding great with David Campbell.

Australian stories and bringing those to So on we go. The second workshop the stage. for Muriel’s Wedding will get underway Dream Lover is based on life of soon. It’s the hurdy-gurdy of trying to Bobby Darin. But I became interested make magic, with all its risks and for two reasons. One, the life of Bobby aspirations, that sucks me in every time.

“When you work on a new musical the number of contributors is extraordinary; anyone can have a good idea.” and that became the big affirmation song at the end of the show when the drag queens arrive on Uluru. So there’s a great tribute to the value of living in a dissolute manner. Arrive home late and get a key song.

Let’s talk about Ladies in Black (touring Australia next year), which is such an important show to me and Carolyn (Burns), my wife and the musical’s book-writer. Tim Finn (composer) came to me with Madeleine St John’s novel. He said I think it’s amazing and I have written eight songs already.

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Apart from our logo, Stage Whispers magazine is barely recognisable from its humble origins in 1991 as a black and white newspaper - a voice of amateur theatre. Just as the magazine has changed, so too has the theatre world it reports on. David Spicer spoke to some leading lights in the professional and community theatre worlds to reflect on the last quarter of a century.

16 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

The first quote in the first edition of Stage Whispers Magazine was a knock out.

“Never ask a Drag Queen his age,” Daniel Abineri said, speaking about his role of Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show.

Stage Whispers, born in 1991 in the Melbourne suburb of Emerald, proudly admits to its age as it turns 25.

Over the years the magazine has interviewed a Who’s Who of Australian Show Business.

Many famous faces have graced the covers. As you can see, the cover ‘models’ have included Hugh Jackman, David Atkins, Todd McKenney, John Bell, Geoffrey Rush, Anthony Warlow, Nancye Hayes and Barry Otto.

Leading theatre producer John Frost has had more of his shows on the cover than any other. He reflects on the explosion in audience numbers since the magazine was founded.

“All the work that people like Cameron Mackintosh did during the 80’s … the seeds have been sown and now they are starting to bloom,” he said.

“We are now seeing parents bringing their kids up and taking them to the theatre. Yes they learn swimming, football, play the violin but it is cool now to go to theatre.”

Leading lady Caroline O’Connor agrees.

“In the early 80’s there might be three musicals a year. Now there is a greater variety produced and touring and put into theatres for short runs.”

She also notes a change in attitude from young people in the industry.

“In my day you never got an opportunity ‘off the bat’. You needed more experience before playing a role.

Now people are less patient. It puts incredible pressure on someone not in the business for very long, as it is very demanding performing eight shows a week.”

Many community theatre identities also graced the cover over the years. This is because the magazine was first pitched as the voice of amateur theatre.

The first edition, an A3 sized black and white newspaper of 24 pages, hit the streets of Melbourne with a cover price of $2.00. The front page featured three actors from the production Ratz Tales by the Tin Alley Players.

Another story had the headline “The Show Must Go On”. That was the cry from the Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre, a week after a deliberately lit fire caused $100,000 damage. Thankfully a burglar alarm allowed the building and its historic Dame Nellie Melba collection to be saved.

Community Theatre has changed since 1991. The Cheltenham Light Opera Company in suburban Melbourne became CLOC. The current Treasurer Grant Alley OAM says many of the family oriented community theatre companies around at the time that staged ‘older’ works have disappeared.

“There is a significant rise in audience expectations on the calibre of cast. We require triple threats. 25 years ago there

was your ballet, principals and chorus.

Now everyone on stage is a principal.”

Grant Alley is referring to the melting pot of Greater Melbourne, where there is intense competition amongst community theatre companies.

“We have moved from companies being run by a group of enthusiasts, to a group of producers on committees with most of the rest of the cast/ production team transient.”

He says more older style theatre companies still operate in the outer suburbs and regional areas where they are captive to “venues who screw them”.

In Sydney, the President of the Willoughby Theatre Company Tom Sweeney agrees that audiences are demanding a higher level of professionalism.

WTC has moved from a community hall to a fully equipped proscenium theatre with an orchestra pit and fly tower.

“Audiences expect more of what they see on TV. The line between amateur and professional theatre is blurring. People are expecting what they want for half the price. We meet that as best we can on our budget.”

Adding to the blurring of lines is the growth of pro-am theatre. Companies in Canberra (Free Rain), Sydney (Packemin) and Brisbane (Harvest Rain) are blending professional and amateur casts.

In his first editorial, Jeff Jones wrote that “playing editor means not much (Continued on page 18)

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(Continued from page 17)

sleep, more grey hair and the need to install a telephone answering machine.”

A magazine in those pre-internet days needed a central office. Artwork had to be physically received. Today the Editor of Stage Whispers (Neil Litchfield) lives in Sydney, while our layout guru Phil Tyson and advertising manager Angela Thompson live in Melbourne.

The same team putting the magazine together since 2008 has never been in the one place together.

Stage Whispers now has a much larger readership that ever before. There are 60,000 unique visitors a month to our website, while many more people see the cover of our magazine on a Facebook page than at a newsagent.

Publicist Ian Phipps says social media has “changed the way of marketing shows totally.”

“We reach people directly advertising is a lot less important or effective. Social media is the way people find out about shows and you get immediate reaction.”

But publicist Bruce Pollack laments the major reduction in the size of newspapers and lifestyle television programs.

“This downturn has brought about a reduction in opportunities for publicists to seek coverage. We used to have midday shows and late night TV where people could sing and dance and talk.”

Publicist Geoff Sirmai agrees there is a downside to the landscape.

“We have the ability to network via social media but it actually only

18 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

penetrates a few degrees of separation.

So spreading the word further is possible but not to new audiences without proper media publicity and marketing.

“The other big difference is the funding model. Crowd-funding has given new life to independent theatre where government support has dwindled.”

Writer Dennis Watkins says the biggest change over the last 25 years in Australian theatre relates to content.

“The presence of many great indigenous artists on our stages telling their own stories as well as playing nonindigenous roles is a game changer, whether it’s the showbiz of The Sapphires or the dust of The Drover’s Wife.

“Stephen Page, David Page, Leah Purcell, Nakkiah Lui, Deborah Mailman, Wesley Enoch, Wayne Blair, Christine Anu and Jessica Mauboy represent just some of the indigenous actors, writers and directors that have found a permanent place in our theatre culture and history.”

Changes too have come behind the scenes.

David Betterridge from Loud and Clear Audio in Sydney says “we are certainly using a lot more radio microphones. Back in the day eight for a show was common, now it is 20 to 24 to cater for modern musicals.

“I have seen a few very long standing theatre companies (Continued on page 20)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 19

(Continued from page 18)

disappear…a lot to do with venue access.”

Greg Ginger from Outlook Communications in Melbourne says that multi-channel radio microphone systems are the biggest technological change in his industry.

“It used to be a battle to get 16 to work together. Now we can get 50. Big shows put two on everyone.”

He notes that the standard of community theatre has been getting better and better over the last 15 years.

“I think the quality of production and expectations have gone up as the quality of entertainment on TV has improved. People go to theatre and expect to be given more on a plate.”

In the lighting world the biggest change of the last quarter of a century is undoubtedly the ever-increasing use of LED and steady decline of tungsten fixtures.

John McKissock from Clearlight Shows spoke to Stage Whispers from the Melbourne Town Hall where he was setting up for a private school function.

“Every fixture I am using is LED - that goes for frenels, profile spots, moving head and synch lights.

“My power requirements are minimal. 25 years ago I would have a huge amount of cabling, weight and labour.

“Apart from the environmental benefits, it’s much cheaper to run.”

Changes have, of course, extended to our theatre buildings, with new

20 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

venues gained, some lost, and others rejuvenated or recycled.

In 1991, Sydney’s Capitol Theatre lay dark ahead of the two-year renovation which would see it reopen as a 2,000 seat live theatre in 1995 with West Side Story. Her Majesty’s Theatre was demolished and replaced by a block of apartments in 1993, less than 20 years after it was built to replace the previous theatre on the same site, which was destroyed by fire. Sydney’s Lyric Theatre, and the Star Casino would not appear for another 6 years. The Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre) followed in 2004.

When a former Baptist Tabernacle in Darlinghurst was remodelled by the City of Sydney Council as the Eternity Playhouse in 2013, not only did it provide a new home for the Darlinghurst Theatre Company, it heralded the arrival of Sydney’s home for Independent Musical Theatre, The Hayes Theatre Co., in that company’s former home.

Meanwhile, a revival of the heritage theatres which now make up Melbourne’s East End theatre district was gaining momentum. The Regent Theatre, now home to major musicals, had been lying derelict for about 20 years, though developer David Marriner’s plan to restore the theatre first came to light in 1991, saving the theatre from demolition. He added it to his earlier acquisition of Melbourne’s Princess Theatre, where the Australian premiere of The Phantom of the Opera was playing in 1991. It was a happier

fate than that met by Sydney’s Regent Theatre in 1988, replaced by a large hole in the ground on George Street for the first decade of Stage Whispers’ life.

Mike Walsh purchased Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne in 1999, which reopened in 2002 after restoration.

Melbourne’s theatre landscape has continued to grow, with new and recycled venues including Chapel off Chapel (1995), the Melbourne Theatre Company’s Southbank Theatre (2009) and the triple stages of the Alex Theatre, St Kilda (2015) in an old cinema complex.

Perth gained the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia in 2011, with its three theatres including the Heath Ledger Theatre.

Sadly there has been little to report on new venues in Adelaide but a revitalisation was announced this year.

Likewise in Brisbane there have been no new theatres opened in the city apart from a number of medium sized venues at the Brisbane Powerhouse in 2007.

Still, one thing still hasn’t changed at all.

There are still are never enough Ladies’ toilets in theatres. At intermission, the women’s queue remains disproportionately longer than the men’s one.

Though that may well take at least another 125 years to get right.

David Spicer is the fourth member of the Stage Whispers production team.

Each member is as vital as the wheels on a car.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 21

Seasons 2017

Belvoir’s Hir. Photo: Daniel Boud.

A national tour of a British adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece 1984 by Robert Australian musicals Artistic Director Kip Williams makers. Set against the Icke and Duncan Macmillan, bookend the 2017 theatre announced the 2017 Sydney social upheavals of the produced by British theatre seasons, with a national tour Theatre Company season.

1960s, the 1986 classic, like innovators Headlong with of Queensland Theatre’s Bell Shakespeare will now the Shakespearian scenes Almeida Theatre and Ladies in Black kicking off in announce individual that bookend it, resonates Nottingham Playhouse, plays January with an encore productions rather than for audiences. Placing seasons at both State Brisbane season, and Global seasons. Their first emphasis on how events Theatre Company of South Creatures collaborating with production of 2017 will be unfold through the eyes of Australia and STC. Sydney Theatre Company on Richard 3 featuring Kate Tom (played by Liam In another international Mulvany as Richard. Artistic Nunan), an aspiring actor production, fresh from a stage version of Muriel’s Wedding to close out the Director Peter Evans says, who must come to terms performances at the year at Sydney’s Roslyn “having Kate play the male with his own mortality, Edinburgh International Packer Theatre, but more of protagonist, whose director Matthew Lutton’s Festival, The Barbican and on those in our Musicals contempt for women is vision will heighten the meta Broadway, renowned UK roundup. infamous, will bring a new -theatricality inherent in theatre company Complicite Several of our major layer to this production.”

Gow’s enduring classic. will wire up audiences and theatre companies are Queensland Theatre and plunge them into the humid transitioning to new artistic Co-productions Black Swan State Theatre depths of the Amazon with leadership. Queensland Sydney Theatre Company Company collaborate on a The Encounter, playing at Theatre (formerly QTC) has and Malthouse Theatre will production of another of Malthouse. co-produce modern Michael Gow’s plays, Once Queensland Theatre and rebranded under the leadership of Sam Strong, Australian classic Michael in Royal David’s City, which Griffin Theatre Company Clare Watson takes over the Gow’s Away, with Heather had its premiere at Belvoir in collaborate on Michele Lee’s helm at Black Swan from Mitchell as Gwen, one of 2014. first mainstage play Rice, Kate Cherry, while Interim eight Christmas holidaywhich sets the personal

A promising crop of new Australian plays and top international works headline the main stage theatre company seasons in 2017. Rarely has there been such a large number of locally written works which appear to be must-sees.

22 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

politics of two women against the global politics of the world food economy.

Griffin Theatre’s Helpmann Award-winning director Lee Lewis directs Kristy Best in a brutal and tender interrogation of race, gender and the vastly different relationship that migrants of varying generations have with Australia.

“Michelle is one of the next generation of Australian playwrights who writes for the world, not just Australia,” says Lewis.

The Father by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) is an STC/ MTC co-production.

Now 80 years old, André (John Bell) was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter Anne (Anita Hegh) and her husband Antoine.

Or was he an engineer

whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pyjamas, and he can’t find his watch.

This new work was The Guardian’s Play of the Year in London, and was nominated for two Tony Awards. It will be directed by Damien Ryan, Artistic Director of Sport For Jove.

State Theatre Company of SA and Belvoir will coproduce the Australian premiere of Mr Burns - A Post-Electric Play by Anne Washburn. Mr. Burns explores a post-apocalyptic America and the possibility that the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology or even theology of another. Imara Savage will direct Mitchell Butel and Esther Hannaford in this quirky take on a future world (Continued on page 24)

Malthouse Theatre’s The Elephant Man. Photo: Zan Wimberley.

Online extras!

Be there at Malthouse’s Season 2017 launch. Simply scan the QR code or visit http://bit.ly/2eA5CAn

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 23

Seasons 2017

Black Swan’s The Lighthouse Girl.

Photo: Robert Frith.

Online extras!

Black Swan’s 2017 season has something for everyone. Scan the QR code or visit https://vimeo.com/186217000

24 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

(Continued from page 23)

when The Simpsons might be the next major religion.

A co-production between Griffin and Malthouse Theatre, The Homosexuals or Faggots by Declan Greene asks some extraordinarily difficult questions of Greene’s own community: White Gay Men. How was marriage ordained as the #1 LGBTQI issue of our time?

Why do some colours in the rainbow flag shine brighter than others?

Victorian Opera and Malthouse Theatre team up with Meow Meow, Paul Capsis and Kanen Breen for the Australian premiere of Black Rider: The Casting Of The Magic Bullets. Conceived in 1993 by Tom Waits and gritty beat poet William S. Burroughs, based on a 19th century German ghost story, this version will be a journey through a vivid theatrical

landscape that is part musical, part opera and all dance with the devil.

Neil Armfield’s awardwinning Sydney Theatre Company production The Secret River heads to Adelaide as part of State Theatre Company of SA season and the Adelaide Festival, marking Neil’s first year as Co-Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival. This theatrical epic will be staged outdoors for the first time, in the setting of a quarry at Anstey Hill.

STC presents Griffin Theatre Company’s awardwinning 2015 production The Bleeding Tree. Angus Cerini’s gothic thriller, revenge comedy and murder ballad all in one, is a celebration of women fighting back against spousal abuse, and won a swag of awards, including the Helpmann for Best Play.

Queensland Theatre’s season includes Melbourne ensemble Red Stitch Actors Theatre’s production of The Flick, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, directed by Nadia Tass.

Two recent Belvoir hits return in 2017: Jasper Jones and The Dog / The Cat in short Upstairs seasons, while La Boite Theatre Company’s Prize Fighter will be seen by Sydney audiences for the first time at Belvoir.

State Theatre Company of SA’s 2015 production of The Popular Mechanicals embarks on an extensive national tour in 2017, returning to Sydney at the STC for the 30th Anniversary of its original Australian production at Belvoir.

Sam Strong directs an MTC and QTC co-production of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off , the shamelessly entertaining backstage Ensemble Theatre’s Buyer And Cellar.

farce, starring an ensemble cast including Simon Burke.

New Australian Plays In Talk, at the Sydney Theatre Company, Jonathan Biggins casts a critical eye on the links binding modern journalism, the justice system and the political establishment. John Waters plays a rampaging radio talkback host filling Sydney’s airwaves with a daily diet of toxic, moralising opinion. As he learns that his words have major personal consequences, across town in the newsrooms of both a major tabloid and the national broadcaster, the zeal for a good story goes into overdrive.

Black is the New White is a romantic comedy commissioned by STC from Nakkiah Lui. Roy Gibson (Tony Briggs) decided long ago that his indigenous

family would be taking their seats at tables of influence.

With wife Joan, he has expectations for his offspring; in politics, race and power. When the clan gathers for Christmas and one of his daughters brings her boyfriend home, there’s a problem. A white, unemployed, experimental classical music composer from a conservative background is not in any script her parents had been following.

A darkly humorous new play, Australian Graffiti offers insight into Australian lives often overlooked. Being the only Thai household in a small country town certainly has its challenges. Australian Graffiti is about a family that has uprooted its restaurant business too many times already when they begin to suspect that some of the locals may be less than

thrilled to have them.

Drawing on some of his own experiences as the son of migrants working in the restaurant trade, 22-year-old Disapol Savetsila is the youngest playwright ever commissioned by STC as part of its main stage season.

The Melbourne Theatre Company is staging Vivid White, the latest creation from Eddie Perfect about middle-class aspirations and the living nightmare that is the Australian housing market. A home-grown satire with songs.

Three Little Words is Joanna Murray-Smith’s latest premiere for the MTC. Bonnie and Annie and their best friends, Tess and Curtis, have both been together for twenty years. The cosy world of coupledom ends at an anniversary dinner when Tess and Curtis casually drop a (Continued on page 26)

Online extras!

Check out Ensemble Theatre’s Season 2017 launch video. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/O7VJhXVXCnQ

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 25

QTC’s Noises Off.

Seasons 2017

Online extras!

Artistic director at QTC, Sam Strong, discusses the year ahead. Scan or visit https://youtu.be/Oe0LLBjqgnA

26 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

(Continued from page 25)

bombshell - they have decided to split up. There’s no way to predict or control the devastation that follows.

Also at the MTC, legendary actors Nancye Hayes, Sue Jones and Rhys McConnochie star in Minnie & Liraz by Lally Katz, an offbeat story of kindly Jewish grandparents and raw ambition around the bridge table.

Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre opens its season with a brand new David Williamson comedy, Odd Man Out. It starts like a fairy -tale romance: Ryan tells Alice she has a beautiful smile, and suddenly he is asking her out. Alice has never met anyone like Ryan before: he’s charming, forthright and painfully truthful. David Williamson’s brand new comedy is about

love, tolerance and acceptance.

The Ensemble season also features the World Premiere of The Rasputin Affair by Kate Mulvany. It’s St Petersburg. Winter. 1917.

A group of like-minded individuals gather with a plate of pink poisoned cupcakes and a shared aim: to rid the world of one of history’s most despised characters - the mad monk Rasputin.

Also at the Ensemble is Lip Service by John Misto.

Helena Rubenstein’s (Amanda Muggleton) towering makeup empire is under constant threat.

Staving off cunning attacks from her rivals Elizabeth Arden and Revlon, she holds fast to the principles that got her to the top: thrift, ruthlessness and a take-noprisoners steely resolve. But when she finds an unlikely

confidante in personal assistant Patrick, it dawns on her perhaps she isn’t such a hardened business woman after all.

At Belvoir there are brand new works from Lally Katz (Atlantis), Tommy Murphy (Mark Colvin’s Kidney) and Alana Valentine with Ursula Yovich (Barbara and the Camp Dogs). All three are bold plays with intriguing and compelling women as their lead characters.

Black Swan’s Lab season includes a new Australian play by resident writer Hellie Turner. The Lighthouse Girl highlights a significant piece of history from regional WA and this family friendly adaptation will have its World Premiere in Albany as part of the ANZAC Day commemorations before a Perth season.

Heart Is A Wasteland, at Malthouse, from Indigenous storytellers John and Margaret Harvey, combines the talents of Ursula Yovich and Aaron Pedersen. Against a backdrop of a burnt and bruised central Australian landscape, and to the sounds of a lonesome guitar, each portray two characters, playing out a whiskey-fuelled battle of the egos.

At Griffin, Smurf in Wanderland is documentary theatre maker David Williams’ examination of football, tribalism and identity. A passionate interrogation of what it means to be a fan, the theatre of sport, and the artificial wedge that has been created between Sydney and its western suburbs.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company presents three World Premieres in its 2017 season.

I Love You Now by Jeanette Cronin is a sexy

romantic tragi-comedy about love, desire… plus tango! It asks the big ‘love’ questions. Does love run out? Or is love is only limited by our imaginations?

In Real Life by Julian Larnach is a psychological thriller and cautionary tale about our rapidly changing world where everything is just a device click away. One evening the daughter of the CEO of a global digital company and inventor of the world’s most popular personal device disappears without trace.

Silent Night by Mary Rachel Brown is a comedy for anyone who feels a mix of terror and affection about spending Christmas with family. Every year for the past 12 years the Lickfolds have entered the ARCE Awards for the best Christmas decoration display in Australia. The Lickfolds are over participators determined to win at any cost but their path to electric glory is thwarted when someone unexpected comes down the chimney.

Tom Wright’s new adaptation of The Elephant Man will premiere at Malthouse.

Griffin Independent includes the World Premiere of Suzie Miller’s tale of family dysfunction Sunset Strip, directed by Anthony Skuse.

The world premiere of Anti Gravity at Malthouse unites the highly physical choreography of Chunky Move’s artistic director Anouk van Dijk and the aesthetic of visual artist Ho Tzu Nyen. Performed by six dancers in various states of control and abandon.

Murray-Smith’s Switzerland, at Black Swan State Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of SA, follow the premiere production which toured other states last year.

A new production of Patrick White’s dark and gothic classic The Ham Funeral will be directed by Kate Gaul at the Griffin, while Katherine Thompson’s words return to the Griffin stage in Diving for Pearls to paint a searing portrait of Wollongong in the 80s where the political decisions of that time planted the seeds of divide we continue to witness today between those with opportunity, and those without.

the STC and Malthouse. It’s described as a provocative depiction of one of the most beloved figures in history.

Unrecognisable from the meek, obedient woman of scripture, she is angry, sharp -witted and dares to speak a dangerous truth.

The STC’s year kicks off in January with The Australian premiere, directed by Imara Savage and starring Alison Whyte, while Pamela Rabe returns to Malthouse Theatre in November under the direction of Anne-Louise Sarks.

Mark Leonard Winter, recipient of two 2016 Helpmann Awards (Best Actor and Best Supporting Australian Premieres Actor), is directed by Kip Williams in Lucy Kirkwood’s Two separate productions of Colm international hit Chimerica, Tóibín’s The Testament of about the complex Mary, adapted from his Man relationship between the Booker Prize-nominated two global superpowers of novella, will be staged by (Continued on page 28)

Australian Revivals Two separate productions of Joanna www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 27

Seasons 2017

28 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

Belvoir’s Mr Burns.

Photo: Sia Duff.

(Continued from page 27)

the 21st century, China and the United States. This epic play centres on a fictional photojournalist who, years after he took the picture, embarks on a quest to find the subject of one of the 20th century’s most recognisable images. Who was the man, shopping bags in hand, attempting to block the column of tanks rolling through Tiananmen Square in 1989?

Hir at Belvoir is the new play from American playwright and performance artist Taylor Mac. Isaac has come home from the blood and horror of Afghanistan to look after his sick Dad, Arnold, only to find a family home that looks like a bomb has gone off. And, in a way, that’s just what’s happened.

It turns out his younger sibling is transgender, his Mum is out from under the thumb of her domineering and violent husband, and they’re both out to smash the Patriarchy.

This ghoulish vaudeville of the declining American

middle-class, directed by Anthea Williams, stars Helen Thomson and Greg Stone STC Resident Director Imara Savage directs Moira Buffini’s West End hit Dinner. Caroline Brazier plays Paige, a jaded hostess throwing a soiree to celebrate the launch of her husband’s self-help book.

But as a very weird evening proceeds and the surprise menu is revealed, does she have more sinister plans for her unsuspecting guests?

Black Swan will present Jack Thorne’s stage adaptation of the Swedish novel and film Let the Right One In, a gothic coming of age love story. The directorial debut of newly appointed Artistic Director Clare Watson will feature a cast of nine with a number of acting graduates making their stage debuts as part of Black Swan’s the WAAPA Bridging Program.

Classics / Revivals Following The Present and Uncle Vanya, STC serves up the third of a Chekhov-

via-Upton triptych with Three Sisters, this time directed by Kip Williams. In a remote Russian town, the orphaned Prozorov sisters yearn for Moscow, dreaming of freedom, sex, work and romance in former STC Artistic Director Andrew Upton’s new adaptation.

Macbeth will being staged in two different productions, by the State Theatre Company of SA and also at the MTC (directed by the company’s former artistic director Simon Phillips).

Eamon Flack has reunited his team from his 2014 production of The Glass Menagerie in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts at Belvoir. Pamela Rabe stars as the fierce mother Helene Alving.

Black Swan’s founding Artistic Director Andrew Ross returns to direct Samuel Beckett’s absurd classic Endgame, re-uniting with three Western Australian actors - Geoff Kelso, Kelton Pell and George Shevstov who all appeared in Black Swan’s inaugural production in 1991.

Online extras!

See all 16 of STC’s plays for 2017 in just 90 seconds! Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/hYHh2XtfDV4

Sydney Theatre Company’s Talk.

Photo: James Green.

Another highlight will be The Rover by Aphra Benn at Belvoir. Lost in a maze of masquerade and revelry, a ratbaggy gang of exiled cavaliers plunge into the steamy depths of Spanish occupied Naples at carnivaltime. They are led in their debauchery by Willmore (Toby Schmitz), the eponymous Rover, who was thought to be inspired by the infamous John Wilmot, a notorious playboy of the seventeenth century. The play fell out of favour for a few centuries, considered a

For more details of these seasons, or for others which have not been announced as we go to press, visit http://bit.ly/2eCZ4gB

little too coarse for polite society, but was rediscovered in the 1980s and is now considered one of the great ‘battle of the sexes’ comedies.

