Philip Quast: In Conversation
esteven contacted me and asked for more information about the Philip Quast night, so I thought I'd do a proper write up for them and anyone else who might be interested :D
Philip did two shows (we saw the first one) at the Hayes Theatre, Potts Point, Sydney, which is a small theatre of about eight steeply-raked rows, around 100-120 seats. Bare stage with a grand piano stage left, and a sofa, armchair and coffee table stage right where the 'conversation' bit took place. It was hosted by David Campbell, a well-known theatre star in his own right (not to my taste, but if you like Hugh Jackman he's more in that vein). As an interviewer, though, he was brilliant - very funny, well-researched and quick-witted. So Philip would sit on the couch, talk a bit, then go over to the piano (played by musical director Michael Tyack) and sing. He was dressed in a suit - grey, I think (I'm really not a clothes person, sorry).
I actually came home and made notes for my own memories, but obviously they are rough and almost certainly out of order, but I figure it's as much detail as you're going to get, so here goes:
He talked first about growing up on the farm, and learning to drive a tractor at a young age, as one does. He sees similarities between farming and acting, in that you have to work as a team to get the job done, and he appreciates the importance of teamwork. David asked where all his Olivier awards are - his father has them, he doesn't. He talked about going to NIDA and how as part of his dramatic training he was asked to sing dialogue to get a feel for the musicality of it, which is how he got into singing.
That Lazy Old Sun - an old song he used to sing while driving the tractor. I vaguely remember something about him trying to drive the tractor with his feet, but I can't remember why *g*
Some Enchanted Evening/Hello Young Lovers
Someone mentioned - not sure whether Philip or David - that Hello Young Lovers was the late Nick Enright's (Australian playwright) favourite song, and they talked a litte about Nick and his romantic streak.
He Fades Away - mentioned that it's about a wife and her husband, but he chose to sing it without changing the pronouns, and something about how it may have raised a few eyebrows but he felt strongly about it. I think he tied it into the idea of the impact of AIDS at that time, and the parallels between that and He Fades Away as a protest song
Oh Shenandoah
Teaching at NIDA now, talked about the experience of auditions, and that they seem to be ruled by fear. He feels auditions should be kinder.
Story about auditioning for the Beast in the musical Beauty and the Beast (not sure where, not Australia so probably London). He'd just been shopping in Chinatown, had all these shopping bags with him, sets them down before auditioning. I think he told them he was cooking Thai for dinner, maybe hoping for a smile, but the panel were absolutely grim-faced. He says the Beast's song is written and scored a certain way, which is different from the way it was sung in some other form, possibly the movie. So he asked the panel whether they wanted to hear it as it was written, or the other way. And they said, 'obviously as it was written'. So he sang it that way, and they were all, no, you didn't do this and that, and he said, oh, so you meant the OTHER way. He asked whether he could sing it again and they were all, 'no, that's fine, thank you'. I'm fuzzy as to what happened next, but he got a bit annoyed, and I think he grabbed all his shopping bags and stalked off, very Beastlike (he basically acted this out, which was hilarious) - he may have made the comment about cooking Thai food then, not sure. Anyway, he didn't get the part, with the auditioners recording 'too aggressive' *g*
The Iraq war changed him, making him more political. He went to protests with Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter and Mark Rylance, was spat upon. He believes artists should be treasured in Australia, not just sport. Countries like England and China hold the arts in high regard. (Very topical in Australia since cuts to arts funding were recently announced.)
Experience of singing for Sondheim in Sunday in the Park with George (echoing much of what was said on Live at the Donmar). Wife was pregnant, he had trouble with the score, Sondheim taught him how to 'speak' lyrics, etc.
Experience of working with other actors. Helen Mirren still got nervous - as you get older there's actually more pressure since people expect more. Emma Thompson amazing and lovely. Audra McDonald very calm, no diva antics, just got on with it. He feels it's almost rude to inflict your nerves on other people, but he still gets stage fright. Singing is very exposing - one wrong note and everyone hears it. He worries about coughs and colds when he has singing roles - joked that when he's acting he's happy to wipe someone else's sneezes all over himself (with hand gestures to demonstrate), but not when he has to sing.
