Variations (musical)

Last updated

Variations
Chamber Music For Nine Players and Six Instruments
Variations musical.jpg
MusicTerence Clarke
Lyrics Nick Enright
Book Nick Enright
Productions1982 Sydney

Variations is a musical with book and lyrics by Nick Enright and music and arrangements by Terence Clarke.

It premiered at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney on 2 December 1982, produced by the Nimrod Theatre Company. The original production was directed by John Bell and featured Nancye Hayes, Deidre Rubenstein, Robert Alexander, Philip Dodd, Vivienne Garrett, Brian James, Patricia Kennedy, Kim Krejus and George Spartels. [1]

Set in contemporary (1982) Sydney, the musical concerned the search for love and fulfilment in three generations of Australian women: a cello-playing grandmother seeking a violinist to play with her; her daughter, a shopfront lawyer and single mother; a daughter-in-law leaving a routine marriage; and a granddaughter approaching love for the first time. [2]

Variations received the Play Award at the 1983 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. Despite the award, since the première there has been no further staged production. Neglected Musicals performed a staged reading in 2013 at the Hayes Theatre in Sydney. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Boy from Oz</i> Australian 1998 musical about Peter Allen

The Boy from Oz is an Australian jukebox musical based on the life of singer and songwriter Peter Allen, featuring songs written by him. The book commissioned for the musical is by Nick Enright, based on Stephen MacLean's 1996 biography of Allen. Premiering in Australia in 1998 starring Todd McKenney, a revised version of the musical, written by Martin Sherman, opened on Broadway in 2003, with Hugh Jackman in the title role.

Genevieve Lemon is an Australian actress and singer who has appeared in a number of Australian television series and international film, including a frequent collaboration with Jane Campion for Academy Award-winning The Piano (1993) and The Power of the Dog (2021), which earned her a Satellite Award as cast member and a Critic's Choice Awards nomination. In television Lemon is best known as Zelda Baker in The Young Doctors, Marlene "Rabbit" Warren in Prisoner and Brenda Riley in Neighbours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Enright</span> Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director

Nicholas Paul Enright AM was an Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director.

Melvyn Morrow is an Australian playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brendan Cowell</span> Australian actor and writer

Brendan Cowell is an Australian actor and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theatre of Australia</span> Overview of theatre in Australia

Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ensemble Theatre</span> Theatre in Sydney, Australia

The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales.

Miracle City is a musical with book and lyrics by Nick Enright and music by Max Lambert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacinta John</span> Australian actress, producer and director

Jacinta John is an Australian actress, producer and director. She is best known for her performance as Miss Casewell in the (2012–2013) 60th anniversary tour of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, which played to an audience of over 150,000 people across Australasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Maunder</span> Australian cabaret and theatre performer

Lucy Maunder is an Australian cabaret and theatre performer. She originated the role of Lara in the Australian premiere of Doctor Zhivago in 2011 opposite Anthony Warlow, and toured with her own cabaret Songs in the Key of Black in 2013, releasing an album with the same name. Also in 2013, Maunder toured with the national touring company of Grease playing the role of Rizzo. In 2021-22, she starred as the adult Alison Bechdel in the Sydney Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company's co-production of Fun Home.

Suzie Mathers is a Scottish-Australian actress and theatre performer best known for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in the Australian, Asian tour, and London productions of Wicked as well Sophie in the 10th Anniversary Australian tour of Mamma Mia! the Musical. Spouse: Laura Francis (7/3/2019)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancye Hayes</span> Australian actress

Nancye Lee Bertles AM, billed under her maiden name as Nancye Hayes, is an Australian actress, dancer, singer and choreographer/director and narrator. She has been a leading figure in Australian musical theatre since the 1960s. Although her roles have been almost exclusively in theatre, she has briefly worked in television as a character actress, filling in for Judy Nunn on the soap opera Home and Away.

Nakkiah Lui is an Australian actor, writer and comedian. She is a young leader in the Aboriginal Australian community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowan Witt</span> Australian actor

Rowan Witt is an Australian film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for starring in The Book of Mormon, Hamilton, Totally Completely Fine, She Loves Me,Dogfight, Gloria, Into The Woods, South Pacific, Home and Away, and The Matrix.

Anna O'Byrne is an Australian actress and soprano singer best known for her portrayal of Christine Daaé in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the original Australian production of Lloyd Webber's sequel, Love Never Dies, for which she was nominated for a Green Room Award.

The Drover’s Wife is a play by Leah Purcell, loosely based on the classic short story of the same name by Henry Lawson published in 1892.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elise McCann</span>

Elise McCann is an Australian actress and musical theatre performer most well known for originating the role of Miss Honey in the Australian production of Matilda the Musical and as Lucille Ball in Everybody Loves Lucy.

Anne-Louise Sarks is an Australian theatre director, writer and actor. She has been the Artistic Director of the Melbourne Theatre Company since October 2021. Her partner is journalist Sean Kelly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Rathgeber</span> Australian actor and singer

Alex Rathgeber is an Australian actor and singer, perhaps best known for his Helpmann Award-winning performance as Billy Crocker in Anything Goes. More recently he appeared as the Tin Man in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Wizard of Oz.

Barbara and the Camp Dogs is a rock musical by Ursula Yovich and Alana Valentine with songs by Valentine, Yovich and Adm Ventoura. The work concerns Barbara, an Aboriginal pub singer trying to make it in Sydney, and her cousin and foster sister René. When the health of Barbara's mother deteriorates, they embark on a pilgrimage back home to country in the Northern Territory.

References

  1. "AusStage - Variations". www.ausstage.edu.au. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  2. Pender, Anne; Lever, Susan (11 March 2017). Nick Enright: An Actor's Playwright. Rodopi. pp. 215–216. ISBN   978-9042024601.
  3. "Variations: The Musical". www.limelightmagazine.com.au. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  4. "Neglected Musicals presents 'Variations' - Dance Informa Australia". danceinforma.com.au. Retrieved 11 March 2017.