Kip Williams directs the STC’s production of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine. Cross -casting in terms of gender, race and age, with actors doubling and sometimes tripling roles, a witty exploration of the complex politics of human relationships is promised.

The play begins in colonial Africa, amidst the Victorian constrictions of corset and empire. Amongst other surprises, while the second half is set a century later in London, the characters of

the first half have aged only 25 years.

Power couple Marta Dusseldorp (Janet King, Jack Irish, A Place to Call Home) and Ben Winspear (The Babadook) will appear in Scenes from a Marriage, Joanna Murray-Smith’s adaptation of the Ingmar Bergman classic, directed by Queensland Theatre’s new Associate Artistic Director Paige Rattray.

The Ensemble Theatre presents new productions of Two, starring Brian Meegan and Kate Raison, and Edward Albee’s contemporary American classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 29

Musicals In 2017 And Beyond

Kinky Boots.

Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Muriel’s Wedding - The Musical The most keenly awaited musical of the year is opening as part of the Sydney Theatre Company season in November. For Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, original writer-director PJ Hogan has updated his own screenplay. Muriel Heslop, stuck in her deadbeat life in Porpoise Spit, ends up with everything she ever wanted - a man, a fortune and a million Twitter

Muriel’s Wedding - The Musical.

30 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

followers. That’s when things start to go really wrong.

One of the many memorable lines from the 1994 movie is from Muriel when she says that her life is “as good as an ABBA song - as good as Dancing Queen.” With the popular Swedish pop group an integral part of the story, the co-producers Global Creatures waited patiently for two years to get permission to from ABBA to use the songs before the season was set. New music is also being composed by Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall.

Director Simon Phillips and designer Gabriela Tylesova head the creative team.

The Book of Mormon It has taken almost seven years for this nine-time Tony Award winning musical, written by the team behind South Park, to open in Australia. Fans are counting the days until the opening at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in January.

The Book of Mormon has a flimsy set, plain costumes and the most implausible of story lines. It does have some catchy songs and the sharpest

array of religious satire. Amazingly some Mormons (secretly) enjoy going to see it, even though it roasts the central tenets of their religion.

It’s about a pair of Mormon boys sent on a mission to Uganda. Things go haywire so they end up setting up their own religion with some rather lewd characteristics. Leave the children at home for this one.

The Book Of Mormon.

Photo: Joan Marcus.

Aladdin At the complete other end of the spectrum is the Disney extravaganza Aladdin, playing in Sydney until early 2017, then flying on its magic carpet to Her Majesty’s Theatre Melbourne from April, and no doubt the rest of Australia after that.

It has the most extravagant set and tamest of storylines. The best scene is when young Aladdin steps inside a cave filled with eye popping gold and treasure. Magic tricks and frenzied choreography add to the sumptuous kaleidoscope that includes songs from other Disney classics.

The young thief rubs the lamp to squeeze out the true star of the musical - the Genie. He is a pantomime Dame in the finest traditions.

As Disney does not offer concessions it is expensive to take a whole family along, but if you can afford the tickets it will excite interest in musicals in young ones for many a year.

The adaptation of Madeleine St John’s 1993 novel, The Women in Black has been brought to life on the stage by Australian screenwriter Carolyn Burns, together with Finn and director Simon Phillips.

Ladies In Black Queensland Theatre season kicks off 2017 with the encore season of Ladies in Black, which will then embark on a national tour.

This stylish story of fashion, friendship and 1950s Australia won the Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work and features over 20 original songs written by singer songwriter Tim Finn OBE (Split Enz, Crowded House) and some 30 customdesigned and created dresses and suits.

My Fair Lady John Frost and Opera Australia’s exquisite recreation of the original production of My Fair Lady, under the direction of Dame Julie Andrews, will play seasons in Brisbane and Melbourne and will return to Sydney’s Capitol Theatre mid-year.

The original season of the Lerner and Loewe classic broke box office records at the Sydney Opera House.

A sumptuous trip down memory lane, it features exact replicas of the

Ladies In Black.

Photo: Rob Maccoll.

Seasons 2017

original Broadway set and costumes from the 1956 season.

Leading lady Anna O’Byrne as Eliza, Alex Jennings (who will be replaced by Charles Edwards, from Downton Abbey in 2017) as Higgins and Reg Livermore as Doolittle are the stand out performers.

My Fair Lady plays at QPAC from 12 March and Melbourne’s Regent Theatre from 11 May. The Bodyguard Paulini, first introduced to Australia in the inaugural series of Australian Idol, will play the leading role of Rachel Marron in the Australian Premiere of The Bodyguard.

(Continued on page 33)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 31

Seasons 2017

Online extras!

Strut the red carpet at the gala premiere of My Fair Lady. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/VCcDv8qmeyg

32 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

My Fair Lady.

Photo: Jeff Busby.

The Bodyguard.

Photo: Daniel Boud.

(Continued from page 31)

Based on the Warner Bros 1992 film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner and written by the acclaimed, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Big Chill, The Empire Strikes Back), The Bodyguard will commence at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in April.

The score includes a whole host of Whitney Houston’s greatest hits including “Queen of the Night,” “So Emotional,” “One Moment in Time,” “Saving All My Love,” “Run to You,” “I Have Nothing”, “Greatest Love Of All,” “Million Dollar Bill,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and - one of the greatest hit songs of all time - “I Will Always Love You.” Former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard Frank Farmer is hired to protect superstar singer Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. Each expects to be in charge - what they don’t expect is to fall in love.

The Australian tour of The Bodyguard will also play at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane from July and the Regent Theatre, Melbourne from August Beautiful: The Carole King Musical The multi-award winning Broadway hit will make its Australian premiere at a newly refurbished Sydney Lyric Theatre from September.

From a teenager who shows chutzpah in getting her songs

Paul Capsis.

published, to making pop classics for Afro-American stars, juggling a career, relationships and motherhood, to her own solo career, the production covers the full tapestry of her extraordinary life.

A stunning set adds to the spectacle.

Kinky Boots The Tony Award winning musical with songs from Cindy Lauper which just opened in Melbourne, is expected to leap into Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from the middle of next year.

Based on the film which tells the story of the northern English shoe factory that is saved from oblivion by the style of a drag Queen, it has joyous music and a gutsy story with a young Australian cast.

Mamma Mia! Mamma Mia! will tour Australia in 2017 - 2018, commencing its national tour in Canberra in November before moving on to five other capital cities.

Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical The full houses and standing ovations during the world premiere season of Dream Lover in Sydney, starring David Campbell, are not enough to ensure a tour in 2017. The unavailability of venues means the musical won’t be seen elsewhere before 2018.

Cabaret The Kit Kat Club is returning to Sydney in all its decadence for a new Australian revival of Cabaret at Hayes Theatre Co. in January starring Paul Capsis as The Emcee. The production, which will also feature Kate Fitzpatrick and Debora Krizak, will then play the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne from April 27.

Matilda Fresh from winning a truck-load of Helpmann Awards and dazzling audiences in Sydney and Melbourne, Matilda swings into Brisbane this month ahead of a Perth season in February, and Adelaide in May. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 33

WHEN POLICE THEATRE It was only fifty years ago that police would raid theatres to arrest and charge actors with obscenity. Jenny Fewster, the Project Manager for AusStage, recounts a time when ending up in jail was a genuine performance risk.

Artist Michael Gordon Brown became the only Australian visual artist to be charged with and convicted of obscenity. The Magistrate described his paintings as an “orgy of obscenity”.

Brown’s sentence of three months hard labour was reduced to a $20 fine on appeal. This episode was repeated in artistic circles around Australia.

Whilst the youth were becoming more avant-garde and revolutionary, there was an older generation clinging steadfastly to conservatism and Victorian morality.

In Victoria, Henry Bolte had been Premier for eleven years. A conservative Liberal, he was in favour of stiffer penalties for crimes. Under Bolte’s leadership the Summary Offences Act 1966 (VIC) was enacted.

The Act contained provisions for serious offences such as assault and less serious matters such as homing pigeons, kite-flying and singing bawdy ballads.

The Summary Offences Act became the bible of the Victorian Police Vice Squad. For the remainder of the sixties the squad would keep close watch over the activities of Melbourne’s theatre-makers. By 1966 Vice Squad visits to the theatre were already so commonplace that they were a laughing stock in reviews. Howard Palmer’s review of A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down (starring the angelic Gloria Dawn and Reg Livermore) mocked that if the Vice 34 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

Squad pay a visit “they will laugh so much they will forget why they went”.

In 1966, two actors in San Francisco were charged with “lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place” for appearing in The Beard, a controversial play exploring the nature of seduction and attraction.

The play was published in the literary magazine Evergreen Review. In December 1968 Stefan Mager appeared in St Kilda court charged with having made an obscene article for copying the play from the magazine, which was readily available at the State Library.

Mager’s theatre company Contact Theatre wanted to produce the play before a closed audience. However, the Vice Squad raided Mager’s flat,

“turning it upside down” despite the fact that he had already handed over the two copies he had made. The production never eventuated.

In January 1967 the Acting Chief Secretary declared that he would personally attend Hello Australia at the Lido Theatre Restaurant “to see at first hand whether the show is indecent”.

The Vice Squad had already questioned the producer David McIllwraith and attended dress rehearsals to view the “topless dancing”. On the 5th February 1967, an officer reported that “the topless ladies, who have received official approval, are not entirely topless and behave themselves in a genteel manner.

No one could possibly object to their statuesque posing.”

But it was not just the authorities upholding the morality of Melbourne at this time. In July 1968 the Women’s Auxiliary of St Vincent’s Hospital visited the Venetian Room of the Hotel Australia for a lunch time performance of Allergy, a play about a man who is allergic to adultery. The women of the Auxiliary were outraged, to the extent that a shouting match with the actors ensued and the objecting group banged their spoons on their crockery resulting in at least one broken plate. After about 45 minutes the actors left the stage “in pale resignation”, unable to continue.

America Hurrah! was the next play to be shut down by the Vice Squad, who objected to a symbolic sex act and a couple of four-letter words. In response, a private showing for invited guests took place in a private home. It

was well attended by press and politicians alike. After a day or two the Vice Squad turned up at the home to question the owner and even questioned the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Holding, who had been attendance.

Editorial in The Age expressed dismay - “a private performance for adults in a living room seems to us to take the matter outside the legitimate interests of the Vice Squad. We suggest that the Vice Squad, the Victoria Police, and the State Government should stop this nonsense at once. They are making fools of themselves, which may be their own business. Unfortunately, they are acting in the name of all of us, and that is everyone’s business.”

A defiance was brewing in Melbourne’s theatre community, and following Graeme Blundell and Lindsay Smith being charged with obscenity for Alexander Buzo’s Norm and Ahmed at La Mama in July 1969, things started to heat up.

The play had been produced at the Old Tote in Sydney and Twelfth Night in Brisbane without major incident. Not so in Melbourne. It was the closing line of the play that had attracted the attention of the vice squad…”Fucking

Boong”. Smith was eventually convicted on obscenity charges for the seven-letter word and Blundell for aiding and abetting him. What is most surprising here is that no objection was ever raised about the use of the word Boong.

Also in July, impresario Harry M Miller’s production of The Boys in the Band was attracting attention from the vice squad at the Playbox Theatre.

The play depicted a birthday party being held by a young gay man.

Three actors were charged with obscenities for the use of four fourletter words.

When giving evidence the officer said that only two of those words he found offensive, one didn’t worry him and a fourth the playwright “should never have used”.

It’s unclear what expertise he based that statement on, as the officer admitted to the court he was not a theatregoer, having not seen a play for the previous 15 years.

Another Constable who was also called to give evidence expressed a preference for musical comedies. The magistrate Mr. D. J. Kelly did not

record a conviction, as he thought the offences “were of such a trifling nature as to not warrant punishment”. He said, “A conviction in this case would leave this city and this State a laughing stock”.

However the Crown appealed and the Supreme Court recorded convictions against the three actors.

Harry M Miller described it as “a dreadful waste of public money” and stated that the “public who buy tickets are the arbiters.” Thumbing his nose at the establishment, Miller announced that he would next produce the controversial musical Hair.

Leading playwrights met in 1969 in a back garden in Carlton to forge a battle plan.

Present were members of the Australian Performing Group, Graeme Blundell, Lindsay Smith, Jack Hibberd, Alexander Buzo, John Romeril and journalist John Larkin, who reported the meeting in his column in The Age under the title “Headed for a 4-letter paradise”. Those present “acknowledged the situation between them and the authorities has reached a state of confrontation…they have said that they will keep writing and keep playing and keep being arrested.”

Later that week the Australian Performing Group performed a short play by John Romeril entitled Whatever Happened to Realism. The play examined the irrationality of censorship and its effect on the theatre, for practitioners and audiences. It (Continued on page 36)

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 35

Miller pressed on with his production of Hair. He had shrewdly used the controversy of the show to generate advance publicity in Sydney and also ran a number of previews for invited guests prior to the public opening. The NSW Chief Secretary, Eric Willis, was invited to one of these previews. Miller minimised the shock of the nude scene at that performance by keeping it to approximately forty seconds. Miller said “if you’d dropped your programme on the floor you wouldn’t have seen it”.

Later Reg Livermore was quoted as saying “the nude scene is nothing to write home about…it is backlit, so you’d have to have the eyes of Superman to claim with some certainty you’d seen anything.” Reg tried not to draw attention to himself by choosing to stand next to one of the cast’s tall, black men…”nobody looked Newspaper clippings show David McIlwraith sitting on the stage of the Lido amid the debris of the at me,” he said. The show was a sets and the wreckage of his hopes for the production of Oh! Calcutta! runaway success and ran without intervention for nearly two years.

(Continued from page 35) Tynan thing - and I kept thinking ‘Oh, I On the 21st May 1971 Hair opened culminates in what John Larkin wish they’d put their clothes on’.” at Melbourne’s Metro Theatre. The described as a “four-letter paradise”.

Actors’ Equity in Australia Vice Squad was absent and raised no On the 20th December, only four days recommended that “members should objection despite full frontal nudity after the meeting in Carlton, nine not take part in it”. and four letter words. The only legal actors were arrested and charged with The Attorney General lodged a writ incident raised was that Miller had obscenity. Those present in the accusing David McIllwriath “of breached the Health Act’s fire audience marched to the police wrongfully and illegally conspiring to regulation for permitting a naked light station, chanting four letter words. show an indecent exhibition and on stage when the theatre was open to Police reinforcements were called in. corrupt the public morals, and the public. Hair ran until February As the sixties came to an end the intending to aid and abet male and 1972.

Victorian Police, including members of female actors to expose their naked The Vice Squad now seemed to be the Vice Squad, found themselves persons.” turning its attention to other vices. In coming under some unwanted Mr Justice Little in the Supreme 1976 an article appeared in The Age scrutiny. Allegations were made that Court described the show as “filth” and under the banner “Melbourne: It’s too corrupt police were paid to allow the granted the injunction. What would much for the Vice Squad” describing illegal abortion industry to flourish. have been the first production of the the difficulty that the squad had Officers were paid up to $150 a week show outside the United States was “guarding the public from the evil of in bribes at a time when a detective’s closed before it opened. 80 cast and 180 massage parlours, a prostitution weekly wage was $122. Several officers crew were dismissed and McIllwraith population of 2000, a dozen sex shops later served time. claimed that he was out of pocket to and a booming pornographic book David McIllwraith, owner of the the tune of $200,000. Despondent, he market.” There was no mention of the Lido, also found himself coming under put the Lido on the market. theatre. some scrutiny for his proposed production of Oh! Calcutta! at this You can find information on all of the productions as well as the time, a “sex-related” avant-garde original newspaper articles at AusStage, the online resource for live theatre revue that divided opinion. performance in Australia.

Robert Helpmann said “I saw Oh www.ausstage.edu.au Calcutta! in New York - that Kenneth 36 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

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DREAM LOVER (Various) (Sony 88985369342).

Who better than David Campbell to play Bobby Darin? He was

By Peter Pinne born to sing this music.

FUNNY GIRL (Jule Styne/Bob Campbell’s vocals and a terrific Merrill) (Decca 4793670) big-band push the cast recording Sheridan Smith’s skills as a of this jukebox musical on Darin’s life into more than just a walk comedienne are to the fore in down memory lane. “Mack the her portrayal of Funny Girl’s Knife”, “Splish Splash” and the title song all register strongly, Fanny Brice on the Original London Cast recording of the as do “Beyond the Sea” and “If I Were a Carpenter.” Martin recent Menier Chocolate Factory Crewes duets with Campbell on “The Best Is Yet To Come”, as production. The musical that does Bert LeBonte on “That’s the Way Love Is”, while Phoebe Panaretos has her Connie Francis moment on “Everybody’s made a star of Barbra Streisand Somebody’s Fool”. The theme from the Mondo Cane movie, in 1964 is in good hands in Smith’s portrayal of the Ziegfeld Follies vaudeville star of the twenties. Whilst no “More”, turns up as a duet between Caroline O’Connor and one could say her voice is in the same league as Streisand’s Marney McQueen, whilst Hannah Fredericksen as Sandra Dee she invests the songs with honesty and heart, getting full couples nicely with Campbell on a well-arranged take of “Dream Lover”. It’s well recorded, well orchestrated and well comic mileage out of “His Love Makes Me Beautiful” and sung. Best track is “The Curtain Falls”, a poignant finale.

“Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat” and draws buckets of pathos out of the finale with “Funny Girl”, a song sequestered from the movie  version. Opposite her as gambler Nick Arnstein is Darius STATE FAIR (Richard Rodgers/ Campbell, whose leading-man pipes sit perfectly on the Oscar Hammerstein ll) (Stage “You Are Woman, I Am Man” duet and the restored Door STAGE 2360) “Temporary Arrangement”, a song cut when the show was Ironically the real Bobby Darin in tryout in Boston. He also does well on “Who Are You appears on this new release of Now”, which in this version is a duet between Fanny and the 1962 soundtrack of Rodgers Nick. In the new adaptation by Harvey Fierstein some songs and Hammerstein’s only musical have been dropped (“Find Yourself a Man”), some have had written especially for film. This is their time changed (Henry Street” segues from 3/4 into a the first time the 1962 DOT 4/4 dance sequence), and some repositioned - “I Taught Records soundtrack album has Her Everything She Knows” becomes a second-act been issued on CD and is not to be confused with a 1999 showstopper for Marilyn Cutts (Mrs Brice) and Joel Varese Sarabande release taken from the original movie Montague (Eddie Ryan). A very-ordinary Ziegfeld number masters, which is different.

The movie top-starred Pat Boone “What Do Happy People Do?” does nothing to improve the and Pamela Tiffin (whose vocals were dubbed

by Anita score, but the inclusion of the Bows music where the Gordon), Ann-Margret, Bobby Darin, Tom Ewell and Alice company sing the last few bars of “People” is a nice closer.

Faye. Richard Rodgers, writing his own lyrics following  Hammerstein’s death in 1960, augmented their charmingly bucolic 1945 score with five by-thenumbers new songs, the best of which was “Willing and Eager”, sung as a duet by Boone and Ann-Margret. Of the others, Ewell sings “More Than Just a Friend” to his prize pig, Faye solos on the superficial “Never Say No To A Man”, whilst Darin is saddled with the dull “This Isn’t Heaven”. The standards, “It Might As Well Be Spring” and “It’s a Grand Night For Singing” are still the best songs in the score. Bonuses include pop versions of “Willing and Eager” (Boone) and “Never Say No To a Man” (Faye), along with a show medley by the Michael Sammes Singers and the score played by the 20th Century Strings Orchestra in 60s softrock arrangements. 

Stage On Disc

38 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

BRIGHT STAR (Steve Martin/Edie Brickell) (Ghostlight 84501-02) Steve Martin’s first foray to Broadway saw him composing, with Edie Brickell, a blue-grass, folk-flavoured, country, pop musical in the vein of The Robber Bridegroom and Big River. Based on a true story of a baby found in a valise in North Carolina in the 1920s, the musical intertwined the 1920s story and another of a young soldier and the editor of a Southern literary magazine in the 1940s. Although it quickly ran out of steam on Broadway, the Original Cast recording reveals a score that served the show very well indeed. Newcomer Carmen Cusack stands out in an excellent cast. Her vocals with Paul Alexander Nolan on the gentle waltz “What Could be Better” are sweet and charming, whilst “I Had a Vision” has an anthem-like gospel intensity. She also shines on “Please Don’t Take Him”, a company number that encapsulates the moment when she is forced to surrender her baby. It’s searingly effective, as is the whole show.  THE COLOR PURPLE (Brenda Russell/Allee Willis/Stephen Bray) (Broadway Records BRCD03916) We’re down in the American deep South again with this new cast recording of The Color Purple. The production, directed

by John Doyle, originated at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London before it made it to Broadway. The musical, which was based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel and subsequent 1985 movie, first played Broadway in 2005 where it had a two and a half-year run, clocking up 910 performances.

The score, by pop-writers Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, mixes blues with gospel and soul. Jennifer Hudson as good-time girl Shug Avery was the box-office name but it was Cynthia Erivo as Celie who walked away with the Tony. She is blisteringly good, especially on “What About Love” and the memorable title tune reprise which ends the show. Other songs to register are the infectious boogie “Miss Celie’s Pants” and “Push de Button”, which give Hudson her moment in the spotlight.  LOST WEST END 2 (Various) (Stage Door STAGE 9046) Stage Door’s Volume 2 of Lost West End rescues another 22 songs from London’s forgotten musicals. Isabel’s a Jezebel, Bordello, Blondel, Moby Dick, Napolean and Zorro are some of the shows featured - the composers and lyricists include Cyril Ornadel, Tim Rice, Charles Strouse, Stephen Oliver,

Julian More and Galt MacDermot, with Michael Crawford, Cheryl Kennedy, Colm Wilkinson, Toni Palmer, Paul Jones and Hannah Waddington amongst the performers. Moving from Jack the Ripper (1974) to Zorro (2008) it’s an eclectic range of music styles covering everything from pop to traditional musical theatre. Cyril Ornadel’s “Winnie” from the show of the same name and one of the few original compositions in the score is a big old-fashioned company number delivered with marvellous gusto by the big-voiced Toni Palmer. “Gentle Love” from the 1999 musical Boyband sounds like a clone of any one of Westlife’s hits, whilst the title song from Bordello (1974) has a ricky-ticki piano and accordion accompaniment totally appropriate for a show built around the life of French artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

The best ballad is “Whatever Time There Is” from the Michael Crawford starrer Flowers for Algernon, and the most stirring is the title song from Imagine This (2008), a show set in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War ll.  JOHN KANDER - HIDDEN TREASURES 1950-2015 (John Kander/Fred Ebb) (Harbinger Records HCD 3105) This 2CD set is a collection of 49 demo tracks and cut songs performed mostly by composer John Kander (and sometimes Fred Ebb) from their collective Broadway musicals. Covering sixty-five years of creative endeavour, the CDs feature songs from Flora the Red Menace, The Happy Time, Zorba, 70 Girls 70, and their two blockbusters, Cabaret and Chicago, which just recently became the longest running American musical on Broadway. Not only do the songs display Kander’s terrific melodic invention, but also Ebb’s sparkling wordplay. “The Kid Herself” is a great number that was cut from Flora the Red Menace, likewise “You Know Me”, a marvellously bitchy duet for two of the townswomen dropped from The Visit. Ebb’s manic version of Cabaret has more bitterness in its interpretation than we’re used to hearing, but Kander’s emotive readings of two of his loveliest songs “My Colouring Book” and “A Quiet Thing” are amongst the best. Two versions of “New York, New York” are interesting. The first is their original stab at it, and the second is the later version that became a hit and their most successful song. The discs also include an early Kander piece, Requiem For Georgie, a 15-minute one-movement work for tenor and chorus which Kander admits was heavily influenced by the music of Marc Blitzstein. The gem of the set is the non-show song “Summer With You”, a tender ballad Kander wrote for his partner. The discs come with an excellent booklet with show production shots and notes on the songs by Jesse Green, theatre critic for New York magazine.  Rating  Only for the enthusiast  Borderline  Worth buying  Must have  Kill for it www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 39

Stage on Page

By Peter Pinne

PETER O’TOOLE - The Definitive Biography by Robert Sellers (Pan 19.99) Actor biographies are difficult beasts. The art of transferring the actor’s craft to the written page is just as elusive as the indefinable quality of what makes a star a star.

Two recent biographies show the public and private sides of their subjects, one better than the other. Robert Sellers’ previous books have included Hellraisers - The Life and Inebriated Times of Burton, Harris, O’Toole and Reid, so he knows a lot about Britain’s post-war pack of harddrinking actors, and this biography, called the “definitive”, really is that - a definitive appraisal of Peter O’Toole’s career and life. Everything from his legendary drinking bouts (some lasting four days), to his love of cricket and raising ponies in his beloved Ireland are covered.

Since he first came to attention in David Lean’s epic masterpiece of Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, O’Toole has been a star. In a career that spanned six decades, he appeared in 58 films, 22 mini-series or telemovies, and notched up innumerable stage credits in everything from Shakespeare and the classics to farce and musicals.

O’Toole was an enigma both onstage and off. Previous biographies list his birthplace as Connemara County Galway in the Republic of Ireland, which it turns out was not true. He was born in Leeds to a bookmaker father who was Irish and a mother who was a nurse. They lived alongside other Irish expatriates in working-class Hunslet, a poverty-pocket of Leeds, which he was determined to crawl out of.

After training at RADA, O’Toole joined the Bristol Old Vic company from 1955 until 1958 where he appeared in everything from The Matchmaker to Uncle Vanya. His first 40 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

West End performance in 1957 was at the Garrick Theatre in the now forgotten English adaptation of the German musical Oh, My Papa. Two years later he stepped in at the last moment and replaced an appendicitis -stricken Albert Finney in the premiere of Willis Hall’s experience of wartime in the jungles of Malaya, The Long and the Short and the Tall.

