LITTLE WOMEN FEATURE IN SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Emily Dunn & Josephine Tovey
Sydney Morning Herald - Monday April 21, 2008

ONSTAGE, they will be Little Women's wholesome March sisters.

Offstage, the co-stars of the new Kookaburra musical production of Louisa May Alcott's novel, will find more contemporary ways of bonding.

MOTHER'S DAY LUNCHEON

Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children Presents

Peter Cousens & the RIDBC Signing Choir

When: Friday 9 May 2008 11.30am

Where: Curzon Hall

Tickets: $75
(Includes pre-dinner drinks, 3-course luncheon and all soft beverages)

Enquiries; Kaye Bailey or Erin Ivey 02 9871 1233

KOOKABURRA FEATURE ON ABC RADIO

On March 30 Peter Cousens was interviewed on ABC Radio's Artworks program.

"Amanda Smith chats to Peter Cousens, the founder, artistic director, and 
CEO of Kookaburra.

Everyone knows that putting on a musical is a risky business. It's even the storyline of musicals such as The Producers. 

But even though the failure rate is high, there is a kind of mystique and allure to putting on a musical. And it's an artform that can have very broad audience appeal.

You might remember that in 2006, an organisation announcing itself as the National Musical Theatre Company and with the proudly Australian name of Kookaburra, was formed.

Kookaburra did its first two shows in Sydney last year, and it's just recently announced its season for 2008/2009. So, a year or so into operation, in this most high-risk of artistic ventures, we thought it might be interesting to get a sense of how it's all going."

Listen to the full interview

3 Musicals about Life, Love and Family.

Tell Me on a Sunday featuring Jolene Anderson from the Seven Network’s It Takes Two and directed by Kookaburra’s Peter Ross will open the season in August 2008. This will be followed in November by Little Women featuring Trisha Noble, Judi Connelli and Hayden Tee. Then in April & May 2009 we are presenting I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the hilarious smash hit musical by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts featuring Katrina Retallick and Hayden Tee.  

2008 – 2009 SUBSCRIPTION SEASON LAUNCH

On Monday 10 March at 6.30pm the Seymour Centre was abuzz with subscribers, donors, patrons, corporate partners, media, and industry all awaiting the announcement of Kookaburra’s 2008 – 2009 Season.

It ended up being a great night for all, with a taste of four songs from the three musicals; Katrina Retallick’s gave an exquisite rendition of I Will Be Loved Tonight from I Love You, You’re Perfect Now Change, Hayden Tee masterfully sang the energetic Take A Chance On Me from Little Women and Jolene Anderson filled the Everest Theatre with a contemporary and moving performance of Tell Me on a Sunday and Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime, both from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me on a Sunday.

There was fabulous food and wine and judging by the large crowd that stayed back to celebrate and the general excitement about our new season the launch event touched a chord with all who were there.

Read Peter Cousens' Launch Speech 

KOOKABURRA FUNDS THE HATPIN ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING

Kookaburra has been able to secure funds from its own generous supporters to help make The Hatpin recording possible. We were thrilled that Tim and Sally Sims and Michael and Shanny Crouch came to the rescue in support of Kookaburra and The Hatpin with a substantial contribution. 

We are enormously grateful to these wonderful supporters who so readily support the development of the art form and the opportunities it provides. 

Kookaburra is proud to be the major supporter of AussieTheatre.com’s second annual Rising Star initiative. 

This competition will give one extraordinary young Australian talent the opportunity to kick start their career with a range of prizes and opportunities that will see them explode into the music theatre industry with a bang.

COMMUNITY THEATRE NIGHT

On Tuesday, 19th March, Kookaburra held its first Community Theatre night.

The idea firstly was to acknowledge the historical role Community Musical Theatre companies have played in nurturing and maintaining the art form as well as to initiate a line of communication between Kookaburra and these many groups.

We had over 60 representatives at the meeting some from as far away as Tamworth and Orange. Taking the lead from comments made at the meeting Kookaburra resolved to find ways of supporting the Community Musical Theatre companies by advertising in programs, offering workshops including a ticketing/marketing workshop, identifying new talent, sending professionals to give feed back and consult on productions when invited and to support through advocacy the needs of Community Musical Theatre to local governments.

