Applause
The Queensland Theatre Company

Applause with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Lee Adams and book by Betty Comden & Adolph Green. Based on the film All About Eve and the original story by Mary Orr, at the SGIO Theatre from March 1 to 19, 1983 for the Queensland Theatre Company.

Directed by Gregory Gesch; Musical Direction by Peter Casey; Choreography by Hugh Halliday; Design by James Ridewood; Lighting Design by James Henson; Sound Design by John Anderson; Assistant Musical Director: Phil Robertson; Stage Managed by David McCrudden; Assistant Stage Managed by Toby Simkin; Technical Director: Jack Singe and Dance Captain: Paul Atthow

STARRING Noeline Brown (Margo Channing); Zoe Bertram (Eve Harrington); Alan Dale (Bill Sampson); David Clendinning (Howard Benedict); Peter Noble (Buzz Richards); Hugh Munro (Duane Fox); Elaine Cusick (Karen Richards); Kate Richter (Bonnie); Scott Adams (Margo’s Waiter); Paul Atthow (TV Director); Tania Baren (Oriental Lady); Wallace Carroll (Stan Harding); Sue-Ellen Chester (Margo’s Understudy); Karen Crone (TV Production Assistant); Margery Forde (Waitress); Susie French (Pregnant woman); Kevin Hides (Bob); Peter Merrill (Bartender); Geoff Metcalf (Tony Awards Host); David Napier (Waiter); Marie-Christine O’Connor (Debi); Mark Penman (Peter); Darien Sticklen (Bert); Terry Walduck (Danny) and Susan Wilkinson (Slave Girl)

Understudies Karen Crone, Mark Penman, Margery Forde, Peter Merrill, Geoff Metcalf, Marie-Christine O’Connor, Darien Sticklen, Wallis Carroll, Sue-Ellen Chester and David Napier.

Musicians included Robert Clark (Drums)

And for the Queensland Theatre Company:
(collectively over my tenure)

Executive Staff: Alan Edwards, AM MBE (Founding Artistic Director); Peter Duncan* / Gregory Gesch* (Assistant Director); Arthur Frame AM (Production Manager); Gillian Coar (Executive Officer); Christine Walsh / Ken Kennett OAM (Public Relations & Publicity Officer); June Craw (Finance and Business Officer); Lewis Savage (Subscriptions Officer); Yvette (Capt) O’Brien / Helen Mayes (Clerical Assistant); Lloyd Nickson (Director, Theatre in Education); Richard Magnus (Fundraising Chairman); Diane Leith (Administration) and Susan Bonning / Jennie Lewis (Receptionist).

Production Staff: Graham Maclean / James Ridewood (Resident Designer); Bill Shannon / Beverley Hill (Design Assistant); Caroline Gyucha (Scenic Artist); James Henson (Lighting Designer); David Lees (Electrician); Michael Wormald / Gary Cameron / Paul Parkinson / David Palm (Properties); Howard Steele (Head Carpenter); Des Dougan / Peter Vosiliunas (Carpenter); Cornelis Boogaart* (Apprentice Carpenter); Marie Perry-Watson / Lexi Wright / Jay Mansfield-Askew / Cynthia Bowen (Wardrobe Supervisor); Ken Bushby / Thelma Cope / Meredith Fogg / Margaret Reeves / Danny Healy / Arlie McGill / Anne Long / Kerry Yates (Wardrobe); Ellen Kennedy / David McCrudden / Kit Oldfield / Patrick Whelan / Kristin Reuter / Jan Levi / Victor Ashelford / Colin Wilson / Barry Melville / Toby Simkin / Brian Barnes / Vito Arena / Peter Reeve^± / Sussanne Humphries / Julianne White (Stage Management); Vicki Birch / Yvette (Capt) O’Brien (Production Secretary); Dawn Grieg (Wardrobe Hire) and Derrick George (Photographer).

Representation: Yolande Bird / Diana Franklin (London Representative); Michael Menzies (New York Representative) and John Krummel (Sydney Casting & Repertoire Consultant).

S.G.I.O. Theatre Staff: Jim Wright (Manager); Alban Riley / Don Fergusson (Assistant Manager); Peter Petrovich / Ray Calcutt (Head Mechanist); Patrick (Paddy) Teuma (Head Electrician) and Dallas Black / Kay Fifas (Booking Office)

Albert Park Theatre Staff: Wayne McKenna (House Manager); Margo Morris (Box Office)

Associate Artists: Bille Brown AM; Carol Burns; Reginald Cameron, Ivar Kants; Joe MacColum; Warren Mitchell; James Ridewood, Cliff Simcox; Babette Stephens, MBE and Geraldine Turner OAM.

