Stage

It's great news for Brisbane theatregoers that Wicked! will finally open at the Lyric Theatre in January next year. But that will be two-and-a-half years after its Australian premiere in Melbourne -- in which time, according to its producers, it has played 866 shows seen by more than a million people. In other words, the lion's share of the return from the show in terms of arts tourism dollars has gone into the Victorian coffers and, to a lesser extent, to NSW. Of course, if Brisbane had another large venue -- say a renovated Regent Theatre -- such big shows could be debuting in Queensland, rather than coming in at the end of their run after the diehard fans have already spent up big on package tours to see them.

Birch Carroll and Coyle's lease on the Brisbane Regent is coming to end, culminating with a farewell on June 6. The details are on the poster below. Attend the event, but please remember that the fight to Save the Regent goes on.

There's an interesting article here at brisbanetimes.com.au about the tenth anniversary of the Brisbane Powerhouse. There's no doubt that the Powerhouse is a great asset to Brisbane, and it's deservedly cherished by many arts lovers. But it is limited in its ability to cater to the broader population of the city for several reasons, including the fact that its main auditorium can hold only about 500 people. Brisbane has many small venues, and exciting things are happening not just at the Powerhouse, but at the Metro Arts, the Judith Wright Centre, the Brisbane Arts Theatre and elsewhere - but, let's be honest, a lot of what happens in these place is for niche audiences with already well-honed theatrical tastes. For the performing arts to truly flourish, Brisbane now needs another large venue that can handle an open-ended run of a big commercial production. The more people who have the chance to see professional live theatre at a high standard, the more theatregoers we will have - and the more people who might just take a chance on seeing at a show in a smaller venue. First-time theatregoers are unlikely to wander in to see an independent production the Powerhouse or the Judy; but they might just go see the Australian premiere of a big musical at, say, a restored Regent Theatre and eventually develop a taste for less mainstream fare. This is one "trickle-down effect" that might actually work.

In the late-1990s, I saw Earl Okin at an arts festival in Hong Kong. About three years ago, he was lined up to perform in Brisbane as part of an Australian tour to coincide with the release of his album, and I was scheduled to interview him for the Sunday Mail. However, the tour and the interview were cancelled. Now I'm pleased to discover that Okin will perform at the Brisbane Cabaret Festival from June 16-26. He'll be at the Judith Wright Centre on opening night, and if he's anywhere near as good as he was a decade ago, he'll be well worth seeing. The festival bill also includes performances by Ross Wilson and John Waters, Denise Scott and Bob Downe. Details here.

The man who starred as popular Brisbane children's entertainer Danny O'Dibble is backing the campaign to Save the Regent theatre. Actor-singer Darryl Boyd, who played O'Dibble on stage and on the former Channel 0 (now 10) in the 1970s, now lives on the Sunshine Coast. But he came to Brisbane for a nostalgic visit to the Regent, remembering the night of the farewell concert for the venue before the original large auditorium was split into four cinemas in the early 1980s. Darryl says he was the last act on an all-star bill at the concert and he sang Send in the Clowns as the curtain came down. "The only problem was that they'd started serving champagne in the foyer, so there weren't too many people left to hear me," he recalled with a smile. Darryl supports the notion that the Showcase theatre should all be preserved as it is or restored into a much-needed second large multipurpose theatre venue. "I always said that the Regent should be Brisbane's Opera House," he told me.

The Brisbane Times reports that there's support for Geoffrey Rush to replace the retiring Michael Gow at the helm of the Queensland Theatre Company. Of course, it's a brilliant idea. But would Rush forgo his Hollywood career and gigs on Broadway and the southern stage to run a Brisbane-based company? Maybe he could do it if, like Cate Blanchett at the Sydney Theatre Company, he enlisted a co-artistic director to be there when he couldn't be. In Blanchett's case, it's her husband, playwright Andrew Upton.
PS. As reported by Brisbane Times, critic Sue Gough's shortlist includes QTC assistant director Jon Halpin and husband-wife team Helen Howard and Michael Futcher. I'd throw Jean-Marc Russ into the mix, too. Mind you, I don't know who has applied for the job.
PPS: Rush is, of course, a great supporter of the Save the Regent campaign.