In 1960 he became the youngest leading man in Stratford-upon-Avon’s history, appearing in The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew and Troilus and Cressida, before the movierole-of-a-lifetime Lawrence of Arabia came along. Although he was nominated for an Oscar eight times, he never won, but was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2003. His notable films include Beckett, My Favourite Year, The Lion in Winter, What’s New Pussycat, How to Steal a Million, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man and Venus.

O’Toole was married once to Welsh actress Sian Phillips who bore him two daughters, Kate and Patricia. He later sired a son, Lorcan, to exmodel girlfriend Karen Sommerville.

After making the movie Country Dance in Ireland in 1970, O’Toole brought a house, Clifden, in Connemara and in between work engagements retired to the peaceful village to recuperate.

By the late seventies, after a series of disappointing box-office movie duds, he decided to return to the stage. The venue was the Old Vic, the play was Macbeth, and the production, which also starred pop-singer Sting,

was infamous. Although film director Bryan Forbes was billed as the director, O’Toole took control, dousing the stage in so much fake blood that the actors slipped and fell, causing the stagehands to rush out from the wings with mops and buckets to clean up the mess. The costume designer was so disgusted when he appeared onstage one night drunk and in jogging trousers and baseball boots that she was later seen scratching her name off the posters outside the Old Vic. One of his greatest stage triumphs came late in his career in Keith Waterhouse’s Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989), which he played on or off for ten years. The play about the real-life Spectator columnist who achieved cult status writing about disasters caused by booze, women and horse-racing, was virtually O’Toole’s theatrical swansong. Told by doctors time and time again to cut down on his booze, O’Toole finished up outliving most of his hell-raiser buddies.

Sellers’ book masterfully peels the fantasy from the fact and reveals an actor who was talented, charismatic, hard-working, and most of all, despite his over-indulgences, well-loved.

MAGGIE SMITH - A Biography by Michael Coveney (Wiedenfield & Nicholson $32.99) Theatre critic Michael Coveney’s biography of Maggie Smith is an update of his book, first published in 1992. It minutely dissects every performance detail, one of the book’s strengths, but leaves the personal side of the reclusive star decidedly undernourished. Yes, we do find out she was married twice and was the mother of two sons, but little else of her private life is given away.

Smith was born into a workingclass family in 1934, to a dour pennypinching Scottish mother and a medical laboratory technician father.

She was the last of their three children - the others were identical twins Alistair and Ian - who had been born six years earlier.

When the family moved to Oxford, Smith joined the Oxford Playhouse Drama School and appeared in University productions. She first came to notice in the revue Cakes and Ale (1953), which toured to the Edinburgh Festival. It secured for her, her first agent Peter Dunlop of Fraser and Dunlop. They hit it off and he remained her agent for the next thirty years. During this period she never signed a contract with the agency because “she couldn’t be bothered.”

Her first Broadway appearance was in Leonard Sillman’s New Faces of 1956, where she appeared alongside Inga Swenson, John Reardon and dragqueen T.C. Jones. Her first West End appearance was in the revue Share my Lettuce which also starred Kenneth Williams, who became a lifelong friend, and her first West End dramatic appearance was as Daisy, opposite Laurence Olivier’s Berenger in Ionesco’s Rhinoceros in 1960 when it transferred to the Strand, where she took over from Joan Plowright for six weeks.

Her most acclaimed stage work in the 60’s was for the National Theatre, where she played Desdemona to Olivier’s Othello, and again opposite him in The Master Builder, where one reviewer claimed she acted Olivier off the stage.

Early film work included Harold Pinter’s The Pumpkin Eater (1964) and The Honey Pot (1967), before she hit paydirt and an Oscar with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

She married actor Robert Stephens in 1967 and they had two sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, who both became actors, but due to his infidelity the marriage broke down, ironically when they were both playing in Noel Coward’s Private Lives, a play that mirrored their own real life marital situation. She later married playwright Beverly Cross, a friend and lover prior to her first marriage.

In the 70’s, when she was accused of being an actress with too many “comic mannerisms”, she decamped to Canada for four seasons at the Stratford, Ontario Shakespeare Festival.

Her screen work in the 80’s included Alan Bennett’s A Private Function (1984) and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987), before she hit

it big again in the commercial hits Sister Act (1992) and Sister Act 2 (1993). She followed with a clutch of movies playing aging eccentrics - Tea With Mussolini (1999), My House In Umbria (2003), Ladies in Lavender (2004), and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011). Later stage successes included Lettuce and lovage (1987), Three Tall Women (1994) and The Lady in the Van (1999).

Contemporary audiences know her as Professor Minerva McGonagall from the Harry Potter series of films and as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in TV’s Downton Abbey.

Although this an authorised biography, Coveney spent little time actually interviewing Smith. Most of the quotes come from work colleagues, friends, her sons Christopher and Toby, and her father’s well-documented scrapbook.

No matter if her private life is given short-shrift, it’s the performances that matter and in this regard Coveney cannot be faulted in his portrait of one of Britain’s most distinguished actresses.

HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD - Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne (Little Brown $39.95) This book has already created publishing history by being the first ever “rehearsal script” to sell more than four million copies in its first week of release. It’s the text of the show currently playing at the Palace Theatre, London and set nineteen years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Harry is in charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ron runs Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes joke shop, and Hermione is the Minister for Magic.

The story takes off when Harry’s son, Albus, and his mate, Draco Malfoy’s son Scorpious, steal a banned time-turner to right a wrong in Harry’s past, saving Cedric Diggory’s life during the Triwizard Tournament during the Goblet of Fire. The conceit allows the authors to not only bring back all the series’ familiar characters, but also those who have died including the evil dark lord Voldemort who (spoiler-alert) it is revealed has a daughter. The emotional thrust of the story is Harry bonding with his son: fractious at first, but respectful by the end.

Although Jack Thorne is credited with writing the script, Rowling’s hand is all over it. It’s a page-turner and a must-read for any Potter fan.

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 41

London Calling

By Peter Pinne Homeland star Damian Lewis will lead a new production of Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? when it plays at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket from 24 March to 24 June 2017. Ian Rickson (Old Times/Betrayal) will direct the play, about a successful architect who falls in love with a goat, which won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play. A finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, it was originally staged in London at the Almeida Theatre before transferring to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in 2004 starring Jonathan Pryce and Eddie Redmayne. Lewis, who is best known for his TV roles in Homeland and Wolf Hall, was last seen on the London stage in David Mamet’s American Buffalo.

Cameron Mackintosh has given Half a Sixpence, the musical that made Tommy Steele a star in the sixties, a make -over and it looks like repeating the success all over again for its young star-in-the-making Charlie Stemp. The Chichester Festival tryout had the critics throwing their hats in the air calling it “a triumph”, “sheer exhilaration” and “flash, bang, wallop what a musical”. The Telegraph also said it has been “enhanced, re-sized, had all its blemishes removed and now looks pretty close to perfection.” With a new book by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe bolstering David Heneker’s original score the production has moved into the Noël Coward Theatre and opens 17 November. Based on H.G. Wells’s semi-autobiographical novel Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul, the plot follows a Folkestone draper’s assistant at the turn of the last century who unexpectedly inherits a fortune which propels him into high society. Heneker’s original score contained the show-stopper “Flash, Bang, Wallop”, which in this new adaptation has been repositioned and comes near the end of the show.

Cameron Mackintosh, Graham Hurman, Anthony Drewe, George Stiles, and Rachel Kavanagh in rehearsals for Half A Sixpence.

Photo: Manuel Harlan.

Online extras!

Check out a trailer for Half A Sixpence by scanning the QR code or visiting https://youtu.be/cEquktfniJg 42 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

Rumours are rife that the Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s production of The Exorcist could end up in the West End. The Rep’s production, produced in association with Bill Kenwright, has been adapted by John Pielmeier from the novel by William Peter Blatty and concludes its season 5 November. It stars Adam Garcia as Father Damien Karras opposite Jenny Seagrove and Peter Bowles, with direction by Sean Mathias. The story of a troubled priest who tries to help a young 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil was based on true events and became an Oscarwinning movie in 1973.

Nathan Lane is to star in an upcoming revival of Tony Kushner’s landmark gay drama Angels in America, set to open at the Lyttelton Theatre in May. It’s one of the highlights of the recently announced National Theatre’s 2017 season. Lane plays Roy Cohn in a cast that includes Andrew Garfield (Prior Walker), Domhnall Gleason, Denise Gough and Russell Tovey (Joe Pitt), with direction by Marianne Elliott, best known for War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. The character of Cohn, played on-screen by Al Pacino, is a closeted, powerhungry right-wing attorney who succumbs to the peril of AIDS. Over the course of the play’s two parts, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, Cohn is revealed as a man of villainy and viciousness, but also of deep loneliness and haunted self-hate. Lane made his West End debut in The Producers, reprising his role of Max Bialystock, which won him an Olivier Award in 2005. He begins work on Angels in America immediately following his current Broadway limited engagement appearance in the revival of The Front Page.

Imelda Staunton earned her musical theatre stripes in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and his and Styne’s Gypsy, so it’s no surprise to hear she is going to play another Sondheim show, a revival of the legendary Follies. It’s another highlight of the 2017 National Theatre season. Staunton plays Sally Durant Plummer with Janie Dee as Phyllis Stone and Philip Quast as Ben Stone in a production directed by Dominic Cooke set to play the Olivier Theatre. Follies, which has one of Sondheim’s richest scores, has a book by James Goldman and was originally directed by Harold Prince when it opened on Broadway in 1971. It has had several revivals since but all have lost money including the original. Cameron Mackintosh mounted the first London showing in 1987 with a cast headed by Diana Rigg, Julia McKenzie, Daniel Massey and Dolores Gray.

The new first London production of Dreamgirls is a hit before the production opens with the producers already announcing an extension of the season, which begins 14 December, through 6 May 2017. It stars Amber Riley (Glee) as Effie White, Liisi La Fontaine as Deena Jones and Ibinabo Jack as Lorrell Robinson. The cast also features Joe Aaron Reid (Curtis Taylor Jr), Adam J Bernard (Jimmy Early), Tyrone Huntley (C.C. White), Nicholas Bailey (Marty) and Lily Frazer (Michelle Morris). Ruth Brown and Karen Mav will alternate the role of Effie White at performances when Amber Riley is not scheduled to perform. The musical is loosely based on the story of The Supremes and features the classic song “I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” which won a Grammy Award for original star Jennifer Holiday.

B

Off-Broadway season at Primary Stages in the summer of 2010.

Michael Reidel has revealed in the New York Post that The Prince of Broadway will be opening at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in October 2017 with Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller quietly involved in the production. If it’s a hit he’ll move it to another theatre for

By Peter Pinne an open-ended run. The musical, an autobiographical revue about the life and shows of legendary Broadway producer Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole will return to Hal Prince, was due to open on Broadway in 2012 but Broadway in the new musical War Paint, which begins because of escalating costs and a blowout of the budget previews at the Nederlander Theatre 7th March for a 6th was cancelled. In 2015 it played a season in Japan with a April opening, 2017. The production, directed by Michael cast headed by Ramin Karimloo, Emily Skinner and Nancy Grief (Next to Normal), originated at Chicago’s Goodman Opel, who are tipped to be on board when the musical Theatre where it became the most successful show in the makes it to Broadway, directed by Susan Stroman who has theatre’s history when it tried-out in July/August 2016 with been with the project since the beginning. The show LuPone as cosmetic queen Helena Rubinstein and Ebersole features show-stopping numbers from West Side Story, as her rival Elizabeth Arden. The musical is inspired by Lindy Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Sweeney Woodhead’s book War Paint, as well as the PBS Todd and The Phantom of the Opera. documentary The Powder and the Glory, and examines the Euan Morton (Taboo) is to play the role of Hedwig in the ascent and rivalry between the two ferociously competitive forthcoming national tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, women. Music is by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, which plays the San Diego Civic Theater beginning with a book by Doug Wright. All three created Grey November 29th. Morton is joined by Hannah Corneau Gardens, which starred Ebersole. Choreography is by (Yitzhak), Mason Alexander Park, Dylan Fusillo and Matt Christopher Gattelli and the cast, both holdovers from the Katz-Bohen. Michael Mayer directs, with musical staging by Chicago season, includes John Dossett and Douglas Sills.

Spencer Riff. Following the one-week San Diego stint, the The musical is being produced by Marc Platt and David production will continue to play major cities across the U.S. Stone, who are the team that steered the global through July 2017. Other shows on the current national blockbuster Wicked to success. touring schedule are Rent, Fun Home, Finding Neverland, A stellar cast headed by Oscar winner Chris Cooper An American In Paris, The King and I, and the only straight (Adaptation), Laurie Metcalf (Misery), Condola Rashad play, the 2015 Tony winner The Curious Incident of the Dog (Romeo and Juliet) and Tony winner Jayne Houdyshell (The in the Night-Time. Upcoming is the North American Humans) have signed on to appear in A Doll’s House, Part premiere of The Bodyguard starring Deborah Cox (Jekyll and 2, which plays the John Goldman Theatre for a limited run Hyde/Aida), which launches 10 January 2017 in beginning April 1st, 2017. Playwright Lucas Hnath makes Minneapolis prior to playing five weeks at the Paper Mill his Broadway debut with the piece that takes off from Playhouse, starting November 25. Following its current sitIbsen’s 1879 masterpiece when Nora Helmer decides to down engagement in Chicago, Broadway’s hottest ticket leave her husband and children and walks out slamming Hamilton kicks off its national tour in March in San the door behind her to begin a life of her own. In A Doll’s Francisco. Choreographer and director Casey Nicholaw will House, Part 2 many years have passed since Nora’s exit have two of his Broadway successes on the road when when there is a knock at the same door. Nora has returned. Something Rotten! opens in Boston January 17 following But why? And what will it mean for those she left behind? previews in Schenectady, and Disney’s Aladdin kicks off its Direction is by Tony winner Sam Gold, with scenic design by tour 11 April in Chicago.

Miriam Buether and costumes by David Zinn, also a Tony winner.

Broadway’s first a cappella musical In Transit begins performances at Circle in the Square 10 November in advance of an 11 December opening. To be directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, the musical is inspired by the rhythms of the subway and follows the intertwining lives of eleven New Yorkers, all hoping to catch the express train to success, love and happiness. Book, music and lyrics Hedwig And The Angry Inch. are by Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen), James-Allen Ford, Photo: Joan Marcus.

Russell Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth, with vocal arrangements by Deke Sharon and musical supervision by Online extras!

Rick Hip-Flores. The cast includes David Abeles (Once), Get the lowdown on Hedwig And The Moya Angela (Ghost), Justin Guarini (Women on the Verge Angry Inch. Scan the QR code or visit of a Nervous Breakdown), Telly Leung (Allegiance) and https://youtu.be/id6saahhZbY Margot Seibert (Rocky). The musical originally played a hit

roadway uzz

www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 43

Choosing A Show Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story The U.K. producers of the hit rock & roll musical Buddy The Buddy Holly Story are now licensing amateur and professional rights to the show directly in Australia and New Zealand. Says writer/producer Alan Janes: “Buddy is something very close to our hearts, so we take a lot of pride in the show and the productions we license. The feedback from theatres has been phenomenal, in terms of audience response and the financial/artistic impact.

We’re looking forward to working directly with theatre organisations, large or small, in Australia and New Zealand, where the show has always been so well received.”

Buddy, which is currently on tour in the U.K., tells the story of the early rock & roller Buddy Holly, who shot to fame in the late 1950s with such timeless hits as “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “Oh Boy,” and “Rave On.” Hailing from Texas, he achieved huge success in a relatively short period of time, only to die tragically at the age of 22 in a plane crash on February 3rd 1959, along with two other ‘50s rockers - Ritchie Valens (“La Bamba”) and the Big Bopper (“Chantilly Lace”) - on what became known as ‘the day the music died’ via the Don McLean song “American Pie.” Buddy the musical was first staged in London in 1989, where it played for 14 years. It’s been produced on Broadway, and Australia - where it played for 36 weeks at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney in 1991 before touring and returned to Australia and New Zealand in 2015. The show can be performed by a cast of 12+ (including actor/ musicians) and is relatively simple to stage in terms of set.

Buddy regularly brings audiences to dance in the aisles.

As the first of the so-called ‘jukebox’ musicals, it earned the moniker ‘the World’s Most Successful Rock & Roll Musical’.

“This is a show suitable for everyone, from 8 to 80,” enthuses Janes. “Every performance is literally like a party.”

For licensing enquiries and perusals email rick.thorne@buddyshow.com, visit buddythemusical.com/ request-licence or phone 0011 44 207 240 9941.

44 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

From ORiGiN Theatrical www.origintheatrical.com.au (02) 8514 5204 or enquiries@originmusic.com.au Tuck Everlasting Direct from Broadway What would you do if you had all eternity?

Eleven year old Winnie Foster yearns for a life of adventure beyond her white picket fence, but not until she becomes unexpectedly entwined with the Tuck Family does she get more than she could have imagined.

When Winnie learns of the magic behind the Tucks’ unending youth, she must fight to protect their secret.

Based on best-selling children’s classic by Natalie Babbitt and adapted for the stage by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle, with a score by Chris Miller and Nathan Tyse.

Cast: 6M, 3F, 1 girl(s) plus ensemble If you relish the challenge of staging Alan Ayckbourn’s plays, be one of the first to perform three of his most recent works.

Arrivals and Departures A terrorist is on the loose, and the police have planned a sting to capture him as he steps off a train in London.

The operation, led by the buffoonish Major Quentin, has drawn in two civilians. Perfect strangers, their time waiting for the trap to be set gives them the chance to get to know each other, and try to make sense of the chaos unfolding around them.

Cast: 4F, 7M, 2 girls Farcicals Two short plays that can be performed together or separately.

Chloë With Love Teddy’s marriage to Lottie is going through a difficult period. Does he still love Lottie? Does Lottie still love him?

Cue: next door neighbours Penny and Reggie to the rescue.

But with the arrival of the voluptuous Chloë all their best laid schemes are put to the test.

The Kidderminster Affair Sexual intrigue at Teddy’s garden barbecue. Is his secret liaison with his neighbour, Penny, about to leak out? Will his wife Lottie discover the awful truth about Kidderminster?

Cast: 2F, 2M Hero’s Welcome Play (2 hours) Though he’s lauded in the media as a military hero, Murray is remembered less fondly in his old village. He left amidst rumours of arson, unplanned pregnancy and stealing his best friend’s girlfriend. When he returns, 17 years later, with a new wife in tow, he creates trouble from the beginning - not least with his ex-fiancée.

Cast: 3F, 3M

From Dominie Drama www.dominie.com.au/drama (02) 9938 8600 or drama@dominie.com.au Aimed at addressing gender imbalance and inequality in theatre, Platform Plays comprise big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by school, college and youth-theatre groups.

This Changes Everything by Joel Horwood A group of disillusioned young women have disappeared. On a platform out at sea, they have formed The Community - a new type of society and a better way of living. But how can you change the world if you’ve taken yourself out of it?

Cast: 20F (large cast possible) Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy You’re born a girl. You grow up.

You grow old. You die. But who is in control of your life story? Can you actually choose your destiny?

And how do you forge your own identity along the way?

Cast: 7F or mixed cast, doubling (very large cast possible)

vast knowledge of every piece of relationship literature known to mankind. The audience participates in this variety show.

Cast: 1M, 1F. Cruise Club by Liane Mills.

Set sail for adventure on the cruise of a life-time to Bermuda aboard the beautiful Costa Lotta. It’s not all smooth sailing. Someone is trying to poison the passengers and nobody knows who will be next. Audience participation is a must.

Cast: 5-8M, 3-7F. The Supermarket Sisterhood As if the daily skirmishes with farcical customers and the dim-witted men in their lives wasn’t enough, the women who operate the checkouts at the Discount Co supermarket are now facing a new boss and the prospect of losing their jobs to automated checkout aisles.

Cast: 5F, 2M, (plus female extras).

The Light Burns Blue by Silvia Semerciyan During the First World War, seventeen-year-old Elsie Wright fools the world into believing she has photographed fairies in her garden. An ambitious young reporter seeks to expose Elsie as a fraud. But as she looks at the facts, she begins to think there’s more to Elsie’s story than a simple hoax.

Inspired by the true story of the Cottingley Fairies.

Cast: 9F, 1M, plus mixed cast of up to 30 characters.

From David Spicer Productions www.davidspicer.com.au Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating & Marriage! by Ken Davenport and Sarah Saltzberg.

Let Miss Abigail take you back to a simpler time, before speeddating! It’s Loveline meets Dr. Ruth as Miss Abigail shares her www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 45

Stage Briefs

 Charlotte Pugh as Mowgli and company in Lane Cove Theatre Company’s production of The Jungle Book, playing from November 18 to December 3. Photo: Greg Piper.

More details: http://bit.ly/2ertgv2

 The musical version of The Addams Family will be presented by Dark Psychic Productions at Phoenix Theatre, Hamilton Hill, WA from Nov 24 to Dec 10.

Photo: Joanna Kate Harrison.

46 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

L-R: Dr Robert Lang, Carla Moore, Nancye Hayes and Col Peet.

Hall Of Fame

The Association of Community Theatre (NSW) was proud to induct three new members - Dr Robert Lang, Col Peet and Carla Moore - into its Hall of Fame for outstanding service to the sector.

Patron Nancye Hayes AM presented the awards at ACT’s Stagecraft conference dinner in October.

Dr Robert Lang was nominated by the Cumberland Gang Show. He has been the producer/director of the Scout variety show based in Western Sydney since 1979. For 37 years he has steered the show, which is performed each year at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre with a cast of 144. It requires a year long commitment, with work on the next season commencing the month after a season ends.

ACT noted the outstanding training for the performing arts industry that is

many major venues, big musicals and festivals.

Other strings to his bow include being a champion ballroom dancer, helping to build a hospital in the provided by Gang Shows around Congo and an Errol Flynn like escape Australia. from a plane crash.

Rob was also recently successful in Carla Moore was nominated by the Theatre on Chester, Epping, where she obtaining a grant for a scholarship to has been an active participant for over allow youth members of the scouting family who cannot afford show fees to 43 years. A published playwright (Over be involved in public workshops in the Moon and Far Away) with a deep acting, dancing and singing. interest in theatre education, she also Col Peet was nominated by Miranda helped run Sydney’s one-act play festival Theatrefest for many years.

Musical Society where he builds sets, with his brother Bob, that are used Carla has directed over 50 plays across Australia. across a broad spectrum of styles. The Col has made outstanding and company says, “when required, she will often pioneering contributions to arts get cast members to ‘role reverse’ in organisations across Sydney including rehearsals to let them understand the the Canterbury Theatre Guild, the other character’s point of view.

Association of Community Theatre (as Challenging productions she has founding CEO), The Newtown High directed include The Norman School of Performing Arts and The Conquests 1, 2 and 3 in a 12 week McDonald College. back to back season, The Taming of His professional career started as a the Shrew, where the Shrew was a he theatre technician with the JC tamed by a she, and Romeo and Juliet Williamson organisation and traversed set on the Israel/Palestine border. www.stagewhispers.com.au Stage Whispers 47

On Stage A.C.T. Noises Off by Michael Frayn.

Canberra Repertory Society.

Nov 17 - Dec 3. Theatre 3.

(02) 6257 1950.

A.C.T. & New South Wales

Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 2700.

Sparrow-Folk: A Very Nestie Xmas. The Street Theatre, Canberra. Dec 1 - 3. (02) 6247 1223.

Opera Australia and John Frost. Until Nov 5. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9318 8200 or (02) 9250 7777.

e-baby by Jane Cafarella.

Ensemble Theatre. Until Nov 13. (02) 9929 0644.

The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant by Rainer Werner Aladdin. Music by Alan Fassbinder. MopHead A Very Canberra Comedy Menken and lyrics by Howard Productions in Association Jacob Marley’s Christmas Festival Christmas. Nov 19.

Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad with Red Line Productions.

Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 Carol by Tom Mula. The Beguelin. Book by Chad Until Nov 12. Old Fitz 2700.

Street Theatre, Canberra. Dec Beguelin. Disney Theatrical Theatre.

9 - 11. (02) 6247 1223 The Nutcracker. Queensland Productions. Continuing. www.oldfitztheatre.com Ballet. Nov 23 - 27. Canberra The Screwtape Letters.

Capitol Theatre, Sydney.

The Turquoise Elephant by Theatre. (02) 6275 2700.

Adapted from C. S. Lewis by 1300 558 878.

Stephen Carleton. Griffin Hayley McQueen. Clock & Elmo’s Super Fun Hero Show.

Dream Lover - The Bobby Theatre Company. Until Nov Spiel Productions. Dec 19 Sesame Street. Nov 19.

Darin Musical. John Frost / 26. SBW Stables Theatre. (02) 23. The Courtyard Theatre, Canberra Theatre. (02) 6275 Gilbert Theatrical Pty Ltd. 9361 3817.

Canberra Theatre Centre. (02) 2700.

Until Nov 27. Lyric Theatre, 6275 2700.

The Wharf Revue. Written Sydney. dreamlover.com.au Cold Light. Adapted by Alana and created by Jonathan New South Wales Valentine, from the novel by Wicked. Music and lyrics by Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Frank Moorehouse. The KOOZA. Cirque du Soleil.

Stephen Schwartz and book Phillip Scott. Sydney Theatre Street Theatre, Canberra. Nov Until Nov 13. Entertainment by Winnie Holzman. Gosford Company. Until Dec 23.

19 - Dec 4. (02) 6247 1223. Quarter, Moore Park. 1800 Musical Society. Until Nov 12. Wharf 1. (02) 9250 1777.

