Company. The Hills Musical Company. Nov 2015
For actors Jessica Rossiter and Jonathan Knoblauch, playing the roles of Amy and Paul in Company is like a case of art imitating life… imitating art!
The onstage couple, Amy and Paul, are engaged to be married. Offstage Jess and Jonathan were dating, until Jonathan popped the question!
“It’s been a bit surreal really!” declares Jess.
“How often do you get to play opposite your partner, whilst playing an engaged couple onstage and offstage…!”
For Jonathan, the mid-scene proposal was a strategy to catch Jess off guard.
“Jess is rather hard to surprise” he says.
“She’d never guess that I’d do that at a rehearsal.”
It all happened just after their main song together when Jess’s character Amy is supposed to interrupt with a lengthy monologue. Instead, Jonathan dropped to one knee and asked for her hand. The whole thing was captured on film and has since racked up and impressive 4,300 views.
“It’s been great for publicity” laughs Jess.
The show, which opens at the end of the week, will be the first performance of Sondheim’s Company in Adelaide for 16 years.
Company is a 70s musical, with a timeless message. It tells the story of bachelor, Robert, and his three girlfriends April, Marta, and Kathy. Crucially, Robert is afraid of commitment and sees only the negatives in the relationships of his friends, a string of couples called Sarah and Harry, Susan and Peter, Jenny and David, Amy and Paul and Joanne and Larry.
“I feel so lucky to be part of such a talented group of people” says Jess of her fellow cast members.
“I love watching them every night; they are all very funny and very clever”.
For Jonathan, Company is a first foray into musical theatre.
“There’s nothing like a baptism of fire,” says Jess, referencing the difficulty of Sondheim for a musical theatre novice.
“It brings me back to my high school days,” Jonathan continues. “I used to be in ensembles and choirs.”
Behind the scenes of the production is another couple. The show's director Fiona DeLaine is married to its musical director Mark De Laine.
“Fiona has got a really great take on it” says Jess.
“She is pushing a few conventional boundaries in the show.”
“She gave us scrapbooks and encouraged us to write things in there that reminded us of our characters. We also had one-on-ones and did character profiles.
“We had a really great time putting that profile together… obviously we live together, so whenever we’ve got free time [we] look at Company.”
In the play, Amy is neurotic and prone to wedding day jitters and Paul has learnt to put up with her manic spells.
“I definitely hope I’m not as neurotic as Amy” Jess laughs,
“She’s a nutbag who just flies off the handle.”
The cast of 14 incorporates some old faces but many new ones, for Jess.
“It’s a new company for me with lots of new people,” she explains.
“My favourite thing about theatre was always the new friendships that are formed.”
“It’s [also] great being part of a small group, everyone has important roles… they are equals”
Company is a concept musical. It doesn’t have a linear plot but rather jumps around between short vignettes, all tied together by the celebration of Robert’s 35th birthday. In these vignettes his married friends explain the pros and cons of taking on a spouse.
“All the couples should be couples that you recognise in your everyday life,” says Jess.
“You should be able to see yourself in them or someone else you know.
“It is very human, very relatable, very intelligent, and very funny.”
The Hills Musical Company will perform Company as their November production.
The show opens at the Stirling Community Theatre on Friday the 6th of November and closes on the 21st.
Bookings can be made online at hillsmusical.org.au/tickets/.
Paul Rodda
When: 6 to 21 Nov
Where: Stirling Community Theatre
Bookings: hillsmusical.org.au
Superb cast announced for Australian Premiere.
The Producers of Ghost The Musical have today announced that after an exhaustive casting process by Tony Award-winning director Matthew Warchus, a superb cast has been assembled. The supernatural power of love will explode onto the Australian stage on 7 January 2016 headed by Rob Mills as ‘Sam Wheat’, Jemma Rix as ‘Molly Jensen’ (Wicked fans will be overjoyed), Alex Rathgeber as ‘Carl Bruner’ (direct from his Helpmann Award Winning performance in Anything Goes) and introducing remarkable British theatrical and television actress Wendy Mae Brown as ‘Oda Mae Brown’ (the role made famous by Whoopi Goldberg).
Matthew Warchus, director of Matilda, and Australian born choreographer Ashley Wallen, Kylie Minogue’s personal choreographer, are delighted to announce that the Australian tour cast also includes, Ross Chisari as Willie Lopez; Blake Appleqvist, David Denis, Nicholas Eaton, Xander Ellis, Simon Fairweather, Samantha Hagen, Childi Mbakwe, Joshua Mulheran, Justine Puy, Elenoa Rokobaro, Monique Salle, Drew Weston as well as Lydia Warr and Evette White direct from the US and Asian tour productions.
