Let's Put on a Show

Pulling together all the pieces of the jigsaw to stage a musical is challenge for most of us – but imagine what it would be like if many in the cast had a disability. Heather Cook, the Director of Nadrasca's Music Theatre in Melbourne, explains how she has climbed that mountain, even staging productions of Les Misérables and Chicago.

For over a decade, the Music Theatre Group at Nadrasca (an Eastern Region Disability Service) has moved from strength to strength.  
In 1999 I directed a small group of thespians with disabilities in ‘Hello Baby’ at Inala Village's concert Bridging the New Millennium. When the Commissioner of the Salvation Army and elderly residents of Inala joined us in the Charleston, I witnessed first hand the joy experienced by all (whatever the age, rank or disability).

The Veterans Band accepted a request to be our Mission Band in Highlights from Guys & Dolls (2000) and a new focus was born. We would extend from community visits showcasing our abilities to engaging the community in producing mainstream musicals with us.

Of course, a venture of this magnitude would not be speedy. I was lucky to have a Monash Performing Arts graduate stage managing and extremely lucky to meet a talented musician and kindred spirit (Simon Loveless), who soon became our Musical Director. 

Lots of offers to help backstage and around the stage were encouraging in our early attempts (My Fair Lady & The Pajama Game), but we struggled onstage to comply with licensors’ requirements and a reluctance from the community to take on any major roles (for fear of ‘overshadowing our performers with disabilities').

Children seemed less inhibited. We recruited half of the Von Trapp children for Sound of Music (2005) and 14 of the Sudanese Djeernong Community for Show Boat (2007). Tertiary and secondary students also began to welcome the performance and stage experience, as well as broaden their awareness of disabilities. 

Our production of Cabaret (2009) was enhanced with the appearance of a local dance group, a community member playing the role of Emcee and an impressive spiral staircase loaned by Nova Theatre Company. Many other amateur theatre companies have increasingly assisted us with sets and costumes.

Although community relationships were strong, we became somewhat disenchanted by the enormous obstacles we encountered in producing Les Misérables(2010).

Apart from the stringent conditions of full stage settings, we were also required to have full orchestration. We had relied on the mettle of Simon in all previous shows. He would now be in the pit with the orchestra.

Andrew Houston bravely took up the challenge of conducting an orchestra and though he could skilfully prompt, two of our leads were unsighted. My mother's unexpected death added another layer of grief and stress. At her funeral the week before our performance, my daughter (at her grandmother's written request) sang `You Raise Me Up'.

Words lingered with me in the days to follow....“I am strong when I am on your shoulders, you raise me up to more than I could be"....I wondered if Les Mis could possibly survive?  It did - and not by my hand...but by the `shoulders of the community'. Its success was unprecedented.

It was no circumstantial fluke. We've since produced Chicago (June 2012) - by all accounts A Hit! Relying on the talents of our longstanding MD and secure in the knowledge that Andrew Houston's orchestra could magically manage our variable timing, we had a new-found confidence.

Velma (Monash Uni Student - Lauren Holcombe) and Mama Morton (Robyn Porter from Casey Women’s Choir) demonstrated lots of ‘class' as they performed alongsideRoxie (Amara Wagner) and Billy Flynn (Curtis Easton) - two extremely talented performers with total visual impairment.

Our licensors were helpful and encouraging. The community would indeed ‘raise us up – to more than we could be!’

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Originally published in the November / December 2012 edition of Stage Whispers.