VOTE 1: “KEATING!”

Music and lyrics by Casey Bennetto

The musical we had to have…

Tasmanian Premiere

Theatre Royal, Hobart

Wednesday 3 to Saturday 6 March, 2010

FOUR SHOWS ONLY!

Directed by Craig Wellington

Musical Directors Craig Wood and Scott Cashion

Produced by The Old Nick Company Inc

Scott Farrow as Paul Keating

Chris Hamley as Bob Hawke and John Howard

Ian William as Alexander Downer

Craig Wood as John Hewson

Robert Pill as Gareth Evans

Kristian Byrne as Cheryl Kernot

WINNER OF 4 Helpmann Awards and numerous other Awards

“ROLLICKING POLITICAL SATIRE…” - The Australian

“CLEVER AND SUPERBLY FUNNY” - The Age

“10/10 IT’S A TRIUMPH” - Sun-Herald
“JOYOUS” - Sydney Morning Herald

If you like the Uni Revue, if you like seeing politicians lambasted – even if you just like seeing a bloke in a dress… Keating! is the perfect night out… A genuine modern masterpiece of Australian comedy!

Book at Theatre Royal Box Office, phone 6233 2299, or online at http://www.theatreroyal.com.au

The total interstate audience for Keating! reached around 250,000 people around Australia by the time its third Sydney season ended at Christmas 2007. It undertook a major Australian tour in 2008 to almost everywhere (no… NOT Tasmania)... It then returned to Melbourne and Sydney again before being broadcast in late 2008 on ABC 2.

Continued success at the box office confirmed that the appeal of Keating! lies more in its entertainment than its politics.

First staged in 2005 by the Drowsey Drivers, a group of Melbourne musos led by writer/performer Casey Bennetto, the show was expanded by Neil Armfield for Company B in Sydney.

Now, finally, Craig Wellington with notes form Casey Bennetto in hand, has adapted it to an intimate comedy cabaret tour-de-force for a four night stand at Hobart’s Theatre Royal.

How the appeal of a show about a Labor Prime Minister who so comprehensively lost to John Howard in 1996, and whom many viewed as suspiciously un-Australian in his antipathy to sport and fondness for Mahler, antique clocks and Zegna suits, is one of those great mysteries of entertainment. What makes a hit? Yet audiences of all ages love it. Watching audience response, it’s clear that they are having a lot of fun, not something generally associated with politics. Keating! put Company B’s finances on their firmest footing since their advent in the 1980’s.

PJ Keating himself saw the show several times, and was even known to perform an accomplished soft-shoe shuffle at curtain call! Bob Hawke also saw the show but his reaction is “not known”.

This production stars Scott Farrow (hot lead star from Miss Saigon, produced by Wellington) in the title role. With an excellent line-up of the best local voices and musicians, no matter how short the season, this production is expected to have the same success in Tasmania as it has right across the country.

The fact there is a state election campaign in progress is icing on the cake in terms of timing. Those Old Nick satirists seem to have their timing as perfect as always.

The TV advert alone is a satirical swipe at all things political… You can see it at:-

http://www.youtube.com/user/oldnickwebmaster

CASEY BENNETTO…

Casey has worked as a composer, performer, director, theatrical technician, sound designer, lighting designer and stage manager in the theatre. In 1999 he formed the Drowsy Drivers; their stage productions include Northcote Country Soul and Keating! Awards include, for Keating!, The Helpmann for Best Musical (2007), The Helpmann for Best Original Score (2006), The Green Room Award for Best Original Score – Cabaret (2006) and The Age Critics Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (2005).

CRAIG WELLINGTON…

“I saw the very first public performance of Keating! at the Melbourne Trades Hall in 2005. It was a quirk of fate. My colleagues and I had decided to stay at Trades Hall “for one more show” rather than walk through a downpour to another venue. It was one of those incredibly rare moments in life when you ring ten people the minute you leave the theatre to tell them they MUST see this show. I saw it again (many thanks Catherine Woodfield, producer of the Drowsy Driver’s Keating!) and then much later (2007) I was approached to bring the Drowsy’s version to Hobart… there was a three month window before the Company B production went into the rehearsal room after which it would not be available again. Alas, there was literally no weekend in the calendar without major touring artists already occupying Hobart’s venues. It seemed then very likely to remain one of my life’s regrets: I wouldn’t be involved in Tassie seeing Keating! Then, in 2009, enter David Spicer, enter Old Nick and voila! In 2010 it seems now like it was always meant to be…

“I loved the minimalism and intimacy (80 or so seats in the venue) of the very first production, the “three challengers version” as I refer to it. I liked the slick impetus not being interrupted by an intermission. I thus decided “our” Keating! would be a few songs shorter than the Company B production, and deliberately much more akin to its original form. This decision is, of course, taken with Casey Bennetto’s blessing. I thank everyone who has worked on this production, especially cast and crew and not least Scott Farrow. Hat’s off to Old Nick, literally the only Company in Tasmania capable and willing to back such an undertaking.

“There is a personal sense of completion for me with this production – not just because I finally have the honour of bringing Keating! to Hobart; but because 2010 marks twenty years since I co-directed my first “big show” and my first at the Theatre Royal. It was the 1990 Uni Revue, I was the youngest director of it ever, and it was entitled Children of a Lesser Bob. The show opened with news footage of Prime Minister Bob Hawke on a large screen announcing “By 1990 no Australian Child will live in poverty…” The circle of time seems to have completed itself perfectly… I sincerely hope Tasmanian audiences enjoy Keating! as much as I have enjoyed my journey bringing it to the Theatre Royal stage.”