AustLit

Producer, director, writer.

Largely associated with Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre revues, William Orr was the company's founding Director of Productions. With partner Eric Duckworth (General Manager), he conceived the idea of a permanent theatre producing intimate revue in Sydney after garnering success with Merry Go Round and Maid in Egypt, two student revues staged in 1953 at the Metropolitan Theatre, Sydney. Orr directed some two dozen revues and children's musicals, including Top of the Bill and Hit and Run (both 1954), Willow Pattern Plate (1957), Cross Section (1957-58), Ride on a Broomstick (1959), Mistress Money (1960), Yes Please and Stop Press (both 1961), and A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down (1965-66).

Between 1966 and 1971, Orr presented revues at the Doncaster Theatre Restaurant, situated ten minutes from the Sydney CBD on Anzac Parade, Kensington. The venue opened on 13 August 1966 with Red, White and Blue Revue, starring Sheila Bradley, Barry O'Dowd, Maggie Stewart, and Bill French, among others. In 1972, he converted the old Purves Bakery on Manly's Corso into the Music Loft, staging dinner shows there until 1983. (The restaurant was subsequently taken over by Peter Flanagan, who changed its name to Flannos).