I saw Wild World, the Cat Stevens tribute at the Twelfth Night Theatre in Brisbane, and can recommend it thoroughly. While not impersonating Stevens (now, of course, known as Yusaf Islam), British singer-guitarist Paul Dillon performs the great songwriter's catalouge and links the music with some interesting facts and anecdotes. It closes on Saturday. And his backup band is brilliant. Meanwhile, on the local theatre front, April 10 will be opening night at the Arts Theatre of The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, the sequel to He Died with a Felafel in his Hand, written by Simon Bedak and based on the book by Brisbane's own John Birmingham. The show will be directed by Natalie Bochenski, who works as a journalist at 4BC and successfully moonlights in the worlds of theatre and improvisational comedy. Here's a teaser video for the show:

Don't bother waiting for Godot; he's not coming. The Regent Theatre is back in the news today, with the Courier-Mail's Tonya Turner revealing that an acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot starring Sir Ian McKellen won't be coming to Brisbane due to the lack of a suitable venue. The story quotes me saying that the Regent could be restored into a theatre much more cost-effectively than building a new venue from scratch. Godot is one of many productions that haven't found their way to Brisbane because of scheduling conflicts at QPAC. Godot producer Liza McLean says: "Commercially, everybody would love for there to be another venue in Brisbane". Lyndon Terracini, the former Brisbane Festival boss who now runs Opera Australia, agrees. With the city growing at the rate it is, we absolutely need another new venue as soon as possible or risk becoming seen as a cultural backwater. Restoring the original Regent auditorium as part of the current office-tower project for the site would be an efficient way to give our city a versatile theatre/concert/cinema space while protecting Brisbane's last remaining Hollywood-style picture palace for future generations. Anna Bligh, it's not too late to make this happen.

According to a tweet from the Queensland Theatre Company, its artistic director, Michael Gow, will not renew his contract and will leave in August after programming the 2011 season. While Gow has led the company to some great artistic heights, his departure creates an opportunity for the QTC to renew itself. I think he's been wise to step aside while he's on top, although some will undoubtedly say that he stayed a little too long. No doubt there'll be a lineup of the usual suspects when the job is advertised, but true theatre lovers will hope the QTC board mounts a thorough search and brings in an AD who can lead the company to great success on the local, state, national - and international - stage.

Is Brisbane's Arts Theatre haunted? The Sunday Mail has a fun video here featuring the theatre's president Alex Lanham, who says he can feel the presence of the company's founder, Jean Trundle, back stage. Meanwhile, in the world of the living, the Arts Theatre's latest production, a revival of John Birmingham's He Died with a Felafel in his Hand, is doing a roaring trade. Last night's performance was a sell-out, but tickets are available for performances for performances on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Details here. Later this year, the Arts will host the premiere of Birmingham's The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco.

January 14 will see the Australian premiere of Bran Nue Dae, the movie. The Brisbane opening of the stage musical on which it is based remains one of my favourite nights in the theatre, and if the film - starring Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Ernie Dingo and Geoffrey Rush -- goes any way towards recapturing that magic, it will be brilliant. Here's the trailer.

Hamlet will be the 2010 season-opener and new artistic director David Berthold's directorial debut for Brisbane La Boite company. Toby Shmitz will play the distracted Dane. The season will also include Eugene Ionesco's absurdist drama The Chairs starring Jennifer Flowers and Eugene Gilfedder, and Neil Armfield directing Gwen in Purgatory. Details here.

Tex Perkins' star turn as Johnny Cash in The Man in Black has, according to the show's publicist, had Brisbane audiences "crying out for more". The producers, Folsom Prison Productions, have extended the season at the Twelfth Night Theatre until December 13. In a not-so-similar vein, Eurovision parody Eurobeat, starring Rhonda Burchmore and Glynn Nicholas with guest appearances from Glenn Shorrock and Wilbur Wilde, opens at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, on November 25.

Wil Anderson, Claire Hooper, Frank Woodley, Greg Sullivan, Tom Gleeson, Stav Davidson, Lindsay Webb, Terry Hansen, Fred Lang, Katrina Davidson and Mark McConville are among the top-notch comics who will perform in the Doin' It For Dave gig at the Sit Down Comedy Club, at Brisbane's Paddington Tavern on Sunday, November 22 at 4pm and 7pm. The money raised will help popular comic Dave Grant in his fight against pancreatic cancer. Book tickets, at $45 each, on 3369 4466.

As I post this, the Brisbane Arts Theatre is about to launch its 2010 season. Rather than me tell you what's in store, here's a video explaining it all: