Cirrus@Austlit

Intimate revue.

One of the Phillip Theatre company's most successful revues, A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down even found its title becoming an Australian popular culture expression. The production comprised thirty odd sketches located in two sets: one a cold, chintz-hung London bedsit and the other a bronze-decor, low-slung, international hotel room. The first act looked at Australians abroad, while the second half examined them at home.

The skits included Reg Livermore as a juvenile pop singer and a curly-headed folknik; Kevan Johnston as an abnormally normal teenager and as secret agent James Bond; Gloria Dawn as a theatre party organiser; and Ruth Cracknell as a duffle-coated jet traveller, an English duchess, a long-suffering mum, and a star-struck housewife. The finale to the evening's entertainment was a satire on the 'Mad Scene' from Lucia di Lammermoor.

Intimate revue.

Comprising ten performers, a cast larger than was typical of the Phillip Theatre revues, Is Australia Really Necessary? concentrates its satirical energy on exploring the country's culture, politics, and personalities (notably footballers, female swimmers, politicians, and the television industry). The sketches included Miriam Karlin's opening routine 'Bonzer' (a testimonial to the Australian way of life) and her impersonation of Princess Anne at the opening of the Melbourne Cultural Centre in 1988. Red Moore played a returned traveller complacently preferring Yagoona to the rest of the world and a manic professor giving a cookery demonstration on TV. One sketch exposed Melbourne as the 'city of sin where you wait all night for the sin to begin', while Alton Harvey played out a scene in which he downed pint after pint while praising the life in Nunnawading.

Comprising familiar Phillip Theatre performers, with the addition of Jill Perryman's sister Diana, Do You Mind? pokes fun at social, political, and cultural topics and contemporary personalities.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald review of the premiere, the highlights were Gordon Chater's cross-dressing portrayal ('in a gutturally seductive contralto') of the only member of European royalty not invited to Princess Alexandra's wedding; Judi Farr's performance as a smoulderingly sophisticated executive of a promotion firm called 'Windsor Enterprises'; Robina Beard as an absent-minded ballet dancer; Bob Hornery, Kevin Miles, and Gordon Chater as co-members of an ecclesiastical trio calling themselves Walker, Gilroy, and Gough; a parody of an Australian musical (complete with Aboriginal dancers) titled 'Coo-ee Girl'; and the comic bushfire dance spoofing the recent production of Showboat.

Chamber musical in 3 acts.

Set in the 'roaring 20s', partly in a fictional Sydney variety theatre, this production was described by Romola Costantino as 'part musical, part revue, part clever and affectionate parody, [and] sometimes part vaudeville sketch" (2 February 1963, p.8). Although the third act was criticised for being banal and some of the dialogue described as lame, the review overall was generous. 'Orr's Phillip Theatre', writes Costantino, 'has produced a musical evening that shows several signs of becoming one of the most companionable entertainments it has devised for a long time' (Sydney Morning Herald 2 February 1963, p.8).

The characters included an eloquent dumb blonde and gold digger (Robina Beard), a 'duchess without muchess' who has come to Australia in search of a wealthy grazier (Diana Perryman), a matter-of-fact English peer (George Foster), and a Valentino-like hero (Alton Harvey).

Children's chamber musical.

A musical fantasy for children, adapted by William Orr from the story of Cinderella.

Intimate revue.

With this production, William Orr experimented with eleven newcomers to the Phillip Theatre, possibly the largest cast seen in a revue production since the company began in 1954. The sketches included a look at advertising professions such as medicine (with Arlene Dorgan as a woman doctor), law (Barry Creyton as a lawyer), and education (Margaret Dence as a headmistress); method acting; revamping Shakespeare; Grace Kelly and the Kennedys; and a burlesque of an ABC television historical series.

Intimate revue.

Following the success of Yes Please!, producer William Orr again paired Gordon Chater and Jill Perryman to head the cast of his Phillip Street revue company. Including more than thirty songs, At it Again continued the company's tradition of satirising contemporary issues and people. As the programme notes suggest, 'no cow is too sacred, [and] no office too high to escape their darts of humour' (p.5). Headed by John McKellar, the writers poked fun at the Federal Government ('The Pirates of Canberra'), the Prince of Wales, Bobby Limb, bridge tolls, and the future of the Opera House. Gordon Chater's sketches were amongst the wittiest and sharpest, notably his migrant sketch 'New Boy' (written by McKellar) and 'Operation Pinprick'.

