Musical theatre is a booming industry and shows like Glee
have brought it even further into the spotlight of public attention. For me,
nothing can compare to when you get chills, a totally subconscious and physical
reaction to a brilliant performance. The exact ingredients that make that
spine-tingling moment will always remain a mystery to me. Could it be that the
music from the orchestra seems to swell and fill every inch of the theatre, the
performer sings with note-perfect accuracy and gut-wrenching emotion, the
visual spectacle, a moving storyline or a culmination of all of the above?
I love watching and performing in musicals as you can see by
my stash of musical programs, though unfortunately for me, it is an expensive
hobby to have! So luckily there are a number of musicals which have been translated
onto the big screen (and vice versa). Musicals like Lion King, Mary Poppins, Hairspray and Mamma Mia enjoy great success both on film and on stage. 
The first major production musical I remember seeing was The Phantom of the Opera with Anthony
Warlow (an Australian musical theatre legend) as the title character. I know
some musicologists question the originality of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s (the
composer’s) melodies though it doesn’t alter the beauty of the songs and
orchestrations, the spectacular set and a storyline that despite being overly
dramatic has resonated with so many people. You wouldn’t believe it but The Phantom of the Opera has earned more
money than both the hit movies Titanic
and Avatar. Phantom has recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with an elaborate concert staged in London with successful up and coming musical theatre performers, Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess as Phantom and the leading lady, Christine.
The
Phantom of the Opera now
has a sequel called Love Never Dies
which is certainly a rare thing for musical theatre.
Another of my favourite musicals was Wicked, which branches off The
Wizard of Oz and tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda
before Dorothy landed in Oz. Wicked
cleverly intertwines with The Wizard of
Oz and portrays Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) as a misunderstood heroine as
opposed to the evil villain. Since its first performance in 2003, Wicked has been immensely successful all
over the world and seems to be a permanent fixture on Broadway and West End. I
have been lucky enough to see it in Sydney and then on Broadway. I went into
the Gershwin Theatre in New York with very high expectations and left feeling
incredibly proud of the Australian performers. The Australian production of Wicked easily measured up and even
surpassed the quality of performance on Broadway, the musical theatre capital
of the world. Australian musical theatre is on a much smaller scale than in the
US however perhaps this leads to increased competition to get into the shows
and so creating very high quality performances.
On the wish
list...
On the very top of the list of
musicals that I would love to see is Les
Miserables. I am quite sure the last time a professional production was in
Australia was before I was born! So hopefully it will be gracing the Australian
stages in the near future. In the meantime though, a movie musical adaptation
by director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
is being released in December with a star studded cast including Hugh Jackman,
Russel Crowe and Anne Hathaway. In addition, Samantha Barks is reprising her
role as Eponine, a character she played on the West End stage. I was certainly
relieved to see that they casted bona fide musical theatre stars (of which I include
Hugh) alongside the Hollywood actors. In a musical like Les Miserables, having
incredible acting ability isn’t enough, you have to be an amazing singer as
well. The musical theatre scene in Brisbane...
Brisbane performers are very lucky to have an opportunity to be involved with a range of musical theatre companies such as Harvest Rain, Ignatians and Savoyards. Harvest Rain only recently finished the first Brisbane production of Hairspray, Ignatians performed Sweeney Todd earlier this year at UQ’s Schonell Theatre and Savoyards is in the midst of rehearsing for Anything Goes after a successful season of Miss Saigon. While we do not have the gorgeous old theatres that you can see in Melbourne, there certainly is a wonderful musical theatre culture and appreciation is Brisbane.
If you are interested in watching some of the talented local performers on stage come and check out Savoyards’ production of Anything Goes.
You can get tickets at: http://www.savoyards.com.au/#!Anything Goes/c7f9
No comments:
Post a Comment