Nancye Hayes Up Close and Personal.

It’s the highest honour bestowed by the Live Entertainment Industry - The JC Williamson Award. This year three Leading Ladies shared the honour, Toni Lamond AM, Jill Perryman AM MBE and Nancye Hayes OAM (pictured above). As it happens all three received their training in the once mighty JC Williamson Company, which for a century was the producing company that dominated Australia and New Zealand.

Nancye Hayes is the busiest of the three, touring Australia this year with Reg Livermore in Turns, and about to appear in Grey Gardens with The Production Company, closely followed by Annie with the Gordon Frost Organisation.

When she had a minute to sit down, Nancye Hayes spoke to Peter Pinne about her astonishing career.

Peter Pinne: Congratulations on receiving your Helpmann Award.

Nancye Hayes: Thank you.

PP: What was you reaction when you first heard about it?

NH: I of course felt very honored and especially to be included with my friends Jill and Toni – two women I admire and respect and whose friendships I treasure.

PP: How does it feel to have been treading the boards for seven decades?

NH: Privileged although it is not quite that long!

PP: In a career that has lasted over sixty years there have obviously been many highlights and many successes. Which are the one’s that stand-out?

NH: So many that is hard to single them out but highlights certainly would be Sweet Charity, Chicago, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, Same Time Next Year and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.

PP: You’ve worked for large commercial managements and done lots of productions in the subsidized theatre. Do you have a preference?

NH: It is all about the production and the role.

PP:  You’re one of our most beloved musical theatre performers. What is it about musical theatre that excites you?

NH: Its ability to transport an audience.

PP:  Do you have a favorite musical?

NH: This changes week to week when I discover or rediscover a favorite.

PP: Why?

NH: I embrace the art form.

PP: Are you a fan of sung-through musicals?

NH:  I have loved many productions and performances, but I prefer a book musical as it gives the performer more opportunity in my opinion for individuality.

PP: Musicals today are far different to those when you were starting out. The use of amplified sound for instance. Is this a good thing?

NH: If it is not relied upon by the performer. Sometimes it lessens the energy of the body language and delivery.

PP: Back when you started in My Fair Lady there were few triple threat performers in this country. Performers were either singers or dancers or actors. You however were always a triple threat performer. How did you achieve that ability?

NH: I started as a dancer and song and dance was always my speciality in the concerts. My teacher Hazel Meldrum had been a ballet mistress for JCW during the [Gladys] Moncrieff era and started a musical comedy company which gave her pupils the opportunity to perform in the various ballets presented in that style of production e.g. Rose Marie, The Desert Song, White Horse Inn and the like.

PP: What training did you have?

NH: Originally only ballet, tap, early jazz and character and then I took singing lessons when I had professional work and could see that this was going to be necessary to continue to be employable for the new wave of musicals e.g. How To Succeed.

PP: Did you go to acting school or was it on the job training? Sink or swim?

NH: JCW was my WAAPA at the time. I learnt a great deal by observation and still do.

PP: Which director has been the most influential in your career?

NH: Fred Hebert, Hayes Gordon and Jon Ewing in the early days, Richard Wherrett, Rodney Fisher, George Ogilvie, Edgar Metcalfe, Tony Sheldon, Gale Edwards and the list goes on.

PP: In recent years you seem to have done more and more directing work. Do you like it or would you rather be on-stage?

NH: I do like being part of the creatives and collaboration with the cast and bringing together the best team possible, but performing will always be my first love.

PP: Throughout your career you have also done many straight plays. Is your approach to character different in a play as opposed to a musical?

NH: Not at all.

PP: What have been some of your straight play highlights?

NH: Same Time Next Year, The Glass Menagerie, Broadway Bound, Dusa Fish Stas and Vi and Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks.

PP: You’ve worked with some of the greats in our industry. Who did you enjoy playing opposite the most?

NH: Where do I begin and where do I stop!

PP: You’ve just been working with one of theatre’s great performers – Reg Livermore – in Turns. How did you sustain the grueling bus-and-truck schedule you’ve had for the past six months?

