You will need this latest version to listen to the audio files in 'Real Audio' format.	Lola Montez: The Great Australian Musical Lola Montez - The Woman The " Real" Lola Montez Lola Montez - The Musical Contact Information To listen to the most recorded song in Australian music theatre history sung by Australia's hottest new music theatre performer DAVID CAMPBELL press here. The file is in " Real audio" format.   Lola Montez - The Musical In 1957, the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust had been well launched, and its first success, " The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" , had enjoyed unexpected acclaim in both Australia and London. The time was ripe for an indigenous Australian musical. By coincidence, Peter Benjamin, Peter Stannard, and Alan Burke (the former two from Sydney, the latter from Melbourne), had been planning just such a project for some years. They had first come together in 1950 - at the end of 1956 their long planned musical came to fruition. The subject was to be Australian, but it must have more than parochial appeal. The visit to Australia in 1855/1856 of the celebrated courtesan and dancer, Lola Montez, seemed to provide the ideal answer. (At least two other musicals on the same subject were discovered to be in the process of development when " Lola Montez" was announced). Photo courtesy Melbourne University Archives Taking the barest facts of Lola's visit, the authors tend to combine: (a) a viable portrait of Lola, (b) an otherwise fictitious romantic plot, (c) some comment on the social scene of the day and, by implication, the theatre scene in 1950s Australia with the predominance of second-rate imports, and (d) the maximum use of popular song and dance inspired by the contrasting backgrounds of European culture and the new, raw Australian nation. Hugh Hunt, the Executive Director of the Trust, heard several auditions of the work, and agreed to try it out at the Union Theatre Repertory Company (now the Melbourne Theatre Companv) in February 1958, and to take an option for a larger national production. John Sumner, fresh from the New York premiere of " The Doll" , came back to direct the new musical. The cast included Neil Fitzpatrick, Glen Tomasetti, Patricia Connoly, Alan Hopgood, George Ogilvie, Robin Ramsay, Jon Finlavson, Monica Maughan, with opera singer Justine Rettick as Lola. The Trust took up the option on opening night and the Melbourne season extended as it played to packed houses. The Trust production opened a short season in Brisbane, and then opened in Sydney on October 22, 1958. George Carden directed and choreographed, Hermia Boyd designed the sets and costumes, and the cast included Mary Preston as Lola, Frank Wilson as Sam and Michael Cole as Daniel. This production ran for three and a half months. The original cast recording (one of the first stereo recordings made in Australia) has been reissued many times, and Michael Cole's single recording of " Saturday Girl" hit the top 40 charts. Photograph courtesy of Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, archives housed in the National Library of Australia.   " Lola Montez" was produced on ABC TV in 1962 with Brigid Lenihan as Lola, and Patsy Hemingway as Jane. Frank Wilson and Alan Hopgood repeated their roles as Sam and Smith. Choreography was by Rex Reid, Mary Duchesne danced the Lola in the Bavaria sequence, and the dance ensemble included Kelvin Coe and Barry Moreland. This TV version was directed by the author Alan Burke. Since then " Lola Montez" has had nearly one hundred productions by non-professional companies throughout Australia, and has been twice optioned for feature film production. In the Bicentennial Year, with the prospect of a major production in Canberra, the authors took the opportunity to revise the work completely, drawing on the hindsight of thirty years, and amending the mistakes of their youthful inexperience, (not to mention certain managerial misjudgements!). Much of the first act has been totally re-thought, construction strengthened and characters deepened - for example, Lola now makes her entrance twenty minutes earlier than before: Sam's first sons was replaced by a completely new number. Many other songs were extended, dance music re-written, and new music accompanies dialogue in many places. Photograph courtesy of Australian Broadcasting Corporation. CONTACT INFORMATION If you would like more information about this musical or to order our magnificent perusal video now, featuring Jon English, please email David Spicer at david@davidspicer.com.
	These pictures are reproduced with permission of the Canberra Philharmonic Society and Canberra Repertory Society.