036 685 Laycock Street Community Circus 1903 - The Golden Off the Hook by Derek Theatre, North Gosford. (02) Age of Circus. Simon Painter My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Benfield. Newcastle G and S and Tim Lawson. Dec 1 - 10. Lerner and Frederick Loewe. 4323 3233.

Players Comedy Club. Until

48 Stage Whispers

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

On Stage Nov 12. St. Matthew’s Hall, Georgetown. 0432 886 149.

Shellharbour. www.roo-theatre.com.au

Elf - The Musical. Songs by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, book by Bob Martin When Dad Married Fury by Absurd Person Singular by and Thomas Mehan. DAPA. David Williamson. The Henry Alan Ayckbourn. Woy Woy Until Nov 12. DAPA Theatre, Little Theatre. Until Nov 13.

Lawson Theatre. Until Nov Hamilton (Newcastle). 0416 11. Henry Lawson Ave, Peninsula Theatre, Woy Woy. 252 446.

Werrington. (02) 4729 2996. (02) 4344 4737.

A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Dracula by Bram Stoker.

It’s My Party and I’ll Die if I Feydeau, in a new adaptation Genesian Theatre. Until Dec want to by Elizabeth

by Andrew Upton. Sydney 3. Genesian Theatre, 420 Coleman. Guild Theatre Theatre Company. Until Dec Kent Street Sydney 1300 237 Rockdale. Until Nov 26. Guild 17. Drama Theatre, Sydney 217.

Theatre, Walz Street Opera House. (02) 9250 Rockdale. (02) 9521 6358 Faith Healer by Brian Friels.

1777.

Belvoir. Until Nov 27. Upstairs Loot by Joe Orton. Arts My Father’s Left Testicle by Theatre Cronulla. Until Dec 3.

Theatre, Belvoir. (02) 9699 Murray Lambert. Mustard 6 Surf Road, Cronulla. (02) 3444.

Seed Productions. Nov 2 - 12.

9523 2779.

Othello by William Depot Theatre, Marrickville.

The 25th Annual Putnam Shakespeare. Bell Hidden Sydney - The Shakespeare. Until Dec 4.

County Spelling Bee. Music & Glittering Mile. Live Ideas and Sydney Opera House. (02) Lyrics by William Finn, book Working Management. Nov 2 9250 7777.

by Rachel Sheinkin. NUCMS. - 20. The Rear Entrance Buckingham Drive, Miss Saigon by Alan Boublill of “THE NEVADA” at The Normanhurst. Until Nov 13. & Claude-Michel Schonberg.

World Bar, 1 Mansion Lane, www.nucms.org Roo Theatre Company. Until Kings Cross. 136 100.

Nov 12. 12 Addison St,

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

New South Wales Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Music by Alan Menken and Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, adapted and arranged by David Weinstein. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen story and the Disney film. Canterbury Theatre Guild. Nov 3 - 6.

Lendlease Darling Quarter Theatre. www.canterburytheatreguild.com Mary Poppins. Music and Lyrics by The Sherman Brothers (additional lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe) with script by Julian Fellowes. Coffs Harbour Musical Comedy Company.

Nov 4 - 17. Jetty Memorial Theatre, Coffs Harbour. (02) 6652 8088.

A Life in Theatre by David Mamet. Darlinghurst Theatre Co. Nov 4 - Dec 4. Eternity Playhouse. (02) 8356 9987.

Stage Whispers 49

On Stage Boy Overboard. Adapted by Patricia Cornelius from Morris Gleitzman’s novel. Upstage Youth Theatre. Nov 4 - 12.

Upstage Studios, Maitland. upstagetheatre.com.au Invisible Circus. Siren Theatre Co and bAKEHOUSE Theatre Co. Nov 4 - 26. Kings Cross Theatre (KXT), Level 2, Kings Cross Hotel. www.kingsxtheatre.com Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson. Hunters Hill Theatre. Nov 4 - 19. 13 Margaret Street, Woolwich.

(02) 9879 7765.

The Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo. Theatre on Chester. Nov 4 26. Corner of Chester and Oxford streets, Epping.

(02) 9877 0081.

Deathtrap by Ira Levin. Valley Artists. Nov 4 - 12. Laguna Hall. valleyartists.org Swan Lake. Russian National Ballet Theatre. Nov 6. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet. Sydney Theatre Company and Colonial First

50 Stage Whispers

New South Wales

State Global Asset Management. Nov 8 - Dec 10. Roslyn Packer Theatre.

(02) 9250 1777.

The Flood by Chris Isaacs.

Lambert House Enterprises.

Nov 8 - 19. The Old 505 Theatre, Newtown.

Fight With All Your Might the Zombies of Tonight by Matthew Whittet. ATYP. Nov 9 - 19. ATYP Studio 1, The Wharf. (02) 9270 2400.

All in the Timing by David Ives. Stooged Theatre. Nov 9 - 12. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

20. Sutherland School of Arts. (02) 9150 7574.

The Widow of Troy. A reworking of Euripides’ Trojan Women and Hecuba.

The Phoenix Theatre Coniston. Nov 11 - 26. Bridge Street Theatre. www.phoenixtheatre.net.au Legally Blonde - The Musical.

Music & Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe & Neil Benjamin.

Albatross Musical Theatre Company. Nov 11 - 20.

Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Nowra. 1300 788 503.

Seussical The Musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lyn Ahrens. Arcadians. Nov 11 26. The Arcadians’ Miner’s Lamp Theatre.

The Bartered Bride by Bedrich Smetana. Rockdale Opera Company. Nov 12 - 20.

Rockdale Town Hall. (02) 4730 6932.

Swan Lake. Russian National Ballet Theatre. Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, IMB Theatre. Nov 13. (02) 4224 5999.

The Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer. Dino Dimitriadis in Sesame Street presents Association with Red Line Blind Tasting by Paul Elmo’s Super Fun Hero Show. Productions. Nov 15 - Dec Gilchrist, performed by Sylvia Life Like Touring. Nov 11.

10. Old Fitz Theatre.

Keays. Hunter Valley Summer Civic Theatre, Newcastle. (02) www.oldfitztheatre.com Theatre. Nov 9, then Nov 16 4929 1977.

- 20. Kevin Sobels Wines, Summer Rain by Nick Enright Pokolbin. eventbrite.com.au Sweet Charity. Book by Neil and Terence Clarke. New Simon, music by Cy Coleman Theatre, Newtown. Nov 15 Hooting & Howling by Phil and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.

Dec 17. newtheatre.org.au Spencer. Hunter Valley Players Theatre, Port Summer Theatre and Critical Lighten Up by Nicholas Macquarie. Nov 11 - Dec 4.

Brown and Sam McCool. Bali Stages. Nov 10 - 13. Kevin (02) 6584 6663.

Sobels Wines, Pokolbin.

Padda and Griffin eventbrite.com.au Get Smart. Adapted by Independent. Nov 30 - Dec Christopher Sergel.

17. SBW Stables Theatre. (02) Don’t Talk to the Actors by Wollongong Workshop 9361 3817.

Tom Dudzick. The Sutherland Theatre. Nov 11 - 26.

Theatre Company. Nov 11 Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Music: Alan Menken.

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

On Stage

New South Wales

Sydney Theatre Company’s production of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow plays at Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay from Nov 8 - Dec 17 2016. L-R: Andrew Upton, Damon Herriman, Rose Byrne and Lachy Hulme on day one of rehearsals. Photo: James Green.

Lyrics: Howard Ashman & Tim Rice. Book: Linda Wooverton. Sydney Youth Musical Theatre. Nov 17 - 20.

Hornsby RSL. (02) 9477 7777.

Hissyfest 2016 - Out of Place.

Short new plays built around the title theme. Tantrum Youth Arts. Nov 18 - 19. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. (02) 4929 1977.

Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn. Ensemble Theatre. From Nov 18. (02) 9929 0644.

Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Manly Musical Society. Nov 18 - 26. The Star of the Sea Theatre, Stella Maris College, Manly. www.manlymusicalsociety.com

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Book by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson, music and lyrics by Carol Hall.

Ballina Players. Nov 18 - Dec 10. Players Theatre, Ballina. www.ballinaplayers.com.au

Festive Spirit by Sally Davies.

Newcastle Theatre Company.

Nov 19 - Dec 3. NTC Theatre, Lambton (Newcastle). (02) 4952 4958.

Disney’s Winnie the Pooh KIDS. Adapted by Cheryl Mack and Mabel. Music and Davis from the stories of A.A. Lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book Milne and the Disney

by Michael Stewart. Working animated film, music and Management in association lyrics by Richard M. Sherman, Nunsensations! The with Hayes Theatre Co. Nov Robert B. Sherman, Robert Nunsense Vegas Revue by 18 - Dec 18. (02) 8065 7337. Lopez, Kristen AndersonDan Goggin. Maitland The Jungle Book. Adapted Lopez, arranged by Will Van Musical Society and Maitland from the book by Rudyard Theatresports by Darcy Dyke. Young People’s Repertory Theatre. Nov 18 Kipling (Musical). Lane Cove Green. Epicentre Theatre Co. Theatre. Nov 20 - Dec 10.

Dec 4. Maitland Repertory Theatre Company. Nov 18 Nov 19. Ku-ring-gai Town Young People’s Theatre, Theatre. (02) 4931 2800.

Dec 3. Performance Space @ Hall, Pymble.

Hamilton (Newcastle). (02) St Aidans, Longueville. www.epicentretheatre.org.au Daddy-O, Don’t You Dare 4961 4895. www.lanecovetheatrecompany.com Channeling Peggy Lee. Jazz Avenue Q. Music & Lyrics: Out From Under 2016 - Stars cabaret by David Baker, The Accused by Jeffrey Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx. unite to raise awareness of looking at the life of singer Archer. Castle Hill Players.

Book: Jeff Whitty. Nowra Mental Health in the Peggy Lee. Nov 18 - 19. The Nov 18 - Dec 10. Pavilion Players. Nov 19 - Dec 4.

Entertainment Industry. One Royal Exchange, Newcastle.

Theatre, Doran Drive, Castle Players Theatre, Meroo St, Night Only. Nov 21. York (02) 4929 4969.

Hill. (02) 9634 2929.

Bomaderry. 1300 662 808.

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

Stage Whispers 51

On Stage

New South Wales & Queensland

Theatre, Seymour Centre. 136 by George Orwell. Hunter 100.

TAFE’s Regional Institute of Performing Arts. Dec 1 - 3.

The Screwtape Letters.

Civic Playhouse, Newcastle.

Adapted from C. S. Lewis by (02) 4929 1977.

Hayley McQueen. Clock & Spiel Productions. Nov 22 Dick Whittington and his Dec 10. Seymour Centre. (02) Clever Cat. Written and 9351 7940. directed by Vicki Nield.

(Pantomime). Pymble Players.

Radio Wollombi by Alan Dec 2 - 10. Players Theatre, Glover and Bob Philippe.

Pymble. (02) 9144 1523.

Hunter Valley Summer Theatre. Nov 23 - 27. Kevin Girl Asleep by Matthew Whittet. A Windmill Theatre Sobels Wines, Pokolbin. production. Dec 2 - 24. eventbrite.com.au Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir. (02) City of Newcastle Drama 9699 3444.

Awards - the 38th annual CONDA Awards recognise Shrek The Musical by Jeanine theatrical achievement in and Tesori and book and lyrics by around Newcastle. Nov 26.

David Lindsay-Abaire. Roo Wests Leagues Starlight Theatre Company, Room, New Lambton. (02) Shellharbour. Dec 2 - 10.

4935 1200. www.roo-theatre.com.au Dystopia Double: adaptations Dropped by Katy Warner. The of A Clockwork Orange, by Goods Theatre Company in Anthony Burgess, and 1984, association with Red Line

Productions. Dec 8 - 20. Old Fitz Theatre. www.oldfitztheatre.com Club Swizzle. Dec 9 - Jan 18.

The Studio, Sydney Opera House. (02) 9250 7777.

Babes in the Woods Australian Purity Defil’d by Phil Rouse. Based on the good works of Tom Wright.

Don’t Look Away in Association with Red Line Productions. Dec 13 - Jan 21.

Old Fitz Theatre. www.oldfitztheatre.com Fly By Night: A New Musical

by Kim Rosenstock, Will Connolly and Michael Mitnick (Australian premiere). Hunter TAFE’s Regional Institute of Performing Arts. Dec 15 - 17.

Civic Playhouse, Newcastle.

(02) 4929 1977.

Queensland Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett. Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Until Nov 12. (07) 3369 2344.

Theatre. Schonnel Theatre, St Lucia. Nov 2 - 6. 136 246 Spicefire: Cabaret Festival.

Phoenix Ensemble, Beenleigh.

Nov 4 -19. (07) 3103 1546.

The Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky.

Imperial Russian Ballet.

Empire Theatre, Toowoomba.

Nov 5. 1300 655 299.

Making A Murderer. Concert Hall, QPAC. Nov 6. 136 246.

Groucho. Frank Ferranti.

Gardens Theatre, Brisbane.

Nov 8 - 9. (07) 3138 4455.

The Seven Year Itch by George Axelrod. Toowoomba Repertory Theatre, Toowoomba. Nov 9-26. (07) 4632 8058.

Sister Amnesia’s Country and Western Nunsense Jamboree

by Dan Goggin. Sunnybank Theatre Group. Nov 11 - 26.

(07) 3345 3964.

Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter.

Opera Q. Concert Hall, QPAC. Nov 12. 136 246.

Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar.

QTC. Playhouse, QPAC. Until Nov 6. 1800 355 528.

Tartuffe by Moliere. QTC. Playhouse, QPAC. Nov 12 Dec 4. 1800 355 528.

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. La Boite.

Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove. Until Nov 12. (07) 3007 8600.

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. Arts Theatre, Brisbane.

Nov 12 - Dec 17. (07) 3369 2344.

Peter Pan by Peter Denyer.

Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Until Nov 5. (07) 3369 2344.

A Little Murder Never Hurt Anyone by Ron Bernas.

Centenary Players. Chelmer Community Hall. Nov 12 Dec 4. 0435 591 720.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

by Rupert Holmes. Spotlight Hot to Succeed in Business Theatre Co, Gold Coast. Until Without Really Trying by Frank Loesser. Gold Coast Nov 12. (07) 5539 4255 Little Theatre. Nov 12 - Dec The Life by Cy Coleman and 10. (07) 5532 2096.

Ira Gasman. Griffith Musical Act Your Age by Christopher Theatre. Burke Street Studio Worthy. Lind Lane Theatre, Theatre, Woolloongabba.

Nambour. Nov 12 - 26. (07) Nov 1 - 5. 136 246.

5441 1814.

Carousel by Rodgers & A Collection of Grimm Tales Hammerstein. QLD Musical

by Carol Ann Duffy/Tim 52 Stage Whispers

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

On Stage

Queensland & Victoria

Online extras!

See how the creative team is bringing back the golden age of circus. https://youtu.be/lnmrRVZ2IYE

The producers of The Illusionists have teamed up with the puppeteers of War Horse to present a thrilling turn of the century circus spectacular, CIRCUS 1903 -The Golden Age of Circus. Puppetry puts Elephants back in the ring by introducing the largest ever performing African elephant and her baby. Canberra Theatre Centre from Dec 1, Sydney Opera House from Dec 18 and Regent Theatre, Melbourne from Jan 3. Photo: Jose Leon.

Supple. Griffith Musical Theatre. Burke Street Studio Theatre, Woolloongabba.

Nov 14 - 17. 136 246.

The Rise and Fall of Mr Scrooge by Sue Sewell. Nash Theatre Co, New Farm. Nov 19 - Dec 10. (07) 3379 4775

The Smell of Money by Peter Maden. Javeenbah Theatre Co. Nov 18 - Dec 3. (07) 5596 0300.

Matilda - The Musical by Tim Minchin, Royal Shakespeare Co. Lyric Theatre, QPAC. From Nov 25. 136 246

Rough Crossing by Tom Stoppard. Villanova Players.

Nov 18 - Dec 3. (07) 3395 5168.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas by Carol Hall, Larry L. King and Peter Masterson.

Coolum Players. Nov 25 - Dec 4. (07) 5446 2500

When The Rain Stops Falling

by Andrew Bovell. Arts Theatre, Brisbane. Nov 19 Dec 17. (07) 3369 2344.

Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. Noosa Arts Theatre, Noosa. Nov 17 - 27. (07) 5449 9343.

The Final Test by Chris Paling.

Ipswich Little Theatre, Ipswich. Nov 23 - Dec 10.

(07) 3812 2389.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show by Eric Care. Cremorne Theatre. QPAC. Nov 29 - Dec 18. 136 246.

At Last: The Etta James Story.

Concert Hall, QPAC. Nov 19. Celebrating A Musical 136 246.

Christmas. Griffith Musical Theatre. St. John’s Cathedral,

Brisbane. Nov 30 - Dec 1.

136 246.

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. www.kinkybootsthemusical.com.au

The Nutcracker. Ballet by Ben Stevenson/Tchaikovsky. QLD The Colour Purple. Music and Ballet. Playhouse, QPAC. Dec lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, book 9 - 23. 136 246.

by Marsha Norman. StageArt. The Reindeer Monologues by Until Nov 6. Chapel off Jeff Goode. Arts Theatre, Chapel. (03) 8290 7000.

Brisbane. Dec 18-24. (07) 3369 2344.

White Day Dream. Weave Movement Theatre. Until Nov Spirit of Christmas. Concert 6. fortyfivedownstairs. (03) Hall, QPAC. Dec 23-24. 136 9662 9966.

246.

The Lyons by Nicky Silver.

Fawlty Towers by John Wyndham Theatre Company.

Cleese. Playhouse, QPAC. Until Nov 5.

From Dec 28. 136 246 wyndhamtheatrecompany.org.au QLD Pops New Year’s Eve Godspell Reimagined by Gala. Concert Hall, QPAC. Stephen Schwartz and JohnDec 31. 136 246.

Michael Tebelak. Arts Centre Victoria Melbourne, Bold Jack Kinky Boots. Music and lyrics International and The Australian Shakespeare

by Cyndi Lauper. Book by Company. Until Nov 5. Fairfax Harvey Fierstein. Ongoing.

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

Stage Whispers 53

On Stage Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183 The Curious Savage by John Patrick. The Colac Players.

Until Nov 5. Carolyn Theatre, Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery, Cororooke. (03) 5232 1072

Victoria

Melbourne and Nov 12 at Monash University’s Robert Blackwood Hall. Ticketek.

Petrasexual by Petra Elliott.

Nov 2 - 6. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com

Out of Order by Ray Cooney.

Mooroolbark Theatre Group.

The Light in the Piazza by Nov 3 - 12. Red Earth Theatre Adam Guettel (music and @ Mooroolbark Community lyrics) and Craig Lucas (book). Centre. (03) 9726 4282.

Life Like Company. Until Nov Our Turn. Musical Theatre 6. Arts Centre Melbourne, Graduates’ Showcase.

Playhouse. 1300 182 183.

Queensland Conservatorium Tomfoolery by Tom Lehrer.

Griffith University. Nov 3 - 5.

Malvern Theatre Company.

Chapel off Chapel. (03) 8290 Until Nov 12. 1300 131 552. 7000.

Yes, Prime Minister? by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Lilydale Athenaeum Theatre Co. Nov 2 - 19. (03) 9735 1777.

Anti-Hamlet. Directed and devised by Mark Wilson.

Theatre Works and New Working Group. Nov 3 - 13.

Theatre Works, St Kilda. (03) 9534 3388.

Anna Bolena (Anne Boleyn)

by Gaetano Donizetti.

Permission to Speak. Text and Melbourne Opera. Nov 2, 5, Direction: Tamara Saulwick.

9 at The Athanaeum Theatre, Composer: Kate Neal.

Auditions

Online extras!

Place your audition notice in our next edition. Email stagews@stagewhispers.com.au or call (03) 9758 4522

54 Stage Whispers

Chamber Made Opera. Nov 3 Butterfly Club.

- 27. Arts House, North thebutterflyclub.com Melbourne. (03) 9322 3713.

The Madwomen City of Angels by Cy Monologues. Baggage Productions. Nov 9 - 13. The Coleman, David Zippel and Larry Gelbart. Williamstown Butterfly Club.

Musical Theatre Company. thebutterflyclub.com Nov 4 - 19. Williamstown Deceptive Threads by David Mechanics Institute Theatre.

Joseph. Bowerbird Theatre.

Inspector Drake’s Last Case Nov 9 - 20.

by David Tristram. Mordialloc fortyfivedownstairs. (03) Theatre Company. Nov 4 9662 9966.

18. Shirley Burke Theatre, Seminar: A Comedy by Parkdale. (03) 9587 5141.

Theresa Rebeck. Nov 9 - 26.

Chapel off Chapel. (03) 8290 The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. Melbourne Theatre 7000.

Company. Nov 5 - Dec 17.

Other People’s Money by Southbank Theatre, The Jerry Sterner. Brighton Sumner. (03) 8688 0800.

Theatre Company. Nov 10 Impromptunes - The Bachela- 26. Brighton Theatre la-la. Nov 8 - 13. The Company. 1300 752 126.

Butterfly Club.

Daylight Saving by Nick thebutterflyclub.com Enright. Strathmore Theatre Confessions of an Aerobics Arts Group. Nov 10 - 20.

Instructor by Joanna www.stagtheatre.org Simmons. Nov 9 - 13. The

Check out all the auditions that didn’t make it to print. Scan the QR code or visit www.stagewhispers.com.au/auditions

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

On Stage Other People’s Money by Jerry Sterner. Brighton Theatre Co. Nov 10 - 26. BTC Theatre, Bayside Cultural Centre. 1300 752 126.

Blaque Showgirls by Nakkiah Lui. Malthouse. Nov 11 - Dec 4. Merlyn Theatre. (03) 9685 5111.

Moon Over Buffalo by Ken Ludwig. The Basin Theatre Group. Nov 11 - Dec 3. 1300 784 668 (7pm-9pm only) Dusty by John Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow. The Production Company. Nov 12 - 27. Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Last Cab To Darwin by Reg Cribb. Sherbrooke Theatre Co. Inc. Nov 12 - 26.

Doncaster Playhouse. 1300 650 209.

An Evening With Groucho starring Frank Ferrante. Nov 14 - 19. Chapel off Chapel.

(03) 8290 7000.

Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, new version by Annie Baker. Red Stitch. Nov 15 - Dec 17. (03) 9533 8083.

Del Dempsey is Dead by Sean Scanlon. Nov 15 - 20. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com Jack Charles V The Crown. Co -Writers: Jack Charles, John Romeril. Ilbijerri. Nov 15 - 19.

Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

London Suite by Neil Simon.

Williamstown Little Theatre Inc. Nov 17 - Dec 3. (03) 9885 9678.

The Vicar of Dibley by Richard Curtis and Paul MayhewArcher. The 1812 Theatre.

Nov 17 - Dec 10. (03) 9758 3964.

Victoria, Tasmania & South Australia

One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean (based on ‘Servant of Two Masters’ by Carlo Goldoni). Heidelberg Theatre Co. Nov 17 - Dec 3.

(03) 9457 4117.

24 - Dec 4. Chapel off Chapel. (03) 8290 7000.

The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown. Vic Theatre Company. Nov 25 - Dec 11.

45 Downstairs. (03) 9662 Animal. Created by Susie Dee, 9966.

Kate Sherman & Nicci Wilks.

The Gathering by William Theatre Works and inFlux.

Hannagan and Belinda Nov 17 - 27. Theatre Works, Jenkin. Vic Theatre Company.

St Kilda. (03) 9534 3388.

Nov 26 - Dec 11. 45 Becky’s New Car by Steven Downstairs. (03) 9662 9966.

Dietz. Peridot Theatre Burning Doors. Belarus Free Company. Nov 18 - Dec 3.

Theatre and Pussy Riot’s Unicorn Theatre, Mount Maria Alyokhina. Nov 29 Waverley Secondary College.

Dec 3. Fairfax Studio, Arts (03) 9808 0770 10am to Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 2pm Mon to Fri. 183.

Rumors by Neil Simon.

Evoluzione. Nov 30 - Dec 4.

Geelong Repertory Theatre The Butterfly Club.

Co. Nov 18 - Dec 3. (03) thebutterflyclub.com 5225 1200.

A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Speaking in Tongues by Aleksander Vass and Vass Andrew Bovell. Warrandyte Productions. Dec 3 - 11. Alex Theatre Company. Nov 18 Theatre, St Kilda. Ticketek.

Dec 3. Warrandyte Theatre, Hot Brown Honey. Arts Mechanics Hall.

Centre Melbourne in ‘Allo, ‘Allo by Jeremy Lloyd & association with Briefs David Croft. Frankston Factory. Dec 6 - 11. Fairfax Theatre Group. Nov 18 - Dec studio, Arts Centre 4. Mt Eliza Community Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Centre. 1300 665 377.

The Road to Stockholm. Dec Live, Love, Laugh by Stew 7 - 11. The Butterfly Club.

Walker. Nov 19 - 20. The thebutterflyclub.com Butterfly Club.

Snow Queen. The Australian thebutterflyclub.com Ballet. Choreography by Petal The Ring Cycle by Wagner.

Miller-Ashmole, music by Opera Australia. Nov 21 - Dec Jules Massenet. Dec 9 & 10.

16. State Theatre, Arts Centre Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Bijou - Secrets and Seduction.

Messiah by Handel.

Nov 22 - Dec 4. The Butterfly Melbourne Symphony Club. thebutterflyclub.com Orchestra. Dec 10 & 11.

What’s Yours Is Mine by Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Hayden Burke, Simone French Melbourne. 1300 182 183. and Tom Halls. Nov 23 - 27.

Briefs. Arts Centre Melbourne The Butterfly Club. in association with Briefs thebutterflyclub.com Factory. Dec 13 - 18. Fairfax Reefer Madness: The Musical studio, Arts Centre

by Dan Studney and Kevin Melbourne. 1300 182 183.

