Wendy Lewis | |
---|---|
Born | Sydney, Australia |
Occupation | Writer |
Genre | Non-fiction books, plays |
Notable works | Australians of the Year See Australia and Die |
Wendy Lewis is an Australian writer working in Sydney who has written a number of non-fiction books about Australian people, history and events. She also writes for the stage, specialising in dark comedy and musical theatre. Some of her plays are published under the pen-name Julia Lewis.
In 2010, Lewis was commissioned by the National Australia Day Council to write Australians of the Year, the official 50-year history of the Australian of the Year Award. [1]
See Australia and Die describes incidents resulting in harm to people travelling in Australia, [2] [3] including from crocodile attacks, the sting of Irukandji jellyfish, and death by hypothermia.
Events That Shaped Australia recounts details, personages, the images and after-effects of important events in Australia's history. [4] [5] [6]
Caught Out! Scandals, Lies, Cover-ups is a selection of Australian scandals including David Hicks, Muhamed Haneef, Children Overboard, Cheryl Kernot's big secret, The Mufti and the Uncovered Meat. [7]
Gone describes 25 kidnapping cases in various countries. [8]
Lewis' book Celebrating 150 years of Rookwood Catholic Cemetery was commissioned by the Catholic church. The book launch was celebrated with a mass at St Mary's Cathedral, followed by a cocktail party at the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. [9]
Lewis has written plays entitled Statues of David, [10] The Baggage Handler (2006) and Life Drawing (2013). [11]
Lewis' musical What's My Color?, co-written with Berlin-based composer Yuval Halpern, premiered in the US in October 2016.
In 2018, Lewis adapted The Devil's Caress by June Wright to stage. The production presented June Wright's classic murder mystery interwoven with her life and times in post-war Melbourne. It was produced by Factory Space Theatre Company. [12] The script was published by The Australian Script Centre. [13]
In 2020, Lewis wrote book, lyrics and music for the dark musical comedy Defeating Roger Federer. It was performed at the New Theatre (Newtown) [14] [15] in 2020 and returned to the stage in Cabaret form for the Sydney Fringe Festival 2022. [16]
In 2022, Lewis' mini musical Lost in Translation (with music by Yuval Halpern) premiered in 'schreib:maschine' at BKA Theatre Berlin. [17]
Lewis won a poetry competition in connection with Refresh Drummoyne, an urban art installation for the City of Canada Bay in Sydney in 2010. Her winning entry was typographed as a mural by a graphic designer in a manner that "refers to and resembles billboards, poster walls, newspaper headlines and antique film rolls." [18]
Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".
Roger Federer is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Federer was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. He won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most of all time, including 20 major men's singles titles and six year-end championships.
Rookwood Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating cemetery from the Victorian era. It is close to Lidcombe railway station about 17 kilometres (11 mi) west of the Sydney central business district. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Stilgoe. Based on the 1910 French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, it tells the tragic story of a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, masked musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House.
Casey Donovan is an Australian singer, songwriter, actress, theatre actress and author, best known for winning the second season of the singing competition show Australian Idol in 2004. She won the competition at the age of just 16, becoming the series' youngest winner. In 2017, Donovan won the third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Donovan also hosted the NITV music show Fusion with Casey Donovan.
Rafael Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player. Nadal has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 209 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles. He has won 92 ATP-level singles titles, including 36 Masters titles and an Olympic gold medal, with 63 of these on clay courts. Nadal is one of only two men to complete the Career Golden Slam in singles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay constitute the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Glenn Slater is an American lyricist for musical theatre. He has collaborated with Alan Menken, Christopher Lennertz, Andrew Lloyd Webber, among other composers. He was nominated for three Tony Awards for Best Original Score for the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid at the 62nd Tony Awards in 2008, Sister Act at the 65th Tony Awards in 2011, and School of Rock at the 70th Tony Awards in 2016.
Eddie Perfect is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, comedian, writer and actor.
Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Canada Bay.
Annette Andre is an Australian actress best known for her work on British television throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Wendy Hughes was an Australian actress known for her work in theatre, film and television. Her career spanned more than forty years and established her reputation as one of Australia's finest and most prolific actors. In her later career she acted in Happy New Year along with stars Peter Falk and Charles Durning. In 1993 she played Dr. Carol Blythe, M. E. in Homicide: Life on the Street. In the late 1990s, she starred in State Coroner and Paradise Road.
Drummoyne Oval is a multi-use sports ground in the Sydney inner-west suburb of Drummoyne, New South Wales. The ground has been used for international women's cricket matches, domestic men's cricket matches and first grade rugby league as well as local Australian rules football and Rugby Union games.
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Djokovic has been ranked No. 1 for a record total of 417 weeks in a record 13 different years, and finished as the year-end No. 1 a record eight times. Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slam men's singles titles, including a record ten Australian Open titles. Overall, he has won 98 singles titles, including a record 71 Big Titles: 24 majors, a record 40 Masters, and a record seven ATP Finals. Djokovic is the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces. In singles, he is the only man to achieve a triple Career Grand Slam, and the only player to complete a career Golden Masters, a feat he has achieved twice.
This is a list of the main career statistics of Swiss former professional tennis player Roger Federer. All statistics are according to the ATP Tour website. Federer won 103 ATP singles titles including 20 majors, 28 ATP Masters, and six ATP Finals. Federer was also a gold medalist in men's doubles with Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a silver medalist in singles at the 2012 London Olympics.
Roger Federer's first ATP Tour-level tournament was the 1998 Gstaad Open, where he faced Lucas Arnold Ker in the round of 32 and lost, 4–6, 4–6. Federer's first final came at the 2000 Marseille Open, where he lost to fellow Swiss Marc Rosset, 6–2, 3–6, 6–7. Federer's first tournament win was at the 2001 Milan Indoor, where he defeated Julien Boutter, 6–4, 6–7, 6–4. The most prestigious finals he contested at this time included the 2002 Miami Masters, where he lost to Andre Agassi, 3–6, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6. Shortly thereafter, Federer won his first Masters Series event at the Hamburg Masters on clay, 6–1, 6–3, 6–4, over Marat Safin.
Drummoyne Boys' High School (abbreviation:DBHS) is a former high school in the inner western Sydney suburb of Drummoyne, New South Wales, Australia. It was a boys high school operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training with students from years 7 to 12. The school was established in 1940. However, due to declining enrolments the school was declared surplus to the needs of the department in 1989 and was officially closed in 1990. The historic original buildings are now the site of The Village by Scalabrini, Drummoyne.
Christine Whelan Browne is an Australian performer who has worked extensively in musical theatre as an actress, dancer and singer. She has also appeared on television shows and in films. In March 2012, she married fellow performer, Rohan Browne.
Ben Lewis is an Australian actor and baritenor. His most well-known role is The Phantom of the Opera in the original Australian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies. In 2017 and 2018, he reprised the role in Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in the original West End production.
Benjamin Law is an Australian author, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his books The Family Law, a family memoir published in 2010, and the TV series of the same name. He hosts the radio programme and podcast Stop Everything! for ABC Radio National.
Dorothy June Wright was an Australian writer. She wrote six popular crime novels between 1948 and 1966, all with recognisable settings in and around Melbourne. She also wrote many articles for Catholic lay journals such as The Majellan, Caritas and Scapular and the Catholic newspaper The Advocate. She recorded her personal memoirs and family history in two volumes in 1994 and 1997.