I have appeared in about 40 productions over the past forty years. Favourite roles include Eugene Fodor and Junior in (separate productions of) Crazy for You, Mr Fox in Mack and Mabel, Max in The Sound of Music, Freddy in My Fair Lady, Julio in Paint Your Wagon, Marcellus in The Music Man and Grantaire in Les Miserables.
I have directed several school productions. I choreographed Urinetown and Little Shop of Horrors, then went on to direct Hot Mikado and the Australian premiere of 13. I have since gone on to direct/choreograph The Music Man Jr and Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr.
At my next school, I was Head of Productions, overseeing up to a dozen productions each year and directing another seven musicals, including The Music Man, Brigadoon and How To Succeed in Business Without really Trying.
I reviewed music theatre and opera for Theatre People and the Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne). I served on the Music Theatre Guild of Victoria Committee for five years as Treasurer and was on the Board of The Opera Studio Melbourne.
I am a keen audience member, having seen 58 shows in six weeks in a 2012 trip to New York, as well as 57 shows during 6 weeks in London/Europe earlier the same year.
I hope you enjoy reading the news and reviews at Man in Chair. I would love to hear your thoughts on the shows covered here so please feel free to leave your comments.
This performance of Peter Wright’s highly traditional production of Giselle brought a significant role debut, as young Australian Benjamin Ella premiered as Albrecht, which is the biggest role to date in his […]
With a focus on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sumptuously melodious score, the new chamber-sized production of The Woman in White avoids the excesses of the original staging, allowing the gripping Victorian melodrama to […]
The final performance of Rigoletto for the current season thrilled opera lovers around the nation and the world via cinema relay. Viewed live at the Royal Opera House, the performance had a […]
Everyone’s favourite tap dance musical is back on the West End, and, really, shouldn’t 42nd Street always be playing somewhere in the world at any given time?
It may be difficult to see the action on stage, but at least the music sounds glorious, with Vienna State Opera presenting a Don Giovanni blessed with uniformly strong vocals and the […]
The world’s hottest musical arrives in London in a pristine production that is matched by a gleaming, newly renovated West End theatre that is far superior to the show’s Broadway home.
A stage musical of Pinocchio sounds like a brilliant idea, but all the magical stagecraft in the world cannot save a show if the book is weak.
Girl from the North Country may have scored a slew of five star reviews during its Old Vic Theatre world premiere season, but on the West End stage it’s a case of […]
Menier Chocolate Factory once again proves that bigger isn’t better, presenting a lively, immersive staging of classic 1980 musical Barnum.
A decade after the mega-budget follow-up to The Producers flopped on Broadway, Mel Brooks is back with a scaled down Young Frankenstein, this time on London’s West End. The sets may be […]
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