Wow Wow WAAPA

I have just had a terrific week. Getting on a plane and getting away is always invigorating whether it be overnight to Melbourne or further afield overseas etc. Going to Perth is not something I do very often, only because it is so far away and there has to be a pretty good reason for going there. It seems like half way to LA by the time you get off the plane, and then, usually within 48 hours you have to come back. I once did a turn around of about 16 hours to see a production of Hair — no more, too old!

I have just had a terrific week. Getting on a plane and getting away is always invigorating whether it be overnight to Melbourne or further afield overseas etc. Going to Perth is not something I do very often, only because it is so far away and there has to be a pretty good reason for going there. It seems like half way to LA by the time you get off the plane, and then, usually within 48 hours you have to come back. I once did a turn around of about 16 hours to see a production of Hair — no more, too old!

Anyway, as you may gather, I went to Perth this week, to meet and discuss the industry with the 3rd year graduates of the music theatre course at WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) and see their production of the classic musical Ragtime, celebrating the 30th anniversary of WAAPA.

The thing I feel many in the eastern states don’t always realise is what a terrific place WAAPA is. Truly one of the three top performing training institutions in the country, it offers courses of great breadth. From Aboriginal Theatre, Acting, Music, Arts Management, Broadcasting, Costuming, Dance, Design, Lighting, Music Theatre, Props and Scenery, Sound and Stage Management. It is a reason to celebrate to  see how this small arm of the Edith Cowan University has flourished over the past 30 years and my day there more than reminded me (just by seeing one small section of the work done at the institute) that this is an organization of great international standing. The fact that it is way across the other side of the country from where the hub of entertainment seems to germinate (ie Sydney and Melbourne) just underpins the true extraordinary nature of the place.

I spent  a highly electric couple of hours talking to the 3rd year students soon about to graduate and bring a showcase of their works around the country. I found the students invigorating, interested and extremely grateful that someone from across the other side of the country had taken the time to come and discuss the pros and cons of coming out of a music theatre course and breaking into this small and somewhat elitist industry.

Following this I had the great pleasure of witnessing an extraordinary production of Ragtime. This is a show that is rarely performed in Australia and with its strong requirement of non Caucasian actors, I can’t see it getting many productions in coming years. Some may remember Australia was   promised  a full scale commercial production back in about 1998/99 soon after it opened on Broadway, but it never happened.   Based on E.L. Doctorow’s classic book Ragtime, the show is a large sprawling affair with many great roles and the need of a huge cast made up of the Caucasian, immigrant and African American groups that made the basis of East Coast society at the beginning of last century. The show is full of great show stopping numbers and deeply moving chorales. An epic task indeed and one Waapa grasped with great panache under the capable hands of director, Jason Langley, who is rapidly becoming one of our most sought after young directors in the music theatre field. Langley brought the many elements of this complicated piece together perfectly, backed with great style by a student orchestra who never were anything less than excellent under the capable direction of  the head of the music theatre course, David King. The 3rd years were backed by 1st year students in the chorus, adding much to the great vocal sound required by the piece.

I also must add, a student production can get away with colour blind casting in the casting of Caucasian actors in the African American roles. This was handled very cleverly, by use of coloured costumes for these  characters, everyone Caucasian all in white and the immigrants in a rag tag collection of motley clothes of the period.

I wanted to say (pardon the pun), that this is an exceptional year graduating from Waapa, yet I have only once before seen a production in their home base and have never met the students well ahead of their upcoming showcase performances. So, perhaps I am a little biased, but boy, there are some great talents there. This is not a review and I don’t want to single out anyone as there were also some great talents in the chorus who had already played leads in earlier productions this year, Suffice to say that the music theatre industry is once again going to be loaded with some terrific new actors looking for work in a very small industry.

I am sad that WAAPA can’t bundle up this great production and bring it to Sydney and Melbourne, it would blow people away, but costs would be prohibitive. Everyone else will just have to wait and see what can be made of these great kids in their showcases (which never quite give enough of what an artist can do, in the way a role in a  major musical production can demonstrate).

I wanted to thank WAAPA for giving me a great day and giving me a terrific excuse to hopefully visit every year to see what remarkable treats this wonderful institution has in store.

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