Set in modern day New York City, Ghost The Musical is a timeless fantasy about the power of love. Walking back to their apartment one night after a romantic dinner, Sam and Molly are mugged, leaving Sam dead on a dark street. Sam is trapped as a ghost between this world and the next and unable to leave Molly, whom he learns is in grave danger. With the help of Oda Mae, a phony storefront psychic, Sam tries to communicate with Molly in the hope of saving and protecting her.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film in 1990, Ghost became a blockbuster hit and an instant classic, winning numerous awards worldwide. The film starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn and Whoopi Goldberg and was directed by Jerry Zucker. Bruce Joel Rubin’s script won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Whoopi Goldberg won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of psychic Oda Mae Brown.
The musical features book and lyrics by Academy Award winner Bruce Joel Rubin and original music and lyrics by Grammy Award-winners, Dave Stewart (half of the multi-Grammy Award-winning Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill). The score also includes the iconic song Unchained Melody, written by Hy Zaret and Alex North and famously performed in the film by The Righteous Brothers.
Employing special effects never before seen in an on-stage musical, Ghost The Musical features an incredible array of illusions; Sam, as a ghost, walks through a solid door; inanimate objects take on a life of their own; spirits ascend to the heavens; subway passengers are thrown in the air; and people disappear and reappear right before your eyes.
Ghost The Musical premiered in Manchester in 2011 before transferring to the West End and later Broadway. It has been enjoyed by over a million people worldwide and nominated for numerous awards including five Olivier Awards and three Tony Awards.
The Adelaide season will run at the Festival Theatre from the 7th to the 31st of January. Bookings can be made through Bass.
ADELAIDE
Venue: Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre, King William St, Adelaide
Dates: Thursday 7 January to Sunday 31 January, 2016
Press Night Saturday 9 January at 7pm
Times: Evenings: Tuesday 7pm, Wednesday to Saturday 8pm
Matinees: Wednesday 1pm, Saturday 2pm, Sunday 3pm
(Sunday 31 Jan 1pm & 6pm)
Prices: Adults from $74.90 to $129.90, Concession from $64.90 to $99.90
Groups 6+ from $84.90
Transaction and payment processing fees apply
Bookings: BASS 131 246 or bass.net.au
More info: ghostthemusical.com.au
Other national dates:
Regent Theatre, Melbourne from Friday 5 February 2016
Theatre Royal, Sydney from Friday 18 March 2016
Crown, Perth from Saturday 21 May 2016
A new music festival arises in the Barossa Valley just as the spring buds burst forth from the vines.
It is an apt celebration and, for many, sweet relief that the Barossa once again can begin to host music festivals - for which it had a splendid history through the 90s and early 2000s.
It is beginning modestly.
Its organiser, Margaret Lehmann, calls it “a micro festival” and says let’s not get carried away on the idea of a big festival - quite yet.
Nonetheless, there is an air of excitement.
Small is beautiful.
Barossa Baroque and Beyond is a two-concert one-day event on Sunday October 4.
Margaret Lehmann has conceived and nurtured it as one of the forms in which her much celebrated winemaker husband, the late Peter Lehmann, may be remembered. Peter and Margaret were renowned as hosts to musicians and musical events throughout the history of the Barossa Music Festival and, although the Peter Lehmann Winery now has been sold, its Old Redemption goes on as one of the best event venues in the Valley.
Acclaimed opera singer Kirsty Harms, now also a lawyer who has settled in the Valley, has been working with Margaret in bringing the events together along with the distinguished musician and music manager Reuben Zylberszpic and, says Margaret, lots of Barossa people “doing what they are good at”.
Starring in the concerts will be celebrated guitarists, Slava and Leonard Grigoryan along with oboist Grant Dickson, cellist Sharon Draper, bassoonist Jackie Hansen, violinist, Cameron Hill, viola player, Stephen King, clarinettist Dean Newcomb and, most particularly in the afternoon concert, Josh van Konkelenberg playing the organ.
The organ is the component of sheer charm in the afternoon concert which is being presented in the Organ Gallery of the Tanunda Arts Centre. Therein rises to immense, exquisitely decorated heights, the glorious old William Hill & Son grand pipe organ which graced Adelaide Town Hall from the 1880s until 1990 when it was, some may say, rudely discarded. Barossans rescued the instrument, all 2,260 pipes of it, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and, with expertise from master organ builder George Stevens and more than 20 years of diligence and devotion by musical artisans extraordinaire, restored the organ to nigh pristine condition. Certainly, it is now one of the prides of the Barossa.