Murphy. RL Productions. Nov

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

Early Grave, Fashionably Late.

Dec 13 - 17. The Butterfly Club. thebutterflyclub.com The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. Dec 13 - 17. Chapel off Chapel. (03) 8290 7000.

Tasmania The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Blue Cow Theatre. Until Nov 5.

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. (03) 6233 2299 Up for Grabs by David Williamson. Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. Until Nov 12.

The Playhouse Theatre. (03) 6234 5998.

Antarctica - A New Musical.

Book: Dana Michelle Bergstrom. Librettist / Composer: Dugald McLaren.

Tasmanian Theatre Company.

Until Nov 12. Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 Blackadder by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Encore Theatre Company. Until Nov 12. Earl Arts Centre. (03) 6323 3666.

Jack and his Giant Stalk.

Bawdy Panto. Nov 23 - 26.

Theatre Royal, Hobart. (03) 6233 2299 Assassins by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman. The Old Nick Company. Nov 8 - Dec 3.

Peacock Theatre, Hobart. (03) 6234 5998.

South Australia Cheaters by Michael Jacobs.

Until Nov 5. Galleon Theatre Group. Domain Theatre. or 0437 609 577.

Leading Ladies by Ken Ludwig. The Therry Dramatic Society. Nov 3 - 12. The Arts Theatre. www.trybooking.com/JZBP Don Parties On by David Williamson. Red Phoenix Stage Whispers 55

On Stage

South Australia & Western Australia

Theatre. Nov 10 - 19. Holden Players. Nov 18 - Dec 3. Tea St Theatres.

Tree Players Theatre. www.redphoenixtheatre.com www.ttplayers.com or (08) 8225 8888.

Extremities by William Equus by Peter Shaffer. Adapt Mastrosimone. Mystique Enterprises. Nov 10 - 26.

Productions & Tony Knight Bakehouse Theatre.

Acting. Nov 23 - 26. Space www.trybooking.com/MBEL Theatre. www.bass.net.au

Tissue by Samantha Maclean and Timothy Green. The Blue Room. Nov 8 - 26. Theatrical Boodijar Kaatijin by Ian investigation into the effects Wilkes. Yirra Yaakin Theatre of pornography. Blue Room Company. Until Nov 5.

Theatre, Northbridge.

Noongar Stories for Children. www.blueroom.org.au Studio, Subiaco Arts Centre. www.ticketek.com.au or 132 Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

849.

Adapted by Eva Di Cesare, Ross-Lives of Lawrence of Western Australia Sandra Eldridge and Tim Arabia by Terence Rattigan.

The Little Princess. Music by Moliere’s Tartuffe the McGarry. CDP in association Independent Theatre. Nov 11 Andrew Lippa, book and Hypocrite by Justin Fleming. with Monkey Baa Theatre.

-19. The Space Theatre. 131 lyrics by Bryan Crawley.

Black Swan State Theatre Nov 9 - 14. From the series of Playlovers. Until Nov 12.

246.

Company. Until Nov 6. books by May Gibbs. Heath Family musical. Stirling Calendar Girls by Tim Firth. St Revival of 17th century classic.

Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Theatre, Innaloo. (08) 9440 Jude’s Players. Nov 17 - 26.

Heath Ledger Theatre, State Centre of WA, Northbridge.

1040.

St Jude’s Hall, Brighton.

Theatre Centre of WA, www.ticketek.com.au or 132 www.trybooking.com/227791 Northbridge.

Malpractical Jokes: A Medical 849 www.ticketek.com.au or 132 Cabaret by Isaak Lim. Perth Don’t Dress for Dinner by Bonsoir Bitches by Clint 849.

Theatre Trust. Nov 3 - 5.

Marc Camoletti. Adelaide Strindberg. Perth Theatre Hospital themed cabaret.

Repertory Theatre. Nov 17 The Pearl Fisher by Bizet.

Trust. Nov 17 - 19. Parisian Downstairs at the Maj, His 26. The Arts Theatre.

West Australian Opera. Until style cabaret. Downstairs at Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. www.trybooking.com/JTWX Nov 5. His Majesty’s Theatre, the Maj, His Majesty’s www.ticketek.com.au or 132 Hay St, Perth.

Theatre, Perth.

Robinson Crusoe Pantomime 849

by Steven Shaw. Tea Tree

56 Stage Whispers

www.ticketek.com.au 132 849.

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

On Stage

Western Australia & New Zealand

www.ticketek.com.au or 132 Greenmount. (08) 9255 849.

1783.

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice by Jim Cartwright.

KADS. Nov 11 - Dec 3. KADS Town Square Theatre, Kalamunda. Bookings: Lucky Charm Newsagency, Kalamunda Shopping Centre (08) 9257 2668.

One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. Melville Theatre. Nov 11 - 26. Based on A Servant to Two Masters

by Carlo Goldini. Melville Theatre, Palmyra. (08) 9330 4565 or meltheco.org.au Peter Pan by Piers ChaterRobinson, adapted from J M Barrie. Murray Music and Drama Club. Nov 11 - 26.

British musical directed by Darren Bilston. Pinjarra Civic Centre. 0458 046 414 or tickets@mmdc.com.au Signifying Nothing by Greg Fleet. The Blue Room. Nov 15 - Dec 3. Modern take on Macbeth. Blue Room Theatre, Northbridge. www.blueroom.org.au The Nutcracker.

Choreographed by Jayne Smeulders, Aurelian Scanella and Sandy Delasalle. West Australian Ballet. Nov 18 Dec 11. Ballet fairy tale. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth.

Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Roleystone Theatre.

Nov 18 - Dec 3. Roleystone Theatre, Brookton Hwy, Roleystone. 9367 5730 or www.roleystonetheatre.com.au Scrooge the Panto.

Darlington Theatre Players.

Nov 18 - Dec 10. Pantomime based on A Christmas Carol Marloo Theatre,

Promise and Promiscuity. A new musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton. Until Nov Touch and Go by Derek 5. Globe Theatre, Dunedin.

Benfield. Garrick Theatre. Nov iTICKET. 24 - Dec 10. Garrick Theatre, Guildford. (08) 9378 1990.

Billy Elliot The Musical. Book and lyrics by Lee Hall and Blitz! by Lionel Bart and Joan music by Elton John Auckland Maitland. Wanneroo Theatre Company. Until Nov Repertory Club. Nov 24 - Dec 27. ASB Waterfront Theatre, 10. British Musical. Limelight Auckland. Ticketmaster.

Theatre. (08) 9571 8591 or www.limelighttheatre.com The Events by David Greig.

The Court Theatre, The Addams Family: A New Christchurch. Until Nov 12.

Musical. Music by Andrew (03) 963 0870.

Lippa, book and lyrics by Marshall Brickman and Rick The Addams Family. Book by Elice. Phoenix Theatre and Marshall Brickman and Rick Dark Psychic Productions.

Elice. Music and Lyrics by Nov 24 - Dec 10. Phoenix Andrew Lippa. Until Nov 12.

Theatre, Memorial Hall, Casa Blanca Theatre, Rotorua.

Hamilton Hill.

Ticketmaster. www.trybooking.com/JHJR The Sound of Music by Scrooge by James Leisy. Old Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Mill Theatre. Dec 2 - 16.

Centrestage Theatre Orewa.

Musical retelling of A Until Nov 19. iTicket.

Christmas Carol. Old Mill Hair by James Rado, Jerome Theatre, South Perth. (08) Ragni and Galt MacDermot.

9367 8719.

North Shore Music Theatre.

A Very Merry Christmas Nov 5 - 19. The Pumphouse, Cabaret by John O’Hara.

Takapuna.

Perth Theatre Trust. Dec 15 Waiting In The Wings by Nöel 17. Festive cabaret.

Coward. Ellerslie Theatrical Downstairs at the Maj, His Society. Nov 3 - 12. Stables Majesty’s Theatre, Perth.

Theatre, Auckland. iTICKET. www.ticketek.com.au or 132 The Streaker by Gregory 849.

Cooper. Nov 4 - Dec 17.

New Zealand Centrepoint Theatre, North Priscilla Queen of the Desert Palmerston. (06) 354 5740.

by Stephan Elliott and Allan A Ghost Tale by Benjamin Scott. Until Nov 13. Civic Teh. The Basement, Theatre, Auckland. (09) 970 Auckland. Nov 8 - 12. (09) 9700.

361 1000.

Lungs by Duncan Macmillian.

Perplex by Marius von Show Pony. Until Nov 19.

Mayenburg. Nov 10 - Dec 3.

Circa Theatre, Wellington.

Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre, (04) 801 7992.

Auckland. Ticketmaster.

Four Flat Whites in Italy by The Rime of the Ancient Roger Hall. Playhouse Marinner by Nick Hayes, Theatre, Glen Eden. Until Nov adapted by The Playground 5.

Collective. Nov 10 - 26. BATS Theatre, Wellington.

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

Oliver Twist by Jeremy Brock, based on the novel by Dickens. Dolphin Theatre, Onehunga, Auckland. Nov 11 - Dec 3. (09) 636 7322.

Peter Pan - The British Musical. Book, music & lyrics

by Piers Chater Robinson.

Harlequin Musical Theatre.

Nov 12 - 26. iTicket / (09) 361 6000.

Aladdin The Pantomime by Ben Crocker. Musical Theatre Gisbon. Nov 16 - 19. War Memorial Theatre.

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare.

Stagecraft Theatre (Wellington) Nov 16 26. 0508 484 253.

Jack and the Beanstalk by Roger Hall. Circa Theatre, Wellington. Nov 19 - Dec 20.

(04) 801 7992.

Scarlet & Gold by Lorae Parry.

Circa Theatre, Wellington.

Nov 25 - Dec 22. (04) 801 7992.

Legally Blonde The Musical.

Music & lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe & Nell Benjamin, book by Heather Hach. Nov 26, 2016 - Jan 21, 2017. The Court Theatre, Christchurch.

(03) 963 0870.

A Christmas Carol by Dan Bain. Nov 30 - Dec 17. The Court Theatre, Christchurch.

(03) 963 0870.

You Have the Right to Remain Dead by Pat Cook.

Theatre Hawke’s Bay. Dec 1 10. The Playhouse, Hastings. iTicket.

Lysistrata by Aristophanes.

The Court Youth Company.

Dec 8 - 10. The Court Theatre, Christchurch. (03) 963 0870.

Stage Whispers 57

Kinky Boots.

Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Reviews: Premieres

Online extras!

Kinky Boots opened in Melbourne to rave reviews. Scan the QR code or visit https://youtu.be/K-VCemx3CGI Kinky Boots Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper. Book by Harvey Fierstein.

Directed by Jerry Mitchell. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. Opening night: Oct 22.

KINKY Boots may not be greatest musical ever, but it’s full of energy and delightfully warm-hearted, and above all, entertaining. Based on the 2005 film in which a dying shoe factory is rescued by a drag queen (true story) by making women’s boots for men, it does offer us a brilliant star turn in Callum Francis as Lola. This astonishing young performer is just twenty, yet owns the stage and is worth the ticket price on his own.

Supporting him as the Drag Queen Angels are six of the most talented young leading men - all triple threats (Euan Doidge, last seen as Marius in Les Mis, is joined by Blake Appelqvist of the astonishing voice, and great dancers in Mitchell Woodcock, Ryan Gonzalez and Mark Stefanoff and a gift from Broadway in James Delisco Beeks).

Toby Francis still has to find his feet as Charlie, but his scenes with Lola are very special. Sophie Wright (Lauren) is wonderfully comic, and Tegan Wouters (Nicola) lends her wealth of experience as the two love interests for Charlie.

Other great supporting performances come from Dan Williston (Don) and Nathan Carter (George).

But the show is really a bro-mance between Charlie and Lola, with a strong message about not just accepting other people, but yourself, for who you are. Harvey Fierstein’s book is adequate and Cyndi Lauper provides some good pop songs, though nothing in the league of “Time After Time” and “True Colours”.

58 Stage Whispers

The costumes (Greg Barnes) are dazzling and the band, under the direction of Luke Hunter, is fabulous. Just sit back and enjoy with a box of choccies - it won’t stretch you, but you won’t be disappointed.

Coral Drouyn The Turquoise Elephant

By Stephen Carleton. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables Theatre. Oct 14 - Nov 26.

THE absurdism of Stephen Carleton’s new play about climate change so obviously springs from his exasperation at the mindlessness of how this is debated in the real world.

In a future Sydney, as the temperature reaches 48, we meet the privileged inhabitants of a triple-glazed mansion.

Right wing matriarch Augusta Macquarie dominates government as a ferocious old climate change denier. Her wacky daughter Aunt Olympia however is a compulsive disaster tourist hunting down the world’s last glacier or latest flooding of famous sites - swathed in a superb clutter of national costumes. These two highly original characters are hilariously realised by, respectively, Maggie Dence and Belinda Giblin (and costumed by Emma Vine).

After them, Augusta’s granddaughter Basra (Olivia Rose) is a little plainer, more an everywoman of us all: writing a blog about climate but not yet taking to the streets.

From outside, via a screen into Brian Thomson’s sophisticated mansion space, a masked activist spits violent rebellion but also some compelling environmental logic.

Cabaret star iOTA is here wonderfully burlesque on screen.

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

A smarmy green American entrepreneur (Julian Garner) also arrives, and Catherine Davies plays the mysterious new maid Visi. These two characters are more clichéd with moments sometimes heavy handed in the writing.

But Gale Edwards delivers here a big canvas production and Carleton’s script is frequently witty and wicked. It’s all a delight in Commedia dell’arte style clowning. And it ends with a moving challenge - to be an activist or, watching the waters rise, to remain an observer.

Martin Portus

Jeffries) a cocky, foul-mouthed loner - not what he remembered - or wanted to remember.

Regression has some wry and black humour, but it is no comedy. There is no ‘second chance’: a failure in the past remains a failure. The experiment goes awry when a fourteen-year-old girl, Julie (Samantha Cunnane) also materialises so that Will, Young Will and Julie are all present. The logic may be dodgy, but the audience is gripped.

As Will, Mr Constantine exhibits an underplayed naturalism that provides a fine contrast to his outbreaks of Oriel anger. Jason Jeffries is entirely convincing as Young Will, a

By Merrilee Moss. Directed by Kim Durban. Ghost Ensemble self-righteous teen refusing to believe things don’t/won’t at La Mama Courthouse. Sep 7 - 18. go as he’s so sure they will. As Tyler, Mr Reed is nicely MERRILEE Moss wants us to ask, ‘Who was Oriel Gray?’ bullying and demeaning, but the role is functional - as is Gray (1920 - 2003), was a prolific playwright for the leftthat of Julie, but Ms Cunnane brings a touching sweetness, wing New Theatre and for radio station 2KY in the 1930s vulnerability and a hint of steel to her small part. and ‘40s, all the way through to the ABCTV’s Bellbird. This Director Joachim Matschoss has ‘deconstructed’ Gabriel bio-play is lively, funny, insightful, poignant and pointed.

Burgmoser’s naturalistic text and it runs a tight, pacey bare Scenes of key developments in Oriel Gray’s life segue in and fifty minutes. He’s aided by Kevin Clough’s lighting and out of scenes from her plays. Life and Art bounce off each sound design, and increases the theatricality by using other. almost all of the Allpress Studio’s large space. We might Merrilee Moss also adds herself, ‘Moss’ (Hannah question the piece’s resolution, but no matter; we have Monson), conducting a dialogue with Oriel - complaining been engaged in the question of what we would do if we of being blocked and needing inspiration. Oriel, with a met our past selves. baby in her lap and a philandering husband, finds this Michael Brindley amusing. She’s played with charm, warmth and mischief by Sarah Hamilton. As her older sister Grace, Alyson Gale is The Faithful Servant impressively adaptable in several roles - and proves an ideal By Tom Davis. Directed by Caroline Stacey. Produced by The foil for Oriel - even when Oriel turns to Grace’s husband, Street Theatre. Childers Street, Canberra. Sep 7 - 18.

John Hepworth (Nicholas Rijs with an endearing warmth TOM Davis’s The Faithful Servant is a beautifully crafted, and boofy bloke’s humour) after John Gray (Charlie Mycroft thrilling play, with a fascinating story which questions the - suitably suave, but unreliable) cheats on Oriel and leaves sometimes ambiguous morality of providing aid in thirdher literally holding the baby. world countries. Set over 51 years, the story follows Dr Director Kim Durban moves her cast around the small Raymond Gerard (PJ Williams), a surgeon who singlespace admirably. Designer Adam (Gus) Powers makes red a handedly set up a hospital in Mozambique and an aid dominant, unmissable element - red hats, red bands on organisation with the wonderfully vague name Australians hats, red braces on the blokes. The set is a city skyline of for Hope. Gerard has complex and shifting relationships corrugated iron, two boxes covered in manuscript, and with his adopted Mozambiquean daughter Caroline and his some bentwood chairs. Nick Glen’s lighting design second-in-charge, Mozambique native Coetano Perreira complements the bright look, mostly flooding the stage (Dorian Nkono). with warm or cool light rather than picking out detail - and After a 1965 prologue, the play begins in 2016 with it works extremely well.

Gerard’s death and proceeds backwards, picking out Why is Lawler’s Summer of the 17th Doll written about significant and dramatic events within the characters’ lives. as if it were the beginning of Australian theatre? Oriel Gray Without ever resorting to overt gore, the play includes and, for instance, Betty Roland (A Touch of Silk in 1928!) discomfortingly vivid descriptions of third world injuries and surely prepared the way. operations. The team doesn’t shy from depicting the Michael Brindley indignities of Gerard’s hospital death bed. The image of Dr Gerard in frank delirium haunted by the accusing figure of Regression Perriera is intensely moving.

By Gabriel Bergmoser, ‘deconstructed’ and directed by Informed by the author’s experience as a consultant in Joachim Matschoss. Bitten By Productions. Allpress Studio, international development, the script is tight with not a Rupert Street, Collingwood (VIC). Aug 23 - 27. word spare, and the performances are superb. PJ Williams WILL (Tim Constantine), a twenty-five-year-old whose brings enormous complexity to Gerard. Dorian Nkono has a life is going nowhere, is invited by confident, arrogant more subtle character in Coetano Perreira, who treats doctor, Tyler (Tom Reed) to take part in a medical/scientific Gerard with enormous respect while well aware of the older experiment that will take him back ten years into his past. man’s shortcomings. Tariro Mavondo’s Caroline Gerrard is mesmerising to watch, expressing deep emotion with her Will agrees… and confronts his fifteen-year-old self (Jason Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 59

eyes in spite of appearing preternaturally calm. The depiction of all three at different ages is authentic.

Above all else, this is a riveting tale. With the scope of an epic and the economy of poetry, The Faithful Servant is a magnificent piece of theatre.

Cathy Bannister

to keep the show on the road. It might look chaotic, but it’s a delightful show, warm, intimate, filled with crazy, sometimes childlike humour.

Tourette’s is the show’s basis: its absurdities, its coupling of completely unexpected words and ideas. A lot of it is ‘boldly meaningless’ - even while being irresistibly funny. Ms. Thom explains what Tourette’s is, but also what You Got Older it’s like to live with discrimination. That’s an underlying

By Clare Barron. Directed by Brett Cousins. Red Stitch ‘message’ - and there are people with disabilities in the Theatre (Vic). Aug 31 - Oct 2. audience: deaf folks - hence the Auslan - but also blind CLARE Barron’s ‘You Got Older’ shows her strength as a people and those whose bodies just won’t do as they’re playwright is a deliciously left of centre view of the world, told. and family in particular. She’s not interested in backstories Both Ms. Thom and ‘Chopin’ are hugely engaging performers - and so is Ms. Phillips - who gamely keeps up or character arcs except in passing. She writes IN life - not of it. with her own improvisations - watch her sign, for instance, Mae -spinsterish but with kinky sexual fantasies - has ‘swallowing my hair’. lost her job and her lover (also her boss) and has returned Tourette’s Syndrome doesn’t affect intelligence and it’s home to nurse her father who is dying of cancer. Neither not life threatening - it’s just clearly life-inconveniencing truly knows any way to heal the other and so there are long and life-inhibiting to a high degree! Jess Thom has and awkward silences in the platitudes. Emily Goddard convincingly ‘risen above it’: she sees the humour, the (Mae) is a wonderful actress, full of depth and genuine ridiculousness, the absurdity even - and you’ve got to connection to the character. It’s rare that an actress can laugh, haven’t you? She does - and Chopin and the persuade you that you’ve known a character all your life. audience laugh with her.

It’s a beautiful performance.

Michael Brindley Francis Greenslade as Dad reminds us of the depth and warmth he’s capable of. He is heart-breakingly real when New Owner he finally gives way to accepting that he is going to die.

The Last Great Hunt. Directed by Arielle Gray and Tim There are siblings - just one brother (Matthew) played by Watts. Pica Performance Space, Perth WA. Oct 1 - 16.

Mark Yeates. Yeates is new to the scene but boy, is he THE Last Great Hunt’s New Owner was a beautiful show impressive! A totally naturalistic actor without visible using puppetry, live action, animation and projection to tell technique (though he is well trained), he is worth seeing in about relationships through the eyes of a dog. any play. The same is true for sisters Hannah (Penny The protagonist is a gorgeous little, white, fluffy dog, Harpman) and Jenny (Eva Seymour). It’s a stellar cast, skilfully brought to life by Tim Watts - winning hearts and rounded out by Jordan Fraser-Tumble’s fantasy cowboy, engaging the audience. Arielle Gray plays people and with just enough edge and cardboard fibre (intended) for animals in our hero’s life - from elderly owner Mabel, to a us to recognise he is not part of reality, and Lee Beckhurst luckless puppy pal, and a thoughtful police officer - in as the hapless Mac, looking to get laid. varying but always mesmerising performances.

It’s always joyful to see good actors connect and relate The way the puppets move through the space is to each other at this level. Barron’s play is gentle, everyday, fascinating, as the projections and puppets merge in a in the moment, amusing and very real. There are no stunning way. Anthony Watt’s set feels magic, Chloe histrionics because there rarely are in life. We simply live it, Flockart’s puppets are utterly charming and Rachael Dease’s minute by minute, and that’s what this play does beautiful original music is integral to the story. beautifully.

This very sensitively told story charmed audiences of all Coral Drouyn ages. A show with magic, lots of love and a simple but important story.

Backstage In Biscuit Land Kimberley Shaw Written & devised by Jess Thom, Jess Mabel Jones & Matthew Pountney. Melbourne Festival, in association with To Lonely, With Love Theatre Works. The Malthouse, Beckett Theatre. Oct 12 Created by Jennifer Monk, Perri Cummings & Lisa Dallinger.

16.

Directed by Jennifer Monk. La Mama’s 2016 JESS Thom comes on stage on her knees and climbs into EXPLORATIONS Season. La Mama Theatre. Oct 11 - 13. a wheelchair. She can’t really walk anymore - her THERE’S a lonely fellow in gaol, Roger. There’s a lonely involuntary movements make her fall over. She grins and housewife in an unhappy marriage, Samantha (Sam). They makes wisecracks to her ‘assistant’ ‘Chopin’ (Jess Mabel write to each other. They tell each other things they tell to Jones). Auslan interpreter Jasmine Phillips signs an no one else. The letters, by the way, are real letters, shaped unpredictable often-improvised show. Ms. Thom’s

by Perri Cummings into the text for the show. Its creators Tourette’s Syndrome takes her off to some illogical have made something deeply serious and poignant, but interpolation she can’t help. Like, Biscuit. Or Hedgehog! infused their characters and their characters’ letters with ‘Chopin’ back chats, holds up appropriate props and tries 60 Stage Whispers

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

The Drover’s Wife.

Photo: Brett Boardman.

energy, movement, clever choreography, comedy and speedy transformations.

Jennifer Monk and Lisa Dallinger switch roles constantly.

But when they do Ms. Dallinger’s ‘Roger’ is not the same as Ms. Monk’s ‘Roger’, nor is either one’s version of ‘Sam’ the same. Obviously, this is a bold move, but they are consummate performers. The stylised wardrobe by Emma Howchin fits the tone exactly, as does the brio of choreography by Lee McClenaghan. The action is punctuated by pop songs with a letter theme - Presley’s Return to Sender, the Carpenters’ Please, Mr. Postman, and so on.

Ms. Monk reveals an amazing musicality and an exuberant, comic side that can disappear in a flash to be replaced by heavy sadness. Ms. Dallinger is a revelation; after her transformations in this show, I can’t wait to see her on stage again.

This ‘little’ show on the tiny La Mama stage lifts the spirits with its professionalism, its focussed invention, its ideas, heart and intelligence.

Michael Brindley The Drover’s Wife

By Leah Purcell. Belvoir in association with Oombarra Productions. Belvoir Street Theatre. Sep 17 - Oct 16.

LEAH Purcell here ambitiously reworks Henry Lawson’s famous 1893 short story about the drover’s wife left alone in the Alpine country to fend for her children.

She’s created a gripping kind of Australian Western, one both tender and horrifically violent, an uncompromising story on the brutal ways this unforgiving settler life treated its women and the Aborigines.

An innocent black on the run from the troopers, Yadaka (a compelling Mark Coles Smith) arrives and slowly builds an empathy with the wary drover’s wife and her teenage son (Will McDonald).

Racial differences blur and Purcell, who’s perfect playing her own resilient heroine, delivers a final story twist which is profound and almost hopeful. But it’s a bloody, casually violent voyage to get there, with some malevolent, unwelcome visitors, played notably by Benedict Hardie and Tony Cogin.

Across Stephen Curtis’ expansive ash-strewn floor (with just the basics of camp living and a fallen tree), the play’s choreography - and especially the fights - are sometimes tentative and under-directed. Dramatic action also drains away when Purcell’s two protagonists slip into a story telling exposition, inherent perhaps in Lawson’s original yarn.

