Top of the Bill single work   musical theatre   revue/revusical   humour  
Issue Details: First known date: 1954... 1954 Top of the Bill
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Intimate revue

The Phillip Street Theatre revue company's debut production, Top of the Bill comprised a varied collection of sketches, songs, and dance, including spoofs and takes on Shakespeare, a family at breakfast time, Kinsey's report on sex, and some well-known musicals.

The Sydney Morning Herald theatre critic's review notes:

'Mr Chater, in Shakepearean mood, hotted up Othello for the jitterbug public and swung Hamlet around to the Roberta Cowell theme: "To be he, or not to be he...". The audience had its most boisterous response for the more elaborate group skits, most of all for the pinafored members of the High Falutin' Girls' Choir, who religiously stuck to the idea that any singer touching the right pitch would be defiled therewith... The sketch in which a family of breakfasters acted their way through the stilted detail of a movie advertisement brought the house down... Lola Brooks acted with saucy vivacity in various numbers, and John Fleming with sauce - but clever as they were, their "Kidsey Report" on sexual behaviour in children was distasteful... One sketch was a stew of The Consul, South Pacific and Call Me Madam, but it could have been funnier with keener writing, and so could the "Seven Deadly Scenes". Too often in shows like this, ideas are left in their first slapdash form' (8 May 1954, p.6).

Production Details

  • 1954: Phillip Street Theatre, Sydney, 16 April - 17 July.

    • Director William Orr; Chorus Joan Halliday; Design Alick McKenzie.
    • Cast incl: Lyle O'Hara, Gordon Chater, Ken Hannam, Charles Tingwell, Lola Brooks, John Flemming, Margo Lee.
    • Musicians Lance Mulcahy and Neil Jones (pianos).
    • A second edition of the revue was staged from 9 June onwards.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1954
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Related Works

Happy Returns John McKellar , Gerry Donovan , Lance Mulcahy (composer), Phillip Street Theatre , 1955 single work musical theatre revue/revusical humour

Intimate review.

For this revue celebrating Phillip Street Theatre's first birthday, most of the sketches and songs were sourced from the three previous productions. The Sydney Morning Herald critic, A. A., writes that as

'an attempt to re-present the wittier items from past shows... it does not quite succeed. Why? Is this critic just a churlish pedant likely to be bored by humour below the standard of Aristophenes and Moliere? Or has some of the material gone stale with repetition? Or are there no fresh personalities coming along to interpret it with the necessary lean and high spirits?' (14 May 1955, p.18).

According the Herald's review, the highlight was John Meillon 'jerking and throbbing with tremulous frenzy, [providing] an extraordinarily clever comment on Johnnie Ray's brand of exhibitionism; it was more than mere mimicry; it was true and telling caricature'. Special mention is also made of Lyle O'Hara, 'bizarre and grotesque', wailing about the mysteries of Baghdad; Gordon Chater in bib and golden curls, analysing an infant's psychology; and Ray Barrett going into a soft shoe routine on the theme of the Elizabethan Theatre being situated in Newtown.
The Birthday Show John McKellar , Lance Mulcahy , Phillip Street Theatre , Dot Mendoza (composer), 1959 single work musical theatre revue/revusical humour

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).
Phillip Street Revue Phillip Street Theatre , 1960 single work musical theatre revue/revusical humour

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).
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (3)

Works about this Work

New Theatre Company in Revue L. B. , 1954 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 May 1954; (p. 6)
— Review of Top of the Bill John McKellar , Gerry Donovan , 1954 single work musical theatre
New Theatre Company in Revue L. B. , 1954 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 May 1954; (p. 6)
— Review of Top of the Bill John McKellar , Gerry Donovan , 1954 single work musical theatre
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (1)

PeriodicalNewspaper Details

Note:
This entry has been sourced from research undertaken by Dr Clay Djubal into Australian-written popular music theatre.
Last amended 18 Sep 2014 13:22:10
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