A Light in Chelsea

Coral Drouyn talks to the amazing Chelsea Plumley during rehearsals for The Light in the Piazza.

Chelsea isn’t just a trendy suburb in London. It’s also the name of a performer I have dubbed in the past “A National Treasure”/ Chelsea Plumley is a sheer delight both on and off the stage. Often she manages to steal an entire show with just a few key scenes, as with Promises, Promises for The Production Company a couple of years ago and Life Like Company’s City of Angels last year. A rare performer who can make you laugh and cry simultaneously, she creates a magic bond between herself and the audience. So, when I hear that she is to play the key role in a musical I have been dying to see since I first heard its exquisite award winning score by Adam Guettel, I obviously have dozens of questions for her; not that you need questions with Chelsea. Her warmth and honesty, not to mention her excitement at this role, spill over within seconds of us starting to talk.

“I loved working with Life Like in City of Angels,” she tells me. “They do wonderful children’s shows which are always very successful, and that allows them to finance very special productions without having to angst over the ‘bums on seats’ aspect. They can put the creative decisions first, and the result is always amazing. But when I heard their next production was to be The Light in The Piazza I thought – oh well, that’s me done then. I’m too old for the daughter and too young for the mother.” 

Chelsea didn’t know the score well, though she had heard it, but she put aside all thoughts of the production, thinking she wouldn’t even bother to audition for it. But it was reading the book that turned her around completely.

“I fell in love with the book; it’s indescribably beautiful and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a love story?  It was an Artistic Utopic moment for me - I had to play Margaret.”

Chelsea let producer Luke Gallagher and director Theresa Borg know that she would like to audition for the show.

“And then I crawled in on my hands and knees and begged -I mean BEGGED for the part. Everyone in the room broke up but I was serious about it. Perhaps they felt sorry for me.”

Producer Luke Gallagher recalls the moment with a laugh. He told me,

“I think from memory she auditioned first -and she was quite brilliant, as she always is. Then she got down on her knees and did the ‘please, I’m begging you’ bit, and we did indeed all break up. But she’s such a wonderful performer, she simply belonged  in this amazing cast.”

And it is indeed an amazing cast. Along with Chelsea there is the stunning Jeremy Stanford playing her husband, with “hot and talked about” young talents Genevieve Kingsford and Jonathan Hickey (who wowed audiences in Sydney in The Fantasticks) as the lovers Clara and Fabrizio. As if that isn’t enough, two giant talents, in Johanna Allen and Josh Piterman, and Madison Green, from Georgy Girl is also part of the stellar cast.

Chelsea enthuses, “I admire and love all these guys. And the show is set in the early 1950s. I mean, Kim (Kim Bishop – costume designer) is going to have a field day. His costumes for City of Angels were divine, and now it’s all full skirts, hats, sunnies. I’m drooling. Plus we have the amazing Vanessa Scammell as MD and choreography by the stunning Jo-Anne Robinson. It really is a show to die for.”

The Light in the Piazza opens at Arts Centre Melbourne on Oct 28^th. Is Chelsea ready?

“Am I ever”, she assures me; “Time to wax the bikini line, pluck the eyebrows and get out the red lippy.”

I might just do the same for opening night.

Images: Genevieve Kingsford and ChelseaPlumley. Colin Page Photography.