We had some food and wine and we all got to know each other. Peter Ross, Jacquie Gill and Catriona McNaughton and Peter Cousens made up the kookaburra team in attendance. 

We look forward to making this a regular event and will introduce some practical initiatives as a result of this chance to communicate with those at the heart of Community Musical Theatre. First cab off the rank is a special newsletter including a full report on the meeting itself, sent to all in attendance.

FIRST KOOKABURRA DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

In the week before Easter 8 actors; Tyran Parke, Nick Christo, Simon Brook McLachlan, Caleb Rixon, Stephen Anderson, Amy Robertson, Jennifer Peers and Peter Cousens worked with director Peter Ross 
to explore the potential of Crusade a musical by Ben Loomes,  Arnold Butcher and Amy McGrath. The dexterous Lindsay Partidge was the trusty repetiteur.  

This was a highly stimulating experience for all. We were simply able to 'play' with the script and staging. We learnt collectively 12 songs from the piece and staged over 30 minutes giving the writers a substantial revelation of their work. The performers began to get a good feel for the process of workshopping which is not something that is well practiced in Australia. We look forward to building on this experience when we move into 5 in 10 in May/June. 

THE HATPIN WORKSHOP

30 young people spent a Sunday at the Seymour Centre listening to the background to the show, the creative process and Q&A session with the cast. They learnt a song from the show with the composer and were lucky enough to see Peter Cousens perform a live excerpt from the show - singing to one of the Kookaburra Kids.

As part of our affiliation with St Andrews Cathedral School – over 50 students and several staff members also attended a performance of The Hatpin and had the opportunity to meet and greet the cast and creative’s afterwards. 

KOOKABURRA KIDS DISCOVER THE THEATRE WORKSHOP - BILLY ELLIOTT

May and June 2008 Kookaburra Kids will host small groups of disadvantaged kids on a visit to the theatre - (we are told some of these children have never been to the CBD – let alone to the theatre!).

We are working with a some terrific community groups such as BREED in Blacktown, to facilitate these workshops. With the support of Hidden Door we have been able to secure the best seats to Billy Elliot on two matinees and a backstage tour of the Capital Theatre. 

We plan these workshops to be an ongoing initiative that takes in all the terrific musical theatre productions that are on through out a year as well as our own.

CAROLINE O'CONNOR WORKSHOP

We are really grateful to Caroline who has committed a day of her time to Kookaburra Kids.

Caroline strongly values and believes in sharing and passing on the experience that comes from many years in the profession to children who have a genuine interest in musical theatre.

This time around she has designed a workshop specifically for young people which she calls 'Audition Tuition'. Interestingly the most requested topic by Kookaburra Kids is tips to help with auditions.

Please note: To attend the workshop, children must be a member of Kookaburra Kids.

THE NEST - COMMISSIONS NEW WORK

In 2007 Up Close and Musical, Kookaburra’s late-night Friday cabaret, was performed over 9 Friday nights. More than 50 artists, technicians and theatre staff gave their time and skill to present each show.

The Nest is using the funds raised through Up Close and Musical to commission a new Australian musical from James Millar and Peter Rutherford, the writers of The Hatpin.

This will be their second musical and Kookaburra will provide the structure to help nurture and develop this commissioned work into potentially a mainstage production.

James and Peter are wonderfully talented. The Hatpin has had a very successful season at Seymour Centre, and enjoying great acclaim for setting a new benchmark in Australian musical theatre. (We look forward to seeing the The Hatpin touring in your town soon).

Kookaburra and The Nest are delighted to be working with them on their second major work. 

THE NEST AND KOOKABURRA 5 IN 10

5 new musicals, 5 directors and up to 25 actors over 10 days.

Kookaburra will work intensely on 5 new Australian musicals over 10 days. The director and 5 actors for each new musical will have 2 days to explore the potential of the work to move to the next stage – a longer more extensive workshop.

This will give the writers, in most cases, their first opportunity to see and hear their works come to life.

The directors for 5 in 10 will be: Stephen Colyer, Peter Cousens, Gale Edwards, Neil Gooding and Peter Ross.

5 in 10 will take place in May this year. There will also be a second 5 in 10 later in the year.

To find out more about this exciting new venture, please call Kookaburra on 02 9267 2566 or email admin@kookaburra.org.au