Amazing singing Pretty Women with Bryn Terfel, he was so entranced he almost forgot to sing his bit. His entire head was vibrating from being so close.
Talked about personal events during shows. His son was born during Sunday in the Park, and then when he was in Macbeth playing Banquo, he received a message halfway through the play that his son had been taken to hospital. He thought that if he went out and polled the audience whether to finish the play or to go they'd tell him to go, so he just dropped the performance and went (presumably they got an understudy in). Kid was fine, can't remember what it was, may have been appendicitis. (I thought he's definitely someone who has his priorities straight, but then he's always been very down to earth.)
His mother died while he was doing Waiting for Godot (it's played in Sydney and London, maybe elsewhere too, not sure where he was at the time). I think he'd just heard the news, and knew he had to go back to be with his family, but he did the evening performance anyway. The cast all knew, of course, and that night the lines "They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more..." took on a certain significance, and Hugo Weaving was crying. When he came back to the production, that moment was always special to him.
Happy Anniversary
Told the story I mentioned in my other post, about Ian McKellen's 70th birthday, when he attended La Cage Aux Folles with 70 guests and complained that it apparently takes two straight guys to play a gay couple *g*
Acted against Robert Redford with a southern accent (must be Truth? I haven't seen it). Redford very relaxed and a gentleman. He struggled with the accent, noticed sometimes between takes Redford would kind of talk to him in a southern accent to gently bring him back into line. Even Cate Blanchett was in awe of him (Redford) after a while.
Talked about playing Saddam's double in The Devil's Double (I haven't seen this either). This was memorable mostly because David Campbell immediately piped up with a rendition of, "And the people all said Saddam / Saddam, you're rockin' the boat".
Lost in the Stars
Stars
I Was Here
So a lot of the songs were from Live at the Donmar, which I never got to see, so it was lovely to have a reprise, so to speak - the performance in total went maybe 70-80 minutes? There may have been other songs that I missed, but that was mostly it! Hope you enjoyed, even if it was more than you ever wanted to know :)
For the rest of you, here's Philip having a bath on Play School, and Javert looking unimpressed.
Philip did two shows (we saw the first one) at the Hayes Theatre, Potts Point, Sydney, which is a small theatre of about eight steeply-raked rows, around 100-120 seats. Bare stage with a grand piano stage left, and a sofa, armchair and coffee table stage right where the 'conversation' bit took place. It was hosted by David Campbell, a well-known theatre star in his own right (not to my taste, but if you like Hugh Jackman he's more in that vein). As an interviewer, though, he was brilliant - very funny, well-researched and quick-witted. So Philip would sit on the couch, talk a bit, then go over to the piano (played by musical director Michael Tyack) and sing. He was dressed in a suit - grey, I think (I'm really not a clothes person, sorry).
I actually came home and made notes for my own memories, but obviously they are rough and almost certainly out of order, but I figure it's as much detail as you're going to get, so here goes:
He talked first about growing up on the farm, and learning to drive a tractor at a young age, as one does. He sees similarities between farming and acting, in that you have to work as a team to get the job done, and he appreciates the importance of teamwork. David asked where all his Olivier awards are - his father has them, he doesn't. He talked about going to NIDA and how as part of his dramatic training he was asked to sing dialogue to get a feel for the musicality of it, which is how he got into singing.
That Lazy Old Sun - an old song he used to sing while driving the tractor. I vaguely remember something about him trying to drive the tractor with his feet, but I can't remember why *g*
Some Enchanted Evening/Hello Young Lovers
Someone mentioned - not sure whether Philip or David - that Hello Young Lovers was the late Nick Enright's (Australian playwright) favourite song, and they talked a litte about Nick and his romantic streak.
He Fades Away - mentioned that it's about a wife and her husband, but he chose to sing it without changing the pronouns, and something about how it may have raised a few eyebrows but he felt strongly about it. I think he tied it into the idea of the impact of AIDS at that time, and the parallels between that and He Fades Away as a protest song
Oh Shenandoah
Teaching at NIDA now, talked about the experience of auditions, and that they seem to be ruled by fear. He feels auditions should be kinder.
