History

BEFORE THE FRINGE

Australian experimental theatre in the 60s was stripped bare.
by Clem Gorman.

How Ambition Ruined Early Aussie Champion of Local Talent

Bendigo-born William Anderson produced melodramas with Australian themes, authentic local settings and local talent, but gambling, on horses and grand schemes, eventually proved his undoing. Leann Richards re-introduces the charismatic showman, once mentioned in the same breath as J.C. Williamson.

In the early 20th century most Australian theatrical entrepreneurs were foreign born. There was one exception, William Anderson. For over thirty years Anderson dominated Australian melodrama and actively supported native writers, actors and producers.

What broke the heart of the World’s Greatest Juggler?

Juggler Paul Cinquevalli made four visits to Australia between 1899 and 1914. He was a skilled showman who perfected the art of juggling to a degree seldom seen. One of his favourite places became Australia until fate intervened.
Cinquevalli was Polish and started his performing life as a trapeze artist. However a bad accident transformed the mediocre acrobat into the world’s greatest juggler.
Cinquevalli called it ‘the fluke of my life’.

Wife Accuses Stage Hero of Sleeping with all the Damsels: Read All About It!

Leann Richards reports on how the whiff of backstage shenanigan’s made the front page in 1901, when actors used their skills in a courtroom drama of love and jealousy.

Toni Lamond - Lady in Lights

Neil Litchfield interviewed Toni Lamond for Stage Whispers about her astonishing career shortly after the announcement of her Green Room Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
“A large part of my early career was based in Melbourne, in vaudeville, and the Tivoli, with the Tivoli being the top of the tree. I wanted to be on the Tivoli, and I wanted to be on Broadway. That, to me, was Nirvana. I got to the top of the Tivoli, and I thought, ‘Gosh, I’ve done it, here I am at age 20, and I’m top of the tree.’

Diamonds were our Merry Widow’s best friend.

Despite being jilted at the altar, Carrie Moore took to the stage wearing the diamonds that millionaire Ernest Tyson had given her. It was 1901 and 18 year old Carrie Moore was at the height of her fame, starring in the J. C. Wiliamson production of Florodora.

Dancing Star’s Love Scandal

No Gilbert and Sullivan joke, this. A court case over a breach of promise of marriage once tainted a sweetheart of the Australian stage.
Leann Richards reports on the life of Maggie Dickinson … a dancer who brightened Australia’s theatres during some of the country’s darkest days.

Tales of Travelling Mummers

In his research, Stage Whispers editor Neil Litchfield has found many tales of the exploits of early theatrical tours around regional Australia and New Zealand.

Stage Whispers wil add to this feature as new anecdotes are unearthed.

Lorrae Desmond - blonde goddess in the golden dress

Lorrae Desmond’s passion for the “forgotten diggers” of the Vietnam War has never ceased stirring her heartstrings since her five tours of the war zones between 1967 and 1971.
To the Aussie troops, Lorrae became known as the “blonde goddess in the golden dress.” Her most treasured possession is a plaque with the inscription: Mother of All Vietnam Veterans. “Her boys” left their stamp of humour, courage and self-sacrifice forever on her mind.

Stephen Schwartz in Oz

With composer / lyricist Stephen Schwartz’s latest musical Wicked recently opened in Sydney, Peter Pinne looks at why Schwartz ranks right up there alongside Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe with musical theatre audiences ‘down under.’

Stephen Schwartz had his first break in 1971 with a small, off-Broadway entry, Godspell. Based on The Gospel According To St. Mathew, this soft-rock, pop-biblical show took off and ended up playing 2,124 performances.