Tivoli Lovely

WAAPA Second and Third Year Students present the World Premiere of Eddie Perfect’s musical Tivoli Lovely in a huge scale production at the Heath Ledger Theatre. Featuring a huge cast, WAAPA students from music, production and design departments were also involved to bring this exciting, well-performed and beautifully realised new musical to fruition.

Working with the current Third Year Musical Theatre Students off and on over a couple of years, there was a sense of ownership and pride in this production that crossed the footlights. Charlotte, fifteen-year-old high school student (convincingly and superbly played by Zoe Davidson Wall) is assigned to interview an elderly person in her community. She is matched with Kitty (professional actress Caroline McKenzie who is a delight and a wonderful asset to the production), a former Tivoli Lovely showgirl. We travel with Kitty and Charlotte back to Kitty’s youth, to the world of the Tivoli Circuit, with some intrigue and murder thrown in for good measure.

15-year-old Kitty, played with grace and fire by Stephanie Graham, joins the Tivoli Lovelies, a gorgeous line of showgirls, dressed to the nines both on and off the stage, thanks to a fabulous design by Dann Barber (also responsible for the clever set design), and brought to life by skilled WAAPA students. Great work from the girls, including Christina Anastasiadis ((delightful as Maggie), Hanna Bourke (Donna) and Chloe Taylor as Lucy.

In a bit of fun, the headliner act at the Tivoli is called the Eleven Kevins. Led by the enigmatic “Daddy” Kevin Watkins (a deliciously dastardly Sebastian Cruise), the act was formed after a spectral visit from the then Princess Elizabeth, while he was fighting on the Kokoda. (A clever and dead ringer, recurring cameo from Annabel Jamieson). The act is comprised of people with the first or surname ‘Kevin’.