Story about auditioning for the Beast in the musical Beauty and the Beast (not sure where, not Australia so probably London). He'd just been shopping in Chinatown, had all these shopping bags with him, sets them down before auditioning. I think he told them he was cooking Thai for dinner, maybe hoping for a smile, but the panel were absolutely grim-faced. He says the Beast's song is written and scored a certain way, which is different from the way it was sung in some other form, possibly the movie. So he asked the panel whether they wanted to hear it as it was written, or the other way. And they said, 'obviously as it was written'. So he sang it that way, and they were all, no, you didn't do this and that, and he said, oh, so you meant the OTHER way. He asked whether he could sing it again and they were all, 'no, that's fine, thank you'. I'm fuzzy as to what happened next, but he got a bit annoyed, and I think he grabbed all his shopping bags and stalked off, very Beastlike (he basically acted this out, which was hilarious) - he may have made the comment about cooking Thai food then, not sure. Anyway, he didn't get the part, with the auditioners recording 'too aggressive' *g*
The Iraq war changed him, making him more political. He went to protests with Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter and Mark Rylance, was spat upon. He believes artists should be treasured in Australia, not just sport. Countries like England and China hold the arts in high regard. (Very topical in Australia since cuts to arts funding were recently announced.)
Experience of singing for Sondheim in Sunday in the Park with George (echoing much of what was said on Live at the Donmar). Wife was pregnant, he had trouble with the score, Sondheim taught him how to 'speak' lyrics, etc.
Experience of working with other actors. Helen Mirren still got nervous - as you get older there's actually more pressure since people expect more. Emma Thompson amazing and lovely. Audra McDonald very calm, no diva antics, just got on with it. He feels it's almost rude to inflict your nerves on other people, but he still gets stage fright. Singing is very exposing - one wrong note and everyone hears it. He worries about coughs and colds when he has singing roles - joked that when he's acting he's happy to wipe someone else's sneezes all over himself (with hand gestures to demonstrate), but not when he has to sing.
Amazing singing Pretty Women with Bryn Terfel, he was so entranced he almost forgot to sing his bit. His entire head was vibrating from being so close.
Talked about personal events during shows. His son was born during Sunday in the Park, and then when he was in Macbeth playing Banquo, he received a message halfway through the play that his son had been taken to hospital. He thought that if he went out and polled the audience whether to finish the play or to go they'd tell him to go, so he just dropped the performance and went (presumably they got an understudy in). Kid was fine, can't remember what it was, may have been appendicitis. (I thought he's definitely someone who has his priorities straight, but then he's always been very down to earth.)
His mother died while he was doing Waiting for Godot (it's played in Sydney and London, maybe elsewhere too, not sure where he was at the time). I think he'd just heard the news, and knew he had to go back to be with his family, but he did the evening performance anyway. The cast all knew, of course, and that night the lines "They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more..." took on a certain significance, and Hugo Weaving was crying. When he came back to the production, that moment was always special to him.
Happy Anniversary
Told the story I mentioned in my other post, about Ian McKellen's 70th birthday, when he attended La Cage Aux Folles with 70 guests and complained that it apparently takes two straight guys to play a gay couple *g*
Acted against Robert Redford with a southern accent (must be Truth? I haven't seen it). Redford very relaxed and a gentleman. He struggled with the accent, noticed sometimes between takes Redford would kind of talk to him in a southern accent to gently bring him back into line. Even Cate Blanchett was in awe of him (Redford) after a while.
Talked about playing Saddam's double in The Devil's Double (I haven't seen this either). This was memorable mostly because David Campbell immediately piped up with a rendition of, "And the people all said Saddam / Saddam, you're rockin' the boat".
Lost in the Stars
Stars
I Was Here
So a lot of the songs were from Live at the Donmar, which I never got to see, so it was lovely to have a reprise, so to speak - the performance in total went maybe 70-80 minutes? There may have been other songs that I missed, but that was mostly it! Hope you enjoyed, even if it was more than you ever wanted to know :)
For the rest of you, here's Philip having a bath on Play School, and Javert looking unimpressed.