AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Intimate revue.
Comprising ten performers, a cast larger than was typical of the Phillip Theatre revues, Is Australia Really Necessary? concentrates its satirical energy on exploring the country's culture, politics, and personalities (notably footballers, female swimmers, politicians, and the television industry). The sketches included Miriam Karlin's opening routine 'Bonzer' (a testimonial to the Australian way of life) and her impersonation of Princess Anne at the opening of the Melbourne Cultural Centre in 1988. Red Moore played a returned traveller complacently preferring Yagoona to the rest of the world and a manic professor giving a cookery demonstration on TV. One sketch exposed Melbourne as the 'city of sin where you wait all night for the sin to begin', while Alton Harvey played out a scene in which he downed pint after pint while praising the life in Nunnawading.
Notes
-
John McKellar was responsible for writing the majority of the sketches, with Jim Wallett providing much of the musical component. Other contributions were by Eric Rasdell, Stuart Carmichael, John Kerr, Ruth Barratt, Ron Frazer, Sybil Graham, Barry Creyton, Peter Narroway, and Charles Zwar. Writers from the United Kingdom were Alan Melville, Myles Rudge, Ted Dicks, and Stanley Myers.
-
The critics were divided in their assessment of the show. The Sydney Morning Herald's Romola Costantino was less than enthusiastic, writing, 'It would be hard to recall a Phillip Theatre revue setting out in life with a weaker average of inventiveness in words and ideas.' The review notes, however, that while director Charles Hickman's direction was 'smilingly glib', the performances of Miriam Karlin, Barbara Wyndon, and Red Moore (ex-Kiwis Revue Company) were persuasive (5 October 1964, p.16). When the revue made its way to Melbourne twelve months later, Leonard Radic proposed that the best of the sketches were 'sharp and very witty.' In his assessment of the cast, Radic records that UK import Karlin was infectious in her vitality, while Barbara Wyndon and Alton Harvey also drew praise for their performances (Age 2 October 1965, p.80).
Production Details
-
1964: Phillip Theatre, Sydney, 3 October 1964 - 13 February 1965.
- Producer Charles Hickman (UK); Chorus Betty Pounder.
- Cast incl. Miriam Karlin, Barbara Wyndon, Alton Harvey, Mark McManus, Darlene Johnson, Donald McDonald, John Rickard, Mal Carmont, Sue Walker, Ann Aczel, Red Moore.
1965: Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne, 1 October.
- Cast incl. Miriam Karlin, Barbara Wyndon, Alton Harvey.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Bite, Topicality in Witty Revue
1965
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 2 October 1965; (p. 80)
— Review of Is Australia Really Necessary? 1964 single work musical theatre Review of of the Melbourne season of Is Australia Really Necessary? (Tivoli Theatre, 1 October). This review also appeared in late editions of the Age 1 October 1965. -
Phillip Theatre Revue Opening
1964
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 October 1964; (p. 16)
— Review of Is Australia Really Necessary? 1964 single work musical theatre
-
Phillip Theatre Revue Opening
1964
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 October 1964; (p. 16)
— Review of Is Australia Really Necessary? 1964 single work musical theatre -
Bite, Topicality in Witty Revue
1965
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 2 October 1965; (p. 80)
— Review of Is Australia Really Necessary? 1964 single work musical theatre Review of of the Melbourne season of Is Australia Really Necessary? (Tivoli Theatre, 1 October). This review also appeared in late editions of the Age 1 October 1965.
PeriodicalNewspaper Details
This entry has been sourced from on-going historical research into Australian-written music theatre being conducted by Dr Clay Djubal.
Details have also been derived in part from Peter Pinne's 2005 article 'It Didn't Always Have to Close on Saturday Night' (Part 3).