The program comprised:

Part 1:

• 'At it Again (company)
• 'Gentlemen of the Press' (Chater and Johnston)
• 'I was Beautiful' (Perryman)
• 'Suki Yaki (Chater)
• 'Chevron Minuet' (company)
• 'Taxi' (Johnston and Taylor)
• 'Vortex of Verbosity' (Farr)
• 'Operation Pinprick' (Chater)
• 'I Saw Him Today' (Perryman)
• 'Love is Where You Find it' (Chater, Perryman, Johnston, Taylor)
• 'Advance Australia Wise' (company)
• 'Common Market' (Taylor)
• 'Telephone' (Perryman)
• 'Come in and Browse' (Chater)
• 'Sydney on Sunday' (company)
• 'What to Wear when the Bomb Comes' (Farr)
• 'Pirates of Canberra; Or, The Mingkado' (company).

Part 2:

• 'And Again' (??) [sic]
• 'The New Boy' (Chater)
• 'Transmigration' (company)
• 'Watch this Space' (Taylor)
• 'A Night at the Opera House' (company)
• 'Bring Back the Lash' (Perryman)
• 'Scream of Steam' (Chater, Taylor, and Johnston)
• 'The First Twist' (company);
• 'Telephone' (Perryman)
• 'I Always Say Hello to a Flower' (Farr)
• 'Telephone' (Perryman)
• 'It Could be Yuri' (company)
• 'Telephone' (Perryman)
• 'Post Bag Rag' (Chater)
• 'Musical Message' (company)

Children's musical.

A musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's popular story, this version portrays Alice as a more timorous and hesitant child than the precocious English character typically presented. In this respect, the casting of pop singer Patsy Ann Noble in the lead role saw her develop a 'nicer' and more warming persona than Alice's traditional bossy and confident nature. The Sydney Morning Herald's theatre critic, R. C., wrote of the production that 'The sets, turning over like the pages of a book, have the modest neatness characteristic of the production as a whole; and any child old enough to enjoy the chime and sparkle of Carroll's mad logic and impudent fantasy is likely to be grateful for the chance of experiencing it in a theatre' (26 December 1961, p.7).

Intimate revue.

'Yes Please, the new Phillip Theatre revue which opened on Saturday night contains much that is bright, yet one leaves the theatre meditating on an imposed slickness which is at variance with the spirit of this company's cheerful productions over the years. The scripting is as tight as or could be wished for, the acting is of uniform briskness, with Gordon Chater in fine fettle... some of the sketches jab rather fiercely at local personalities; and there is a positive surfeit of Russian and bomb material... All in all it comes close to being Chater's show - his Lord Russell in gaol doing a creaky cha-cha is bettered only by his East Pymble committeeman advising on "What to do when the bomb comes", notwithstanding a macabre note or two about children' (Sydney Morning Herald 9 October 1961, p.5).

Other sketches included spoofs on advertising; Mary Hardy as America's first lady; Jimmy Hannan inflicting Palestrina on Bondi Beach sunbathers; Jill Perryman, Judi Farr, and Mary Hardy describing how they ended up with the 'Long Bay Blues'; and Jill Perryman as a 'Wood Nymph.'

Intimate revue.

Written mainly by John McKellar, Stop Press is described by William Orr in the production program as dealing 'with the local scene, and [thus] it can truly be called "Sydney's own Revue"'. Among the topics and subject matter under fire were advertising jingles and slogans, Fidel Castro, Robert Menzies, Sydney's North Shore and South Shore, Australian television crime shows, and nuns and monks.

