"Anything Goes" production media call photos, Friday 29 May 2015.

Today, at 12 noon, FRIDAY 29 MAY 2015, at the Princess Theatre, 163 Spring Street Melbourne, I attended the Australian premiere of Anything Goes production media call, where 32 cast in full costume tap danced with a thunderous roar!

Ahead of the opening of Melbourne’s next blockbuster musical ANYTHING GOES, I jumped on board and experienced the first-class star cast perform the title song ANYTHING GOES! for the cameras - including my own.

 

Caroline O’Connor

A special performance of the title song ANYTHING GOES! A famous seven-minute all-singing, all-tap dancing sequence with 32 saucy and splendid first-class cast in costume and on stage! 

Winner of three Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival and Choreography during its most recent Broadway revival, ANYTHING GOES is a stunning nautical favorite. 

For decades, ANYTHING GOES has captivated millions with its delightful story of madcap antics aboard the S.S. American. This dazzling musical celebration features a hilarious tale of topsy-turvy relationships, mistaken identities and foiled plots, peppered with some of musical theatre’s most memorable standards including You’re The Top, I Get A Kick Out Of You, and of course the title song, Anything Goes.

Leading the all-star cast is Caroline O’Connor (Chicago) as evangelist turned nightclub singer Reno Sweeney.

Playing Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, the wealthy English fiancé of Hope, will be audience favorite Todd McKenney (The Boy From Oz). Wayne Scott Kermond (Singin’ In The Rain) plays Moonface Martin, a second-rate gangster who is “Public Enemy Number 13”.

Billy Crocker, the young Wall Street broker in love with Hope is played by Alex Rathgeber (The Drowsy Chaperone), and Claire Lyon (Phantom of the Opera) is Hope Harcourt, an American debutante and the object of Billy’s affection.

Carmen Duncan (Another World) is Evangeline Harcourt, Hope’s haughty and overbearing mother, while Debora Krizak plays Erma, Moonface’s girlfriend.

The Captain of the S.S. American will be played by Gerry Connolly (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum) in Melbourne and Brisbane. Bartholomew John, who played Captain Brackett in the OA/John Frost production of South Pacific in 2013, will play Ivy league Wall Street banker Elisha J. Whitney. 

Until next time …

Joe

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS MEDIA CALL HISENSE ARENA ON WEDNESDAY 25MARCH2015

Wednesday 25 March 2015, 10.30am - I walked with life-size dinosaurs this morning. Well, let me explain. I was fortunate enough to attend this morning's media call for the arena spectacular, Walking with Dinosaurs. I have posted 8 of the images I took during the call. These hydaulically operated creatures are life-size and remarkable to behold. The creatures display a remarkable attention to detail in their life-like looking flesh and in the way they move and sound.

Media beheld an Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaursus in full-flight and fight, along with a feathered dinosaur, which we saw close up when we were invited to go down onto the stage.

On stage we also met the show's narrator and human star, and a US paleontologist who has been brought in to act as technical consultant for the production.

Until next time ...
Joe.

Sexy, sassy media call for "Sweet Charity", Arts Centre Melbourne, Wednesday 25 February 2015.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

One of the most unusual, sexy, and sassy media calls I’ve yet attended.

This morning, Wednesday, February 25, 2015, I attended the media call for the show “Sweet Charity”.

What was unusual about this particular media call was that, it was held outdoors, on the forecourt of the Melbourne’s Arts Centre complex. Fortunately for all media attending – and especially for the 8 very attractive, and scantily clad performers, Verity Hunt-Ballard, Debora Krizak, Kate Cole, Rowena Vilar, Francesa O’Donnell, Annie Aitkin, Lyndon Watts, and Samantha Leigh Dodemaide – the weather was mild and kind.

With a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, direction by Dean Bryant, choreography by Andrew Hallsworth, and starring Mary Poppins’s Verity Hunt-Ballard, this triple Helpmann Award-winning production of “Sweet Charity” tells the tale of ever-optimistic, big-dreaming, Charity, who works at the Fandango Ballroom where she dances with men to pay her rent.

During the media call, the 8 performers sang, and gyrated through 3 performances of the rousing, “Hey Big Spender” - certainly one of the best-known of all musical performance numbers.

“Sweet Charity” runs from 25 February 2015 at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

While I took several hundred images during the media call, I’ve included 35 of the best shots I took.

Until next time …

Joe Calleri.