Lyric is ready to celebrate
LYRIC Theatre Group will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this weekend.
Members of the theatre group are looking forward to the cocktail party on Friday night, and will be joined by Lyric Theatre Group founder Lynn Carr.
“Lynn will be flying from Brisbane to be with us on the night,” Lyric life member and exhibition curator Colin Mitchell said.
“We are excited and honoured to have her there. It is a chance to honour her and Lyric.”
The Curtain Up concert will be held on Saturday and Sunday night at Memorial Hall.
Lots of local talent will be singing on the night, including Elly Poletti, Russell Hemming and Josh Gardener.
An exhibition of past costumes and photographs by Michael Mason will accompany the concert.
Mr Mitchell has been busily finding and preparing the costumes since the start of January.
Some 40 mannequins will be set up at Memorial Hall. Some of the costumes have not been worn for 20 years.
“All the sewers and designers are local,” Mr Mitchell said.
“It’s a showcase of a lot of creative talent in conjunction with Michael Mason’s beautiful imagery.”
The showcase is also a tribute to Lyric stalwart, the late Mary Eagger. Three of Mary’s costumes will be placed in a group in the showcase and will be called Tea with Mary.
Tickets can be purchased at Great Southern Outdoors on Bair Street. The tickets will also permit people to go to the Lyric Studio on Watson Road for an open tour.
“They will be able to see the costumes for Gypsy being sewn and rehearsals,” Mr Mitchell said.
Mr Mitchell has done just about everything for Lyric, from painting sets to being thrown in the chorus during his first show The Mikkado.
He is looking forward to directing Gypsy this year.
“It is thrilling to be directing the production for the 50th anniversary,” he said.
“I directed Jesus Christ Superstar for the 40th anniversary as well which was a big highlight.”
Rehearsals for Gypsy will begin in mid March with Elly Poletti taking the lead role of Rose.
“It’s a huge demanding role,” Mr Mitchell said.
“Ninety per cent of the music is sung by Rose.”
Mr Mitchell is also thrilled to be supported by musical director Carmel Slater and choreographer Bronwyn Kalos during this year’s production.
Prized costume: life member of Lyric Theatre and exhibition curator Colin Mitchell showcases Mary Eagger’s costume form the 1980 production Hello Dolly.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Feb 6 2015. Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