The order of sketches and songs (including performers) was:

Act One:

• 1. 'Grab It While it's Hot' (Company)
• 2. 'Monitor' (Dennis/ Hopgood/ Farr)
• 3. 'What the People Want' (Ginn/Dennis/Hardy/Mather)
• 4. 'Three Little Words' (Lenihan/ Mather/Farr/Hardy/Dennis)
• 5. 'Yes and No' (Wyndon)
• 6. 'High School for Scandal' (Hopgood/Lenihan/Farr/Hardy/Wyndon)
• 7. 'Control': (i) Zillion Dollars (Dennis) and (ii) 'No Strings' (Hopgood)
• 8. 'North Shore-South Shore' (Ginn/Lenihan/Wyndon/Mather)
• 9. 'Cook's Tour' (Farr)
• 10. 'Surfside Sick' (Dennis/Ginn/Hardy/Wyndon/Hopgood)
• 11. 'Yearnings' (Lenihan/Farr)
• 12 'I'm the Boy' (Mather/Wyndon)
• 13. 'Happily Ever After' (Dennis/Farr/Hopgood/Lenihan)
• 14. 'Calorie Count Down' (Hardy)
• 15. 'Time to Forget' (Company).

Act Two:

• 1. 'Peak Hour' (Company)
• 2. 'Paper' (Farr)
• 3. 'Holiday Estate' (Ginn/Lenihan/Mather/Dennis)
• 4. 'Encorpse' (Hopgood)
• 5. 'Girls' Night Out' (Lenihan/Hardy/Wyndon/Farr/Dennis)
• 6. 'Twilight Zone' (Mather)
• 7. 'Blue' (Hardy)
• 8. 'Monastery' (Ginn/Wyndon/Farr/Hopgood/Dennis)
• 9. 'Old-Fashion Passion' (Lenihan)
• 10. 'Guidance' (Mather/Hardy/Ginn)
• 11. 'Art Strip' (Wyndon)
• 12. 'Of Ming I Sing' (Ginn/Hopgood/Dennis/Mather)
• 13. 'Where Do We Go From Here?' (Company).

Intimate revue.

Comprising topical sketches, songs, and dance, Out on a Limb was the first production by the Phillip Street Theatre company in its new premises at 150 Elizabeth Street. The production was largely based around the principal cast member, Bobby Limb.

Intimate revue.

Comprising songs and sketches from the Phillip Street Theatre revues staged over the previous six years, this production also included several new faces amongst the cast.

According to a review in the Sydney Morning Herald, the highlights were a sketch titled 'Soap Opera'; Jill Perryman in 'The World is My Ashtray (and you would be my next cigarette...)'; 'Swan Like', a sketch 'where wooden swans creak and ballet is reduced to controlled and humorous gymnastics'; and 'Cinderella on Ice', described as a devastating crack at the slippery surface of pantomime' (28 April 1960, p.6).

Musical.

Essentially a chamber musical, Mistress Money was designed to be a 'musical' extension of the popular Phillip Street Theatre revues, using Moliere's The Miser as the foundation for its narrative.

Intimate revue.

The highlights of this Phillip Street revue, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, included Gordon Chater as

'a gushingly insincere host at a party, as a lovelorn pterodactyl aroused from icy Artic entombment by a hydrogen bomb, as a raddled old barmaid named Gracious Greta, and as quizmaster Bob Dyer.... Lyle O'Hara, still expert in her mimicking of grotesque people, tantalised her audience with her impersonations of a twitchy little boy scout trying to keep the peace among fairies who refused to believe in people, of a cynical old bingo expert impatient of twittering newcomers, or of a giddy garden lover progressively dismayed by the rabbit-paced multiplication of a multicoloured bush from Mars'. Judi Farr presented a revised version of Cinderella, 'wherein the ash-grubber was shown to be a bored stiff beatnik who didn't want to go to the palace hop', while Kevan Johnston scored a hit with his tango built around a lovers' quarrel (22 October 1959, p.7).

Intimate revue.

Devised in order to celebrate the Phillip Street Theatre's fifth birthday, The Birthday Show comprised a smattering of new material along with popular favourites from previous productions, notably Top of the Bill, Hit and Run, Hat Trick, Two to One, Mr and Mrs, Around the Loop, Cross Section, and Bats.