But when the horrors re-claim the story, driven by a haunting soundscape from The Sweats, this is a landmark, passionate play about people we care for and urgent themes reaching from now to that Alpine landscape of our past. And taking us there, directed by Leticia Caceres, you can almost smell Tess Schofield’s motley mix of historic costumes.

Martin Portus

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Stage Whispers 61

Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical.

Photo: Lightbox Photography.

Online extras!

David Campbell channels Bobby Darin with his rendition of “Mack The Knife.” https://youtu.be/pIQj-ydyOEc

Dream Lover - The Bobby Darin Musical Book by Frank Howson, John-Michael Howson, Simon Phillips and Carolyn Burns. Director: Simon Phillips.

Choreographer: Andrew Hallsworth. Lyric Theatre, Sydney.

Opening night: Oct 6.

POUND for pound this was the best opening night for a new Australian written musical since The Boy From Oz. This production felt like it had rolled off the Broadway production line.

At its heart is a very good story. “Bobby who?” was the question many asked when the musical was announced.

The more you learn about Bobby Darin, the more intriguing he becomes. The son of a mafia figure who he never met, raised by his grandmother who he thought was his mother and his connection to the slain US Presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy, are just a few of the fascinating chapters of his life.

The music he composed and sang is now in the easy listening Smooth FM genre. But enough of the songs have ‘attitude’ to make you forget that this is a musical constructed with songs composed prior to it being written.

Like The Boy from Oz, it breaks up the drama by switching back and forth from him in concert.

A priority for the set is to showcase the big juicy band, which is the backdrop for the entire show. The orchestrations from Guy Simpson are glorious. Allowing the brass sections to stand for big solos is among the memorable highlights.

The musical opens with a rendition of “Mack The Knife”.

The crisp jagged choreography from Andrew Hallsworth, as 62 Stage Whispers

the men descend the stairs, sets the tone for a very classy night in the theatre.

Centre stage for almost the entire performance is the unflappable David Campbell. With stamina, stage charisma and range of vocal reach, he’s a knock out.

Sparkling in the minor roles of Polly/Mary (Bobby’s grandmother and mother in law) is Caroline O’Connor.

Hannah Fredericksen breaks in the role of Sandra Dee, who like her husband has many demons to conquer.

At the curtain call Dodd Darin made an emotional thank you to the cast and crew for bringing the story of his parents to the stage with such style. It was a memorable night in the theatre.

David Spicer Nobody Owns The Moon Directed by Michael Barlow. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, Fremantle, WA. Sep 24 - Oct 8.

THIS World Premiere production by Spare Parts Puppet Theatre is based on the book by Tohby Riddle. Poignant and moving, it is the last new work to feature co-creator Noriko Nishimoto, who died earlier this year.

Darker in theme, subject matter and design than most pieces for young people, it touches on themes of loneliness, homelessness and greed, but is ultimately joyful and hopeful.

Good physical performances from the cast. Particularly memorable were Yvan Karlsson’s pigeon decked street performer, Jessica Lewis’ dancing fox, Geoff Kelso’s self

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absorbed crocodile and Shirley Van Sanden’s unfortunate donkey.

Lovely design from Leon Hendroff - especially the delightful marionette bear. Lee Buddle’s composition is integral to the story-telling and Graham Walne’s lighting is sensitive and sympathetic.

Nobody Owns the Moon clearly delighted the target audience of 5 to 12 year olds. A beautiful story, simply and effectively presented.

Kimberley Shaw

Lorraine (Izabella Yena), and delivered by the worldly and desirable postie Johnno (Benjamin Nichol).

Using this domestic platform, Three Blind Mice covertly explores what happens when a nation suffers from agoraphobia, or fear of the big wide world. When Shaz’s house is infested by mice (Nichol and Yena), parallels are drawn with Australia’s immigration and asylum seeker policy, with reference to well known identities and wellworn slogans.

Fear and ignorance are nurtured and Shaz’s shrinking perspective is mirrored, to her delight, by a reduction in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour physical size.

Adapted by Lee Hall from the book ‘The Sopranos’ by Alan Three Blind Mice is a well-paced, energetic, satirical Warner. Directed by Vicky Featherstone. The National comedy, devised and delivered by three self-assured and Theatre of Scotland / Melbourne Festival. Fairfax Studio, confident actors who variously strum our heartstrings, prod Arts Centre Melbourne. Oct 6 - 23 our consciences, and tickle our funny bones. Laughs are a RIB-ACHINGLY funny, heart-breakingly poignant, and plenty, physical comedy is memorable, and there is plenty dazzling in its energy and vitality, “Our Ladies” is the to think about. undeniable hit of this year’s Festival. It isn’t necessary to Pre-show audience interaction is cleverly incorporated in know Alan Warner’s book (although I certainly want to the later narrative, the set and props are quaintly effective, read it now) to recognise the brilliance of Lee Hall’s and audio design makes an essential contribution. adaptation and Vicky Featherstone’s direction. This is Three Blind Mice is presented as part of Frisk, a festival superb theatre; joyful, exhilarating, provocative and cocooned within the Fringe Festival showcasing new thought-provoking. Ultimately though, despite it being gut- performance works by theatre and production students of wrenchingly tragic in places, it is a testament to youth with the VCA. all its flaws, and the desire to devour life like a fast-food Lucy Graham meal, oblivious to the pain it might cause you.

The idea of six Catholic choir girls let loose in the city Hecuba Reimagined. doesn’t sound particularly innovative, but everything about Written and directed by Carl Caulfield, based on a the production is fresh and bursting with enthusiasm. More contemporary translation by Michael Ewans of Euripides’ than half the show is music, and again the mix is Hecuba. Stray Dogs Theatre. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. paradoxical but perfect. Mendelssohn and Bartok (with Oct 12 - 22. angelic six part harmonies) give space to ELO and Bob THE issues in Greek playwright Euripides’ tragedy Marley, and the girls themselves meld thrash rock Hecuba, written 2400 years ago, are still very much with us, performances with ethereal choral presentations. so it’s not surprising that Newcastle dramatist Carl Caulfield Casting is nothing less than superb. Dawn Sievewright is decided to transfer the tale and its characters to the present perfect as the charismatic leader Fionnula, commanding the day. stage and her fellow performers. Karen Fishwick is totally Caulfield used a recent translation of the play by credible as ‘privileged good girl” Kay, and has a Novocastrian academic Michael Ewans, who assisted him in breathtaking voice. Frances Mayli McCann is super the direction, and brought together a strong cast, headed impressive as Kylah; Kirsty Mclaren is a wonderfully

by Jan Hunt. She played the title character, a Trojan queen evocative Manda; and Caroline Deyga (Chell) and Joanne who finds herself and her children becoming the victims of McGuinness (Orla) have moments when they are dazzling. Greek rulers and soldiers after they have defeated Troy in a All of the girls also play male characters and are hilarious. military campaign.

Tightly rehearsed and yet giving the impression that While there were many gripping moments in this everything is spontaneous, the cast is accompanied by three version, and occasional dark humour, the adaptation for kick-ass musicians in Laura Bangay (keyboards), Becky Brass me had moments that didn’t work. Characters made (percussion) and Emily Linden (guitar). Not surprisingly sudden appearances at times, then disappeared, giving there is a long list of creative credits. Kudos to all who good actors little chance to make their mark. And a group contributed to the overall excellence. of women, dressed in prison camp garb, became a chorus Coral Drouyn that would be unlikely in this age. The Greek staging structure certainly came through, with references to Three Blind Mice Sigmund Freud and other psychoanalysts, and to warfare in Isabella Yena, Ruby Johnston and Benjamin Nichol. countries such as Afghanistan, seeming out of place.

Victorian College of the Arts. Sep 22 - 25.

Still, there were sequences that worked well, such as SHAZ (Ruby Johnston) suffers from agoraphobia, and Hecuba taking a brutal revenge on an arrogant ruler who hasn’t left her house in five years. Her contact with the thought that his smoothly sarcastic talk would silence her. outside world is limited to what she sees on television, And the hypocrisy of politician Odysseus was very familiar. what is expounded by politically domineering neighbour Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 63

Jan Hunt movingly brought out Hecuba’s concerns about what was happening to her people during the Greek occupation of Troy. Having lost her husband and most of her children, she desperately tried to save one daughter, Xena, and was horrified when she learnt that the body of her last surviving son, Dorus, had been washed up on a beach. The audience had seen the body on the beach in the opening scene, with its discovery by hostile figures making a good introduction to the tale.

Ken Longworth Skin TerryandtheCuz. OzAsia Festival. The Maj Gallery. Sep 28 Oct 1.

SKIN is an inter-active promenade production from Malaysia that effectively takes one into the nightmare world of human trafficking. What this production successfully achieves is an ‘experience’ that is informative as much as it is alienating. It is a journey that one takes sometimes with the other attendees/participants and at other times as an individual. Subsequently, each person has their own individual journey in this ‘experience’.

It is a de-humanizing process that begins with you filling out an official form with questions about yourself, then giving up all your current belongings (mobile phones, etc.).

You are then given a number and proceed to the next part of the ‘experience’. There are about six different parts to this progressive journey that are all in different locations. In most you are an active participant. The final two parts involved sitting in a container to watch a contemporary dance piece. After this half the group was led to another container, and then taken away - to where one never found out. The rest of us were then invited to join a ‘welcoming’ reception as we were the ones chosen and allowed into this unspecified country - a new home. Why us and not others was never really explained.

That was it, we were then told, the performance was over. The creators’ aim is for one to ‘step inside the “skin” of a refugee, in order to truly empathize with the suffering, indignity and powerlessness of their journey’. In this respect this production is extremely successful.

Tony Knight Black is the Colour

By Daniel Keene. Deafferent Theatre. Director: Jessica Moody. Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall. Sep 24 Oct 1.

THIS is an awesome first production by Deafferent Theatre. It is a wonderful opportunity for Deaf and hearing friends to come together to experience dialogue and interaction in Auslan performed by two expressly engaging and consummate performers.

As a hearing person it just takes a little time to get used to looking above the actors to, as quickly as possible, read the text and then be able to check into the beauty and clarity of the signing. And it is surprisingly satisfying to engage with a signed work that is partially buoyed with sound (shannyn.art).

Black is the Colour is about a friendship, with at times hazy boundaries, between two women where one is trying, 64 Stage Whispers

as best she can, to support the other to leave an abusive relationship.

The choice of this sensitive, rich and current text by writer Daniel Keene is a resonant and rewarding one.

Anna Seymour is an experienced dancer, who - although not dancing in this work - sensitively and explicitly lets the audience into the quandary her character Catherine is tussling with. Hilary Fisher, as Irene, communicates her character’s deep concerns and persistence and also - sadly ultimate disenchantment.

Suzanne Sandow Inside the Bell Jar

By Kate Mulqueen. The Butterfly Club. Oct 11 - 16.

AS an introduction to my review of Inside the Bell Jar I would like to highlight the magical singing voice and piano playing of performer Kate Mulqueen. Throughout the show songs and music play a part in setting a poetic and melancholy tone.

Kate has gone out on a limb with Inside the Bell Jar, as she shares the most personal experience of the life and suicide of her beloved sister Emily and all of the consequences surrounding it.

It is a one-woman show and Mulqueen is a sincere and genuine artist expressing through the art of theatre the sombre facts, feelings and emotions surrounding the suicide. This tragic story enmeshes violence, mental health, depression, love and grief, touching on the literature of poets such as Sylvia Plath.

Mulqueen has an enchanting style and strong stage presence, she dresses almost like a character from a fairytale. Her devotion to sharing her story unashamedly and intimately captures the audience’s attention fully; you will be completely challenged emotionally.

She is very brave performing this candid and very exposing work; she uncovers an injustice faced by her sister, a victim of senseless crime and the consequences and breakdown of all affected by such callous acts. This show is confronting and can be disturbing, yet the honesty in which it is shared is enticing. Through the narration Mulqueen deciphers the process of grief and dealing with death and prompts us to think about how it affects each of us as individuals.

Inside the Bell Jar raises awareness of the extreme effects of mental health on both the sufferer and their loved ones.

Lisa Romeo PARLEY!

By Rachael Besselink and Elena Larkin. Directed by Harley Hefford. Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Butterfly Club. Sep 28 - Oct 2.

THIS is a charming theatrical venture that draws directly from the theatre of the absurd. PARLEY! especially looks to the work of Beckett in Waiting for Godot. Ant (Larkin) and Pea (Besselink) are two characters who are lost at sea and this functions as a metaphor for their existence. There is an instant quaintness about their appearance which is aided by a beautifully designed and very atmospheric set. The gentle rhythms of the dialogue convey warmth from the

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

Rumpelstiltskin.

Photo: Shane Reid.

characters that is rather unexpected and uncharacteristic of the genre.

Pea and Ant are remarkably nonchalant given their circumstance, and they do not seem sufficiently annoyed and peeved at one another, or their condition, to warrant the dramatic ending that is suggested. Their antics are often amusing and perceived as irritating rather than exasperating. The expectation of profoundly life changing perspectives, that one would expect from their absurd bickering, is not prioritised in this play.

Cast adrift, the two characters while away the time with music, song and aimless games and this invokes their existential quandary. Their exchanges are often gentle and their banter is also often quite sweet and tender. The performances have a light, ethereal touch with some very expressive moments. The absence of a more bitter or menacing tone makes the play more soulful, and this is one of the promising qualities that this original and inventive text offers.

Patricia Di Risio

Director Rosemary Myers co-wrote the contemporary story for the production, together with Julianne O’Brien.

They have included classic elements while highlighting today’s often selfish obsession with prestige, must-have things, money and getting ahead at all costs.

Paul Capsis produces a towering, funny and at times poignant performance as Rumpelstiltskin. He embodies the isolation of one cut off from society by his obvious difference to all around him.

As Harriet, Ashton Malcolm beautifully develops the transition of her character from vulnerable young girl to a woman impacted by the negative influences of wealth and status.

Alirio Zavarce is hugely funny as Rat and complements his delightfully comic performance with a fine display of his musical talent. Michaela Burger is a gorgeous pocket rocket in her role as Tootie. Elena Carapetis is very fine in her portrayal of Crow. Matt Crook is terrific as Malcolm, giving the character an endearing cheerful vulnerability. Ezra Juanta as the Surprise Character is hilarious.

Amazing light-filled illusions, magical animation across Rumpelstiltskin the towering arches of the set, magnificent lighting, sound,

By Rosemary Myers and Julianne O’Brien. Windmill Theatre music and costumes work in harmony with the actors to Co and State Theatre Company of SA. Dunstan Theatre, create a truly memorable experience for young and old.

Adelaide Festival Centre. Oct 11 - 30.

With its spectacular and highly imaginative use of WINDMILL Theatre Co and State Theatre SA’s World modern lighting and animation this production ensures the Premiere of Rumpelstiltskin is enchanting and absorbing for enduring tale of Rumpelstiltskin will never be the same all ages; a rollicking, sometimes mysterious story filled with again. An absolute must-see. wonderful characters, love and angst, a car chase and even Lesley Reed a high-flying baby.

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Stage Whispers 65

Clinton The Musical Book by Paul Hodge and Michael Hodge. Music and Lyrics

by Paul Hodge. Black Swan State Theatre Company.

Directed by Adam Mitchell. Heath Ledger Theatre. Aug 27 Sep 11.

THE Australian Premiere of an Australian Musical about American politics.

While it is wonderful to see fresh, new work, this show felt like a Fringe Show on steroids, and somehow wrong for this company in this venue.

The show looks great. Bruce McKinven’s very American, Capitol Building style set and his bright, era inspired costumes, lent wonderful nostalgia with spice. Lighting by Mark Howett gave a sense of pageantry. David Young’s musical direction is tight and the four piece band works well.

It was well worth seeing Clinton if only to see the performance of Lisa Adam as Hilary Clinton. Like Hilary, Ms. Adam dominates the room, demands attention, is smart, clever and an outstanding performer. While the title may refer to Bill, the show definitely belongs to Hilary - especially in such capable hands.

Simon Burke and Matt Dyktynski share the two sides of the 42nd President - WJ Clinton and Billy with great teamwork. Wonderful energy from the hard working ensemble who juggled quick changes and flying characterisations with ease. Brendon Hanson was a flamboyant Kenneth Starr, Luke Hewitt an impressive Newt Gingrich, Clare Moore gave an odd gravitas to Eleanor Roosevelt while Megan Kozak brought depth to Monica Lewinsky.

Kimberley Shaw

Clinton The Musical.

Photo: Daniel James Grant.

66 Stage Whispers

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

Reviews: Plays

Antigone.

Antigone

By Sophocles, adapted by Damien Ryan, Terry Karabelas, Andrea Demetriades & William Zappa. Sport for Jove.

Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre. Oct 6 - Nov 12.

SOPHOCLES and his fellow Athenians thought it mandatory for every citizen to join the debates of their new democracy - including going to the theatre.

After bloody civil war, Sophocles’ Antigone defies her uncle Creon by burying her rebellious brother. The battle is on between the judicial power of a desperate new state and power of our individual conscience. And our duty to the dead.

As says William Zappa’s commanding, reasonable Creon, should be bury terrorists?

Melanie Liertz’ astonishing set of a ravaged city, thick with dust, takes us direct to the terrorist craters of Aleppo or Mosul. Damien Ryan’s cast of sometimes Greek-speaking leads (Andrea Demetriades plays feisty Antigone) and African faces amongst his mostly female chorus of survivors underlines the play’s ancient yet international reach.

The swaying physicality of this chorus (movingly led by Fiona Press) and the powerful tolling of Bryce Halliday’s sound orchestrate the debate and tragic unfolding.

Even for Antigone, Creon must uphold his penalty of death, despite the pleas of her lover, his own son Hamon (beautifully pitched by Joseph Del Re).

Ryan’s confident theatricality, as writer and as codirector with Terry Karabelas, is obvious in how the audience is included and, particularly, the naughty wit and droll modernity of Creon’s sentry (starring Janine Watson).

By dreadful end, the impact and intellectual rigour of this adaption is eroded by some absurdities and the flat obscurities of the blind seer Tiresias (Anna Volska).

But to the final image, Antigone is compelling theatre, and a civic must for all lovers of humanity.

Martin Portus Twelfth Night The Company Theatre Mumbai. OzAsia Festival. Ukiyo Tent, Elder Park (SA). Sep 23 and 24.

TWELFTH Night is Shakespeare’s final ‘Elizabethan comedy’ and has remained popular with audiences worldwide since it was first performed in London in 1602. The Company Theatre Mumbai are performing Twelfth Night, or their version of it, in Adelaide as part of the Oz-Asia Festival.

Whilst you may not get Shakespeare’s original poetry and language, nonetheless, the plot and great characters are there - well, nearly all there. There is no point in being purist about this production from India, directed by Atul Kumar Mittal and adapted by Amitosh Nagpal. It is simply a wonderful night in the theatre, and completely true to the spirit of Shakespeare’s play - as well as the meta-theatrical conventions of the Elizabethan theatre in its intimacy, direct address to an audience, and self-referencing to the nature of performance.

The joy and sheer fun that this small and energetic company generates is infectious. I sat smiling along with the rest of the opening night audience from beginning to end, delighting in everything they did.

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Stage Whispers 67

Boeing Boeing.

Photo: Chris Lundie.

This production has many great highlights. It is essentially a musical version of the play - ‘Bollywood’ meets Shakespeare. Whilst it is for the most part extremely joyous there are moments of great poignancy and subtle depth, particularly involving the melancholy of desire with the characters of Viola and Olivia. This is truly a wonderful, wonderful night in the theatre.

Tony Knight Boeing Boeing

By Marc Camoletti, translated by Beverley Cross. Castle Hill Players. Pavilion Theatre. Sep 23 - Oct 15.

BERNARD is a flamboyant French architect who, with the help of his bossy, disapproving maid Bertha, is juggling romances with three air hostesses. His old school friend Robert is suitably in awe of his daring until it’s obvious that some changes in flight schedules mean there’s going to be some turbulence This production, directed by Stephen Snars, is bright and fast, mixing quickly-bitten dialogue and movement with just the right amount of farcical slapstick on a set (Jemima Snars) that has the space to sustain it.

Paul Sztelma plays Bernard with timing and finesse, relishing the pace of the dialogue, the physicality of farce and direction that is tight enough to make the comedy work.

Fresh from the country, Robert is impressed at Bernard’s audacity and Robert Snars finds all of this in bespectacled wonder and admiration - until he has to juggle the three women himself.

68 Stage Whispers

Annette Dix is the lugubrious Bertha, trying to maintain some equilibrium in a household that is in a constant state of change.

The three hostesses are played with flair by Jacquie Wilson, Bernadette Hook and Hannah Lehmann. It’s not easy to remain poised and in control while being manipulated and embraced on stage by two men, but all depict the glamour, style and feistiness of the 1960s ‘hosties’.

Carol Wimmer Les Liaisons Dangereuses

By Christopher Hampton. Adapted from the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclox. Director: Bruce Parr. Villanova Players.

(Qld). Aug 26 - Sep 11.

BRUCE Parr’s elegant production for Villanova Players delivered Hampton’s witty text with style.

John Warner as the immoral rake Valmont was a charming predator, deviously delicious in seduction, and awash with mock sincerity. His escapades on a round bed with Cecile bordered just this side of rape, while his eventual realisation that he was capable of genuine passion had a depth of horror that burned. It was a fine performance.

Fiona Kennedy’s Marquise had loads of elegance, especially in Jacqueline Kerr’s sumptuous period costumes, delivered Hampton’s feminist take on gender-equality with wry declamation, and lasciviously devoured Chevalier Danceny. It was a good performance which was only marred by her occasional searching for lines.

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Matthew Malone impressed as the Chevalier, bringing youthful passion and excitement to the character, an innocent caught in the games of lust, whilst Jermia Turner embraced the deflowering of the virginal Cecile with Godpossessed ecstasy. Olivia Pinwell’s Madame de Tourvel was stoic in her refusal to be compromised but transitioned believably to simpering lover, Michelle Malawkin’s Madame de Volnages guarded her daughter’s chastity with fervent zeal, whilst Briellen Juracic stood out in her minor turn as the courtesan Emilie.

A highlight of Bruce Parr’s production was the late second-act fencing duel between Valmont and the Chevalier, which was worthy of any Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Peter Pinne

Sheehan, Mike Sheenhan, Carl Moore, Mechelle Anderson and Mike Harris brought the Gaelic humour to life.

The plot is full of everything that makes a good farce innuendo, compromising situations and mistaken identities.

It took a while for the characters and the plot to be interwoven but by the second act the goings on at the Patrick Pearse Motel were full on laughs.

A workable set and reliable technical support added to the enjoyment of the performance.

An enjoyable piece of theatre.

Roger McKenzie

Marat/Sade

By Peter Weiss. New Theatre (NSW). Oct 5 - Nov 5.

THOUGH the play is about the French Revolution (1789 and 1794), director Barry French asked: “What if this play, Two Jews Walk Into a Theatre… meant to be told by the inmates of the asylum of Devised and performed by Brian Lipson & Gideon Charenton, was told by the inmates of a contemporary Obarzanek. Directed & choreographed by Lucy Guerin. asylum centre?” It seems a fitting comparison. And it works Auspicious Arts Projects. Arts House at North Melbourne - amazingly effectively.

Town Hall. Aug 22 - 28.

Set in a high, square reinforced wire cage, the play SO… there are two old Jews sitting in a theatre foyer, begins with a bathtub-like boat rocking on a sea of waiting for a show. They are played by Brian Lipson and windswept waves, from which hands reach out for rescue.

Gideon Obarzanek, each of them acting (?), channelling (?) As the waves subside, the detainees are revealed crouching in their ‘prison’. his father. Mr. Lipson, a superb actor, creates a real character in voice, gesture and body language. Mr. French and his cast used real-life anecdotes to create Obarzanek, primarily a choreographer, plays it with a sort backstories for the rebellious, disturbed characters, which of solemn, tight stillness that works perfectly well in this are clearly and confrontingly sustained. Haunted eyes stare, context. voices sing with joy one moment, quiver in fear at the next.

Their ‘conversation’, under the direction of Lucy Guerin, Annette van Roden plays the revolutionary martyr Marat. is an improvisation that has been honed and practiced over Wrapped in white, she is a powerful presence, her intense, years. According to Mr. Obarzanek, playing their fathers is a red-rimmed eyes vacantly staring or flashing with the fire of way of getting outside themselves and gaining a new fanaticism. perspective.

Leading the ensemble in song to compositions by Nate Each father reveals that he is actually there to see his Edmonson are Irene Sarrinikolaou, Tim De Sousa, Debra son in the show - i.e. a show with Brian Lipson and Gideon Bryan and Patrick Howard. Their strength and energy are a Obarzanek. And so they go on, kvetching, sometimes vital part of the performance. talking past each other, Obarzanek Senior expounding These are but a few of the twenty-one strong cast that dogmatically, Lipson Senior checking his watch as if not all has worked so closely with Barry French to achieve this that interested. vibrant, confronting piece of theatre.

But as the differences between the two opinionated Carol Wimmer fathers become sharper, the conversation becomes darker and more and more heated… until their conflict becomes 12 Angry Men shocking and locks them into furious silence. And then the By Reginald Rose. Matt Byrne Media. Directed and Designed show takes a sudden and unexpected turn that throws all

by Matt Byrne. Holden Street Theatres, Hindmarsh, that’s gone before into a whole new light. switching into a Adelaide. Oct 12 - 29. whole new mode, with Bosco Shaw’s beautiful lighting MBM’s 12 Angry Men is a quality production. Despite design, to express what unites these two old Jews rather elements of artificiality, and moralising that is clunky by than what has divided them. today’s standards, there is plenty here that still provides Michael Brindley useful food for thought. Commentary about the legal system is the strongest aspect of the text, while its The Patrick Pearse Motel examinations of human nature and fallibility tend to score less consistently.

