Phillip Quast: The Road I Took

Phillip Quast has a hell of a story to tell. Raised on a farm in New South Wales, his favourite anecdote from his country childhood was getting into a massive egg fight with his brother, jumping into a swimming pool to evade his father’s fury, but then being scooped out for a hiding.

Remarkably for someone who eventually became an international star, there was no show business mother or father pushing him. Quast attended his first play, which by coincidence was at the Ensemble Theatre, only because of a school excursion.

Accompanied by the sparkling Anne-Maree McDonald on piano, the actor began his cabaret with an obscure song from the Sondheim musical Frogs.

Before too long his trousers were down around his ankles whilst performing the Danny Kaye patter number The Kings New Clothes. It took a fraction too long to restore his clothing order, but the audience was forgiving.

There were terrific insights into what makes a great song work - it seems that the best lyrics mimic the patterns of speech.

The performance was generously sprinkled with stories about him meeting many giants of the music theatre world - sometimes it was fascinating, but at other times it felt a little bit like name dropping.

What was more heartening was hearing how work came second to Quast’s love of family. During one performance he left at interval to rush to hospital for a sick child. Another time he had to go on stage just after hearing news of the death of a parent.