Songs interpolated into the production included 'Oh What a Year it's Been' and 'Trite Fantastic' (McKellar); 'The Oracle' (Rasdall/Goldman); 'The World is My Ashtray', 'Tiger Moth', and 'Noel' (McKellar/Mendoza); 'Katoomba' (McKellar/Mulcahy); 'Soap Opera', 'Breakfast Delight', and 'White Carnations' (McKellar/Donovan); 'Golden Hair', 'You Came from Outer Space', 'Beside Myself', and 'Wow of a Frau' (McKellar/Donovan/Mulcahy); 'Bread Love and Teddy Bears' (McKellar/Frazer); 'Queen's Square' (Nettheim); 'Letter Song' (Taylor/Mulcahy); 'Circulation', 'Cuckoo', and 'Call of the Wild' (Donovan/Mulcahy); 'April in Fairbanks' (Grand); 'Woy Boy' (Cranko/Swan); 'Don't Let Him Know You Too Well' (Cranko/Addison); 'Surly Girls' (Flanders/Swan); 'Bedside Manners' (Frazer); and 'Happy Birthday' (Mendoza).

Children's musical.

The story concerns two stylish and witty witches; a bleating, self-pitying dragon; a Rapunzel with six yards of rope for hair; a Shakespearian-spouting prince; a half-cat-half-fish (who always moans about its top half wanting to eat its bottom half); and numerous mixed-up spells.

Intimate review.

In a Sydney Morning Herald review theatre critic L. B. writes:

'Bats? The five performers certainly were. They variously pretended to be Metro-Goldwyn's lion, the sphinx, a cuckoo cucking more than it cooed, an eaves-dropping palm from the pot plant in the foyer, ballerinas from 'Swan Bog', an elephant with a lost memory, and Noel Coward [played by Ronald Frazer] summing up La Peruse with rhymes like 'lubra' and 'Maroubra' to keep him in character'.

Other sketches included an expose on social climbing, a slapstick tooth-drilling scene and a brawl with a one-armed bandit (Lyle O'Hara), Jill Perryman as both a honky tonk siren and a sophisticate singing the praises of igloo-life in Alaska, and Alton Harvey as both a paranoiac lout from the Deep South and a frightfully pukka Governor Phillips at Sydney Cove in 1788 (2 October 1958, p.7).

Musical revue.

Loosely set in Sydney's King's Cross, but occasionally going further afield (including Scotland and southern USA), Cross Section followed on from the very successful Phillip Street Theatre revue Around The Loop, which ran for over a year. The King's Cross flavour, which one critic viewed as being far 'from strong', involved scenes of Crucians exchanging hauteur and abuse from assorted apartment windows; a sentimental ballad about some hospitable old lady of Palmer Street (performed by Noel Brophy); a skit on the espresso craze ('You Can't Keep a Good Cup Down'); and a bit of hoyden autobiography from a Rushcutter's Bay conductress (Sydney Morning Herald 12 September 1957, p.14). Other sketches included 'Truth in Advertising' (performed by Peter Batey), Dolore Whiteman's 'Frankie and Johnnie', Rhonny Gabriel's 'Not Negotiable', and a dance number, 'Caribbean Bazaar', performed by Yolanda and Antonio Rodrigues.

The musical aspects of the revue are said to have included an 'Auld Lang Syne' finale and a song about a girl-ruined Bank of New South Wales teller. The original musical numbers were composed by the Phillip Street house composer Dot Mendoza and moonlighting classical composer Peter Sculthorpe. The latter's contributions (set to words by John McKellar) were 'Truth in Advertising', 'Manic Espresso' (scored as a send-up samba rhythm and included in the 'coffee bar cult' sketch), 'Redleaf Revelations', 'Shooting a Lion', 'I Knew a Fella', and 'Something You Can't Pin Down'.

Children's musical.

Adapted from the traditional English story set in ancient China, the narrative concerns the love of a mandarin's daughter for the son of her father's gardener. Although kept away from the world in order that she marry the person of her father's choice, she falls dangerously in love with the gardener's son, and they are subsequently forced to flee the parental wrath.

Songs included 'Fried Rice' (a tango), 'The Land of Let's Pretend', 'Yangtse King', and 'I Am'.

An adaptation of Lewis Carroll's famous children's story, this version retains the original adventures, with the addition of ballet and pantomime music.

Dot Mendoza's score is largely influenced by Vienna waltz styles.