By Hugh Lennard. Players Theatre, Ballina. Director: Sue Belsham. Sep 9 - 18.

Byrne’s ensemble cast is a richly talented one, with any SUE Belsham makes a welcome return, directing this weaknesses vastly outweighed or otherwise compensated Irish Farce - full of blarney and shillelaghs and not a for. Director Byrne has shrewdly cast the less substantive leprechaun in sight. roles with actors who are visually striking, physically With acceptable Irish accents (which easily rolled off expressive, and who know how to communicate a lot with their tongues) the cast of Brook Lacy, Daniel Richards, Jaime a little.

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Stage Whispers 69

The reveal of David Grybowski as the initial dissenting juror is an effective surprise, as well as an unexpected, somewhat offbeat, and rather refreshing performance.

Byrne sometimes allows passages where excessive volume is used in an attempt to hold the attention and generate drama, with only mixed success.

The jury system, not to mention the justice system in general, must always be critically examined on a regular basis; so must prevailing beliefs that may be based purely in prejudice. These are among the reasons why a work like 12 Angry Men still has something to say to audiences.

Anthony Vawser

anger, expressed in flinging papers or slamming books, was palpable.

Anybody interested in how some of the Brontës’ famous works, particularly those by Charlotte, came into being will find a treat in this insightful reliving of Charlotte’s life.

John P. Harvey

Venus in Fur

By David Ives, based on the book by Leopold von SacherMasoch. Malanda Theatre Company. Oct 6-8.

MALANDA Theatre Company’s production of Venus in Fur was compelling drama.

The action centres around promising director/playwright Wolf Lullaby Thomas Novacheck (Howard Smith). Thomas has just

By Hilary Bell. Gold Coast Little Theatre, Southport. Director: finished an exhausting day auditioning actresses for a role Annie Lotocki. Sep 10 - Oct 1. in his new play. He is about to leave when Vanda Jordan CHLOE Finlay is a busy young lady with a great future (Kirsten Adams) arrives late. Vanda is keen to audition but ahead of her. Last week she was starring in Legally Blonde Thomas’s instant impression of her is that she is not right Jnr for the National Academy of Performing Arts and now for the role. Vanda soon removes any doubts Thomas had takes on the role of 9-year-old Lizzie Gael in Wolf Lullaby. as she begins to become much more than the actress that Her portrayal of the young girl was convincing, carrying the is required for the play. action for most of the play.

Smith and Adams gave wonderful performances in very Annie Lotocki has assembled a mixed cast of both demanding roles. Adams is an energy force, playing the experienced actors and young girls to bring this story to the seemingly erratic Vanda with great skill. Her sudden change GCLT stage. Other cast members include Jason Hayden, of accent and character greatly enhanced her powerful performance. Smith in turn played Thomas with great Peta Simeon, Thomas Warr and Viviane Gian, with the children played by Gabriella Oxley, Jessica Amour and control until he was finally subdued by Vanda’s personality, Chelsea Butron. sexuality and persuasiveness.

A simple set covered the action from where the body of This was quality theatre, on a bare set, delivered by two a 2-year-old boy was discovered in a deserted parcel of excellent actors. The direction by Graham Harrington was bush, to the police station and the Gael family home. All inventive and clever, exploring the tension simmering suspicion points to Lizzie. between the two protagonists.

A thought-provoking piece of Australian Theatre.

Ken Cotterill Roger McKenzie Our Country’s Good Miss Brontë

By Timberlake Wertenbaker. The Stirling Players. Stirling Community Theatre. Sep 23 - Oct 8.

Brave Theatre. Director: Lyndee-Jane Rutherford. The Q, Queanbeyan. Sep 8 - 10.

TIMBERLAKE Wertenbaker’s 1988 play Our Country’s THE literary output of the three Brontë sisters paints a Good is set in Governor Arthur Philip’s penal colony and varied picture of the inescapable confines of genteel rural poses the execution vs rehabilitation dilemma through a poverty. The authors well knew such poverty and its familiar theatrical device, a play within a play. limitations on opportunity, and well knew too that Amongst harsh conditions, Lieutenant Ralph Clark is marriage was the key to escaping it permanently, and that determined to produce George Farquhar’s play, The imagination was the key to doing so daily. Mel Dodge’s Recruiting Officer, as a means of rehabilitating some of the script, featuring Charlotte Brontë’s words from letters and convicts in the colony. conversation, has Charlotte speak of their lives in detail, and Directed by John Graham, there are technical strengths particularly of their writing habits and of Charlotte’s abiding in The Stirling Players’ production, but the end result misses but doomed love. the mark somewhat because of uneven characterisations Mel Dodge, who starred in this one-actress play, was among the large cast. energetic and emotional, sometimes addressing the Lee Cook is very good as Lieutenant Ralph Clark, audience as Emily or Anne, and at other times, after the portraying him as an earnest young man, never loss of all her siblings, as the audience more generally. judgemental and full of complete conviction that theatre Telling of a life interestingly and engagingly is can be transforming. Cook’s diction is excellent. challenging: there must be enough variety in mood and Dave Simms is superb in his two roles, as Major Robbie action to make it less than predictable, and the audience Ross and as hangman Ketch Freeman, switching from must feel that the story is being lived, not told. Dodge Scottish to Irish accent seamlessly. carried this off spectacularly well. At times it was difficult to On opening night I had difficulty understanding some believe that she was not truly weeping; at other times, her dialogue. It wasn’t due to the many inclusions of period slang in the script; it was a diction issue. Pace was slow in 70 Stage Whispers

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Photo: Brett Boardman.

the first act that night, but picked up a little in the second half of the play.

Set design is excellent, complemented by fine lighting design and very good sound design. Costumes are wonderful.

Playwright Wertenbaker recognises how complex her intelligent but very difficult play is, even wryly commenting through one character, ‘People who don’t pay attention shouldn’t come to the theatre.’

I paid attention, but unfortunately didn’t quite see what I’d hoped for.

Lesley Reed

Here the fairies of Titania (Paula Arundel) are toxic mutants and Matthew Backer’s agile Puck a late leftover from Mardi Gras. By midway, Williams has master-minded an artfully dystopian world, stripped of sentiment and, for all its modishness, good actors clear and articulate with the language.

Only later does this clarity and compelling verisimilitude begin to flag. As the lovers chase and scream after each other, and blood begins to stain the stage, the dark notes become monotonal, a straight-jacket to the play’s wit and wonder.

The bleary eyed lovers may have discovered themselves, but in this woodland what drives us to the end are the A Midsummer Night’s Dream village mechanicals.

By William Shakespeare. Sydney Theatre Company. Drama In a production already studded with invention, Josh Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Sep 12 - Oct 22.

McConville’s marvellous Bottom and his troupe stage the THIS Kip Williams STC telling of the Dream has nothing funniest version of that final little play that I’ve seen. Led by of the pastoral redemption and fairyland sweetness usual to Susan Prior and Bruce Spence, and deliciously characterised

by Alice Babidge’s costumes, they end up stealing the show Shakespeare’s play.

In Robert Cousins’ expansive white and black space, (and mocking its new dark themes). flanked by figures in terror hoods, Robert Menzies is Martin Portus suitably malevolent as Theseus. A stirring soundscape (Nate Edmondson with composer Chris Williams) rumbles The Recruiting Officer throughout and Damien Cooper’s lighting, initially at least, By George Farquhar. Blackwood Players. Blackwood 21, adds powerfully to the threat.

Blackwood. Sep 30 - Oct 15.

This is a tale, then, more about sex than love, and the GEORGE Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer is a ribald brutality of gender and sexual control; lessons for four 1706 comedy set in the town of Shrewsbury. Two officers, mismatched lovers as they wander the wilds stripped to womanising Captain Plume and manipulative Captain their underwear.

Brazen, create havoc as they press men into service and attempt to better their own ends through bribery and other Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 71

dealings. Shillings change hands, characters go in and out of disguise, assignations occur, marriages are plotted and everything goes hilariously awry.

One early production of The Recruiting Officer occurred in a sailcloth tent at Sydney Cove when white settlers first arrived on Australia’s shores.

Blackwood Players’ production of the comedy is a solid one and cleverly extends the concept of that original sailcloth tent. The entire stage of Blackwood 21 is enveloped… sides, back and above…with calico, creating a tent-like effect.

The standout performance comes from Ron Densley as Mr Worthy and Costar Pearmain. His energy never flags and his comic timing is marvellous.

Like all other South Australian shows that have opened in a week in which the state has suffered blackouts, heavy rain and flooding, Blackwood Players will have struggled to complete final dress rehearsals, but the company has overcome these hurdles. Overall, Blackwood’s production of The Recruiting Officer is enjoyable and worth venturing out on a cold Adelaide evening to see.

Lesley Reed Blackbird

By David Harrower. Throwing Shade Theatre Company / Sydney Fringe. Sep 6 - 10.

BLACKBIRD by Scotland’s David Harrower made its mark around the world after its debut at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005. Una has tracked Ray him down fifteen years after their brief relationship, when he was 40 and she just 12 years old.

In the messy staff room of where Ray has worked since his imprisonment, Blackbird leaps and flips through her anger, curiosity, abandonment and lost love ... and through his guilt, fear, affection and memory of lost passion. This is no text book case of paedophiliac abuse.

In a warehouse space, director Andrew Langcake works to deliver Harrower’s quick beats and mood changes, through that complexity of conflicting emotions. You can see the gear changes even when this cast drops the urgency and intensity required to drive them.

Eleanor Ryan though is impressive as Una, opening to the audience her loss and humiliation, and her foulmouthed regret at being sexualised so young. She also

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skilfully places us in Glasgow. William Jordan plays the mumbling, middle-aged uncertainty of Ray, flashing occasionally with anger, but it’s a more monotonal performance, less revealing.

Luckily Harrower’s masterly theatricalities continue to grab us by throat, as he plunges the room into darkness or has this lost duo explode into trashing the room. By end, when Una claws Ray for a revival of their passion and a mysterious newcomer walks through the door, it’s strong theatre.

Martin Portus Love, Love, Love.

By Mike Bartlett. Newcastle Theatre Company. NTC Theatre, Lambton. Aug 27 - Sep 10.

MIKE Bartlett’s comedy follows the lives of an English couple through more than 40 years, from their initial meeting as bright rock-garb-wearing 19-year-olds in 1967, when the Beatles song that opens with the title words was a big hit. But this play shows in subsequent scenes set in 1990 and 2011 that there is more to life than love.

As their 37-year-old daughter angrily declares in the final sequence, feeling that her parents have been too selfcentred, “You didn’t change the world - you bought it”.

Under Carl Caulfield’s direction, Richard Murray and Tracey Gordon made plausible the changing looks and relationships of Kenneth and Sandra as they moved from teenage romance to parenthood and retirement. Both into drugs and alcohol, they came together in the London flat of Kenneth’s older brother, Henry (Justin Smith), a hardworking man whose business attire was in marked contrast to their hippy clothing and hairstyles.

The pair were next seen in their early 40s, in a suburban house on the night of their daughter’s 16th birthday, with the girl, Rose (Beth Traynor), unhappy that her mother was late to a school concert where she was playing the violin.

And her 14-year-old younger brother, Jamie (Conagh Punch), wanted more attention from his parents. As one of the adults noted, life had become “house, children, work”.

In the final act, the retired parents were separated and living in a rural area, but got together amiably to discuss the problems of their children, now in their 30s. There is a more serious side to that last act, even though the smiles and laughs kept coming. It showed how removed the couple are from their baby-boomer teenage ideals, and left audience members thinking about their own lives.

Ken Longworth A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams. La Boite. Director: Todd McDonald.

Roundhouse Theatre, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane. Oct 15 - Nov 12.

I’M happy to report that La Boite’s new production of A Streetcar Named Desire by artistic director Todd McDonald delivers satisfying performances all around. Bridie Carter, best known for her portrayal of Tess Silverman McLeod in McLeod’s Daughters, is impressive in her Brisbane debut, bringing all of Blanche’s massive emotional baggage to the party. No fluttering moth, she cajoled, she whined, she

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A Streetcar Named Desire.

Photo: Dylan Evans.

Online extras!

New Orleans comes to Brisbane with La Boite’s A Streetcar Named Desire. https://youtu.be/1J1VuFbz5yo played the kittenish feline with knowing intent, and seduced using all the predatory charm in her arsenal. When she thought she was about to be raped by Mitch (Colin Smith) her ear-piercing cry of “fire” was explosive, but her build to Blanche’s final humiliation with Stanley (Travis McMahon) when he actually does rape her, was shattering.

It was a memorable performance.

So was Travis McMahon in the role made famous by Marlon Brando, a beer-swilling, working-class man, who was prone to fits of rage. McMahon also showed the softer and more tender side of the character with honesty.

Young actress Ngoc Phan played Blanche’s sister, Stella, in a very convincing performance of the role. The two are obviously not related but Phan captured the strength of the bond between sisters very well. Colin Smith, as Blanche’s enamoured and later disgusted suitor, found a nice mix of sympathy and anger in a vulnerable man.

Peter Pinne She Stoops to Conquer

By Oliver Goldsmith. Canberra Repertory. Directed by Tony Turner. Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra. Sep 2 - Oct 8.

GOLDSMITH’S classic comedy, commissioned to revive a dying genre and completed in 1771, takes a couple of love matches and throws in their path obstacles arising chiefly from the human need to be sure of the suitor’s suitability.

In this universality of motives, it translates successfully as

comedy for modern audiences. Relying less on linguistic cleverness than on straightforward deceits of universal application, the tale leads seemingly inexorably to disaster and disownment before resolving with a satisfying twist.

The play stands up well to the rapid pacing that its cast took it at, even if one or two lines were lost in the hurry of their delivery, and the plot, though intricate enough to intrigue, was not too difficult to follow easily.

Actors playing the landed gentry can easily overdo the pomposity that may come with the territory, but in general that was not a problem in this production, and, for the most part, learnt speech styles did not interfere at all with communication. The emotional swings and roundabouts were well handled by all.

The coordination between all the members of the fairly large cast was impressive, and they somehow managed to stay in character even as they doubled as ad hoc stagehands in changing sets. The musical soundtrack that delineated various scenes was interestingly appropriate and energetic, and lighting, as usual in Rep productions, so suited the scenes that it was all but unnoticeable, which is, usually anyway, just as it should be.

If you’re in any doubt as to whether this eighteenthcentury play can hold your attention and give you a good laugh, you needn’t be. It’s a rollicking good show. Don’t miss it.

John P. Harvey

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Stage Whispers 73

Reviews: Musicals

Online extras!

Ever wondered where the rain in Spain falls? Stage Whispers TV has the answer. https://youtu.be/pIQj-ydyOEc My Fair Lady

By Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. John Frost / Opera Australia. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House.

Opening night: Sep 6. Touring in 2017.

SLIP into your seats as producers John Frost and Opera Australia throw the switch on their theatrical time capsule, transporting us to 1956, the height of Broadway’s Golden Age of Musical Theatre.

My Fair Lady’s overture, encapsulating Frederick Loewe’s timeless score, is delivered in all its glory by a lavish 32 piece orchestra.

Celebrating its 60th Anniversary, My Fair Lady is back, lovingly staged by Dame Julie Andrews. Oliver Smith’s original sets and Cecil Beaton’s stunning costumes have been painstakingly reproduced, making the evening a visual treat.

British leading man Alex Jennings’ Professor Henry Higgins is a convincing, originally nuanced portrayal of a passionate, crusty academic loner, short on tact, sensitivity and interpersonal skills.

Anna O’Byrne’s Eliza Doolittle is a strong contemporary woman from the outset. Her Eliza delights throughout her compelling personal and vocally delightful musical chrysalis from cockney flower seller.

Tony Llewellyn-Jones’ Colonel Pickering is made of stalwart British Empire stuff. Reg Livermore’s Music Hall turns as Alfred P Doolittle are boisterous romps, which utterly delight.

Robyn Nevin’s Mrs Higgins, full of dry wit, Deidre Rubenstein’s salt-of-the-earth housekeeper Mrs Pearce, and 74 Stage Whispers

My Fair Lady.

Photo: Jeff Busby.

David Whitney’s over-the-top Zoltan Karpathy, all impress in significant smaller roles.

As Freddie, sadly Mark Vincent’s acting never matches his marvellous vocal chops, displayed to advantage in “On the Street Where You Live.”

Christopher Gattelli’s excellent choreography is mostly subtle and supportive of the moment, but is lively and energetic in “I’m Getting Married in the Morning” and nails the social satire of the “Ascot Gavotte.”

The ensemble cross seamlessly between the show’s social classes. They waltz elegantly at the Embassy Ball, posture rigidly at Ascot and kick up their heels in the market district, where the male harmonies are another highlight of the evening.

We have indeed been treated to a lavish, loving recreation of this classic musical, in a flashback to Broadway 60 years ago.

Neil Litchfield Wicked Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz, Book: Winnie Holzman.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire. Ipswich Musical Theatre Company. Director: Robbie Parkin. Music Director: Robert Clark, Choreographer: Simon Lind. Ipswich Civic Centre. Sep 9 - 18.

SOMETIMES the line between a top community theatre production and a professional one can be very thin indeed, and that’s what we saw in Ipswich Musical Theatre’s production of Wicked. With so many pros on board behind -the-scenes and ex-Wicked Wiz Simon Gallagher stepping

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in as casting director, the result was pro-am musical theatre at its finest.

Heidi Enchelmaier thrilled as Elphaba, delivering her vocals like a true Voice diva and bringing grit and pathos to her performance. The first act finale “Defying Gravity” was as powerful as any I’ve seen, which deservedly resulted in thunderous applause. Annabelle Harbison’s Glinda ticked all the right boxes too, showing perky and ditzy along with an underlying insecurity, she worked the quirks of the character for maximum effect.

Fyero, the object of both women’s dreams, was insanely likeable in the hands of William Toft, and with Enchelmaier scored big-time with the show’s big-ballad, “As Long As You’re Mine”. Robert Shearer’s Wizard was ebullient, not too nasty when his evil intent had been revealed, and built “Wonderful” into a good old-fashioned musical-comedy showpiece.

Murry Keidge’s sound and Owen Forsythe’s lighting added professional sheen as did Simon Lind’s choreography. Astute direction by Robbie Parkin kept the show buoyant and on track with Robert Clark’s eighteenpiece keyboard heavy orchestra an overall dynamic presence.

Peter Pinne Wicked Metropolitan Players. Civic Theatre, Newcastle. Aug 24 Sep 3.

THIS staging of the musical subtitled “The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz” had audiences in wide-eyed awe.

A basic set that looked like the framework of a warehouse became an amazing range of places, including fields and castle rooms, through colourful backdrops, props and costumes. When the story moved to the Emerald City, for example, all the costumes were different shades and pattern mixes of green.

The performances of the large cast, led by Rachel Davies as green-skinned and caring Elphaba and Tayla Choice as blonde good-time girl, Glinda, brought out the natures of the characters. And the uncertainties of Chris Maxfield’s Wizard showed that he was more sinned against than sinning.

Elphaba and Glinda (initially known as Galinda) were reluctant to share a room, with Elphaba unsmiling as Glinda told her in the bright song Popular how to attract people. And Elphaba’s subsequent private response, I’m Not That Girl, as she watches Glinda flirting with men at a party showed how the green skin has deprived her of confidence. But friendship between the two gradually developed, with Davies and Choice making their relationship amusing and moving.

Ken Longworth Wicked Free-Rain Theatre Company. Directed by Shaun Rennie. The Canberra Theatre. Oct 19 - 28.

“I CAN’T help it, whenever they hit those long high notes I tear up,” said a young woman behind me, pretty much summing up the audience reaction. Free-Rain’s

Wicked has all the polish and spectacle of the Sydney production at a fraction of the cost. If anything, it benefits from more talent and less annoying cameo. There’s plenty of stage magic here courtesy of background projections, theatrical smoke and a glorious lighting design by Phil Goodwin, culminating in the spectacular climax of Defying Gravity. A talented cast full of triple threats is headed up by Loren Hunter as a delightful Elphaba, and Laura Murphy, who makes Glinda more adorable than cloying.

Cathy Bannister In Wicked, you discover everything you learned in Wizard of Oz is a lie. Without spoilers, the main difference is that the Wicked Witch of the West isn’t that wicked and probably isn’t of the west either.

Loren Hunter was excellent as Elphaba. I really liked Glinda’s physical comedy. She used over-exaggerated poses like an animated character.

Defying Gravity is the iconic climax to the first half. The singing was fantastic, but I think they overdid the fog machine a bit because the cast was a bit lost in it! There’s plenty of glitter and glamour in Emerald City, and the Wizard’s room had lots of green LED lights which gave it a game show feel. I was impressed by the Wizard head which was loud and freaky, exactly what it’s meant to be.

That said, the time I found it most striking was when they didn’t use all the coloured lighting, which was when Elphaba and Fiyero were in hiding. The understated lighting in this scene helped bring a sense of nervousness and foreboding.

No self-respecting musical lover should miss Wicked!

Zoe Bannister Always ... Patsy Cline Created and originally directed by Ted Swindley. HIT Productions. Touring director: Denny Lawrence. Musical Director: Ross Sermons. Theatre Royal, Hobart Oct 18, and touring.

WHAT is a legend, and why? Always ... Patsy Cline has been one of the most produced musicals in America and has also been enjoyed internationally by audiences in Canada, the UK and Australia. This new production directed

by Denny Lawrence is completing an Australia-wide tour.

The secret of the success of the show must be the enduring music of Patsy Cline. The warmth of the polished production, with Courtney Conway as Patsy Cline and Mandi Lodge as Louise Seger is immediate and all encompassing. With twenty seven songs, there was a favourite for everyone (mine was “Walking After Midnight”).

Always...Patsy Cline is more than a tribute to the legendary country singer who died tragically at age 30 in a plane crash in 1963. The show is based on a true story about Cline’s endearing friendship with Houston fan Louise Seger, who befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk in l961 and continued a correspondence with Cline until her death.

Courtney Conway was WOW! An angel to look at - a dream to listen to. The simple yet gorgeous costumes captured the look and feel of the era. Mandi Lodge has

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Stage Whispers 75

charisma to burn, keeping the show moving as the other major character, complete with lovely backing vocals.

Musical Director Ross Sermons as guitarist and drummer Tommy Harrison made up The Bobacious Bobcats Band, Patsy Cline’s stage band. Delightful, heart-warming - pure entertainment!

Merlene Abbott Oklahoma!

By Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2nd. SQUIDS Theatrical Inc. Director: Nathaniel Currie.Musical Director: Julie Whiting. Choreographer: Jessica Limmer. Redcliffe Cultural Centre, Qld. Sep 9 - 17.

WITH bales of hay on each side of the proscenium arch and dances of the hoedown and square dance variety, SQUIDS effectively brought the bucolic charm of Oklahoma!’s turn-of-the-century story to life.

Byron Philip’s Curly had cowboy written all over him, not shy with wooing a girl nor picking a fight and singing in clear ringing tones as cowboys are wont to do in this idealised scenario about taking his “gal” to the “box social”.

“Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’“ set the tone and he sealed it with “People Will Say We’re In Love”. Courtney Underhill’s Laurie was more Annie Oakley than sweet young thing, so she had no trouble capturing the wilful, independent-woman streak of the character. Vocally her head range was a bit shrill but otherwise the performance was agreeably feisty.

Josh Cathcart and Liana Hanson were the perfect Will Parker and Ado Annie. He danced with flair, particularly in “Kansas City”, whilst she milked every laugh and made a meal of “I Can’t Say No”. Sharon Walkerden’s no-nonsense Aunt Eller, Brett Roberts’ scheming Persian peddler, and Simon Ah-Him’s menacing Jud Fry, all added immeasurably to this enjoyable production.

Musical director guru Julie Whiting did sterling work in the pit as the chorus, young and old, sang their hearts out.

Nathaniel Currie’s directorial vision was the key element of the production’s success.

Peter Pinne Nice Work If You Can Get It Music: George Gershwin. Lyrics: Ira Gershwin. Book: Joe DiPietro inspired by material by Guy Bolton & P.G. Wodehouse. Savoyards. Director: Sherryl-Lee Secomb.

Musical Director: Geoffrey Secombe. Choreographer: Desney Toia-Sinapati. Iona Performing Arts Centre, Wynnum East, Qld. Sep 24 - Oct 8.

IN NICE Work if You Can Get It every convention of a twenties musical comedy is pulled into service, from showgirls popping up out of a bath, to mistaken identities, disguises, and as many hoary old jokes as Joe DiPietro could cram into his script.

The character of Cookie McGee, the gangster-turnedbutler, is the star of the show and couldn’t be in better hands than those of Warryn James, who has a field day with the vaudeville schtick the role requires. Whether fending off the romantic advances of the inebriated 76 Stage Whispers

Duchess or being a riot serving courses in the wedding breakfast scene, he was deliciously funny.

His partner in crime, Emily Vascotto, was also a delight as Billie Bendix, the bootlegger who falls for the rich guy, and sang the Gershwin songs with charm. As the playboy Jimmy, Clay English did what he could with a sappy role, sang pleasantly and worked hard in his dance routines.

Jacqui Cuny surprised as the Duchess. Although her “Demon Rum” vocal got lost in the sound-mix, she more than made up for it with her drunk duet with James in “Looking for a Boy”. Grace Clarke as Eileen Evergreen couldn’t have been cuter in the bath in “Delishious” and later got maximum laugh-mileage out of the wedding train gag.

Peter Pinne Patience

By Gilbert and Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Sydney.

Shore School. Sep 30 - Oct 8.

ELEGANT and stylish, this production had class stamped all over it, from the detailed backdrop, to beautiful costumes, excellent diction and sumptuous orchestra.