NH: I packed my sense of humor and my vitamins.

PP: It requires a lot of stamina. What did you do to prepare for it?

NH: Having done a couple of these long tours before, I like to know that I have a few home comforts with me to make a hotel room a home. A good night’s sleep is essential and walking around to discover the city or town you are visiting is good exercise.

PP: Any funny or quirky experiences to relate about the tour?

NH: I am saving these for the book!

PP: Were audiences just as responsive in the ‘bush’ as they were in the city?

NH: They are very proud of their regional theatres and there are audiences who are very keen to build up their opportunity to see productions on a regular basis by enthusiastically trying to enlarge their subscriber lists.

PP: Have you done many of these one-night stand tours in your career?

NH: This is the third.

PP: Some blogs have suggested people were not entirely happy with Turns. Was the reaction good?

NH: I’d say varied.

PP: Next up for you is The Production Company’s mounting of the Broadway musical Grey Gardens. Can you tell us a little about the character you play?

NH: I play Edith Bouvier Beale Senior. My character is mainly involved in Act Two when the mother and daughter Beales are living in squalor in their once magnificent mansion called Grey Gardens. Their relationship is a truly bizarre and fascinating one, and I so look forward to working with Pamela Rabe and the wonderful cast and creatives that have been gathered under the direction of Roger Hodgeman.

PP: The show is going to play the Playhouse Theatre, in the Victorian Arts Complex, Melbourne, for a longer run than the normal Production Company seasons. What’s the reason for this?

NH: Well it is not a well-known musical YET and both its style and subject matter will be showcased beautifully in The Playhouse.

PP: The show could almost be called a ‘cult’ musical. Is that how you see it?

NH: Well I hope so. I certainly loved it from first introduction, which happened to be by Reg Livermore who played me the original documentary. He gave me the CD, which I played ceaselessly during my Six Lessons tour but I never dreamed that I would have the opportunity to perform it.

PP: Having seen the original documentary film on which the musical was based, the characters of Edie and her mother are certainly bizarre. Having said that, do you think the show reflects in some aspects a typical mother/daughter relationship.

NH: I wouldn’t say typical but somewhere out there they exist.

PP: What was your relationship like with your own mother?

NH: My mother was a very practical woman and made sure that despite my habit of living with my head in the clouds she could always make sure that my feet were firmly on the ground.

PP: Was she supportive of your show business aspirations?

NH: Yes but only after I had done a secretarial course and worked in an office for two years. I always had my dance gear at the back of my filing cabinet so in my mind I was only vamping till ready.

PP: After Grey Gardens you’re returning to one of the ‘great’ musicals that just seems to come back into your life every few decades. I’m talking of Annie of course.How does it feel to be revisiting the Municipal Orphanage, Girls’ Annex again?

NH: A very happy and unexpected offer and one that I did not hesitate to accept. I am experiencing an embarrassment of riches at the moment.

PP: When do rehearsals start?

NH: The day after I finish Grey Gardens on December 5^th. The cast starts the week earlier but my knowledge of the show would help me to slip into Miss Hannigan’s shoes without too much disruption. I remember when we did the original production in 1978, when I played Lily St Regis, Jill [Perryman] said that the key to her performance as Miss Hannigan started with the shoes. I hope I can say the same!

PP: Finally, what advice do you have for somebody starting out in the business?

NH: Be ready by honing your performance skills because when you least expect it the phone rings and an opportunity comes your way. This advice was given to me by my mentor Betty Pounder, who, whenever I was despondent, would also say “smarten yourself up” - which I have said to myself many times throughout the years.

PP: Good luck with Grey Gardens and Annie. It’s been a pleasure talking to a musical theatre ‘legend.’

NH: Thank you Peter for the opportunity and for the many years we have shared through friendship and professional association.

Nancye appears in The Production Company's Australian Premiere of Grey Gardens at the Arts Centre from November 24 to December 4, 2011 then tours nationally in Annie from January 2012.

Further Reading - A Dance Lesson with Nancye Hayes

Annie Cast Announced

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