QTC Guild: Magda Wollner (Coordinator); Alice Beacroft, Joan Chamberlain, Bobbie Glyn Evans, Maureen Fallon, Sonja Farmer, Beryl Foote, Neil Fulwood, Dolores Garland, Elaine Heath, Edna Heathwood, Margaret Hill, Ena Huppert, June Jamieson, Eva Klug, Irene Lefman, Patrick Mellick, Hillary Mosten, Maureen Mortensen, Barbara Nielsen, Joyce Nixon Smith, Gloria Phillips, Vivienne Reddy, Marea Reed, Melina Reed, Margaret Robinson, Grace Reynolds, June Sheedy, Ann Shevill, Toby Simkin, Sybil Simpson, Elaine Skinner, Anne Smith and Jess Yeowart (Volunteers)

* Salaries were assisted by a special grant from the Theatre Board of the Australia Council, a statutory body of the Commonwealth Government.
^± Services were provided by the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
^ Services were provided courtesy of the Queensland Theatre Orchestra

The Queensland Theatre Company acknowledged the financial assistance of the Queensland State Government and the Commonwealth Government through the Theatre Board of the Australia Council without which the continued operation of the Company would not have been possible.
The Queensland Theatre Company was a founding member of CAPPA (Confederation of Australia Professional Performing Arts)

Applause

Synopsis:

Act One

Middle-aged actress Margo Channing presents the Tony Award to rising star Eve Harrington, who graciously thanks “my producer, my director, my writer and above all, Margo Channing”. In flashback, Margo recalls the opening night for one of her plays a year-and a-half before, when Eve entered her life. Margo’s admirers crowd her dressing room and fill the air with “Backstage Babble”. Among the admirers is Eve, a young woman who says that she, alone and friendless in New York, has found solace in watching her hero, Margo, perform. As soon as Margo can be alone with Bill Sampson, her director and fiancé, she tries to convince him to stay with her and not go to Rome to direct a movie. Bill firmly but lovingly tells her goodbye. Margo dreads facing the opening night party alone, and, wanting to have a good time, she persuades, Duane, her gay hairdresser, to take her and Eve to a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village. The lively evening ends back at Margo’s apartment. Eve declares that it has been the best time she’s ever had. Margo, seeing her 19-year-old self in one of her old movies on TV, senses the impact her increasing age will have on her career and sarcastically asks “Who’s That Girl?”.

Four months later, Eve has become Margo’s indispensable assistant, impressing Margo’s close friends, including her producer, Howard Benedict. Howard takes Eve to a “gypsy” hangout. “Gypsy,” Howard explains,”is the name dancers affectionately give themselves as they go camping from show to show.” The “gypsies”, led by one of their own, Bonnie, celebrate “the sound that says love” – “Applause”. That night, at three a.m. after a phone call from Bill in Rome, Margo longingly wishes he would “Hurry Back”. Bill arranges to hurry back two weeks later, but at Margo’s welcome home party for him a misunderstanding leads to a disastrous evening. Eve, as Margo’s ever-present assistant, knows Margo’s part in the play completely, and Eve contrives to get herself hired as Margo’s understudy. Margo, feeling betrayed and threatened, faces Eve with an ironic “Welcome to the Theatre”. Bill accuses her of being paranoid about Eve, and after a bitter fight, he says goodbye to Margo, ending his relationship with her. Margo is left alone on an empty stage.

Act Two

Margo is visiting her friends, playwright Buzz Richards and his wife Karen, in their Connecticut home. Karen, thinking Margo behaved unfairly to Eve, arranges for Margo to miss a performance by draining the car’s gas tank so they cannot return to New York in time for the evening’s performance. Stuck in the country for the night, they express their warm feelings as “Good Friends”. Back in New York, Eve gives a triumphant performance in Margo’s role. Howard again takes Eve to the “gypsy” hangout where she snubs Bonnie and her friends, who do a scathing parody of a girl who becomes an overnight star.

Margo is devastated when she reads a nasty interview that Eve has given in which she refers to “aging stars.” Bill now realizes what Eve’s true intentions are and rushes back full of love for Margo, telling her she’s “One of a Kind”. Margo, though, is too focused on her career to want to return to Bill. Eve, who has made an unsuccessful pass at Bill, ensnares the playwright, Buzz, and she rejoices that she now has a man who can help her career. Her plans with Buzz are crushed by Howard who claims her for himself, telling her “We both know what you want and you know I’m the one who can get it for you” – Eve needs Howard’s influence as a producer as well as his silence concerning her devious rise to stardom.

Margo seems to have lost everything because of Eve, but suddenly she realizes she could be the winner because she now has a chance at “Something Greater” – a life with Bill. In the finale, she and Bill join with everybody answering the question “why do we live this crazy life?”