Local Gilbert scribe Melvyn Morrow provided updates to the libretto, bringing everyone from Mike Baird to Justin Bieber into the mix. It was very pleasing to hear every syllable sung by Anthony Mason as Colonel Calverley.

Overall it was a traditional interpretation of the operetta, written in the 1880’s as a satire of the Aesthetic movement led by Oscar Wilde.

Dean Sinclair as Reginald Bunthorne milked every pose as he glided across the stage. His rival, Mitch Bryson as Archibald Grosvenor, was equally amusing as the image of narcissism.

Adding to the revelry was the skilful lisp employed by Spencer Darby (who has a name that sounds splendidly Victorian) as the Duke of Dunstable.

Although the girls rarely get the good character roles in Gilbert and Sullivan, Patience is refreshing in that the women ignore the dapper men in uniform and instead fall for the effete poets.

This production was well directed by Elizabeth Lowrencev, especially in balancing the need for nonprofessional singers to stay still to focus on mastering the music and making all movements count.

Rod Mounjed’s orchestra had already earned their keep by the end of the overture.

This company knows how to bring sparkle to less popular operettas.

David Spicer Disney’s The Little Mermaid

By Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Glenn Slater and Doug Wright. Phoenix Ensemble. Pavilion Theatre, Beenleigh, Qld. Sep 30 - Oct 22.

THE magic of Disney is not always easy to recreate, yet thanks to Morgan Garrity’s direction, Phoenix Ensemble’s production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid is indeed magical.

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Grease.

Photo: Mary Quade.

Lauren Ashlea Fraser is the real-life recreation of Ariel, the title mermaid, with a voice like an angel and the personality to match. She’s a magical Disney princess.

Never crabby but always the crab, Mike Zarate took on the comedic portrayal of Sebastian through his vigorously executed accent and recognizable songs. Shelley Scott displayed physical strength and vocal training as Ursula, the sinister antagonist; her energy and vocal presence never faltered. David Harrison’s hilarious performance as Chef Louis left parents and children in fits of laughter - a wellchoreographed chase scene had even the oldest of us feeling like kids watching an old-school cartoon chase.

Alexander Thanasoulis has charm as love-bound Prince Eric and David Hamblyn is suitably pushy and deferential as his guardian Grimsby. Stephen Morris displays authority and command as Ariel’s father, King Triton. Special mention goes to young Zak Drew as the ever loyal and ohso cute Flounder, who stole the show in his moments with Ariel. The wonderful ensemble of Ariel’s sisters danced, sang and acted as one - great choreography and work by all of the girls. David Williamson puts a lot of energy into the comical seagull Scuttle, leading a lively (if superfluous) tap dance with the other gulls to the song “Positoovity”.

The band, led by Julie Whiting, is nothing short of phenomenal. Everything about this production created a realm of a great childhood Disney story.

Mel Bobbermien

Grease

By Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey. Toowoomba Philharmonic Society. Director: Cherie Vera. Musical Director: Joe Goodman. Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, Qld. Sep 23 - 25.

DANIEL Erbacker’s choreography was the star of this production. The first act finale “We Go Together” had the entire company of 36 dancing in synchronisation and it was euphoric, with the energy levels off the charts. Every musical number was enhanced by Erbacker’s movement, which captured the 1950’s era to perfection.

Lachlan Schoenfisch had the requisite cool swagger and greaser attitude for Danny and showed off some decent vocal and acting chops. If his performance was a little short on teenage angst, he more than made up for it with his terrific rock ‘n’ roll dance moves. Julia Winning’s Sandy sang sweetly, looked virginal for most of the show, and did an amazing transformation into an Olivia Newton Johnclone for the finale.

The boys, Christopher Staples (Kenickie), Ryan Paroz (Doody), Jack Lee (Sonny) and Ben Apsey (doing double duty as co-producer and Roger), not only made their mark with “Greased Lightnin’,” but dominated the prom with “Born to Hand Jive.”

Maddie Hargens’s Rizzo had plenty of tough-girl veneer masking a touching vulnerability, Sarah Holcombe’s Patty registered strongly as a cheerleader, while Heather Hagemann had fun with the frequently out-of-her-depth Miss Lynch. Flanked by a bevy of beauteous Angels, Dylan Ashton’s “Beauty School Dropout” was a showstopper.

Peter Pinne

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Stage Whispers 77

Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Photo: David Haddy.

Thoroughly Modern Millie Music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan, and a book

by Richard Morris and Scanlan. G and S Society of South Australia. The Arts Theatre, Adelaide. Sep 28 - Oct 8.

THOROUGHLY Modern Millie is a Tony Award winning musical based on the 1967 movie starring Julie Andrews.

Always a hit with audiences, David Sinclair is to be congratulated for his vision and staging for this show and for assembling such a talented cast.

From the moment Millie (Alana Shepherdson) entered the stage, she commanded it. Transforming from a drab ‘wannabe’ girl to a ‘modern’ during the show’s title number, Shepherdson, dressed in an outfit reminiscent of a New York Taxi cab, truly took us on a joyful tour of this city.

Special mention for a wonderful character portrayal of Mrs Meers has to go to Pam O’ Grady. This talented veteran of Adelaide theatre had the audience in stitches. Mitchell Smith brought Jimmy Smith to life. A true talent - his singing, dancing and acting could not be faulted. Emily Wood’s portrayal of Miss Dorothy was suitably innocent and over the top and her beautiful soprano voice was a joy to the ear. Buddy Dawson as Trevor Graydon revelled in his role, hamming it up as the pompous, self-obsessed boss who ultimately falls in love with Miss Dorothy.

Wonderful dance numbers by Shenayde Wilkinson-Sarti, flawless music led by Heather Elliot and stunning technical detail in projection and set design, coupled with talented direction by David Sinclair made this show a joy to watch.

Shelley Hampton 78 Stage Whispers

Anything Goes Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter. Book: Timothy Crouse and John Weidman based on the original by P.G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsay & Russell Crouse. Babirra Music Theatre. Director: Tyler Hess. Musical Director: Anthony Barnhill. Choreographer: Craig Wiltshire. Oct 7 - 15.

WITH Anything Goes Babirra have reached new heights.

The set was amazing! Walking into the auditorium we found portholes along the walls, with projections, often depicting the ocean.

The overture started and four tap dancers went into action, and as the music changed, other characters appeared. Not only was there music for the scene changes, but the tap dancers often reappeared. In “All Through the Night” Billy wanders out of his cell to the side of the ship to sing, the stage goes dark as the set is changed and Hope comes down the staircase to join him and finally the bars of his cell drop down from the flies as the song finishes. It was magic.

Sharon Wills sang and danced up a storm as Reno Sweeney, presenting a likeable character. Adam Bianco crooned beautifully as Billy, and his falsetto was a delight.

Olivia Fildes was a convincing Hope, torn between love and duty.

The strength of the cast was evident when the comics got a chance to sing. Adam Jon, as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, and Emily Mignot, as Erma, were both suitably over the top. However, in the second half they both had their chance to shine vocally, and shine they did. Ben Moody was a very funny Moonface, who also sang well.

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I thought Crazy for You had a lot of dancing, but Anything Goes seemed to top that. They warned us the act 1 finale was coming, and it must have gone for at least ten minutes of high energy, tight, well-choreographed tap dancing. There was a real buzz at interval.

The sound was generally good and the lighting excellent. The orchestra was top notch.

Graham Ford

Doing much of the heavy lifting was James Watkinson as the fraudster, Frank Abignale Jnr. His easy manner and excellent music theatre tenor were ideally suited to this role.

As his nemesis, Special Agent Carl Hanratty, Alexander Hatzikostas gave an edgy performance of this obsessed policeman.

Andrew Dempster and Gracie O’Neill were Frank’s dysfunctional parents, both with excellent voices and strong acting. Belle Power was delightful as Frank’s fiancée Brenda.

Pippin There were no weak links here. The choreography was Book by Roger O. Hirson. Music and Lyrics by Stephen tight, there were many excellent voices, sometimes with just Schwartz. Directed by Robert Bell. South Coast Choral and a line or two. This was a high energy show.

Arts Society. Victor Harbor Town Hall. Oct 8 - 22.

The only problem was the sound. The excellent band SOMETIMES a piece of musical theatre is so unusual, so were often too loud for the audience to catch all the words. stimulating, and so risky, it generates immense satisfaction, This was a minor blemish in a highly entertaining evening. in spite of certain flaws on display. Pippin is one such Graham Ford experience.

Jack Doherty is an ideal embodiment of the appealing Our House protagonist with much to learn. His is a story told Music and lyrics by Madness and a book by playwright Tim Firth. Genesian Theatre. Sep 3 - Oct 8. unconventionally, making bold use of black humour and sensual imagery, as well as employing sophisticated selfSET in London, and based on the songs of ska/pop band comment through the narration of the Leading Player, Madness, this musical follows the two roads that sixteenbrought to life with energy and magnetism by Emily-Jo year-old Joe Casey could take after breaking into a block of Davidson. flats. The ‘right’ road leads to a custodial sentence and a Jacqui Maynard’s expert musical direction of the prison record; the ‘wrong’ to a life of crime and a guilty conscience. orchestra has resulted in a lively and supple sound, but it has a tendency to overwhelm the singers, despite them all Add the ‘spectre’ of Joe’s father (Geoff Stone) watching wearing microphones. Davidson’s vocals at times seem his son make similar mistakes to this own, and his loyal oddly pitched, as if the score were being played in a register mother (Melanie Robinson), and you have what director that was unsuitable for her.

Roger Gimblett describes as a ‘modern morality tale’ With music that lends itself to contemporary jazz The ensemble chorus, as well as being strikingly costumed and made-up, are simply but solidly choreography and down-to-earth London characters, Tim choreographed, providing a level of visual texture whenever Firth’s play won an Olivier Award for best new musical in they appear. Lighting and set design tend to be basic but 2003. are never really inadequate.

Despite designer Owen Gimblett’s effort to use as little This is a show that is far easier to enjoy than it is to of the stage as possible to establish a London housing describe - so if you like to be taken on an unpredictable estate, the stage is really too cramped for twelve people to adventure, one that’s a little weird, a little edgy, and a little dance, yet Debbie Smith’s uncomplicated steps, enhanced gem, treat yourself to Pippin. by complex arm movements are extremely effective, Anthony Vawser especially in Wings of a Dove.

Matt Clark copes well with the complexity of playing both the ‘good’ Joe and the ‘spiv’ Joe. He is an engaging Catch Me If You Can performer who relates well with his ‘adopted’ brothers Book by Terrance McNally. Lyrics by Marc Shaiman. Music

by Scott Whittman and Marc Shaiman. OCPAC. Director/ Emmo (Mark Kruize) and Lewis (Jonty Davies-Conyngham), Choreographer: Sam Hooper. Musical Director: Dave both of whom are versatile performers, and his girlfriend Barclay. MGH, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Kew (Vic).

Sarah (Rachel Hertz), especially in their duet, It Must be Sep 10 - 17.

Love.

THIS was my second encounter with OCPAC and I was Carol Wimmer again blown away by the professionalism of the production.

The Hatpin Though I hadn’t seen the film, I was aware of Catch Me Music by Peter Rutherford, book and lyrics by James Millar.

If You Can the Musical and pleasantly surprised to see how UMMTA. Director: Jordan Peters. Musical Director: well it adapted to the stage. The music was strongly Alexandre Guérin. Choreographer: Elle Richards. Union influenced by jazz, which was very suitable for the subject Theatre, University of Melbourne. Sep 16 - 24.

THE Hatpin was a brave choice, but not unsurprising matter.

The bare stage had a walkway at the back, allowing for from a university company. It is Australian, dark and different levels, and various pieces of furniture were moved relatively recent. Box office poison, but so worthwhile. on and off as appropriate, allowing the action to flow. The It was quite different from the previous professional lighting was excellent. production I’d seen, making excellent use of back Longer versions of many reviews can now be found at www.stagewhispers.com.au

Stage Whispers 79

projections and lighting effects. Furniture was moved on and off for various scenes and the action flowed. The choreography was tight and the ensemble singing beautifully balanced.

Eleanor Davey played Amber Murray, the single mother forced to give up her baby to the Makins, never to see him again. She rode her emotional rollercoaster with conviction, and her excellent singing voice was a delight.

As her friend, Harriet Piper, Emma Gordon-Smith was with her every step of the way, and her dark voice was an excellent contrast. Thomas Kitt-Thompson, Grace Haslinghouse and Belle Wiemers were the evil Makins, appropriately cold and aloof. The smaller roles were all well taken.

The only issue was the sound. The orchestra was good but words were often missed.

A rare opportunity to see an excellent production of one of the gems of Australian Music Theatre.

Graham Ford Young Frankenstein

By Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan. Miranda Musical Society. Co-Directors and Co-Choreographers: Lolly Butler and Gavin Leahy. Sutherland Entertainment Centre. Sep 21 - 25.

MIRANDA’S Young Frankenstein is as spectacular as it is fun. The cast gets all the vaudeville, innuendo, double entendre, single entendre, and slapstick (or should that be schlappshtick?) absolutely right.

Bouquets to Col Peet for his spectacular set and graphics in the backdrop, and James Worner for the hair and

costumes. All were enhanced by Tim Dennis’s lights and David Betteridge’s sound. The scene where the creature is brought to life is eye-poppingly effective.

Set and costumes are nothing without a top-notch ensemble creating scene and mood merely by character, and here the ensemble does just that.

The cameos are standouts: Tyler Hoggard’s Victor von Frankenstein, Tim Wotherspoon’s blind hermit, Wayne Thomas’s Inspector, Hayden Sip’s Ziggy the Village Idiot, and Nathan Farrow’s baritone solos never upstage but always enhance.

Lachlan O’Brien as young Frankenstein kept away from Gene Wilder’s version and gave us a more manic Matthew Broderick from The Producers. Johnny Acosta as Igor was brilliant and lovable. Jess Farrell as Inga captures innocence and coquette, with a nice homage to Basic Instinct, and Cheryl O’Brien’s Frau Blucher can make my horses neigh any time.

There was some lack of diction, enunciation, and projection brought on by keeping the pace moving, but this felt very much like an opening night thing.

Peter Novakovich Beauty and the Beast Composer: Alan Menken. Lyricists: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice. Book by Linda Woolverton. Wyong Musical Theatre Company. Director: Amanda Daniel. Musical Director: Suzanne Stein. Choreographer: Karen Ophel. Sep 23 - Oct 1.

BRINGING the magic, comedy and romance of the film to the stage is a big challenge for professional theatre

Young Frankenstein.

80 Stage Whispers

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Beauty And The Beast.

companies, let alone a small, community theatre group.

WMTC took to the challenge bravely.

By hiring lavish sets and costumes from various sources and with the help of sensational lighting - the look and feel of this production was first rate. The diverse 50+ member cast brought the enthusiasm to match.

Jade Draper added a soulful touch to the feisty Belle, demonstrating her range with beautifully delivered ballads.

She shared great chemistry with Morgan Lazaro - who did well to balance the alternating belligerence and softness of The Beast.

Those larger than life characters of Gaston, Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts were all played with relish by Matthew Lawrence, Scott Goodacre, Jamie Sturgess and Jillian Logan. Strong support from Duane Shore, Jessica Nader, Brooke Garvey, Mikayla Burnham and Thomas Sutherland (Maurice, Chip, Babette, Madame de la Grande Bouche and Lefou) rounded out an engaging principal cast.

Amanda Daniel’s team can feel justifiably encouraged by healthy audience numbers - auguring well for the future of a company that has endured it’s share of struggles, but now grows from year to year - a fitting testament to their long-standing, core membership.

Rose Cooper Leap of Faith Music by Alan Menken. Lyrics by Glenn Slater. Book by Janus Cercone and Glenn Slater. Rockdale Musical Society.

Rockdale Town Hall. Sep 9 - 17.

BASED on the 1992 film, the musical Leap of Faith tells the story of a charismatic travelling religious charlatan who

finds himself in love with the female sheriff of a small Kansas town.

The slight, under-written book barely holds the numbers in Alan Menken and Glenn Slater’s Gospel driven score apart, but that just makes the night all about the impressive singing.

With seven vocally demanding roles, RMS has assembled a septet of impressive community theatre talent. An abundance of gospel songs provide ample opportunities for Tanya Boyle, April Neho and Sally Redman to let loose vocally, and they raise the roof.

As shonky preacher Jonas Nightingale, Daniel O’Connell shows his metal in a mix of big theatrical numbers to establish Jonas’ showmanship, then touching duets with Jessica James-Moody as Sherriff Marla McGowan, and Jordan Fuller as her crippled son Jake. Jessica’s Marla is a passionate, down-to-earth performance, impressively sung, while Jordan’s Jake is credible and engaging.

Earnest young preacher Isiah becomes Jonas’ real adversary, and Louis Vincinguerra makes him obnoxious enough to shift our sympathies to anti-hero Jonas.

The ensemble give their all to create the spirit of the show’s revivalist numbers, energising Craig Nhobbs’ lively arm choreography.

Director Elle Zattera and team have come up with a seemingly simple set concept, well executed, in which the revivalist tent is raised before our eyes.

Even though Leap of Faith isn’t a great musical, and a Broadway flop, within its limitations it gets a lively, snappily -paced production.

Neil Litchfield

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Stage Whispers 81

Our Turn!

Our Turn!

Directors: Paul Sabey, Megan Shorey, Kate Wilson, Michael Futcher. Musical Director: Heidi Loveland. Griffith University Musical Theatre. Burke Street Studio, Wooloongabba, Brisbane Oct 18 - 22, Melbourne Nov 3 - 5, Sydney Nov 7 - 8.

THE 3rd year Musical Theatre Showcase for 2016 was an exciting program of young talent displaying their musical and acting chops. At just over an hour long and with 30 graduates performing, it was a tight non-stop mix of material from mainly on and off Broadway. Each student chose their own party-piece and had a minute and a half in which to showcase the essence of their talent.

There were many highlights and far too many vignettes to mention individually but some that impressed were Hannah Grondin’s full-throated delivery of “My Man” (Ziegfeld Follies), Christopher Thompson’s fun “In My Pocket” (A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder), Samuel Skuthorp’s passionate “Her Voice” (The Little Mermaid), Matthew Yates’s funny “I Am Aldolpho” (The Drowsy Chaperone), and Ellie Nunan’s turn as Sally Bowles on the title tune from Cabaret.

Acting snippets that hit their mark were Christopher Thompson and Samuel Skuthorp in a scene from Tommy Murphy’s Holding the Man, Isaac Lindley’s army sergeant in We Were Soldiers, Eliesha Anne Keeling’s grab from Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally, and Shannen Sarstedt and Thomas Armstrong-Robley’s couple from American Beauty.

My favourite pieces in the showcase each year are always the ensemble work with the company singing in pitch-perfect harmony. This year they opened the show 82 Stage Whispers

with a lovely-lyrical arrangement of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” (The Sound of Music), closed it with “Our Turn”, a number especially written for the company by creative director Megan Shorey, and in between had the female ensemble sing A Chorus Line’s classic introspective number “The Music and the Mirror.”

Best of all however was the male ensemble with a striking and stirring arrangement of the pop song “He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother.” It thrilled.

There were also some dramatic scenes shot on video and the show opened with an effective cast run-down to introduce each artist.

Accompaniment was by Heidi Loveland on piano, Michael Boulus on violin, and Christopher Thomson on percussion. The program proved once again (if we needed any proof), that the future of our musical theatre is in very good hands.

Peter Pinne The Mystery of Edwin Drood

By Rupert Holmes. Spotlight Theatre, Benowa, Gold Coast.

Director: Andrew Cockcroft-Penman. Oct 21 - Nov 12.

THIS “Solve It Yourself” Musical is a piece that requires an “all star” cast and Andrew Cockcroft-Penman, Musical Director Shari Ward and Choreographers Jamie Watt, Clay English and Ebony Rose have assembled one of the best.

The title role is a “trouser” part beautifully played by Sally Wood. Her cohorts in this dastardly mystery: Chris Catherwood - John Jasper; Terri Woodfine - Rosa Budd;

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Andrew Cockcroft-Penman - Chairman and Lee Patterson as Princess Puffer were all individually and collectively evil! The supporting artists (equally unsavoury) added their devious goings on to the mystery with élan. Hardly offstage from pre-show to curtain call, they all worked hard to cast aspersions and confuse the audience.

One pitfall in an otherwise great production was bad diction. When the lyrics are an essential part of the play (as in Gilbert and Sullivan) one was often left perplexed trying to follow the plot because of poor delivery of the ‘musical patter’.

With a great one-scene set and bright, colourful costumes, the mystery unfolded with a feeling of showmanship flowing across the footlights.

It was interesting to see the younger members of the ensemble performing like seasoned troopers.

Roger McKenzie Aida Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang, based on the opera by Verdi. Pantseat Performing Arts and WEA Hunter Academy of Creative Arts. Civic Playhouse, Newcastle. Sept 8 - 10.

I MUST admit it took me a while to get used to the style of this musical adaptation of the famous opera story about a passionate love affair between the title character, a Nubian princess, and Radames, an Egyptian military leader who has taken her captive.

But once I accepted the light-hearted joking references to things such as alcohol consumption the story flow became engaging through the delivery of the contemporary -style songs by Elton John and Tim Rice. The framing device, with a statue of an Egyptian princess, Amneris, coming to life in a museum to introduce the tale in the song “Every Story is a Love Story”, paved the way for what followed.

Director Lia Bundy and the production team drew excellent performances from a large cast, predominantly Diploma of Musical Theatre students, and the technical work, such as framing the romantic trio of Aida, Radames and Amneris inside a lighting pyramid as they pondered their conflicted loyalties and emotions in “A Step Too Far”, helped the development of the characters.

Mitchell Cox brought out the increasingly troubled nature of Radames, who is betrothed to Amneris through the machinations of his power-hungry father, with his forthright introductory song, “Fortune Favours the Brave”, in which he praised his soldiers as they returned to Egypt, a marked contrast to the heartfelt later duet with Aida, “Written in the Stars”, when she persuades him to go ahead with his marriage ceremony, even though it could impact on the lives of herself and her father.

Jamahla Barron and Aretha Williams, who alternated in the season as Aida, revealed the patriotic determination of Aida to stand by Nubia and its people, leading her fellow prisoners in the gospel-style “The Gods Love Nubia”, a stunning ensemble number.

Ken Longworth

PERFORMING ARTS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016. VOLUME 25, NUMBER 6 ABN 71 129 358 710 ISSN 1321 5965

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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, Brian Adamson, Cathy Bannister, Mel Bobbermien, Michael Brindley, Rose Cooper, Kerry Cooper, Ken Cotterill, Coral Drouyn, Graham Ford, Peter Gotting, Lucy Graham, Shelley Hampton, John P. Harvey, Tony Knight, Neil Litchfield, Ken Longworth, Rachel McGrath-Kerr, Roger McKenzie, Peter Novakovich, Peter Pinne, Martin Portus, Lesley Reed, Lisa Romeo, Suzanne Sandow, Kimberley Shaw, David Spicer, Anthony Vawser and Carol Wimmer.

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Stage Whispers 83

Musical Spice

Stage Whispers, now celebrating its 25th Anniversary, has had its ups and downs, like any small business. In its glory days during the 1990’s, before the internet, it came out eleven times a year, was a good read, and employed two or three people on full-time wages.

It had curious beginnings. One early owner, Kerry de Pradines, was a snooker champion and not interested in the performing arts at all. However every issue she would pay close attention to the advertisements - which kept the magazine going.

On one occasion she almost accidentally extinguished Stage Whispers by deciding to pour the magazine’s profits into a new magazine about something she wanted to read. Alas her pool hall publication flopped.

Years later the business did go broke, after an ‘accounting dispute’.

By the time Neil Litchfield and I took over the magazine in 2008, a long decline in subscriptions, advertising and editorial standards had left Stage Whispers - to put it mildly - a mess.

Sometimes I would cringe at the poor standards. On one occasion the hairdresser of the Editor was put on the cover - featured in an ethnic dance costume. Another time a holiday snap that Grahame (Aunty Jack) Bond took

84 Stage Whispers November - December 2016

New challenges have arisen though.

A surge in the volume of free content on the internet means readers feel less need to buy a print publication.

Advertisers (quite rightly) insist on coverage on our website in conjunction with the magazine.

Balancing coverage that is of general and industry interest is not always easy. My favourite Stage Whispers cover from the old days featured a group of theatre makers, with the headline simply reading “Let’s Put On Show”. Readers of Stage Whispers’ print magazine are, in the main, theatre-doers or very regular theatre-goers. Our web readers come from a wider cross section of the community.

25 years ago I was involved in the amateur theatre circuit playing the tenor leads in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. I had years of singing whilst he was in Papua New Guinea training under my belt. But these days mysteriously led the magazine. leads in many community theatre A dedicated band of writers and productions have had tertiary training. volunteer reviewers kept it going. Many Fatherhood and business interests loyal readers had dumped the moved me from being on stage to magazine, getting their local and behind the scenes. It is quite common national theatre fix on the internet for people in their twenties to appear instead. on stage and as they mature to move We are happy to report that since backstage.

March 2008 there has been a steady Will Stage Whispers last another increase in subscription numbers quarter of a century as a print (around 800%). Most pleasing has magazine? Given the large number of been the response to our website, closures of print publications in recent which now gets as many as 60,000 years and the rate of change in the unique visits a month. Social media, way people consume news it would be too, has brought in a huge new difficult to be certain about that. audience. How extraordinary to be able Here’s hoping there is a Golden to shoot a video on your mobile phone Anniversary ahead in 2041. and immediately upload it to a Facebook page.

David Spicer

David may have retired from the stage, but Stage Whispers Editor Neil Litchfield continues to tread the boards in Bankstown Theatre Company’s The Secret Garden (Oct 2016).