Beautiful baroque music will come forth from the organ in a program which includes Bach, Handel and Haydn - and, of course, in Barossa tradition, wines for the purchase at interval.
The evening concert, complete with food and wine, goes from Baroque to Beyond. It is to be performed in Old Redemption at the Lehmann winery with table settings and foods for sale by Elli Beer.
Jane Doyle will compere the show which has been described as a “musical smorgasbord” featuring music by Piazzola, Vivaldi, Towner, Lovelady, Kurt Weill and Bach.
Tickets are available at www.barossa.com or on (08) 8563 0600
$40 ($30 concession) Concert 1 - 3pm Sunday Oct 4
$50 Concert 2 - 6pm Sunday Oct 4
Samela Harris
Matt Byrne did not have to do a lot of hunting to find his Alfie.
He didn’t even have to hold an audition.
Marc Clement was “it”.
He has been around MBM shows for twelve years and has played major and leading roles in most of them. As for the role of Alfie, well, it was tailor made.
“Matt just came up and asked me if I would do the part,” says Marc. “What an iconic role.”
Alfie, the libidinous Londoner, was the character who made Michael Caine famous in 1966, which is the era in which the play is set.
It tells of Alfie’s “sexploits” among women young and old in the heydays of Swinging London.
Marc not only comes with the musical and acting experience for this lively, naughty and funny piece of classic theatre. He comes with the cultural background to take on the part made famous Caine.
“I’m originally from England, so I’ve got the Cockney accent sorted,” he laughs.
Clement is 42 and in real life he’s a seasoned RDNS nurse.
“I’ve also been a musician since I was born,” he says.
“And I’m a singer, songwriter, guitarist and bass player.”
He is also a writer. Clement has written a TV Show of which he has produced three episodes. In each he plays eight characters.
“It’s called All Right With All Bright,” he explains. “It’s a sit com about a psychiatrist who sets up practice in a country town where a psychiatrist isn’t really needed. We’re looking for funding.”
He has short films in the pipeline, too.
But right now, it is full-on rehearsing for Alfie which opens at Holden Street Theatres on October 7.
“I’ve played Holden Street before and it is good. I love the intimacy of it,” he says.
"And Afie gets to interact with the audience. It is perfect for that. I’ll enjoy getting really involved with them. There’ll be a few surprises for them, especially those in the front row.”
There’s some serious acting in the show, too, with no less than 15 monologues by Marc’s count.
He’s thriving on the challenge. After all, he’s played demanding roles in Reservoir Dogs, Tommy, Calendar Girls…myriad MBM shows as well as his funny folly Fringe productions.
One of the things he says he enjoys about working with Byrne are the interesting roles he presents,
“He puts on shows that other people won’t even try,” he declares.
Indeed, Byrne says he was thrilled to get the rights to this “naughty classic” written by Bill Naughton.
While the movie put Michael Caine on the map in 1966, Byrne points out that the play itself was first presented on stage in London in 1963.
“I am thrilled to give one of Adelaide’s finest actors, Marc Clement, the opportunity to create his version of Alfie Elkins in person and drive the women of Adelaide to distraction,” he adds.
Among the production’s points of interest is the Burt Bacharach connection. Bacharach composed the famous Alfie theme song, performed by Cilla Black. Just as the Alfie’s Adelaide season heads towards its finish, the man himself, Burt Bacharach will be appearing almost next door in the Entertainment Centre performing that very song live. A pleasant piece of synchronicity.
Despite the predatory nature of Alfie in the play, Byrne says the story stands as "a cautionary tale of a life lived without a moral compass”.
Alfie is a narcissistic, unfaithful womaniser - but he ends up a lost soul.
Hence, the show’s famous catchcry: “What’s it all about?”
Matt Byrne is renowned for his ability to find new talent in Adelaide and, according to Marc Clement, there are some to-be-watched new faces in the cast along with some well-known familiars.
The cast includes Kristen Tommasini, Kim York, Heather Riley, Bronwyn Ruciak, Niki Yiannoulou, Anjali Sarma, Nadine Wood, Victoria Morgam, Kacy Ratta, John Matsen, Sean Hilton, Reg Hamlyn, Loccy Hywood, Nick Stagg and Daniel Knowles - and, of course, Matt Byrne somewhere in there in a cameo role.
