Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Musical Theatre And Australian Leading Ladies – Legacies of The Past and Current Challenges : 'How Lucky We Are to Be Alive Right Now'
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Nancye Hayes, Toni Lamond and Jill Perryman.1 As the first Australian women to be cast in leading roles in major productions, these performers paved the way for a long succession of Australian leading ladies, including Geraldine Turner (Chicago), Marina Prior (The Phantom of the Opera) and Debra Byrne (Sunset Boulevard). Through interviews with these four leading ladies, this article investigates the impact of earlier pioneers on current female performers, as well as outlining the current opportunities and challenges for female musical theatre performers in Australia. Other starring roles in musicals included the title role in Wildcat (1963), Nancy in Oliver (1966) and Rose in Gypsy (1975). After years of smaller roles and understudying (most notably in the 1965 Australian production of Hello Dolly, in which she played the leading role on numerous occasions), Perryman was cast as Fanny Brice in the 1966 national touring production of Funny Girl.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australasian Drama Studies no. 75 October 2019 18496337 2019 periodical issue

    'Papers, presentations and workshops ranged across many subjects, including: individual performers and practices; dramaturgies of acting, technology, disability and access; rehearsal and hierarchies of power; acting and ethics; women in the acting and performance industries; diversity on the stage; mainstream and independent work; comedy; physical practices; and wellbeing and mental health. Actresses have been particularly vocal about the need to challenge the gender pay gap, sexism, racism and male abuse of power, and there is a noticeable difference in the numbers of actresses of all ages who are prepared to speak out about the invisibility and marginalisation that too many have endured. The different moods of the actresses in these articles and interviews are also striking: the optimism and celebratory notes evident in Trevor Jones's piece on women performers of musical theatre and the joyously comic anarchy manifest in Sarah Peters' article on the Travelling Sisters are not, for example, sounded by Candy Bowers, who describes a landscape of white supremacy and 'the centring of whiteness' above all, and identifies a major problem with diversity and access to training as well as an unwillingness to celebrate intersectionality and diverse storytelling on Australian stages. Forsyth observes that many women turn to film and television not just because of financial issues and the limited roles that mature actresses are offered on the stage, but also because of the physical wear and tear on the body and mind.' (Mary Lockhurst, Editorial abstract)

    2019
    pg. 287-315
Last amended 7 Jan 2020 16:24:35
287-315 Musical Theatre And Australian Leading Ladies – Legacies of The Past and Current Challenges : 'How Lucky We Are to Be Alive Right Now'small AustLit logo Australasian Drama Studies
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