Samela Harris
When: October 7 - 10 , 14-17, 21-24 with matinees in October 17 and 24
Where: Holden St Theatres
Bookings: 8262 4906, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or www.mattbyrnemedia.com.au
Adelaide’s State Theatre Company (STC) will play on stages across South Australia, around the country and, for the first time ever, in London in its 2016 season. The 10 show season, announced today, will include 6 co-productions, reaffirming the Company’s position as a major player in the national theatre sphere and nurturing a new relationship with leading UK company, Frantic Assembly.
The new relationship has been 2 years in the making and comes to fruition in London with the world premiere of Things I Know To Be True, a new work by leading Australian playwright Andrew Bovell. “The 2016 Season is one of our strongest yet.” says Artistic Director Geordie Brookman.
“It retains the Company’s commitment to new Australian writing and our South Australian artists as well as bringing some of the best of the best from around the country to create work right here in Adelaide.”
The 2016 season sees State Theatre work with some of Australia’s leading artists including Gold Logie award-winning actress Lisa McCune, who will make her STC debut in Machu Picchu. The play, directed by Brookman, tells the story of two mid-life civil engineers whose lives are changed after one is badly injured in a horrifying car accident. It explores mindfulness, altruism and the challenge of staying true to oneself.
Machu Picchu builds on an already strong relationship with Australia’s largest theatre company as a brand new Australian play that will be co-produced with Sydney Theatre Company. Sue Smith’s perceptive new work opens in Sydney before transferring to the Dunstan Playhouse for its Adelaide season.
Catherine McClements will also return to STC in The Events directed by Clare Watson. The season opener, and a co-production with Belvoir and Malthouse Theatre, it was written in response to the 2011 Norway murders committed by Anders Breivik. The play follows a community’s search for compassion, peace and understanding in the wake of the unthinkable violence. The Events will feature as part of the Adelaide Festival before returning to Sydney for a Belvoir season and on to Melbourne to close its Australian tour at Malthouse.
The critically acclaimed Paul Capsis will also return to STC in Rumpelstiltskin. A co-production with Windmill theatre, it takes on the famous fairy-tale with the addition of Windmill’s unique style, inventive music and extravagant performance.
State Theatre Company local favourite’s Paul Blackwell and Nathan O’Keefe will grace the stage in Moliere’s Taruffe, directed by Chris Drummond and co-produced by Brink. First performed in 1664, the classic comedy combines adultery, betrayal, seduction, lies and deceit with the precisely organised chaos of farce.
STC will also partner with Queensland’s La Boite Theatre Company for the first time to bring New York playwright Young Jean Lee’s razor sharp Straight White Men to the Australian stage for its national premiere. Directed by Nescha Jelk it tells the story of the widowed Ed, and his three middle aged sons, who, after welcoming them home at Christmas, finds himself exploring identity, privilege and the real value of being a ‘straight white man’.
Brookman goes on to say that “the diversity and depth of our local theatre sector is something we love to celebrate, and we’re delighted that in 2016 we’ll get to play with a number of South Australia’s best and brightest companies.”
STC will also collaborate closely with Country Arts SA to tour both The Red Cross Letters and its Education production Gorgon to regional South Australia.
In the last three years, Adelaide’s State Theatre Company has become a major player on the national theatre scene, regularly exporting its productions around the country, co-producing with companies interstate and touring within regional South Australia.
“Not only do co-productions bring new energy to creative collaborations, they also provide fantastic opportunities for South Australian artists to strut their stuff on the national stage and very significantly extends periods of employment for our fine cohort of actors, directors, and designers” says CEO and Producer, Rob Brookman.
State Theatre Company productions have, in the last few years, played in every State and Territory in Australia as well as on Broadway.
More information about the season and a sneak peek of the shows is now available on the STC website at statetheatrecompany.com.au
2016 State Theatre Company Season
25 Feb to 5 Mar – The Events by David Greig
13 Apr to 1 May – Machu Picchu by Sue Smith
3 May to 7 May – Gorgon by Elena Carapetis (State Ed Show)
13 May to 4 Jun – Things I Know To Be True by Andrew Bovell
1 Jul to 23 Jul – Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee
3 Aug to 6 Aug – The Red Cross Letters Devised by Verity Laughton (State Extra)
19 Aug to 11 Sep – The 39 Steps Adapted by Patrick Barlow
8 Sep to 30 Sep – Red Sky Morning by Tom Holloway (State Umbrella)
11 Oct to 30 Oct – Rumpelstiltskin by Rosemary Myers & Julianne O’Brien
4 Nov to 20 Nov – Tartuffe by Moliere
Paul Rodda
Adapted from a media release