B/W Moment: The Unsung Aussie Orry-Kelly

 The Sydney Film Festival is now in full swing and there is one movie that should not be missed. Produced and directed by Academy Award winner Gillian Armstrong, it is the story of one of Hollywood's most celebrated artistes Orry-Kelly who died in 1964.

Gillian Armstrong

The chances are you have watched a movie where Orry George Kelly-his birth name, designed unforgettable costumes for the most famous legends of the day from Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca.  Kelly is also Australia's most prolific Oscar winner having won three for costume design and nominated numerous times.

  Kelly (left) was born in Kiama NSW in 1897 before he embarked for New York in 1923 where he shared an apartment with Cary Grant and then to LA and a Hollywood career. In many ways he is similar to Aussie legends Sir Robert Helpmann and Peter Allen, both born in rural communities but with fathers who actively encouraged them in their pursuit of the arts.

Armstrong's film is titled Women I've Undressed after an unpublished manuscript Kelly wrote which reputedly detailed his affair with movie legend and his former flat mate Cary Grant. 

Hollywood Stars at the Helpmanns

Every year the Helpmann Awards for live theatre in Australia has become a bigger and grander event and this year it did not disappoint.
Held at the Capitol Theatre guests were treated to a two hour extravaganza featuring numbers from the Lion King and Strictly Ballroom and plenty more. And a host if international names turned up from Geoffrey Rush, Baz Luhrmann and Lou Diamond Phillips.
You can read the full list of winners here : but special congratulations must go to the superb new intimate Kings Cross theatre, the Hayes Theatre which opened just 6 months ago. Their production (and the Shuttle watched it from the very back row which has a superb view of the stage) of Sweet Charity, an ambitious feat, picked up three well deserved gongs.

Lisa McCune & Lou Diamond Phillips     Robyn Nevin & Nicholas Hammond   Silvia Colloca & Richard Roxburgh

Andrew Upton                          Baz Luhrmann & Catherine Martin                  Kelley Abbey & Craig McLachlan

Below : Nancye Hayes with Hayes Theatre Director David Campbell : Sweet Charity

Diva Night at the Helpmann Awards

The 2014 Helpmann Awards will be held tonight, not at the Opera House as our pic implies but at the very beautiful Capitol Theatre in Haymarket.
Special guest will be US actor Lou Diamond Phillips.
Awards up for grabs include gongs for some of our fabulously talented female performers in musical theatre.
Below are just some of these terrific actors.

Lisa McCune                                             Katrina Retallick                                          Queenie van de Zandt                          

 

                  Christine Wheeler Brown                                                  Debora Krizak

                    Caroline O'Connor                                                    Geraldine Turner
courtesy : http://divaknowsbest.com.au/

Legal Blondes Galore !

Tim Mimchin with Sarah & Nel Minchin at the Helpmanns

Legally Blonde swept the boards at the 2013 Helpmann Awards last night at the Sydney Opera House scooping up 5 gongs including  best musical, direction and choreography and an award for Lucy Durack as best female actor in a musical.

the Tap Bros

The spectacular Melbourne based stage event  King Kong, won four design awards for costumes, lighting, sound and scenery, plus a special award for Outstanding Theatrical Achievement. There are bound to be more plaudits for King Kong as it's heading for Broadway in the near future.

A total of 43 Helpmann Awards were presented during a glitzy night honouring the most outstanding live performances in Australia in the past year.

Colin Friels won for Death of a Salesman at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre and Alison Bell won for her role in Hedda Gabler at the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Geoffrey Rush was named best male actor in a musical for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.



Paul Capsis (below right) Lucy Durack (right )  Elizabeth Debicki (below)

theatre heavyweights : Baz Luhrmann, Andrew Upton and a glamorous blonde

Briden Star         Helen Dallimore            Erika Heynatz & Andrew Kingston           Cheryl Barker                                       

heading for Broadway : King Kong

King Kong The Musical

Get ready for a world exclusive, a musical about the world's favourite rampaging giant ape King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of The World.

King Kong will be staged at the Regent Theatre in Collins Street in Melbourne next year and will feature a Kong created by Global Creatures who are responsible for the amazing show Walking With Dinosaurs.

The story pretty well follows the plot of the various movies : a mysterious island with the mythical Kong and a party of explorers hoping to film the great beast with a hapless heroine captured and eventually King Kong himself captured by the party and taken to New York where, yes he ends up climbing the Empire State Building to meet his fate.

Playing the heroine Anne Darrow will be Esther Hannaford (left) who has sung in the musicals Hairspray and Mama Mia and picked up the odd Helpmann Award along the way. Composer of the musical is Marius  Du Vries who  has won Ivor Novello and BAFTA Awards and worked with acts like Bjork, U2 and Rufus Wainwright, with a list of musical credits a mile long.

King Kong opens on June 15th 2013 at the Regent Theatre and you can book now at this website

Chip Of The Old Block

 Not too hard to see who this lad takes after. Young Roman Upton is Cate Blanchett's son and he escorted her last night to the Helpmann Awards. Dad Andrew Upton, who Roman is the image of was busy working.
 Cate picked up the Best Actress Award for her role in the Sydney Theatre Company's Gross Und Klein while Paul Capsis (right) picked up Best Actor for his brilliant part in the Belvoir Street Theatre's Angela's Kitchen.

A Night For Awards

the Emmy's kick off this morning in Los Angeles with two Australians up for awards : Nicole Kidman for her portrayal of Martha Gellhorn in the film Hemingway and Gellhorn while the reclusive Judy Davis ('best actress in the world' :Woody Allen) will be attending to see if she picks up the Best Supporting Actress gong in the political drama Page Eight.

Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn with co-star Clive Owen

Trevor Ashley : Diamonds Are For Trevor

In the evening the stars of the Australian stage and local Hollywood types will gather at the Sydney Opera House for the Helpmann Awards. The Shuttle will be on hand to see if the brilliant rising drag star Trevor Ashley picks up an award for his superb show Diamonds Are For Trevor while Tim Minchin is nominated for Best Comedy performance.

Judy Davis' husband Colin Freils may get Best Actor in A Play for Red and no Sydney theatre event is worth it's salt without either Cate Blanchett in attendance or getting a Best Actress Award as she may for her role in Gross Und Klein. And Miranda Otto should be there along with the Otto clan including dad Barry Otto ('best actor in the world' : John Gielgud). Miranda has been nominated in the supporting role in The White Guard.

Bruce Beresford has been nominated for his direction of the opera Mice And Men.
Prince, Kylie Minogue, Foof Fighters, Sade and Keith Urban have all been nominated in various categories.
For the full list go to the Helpmann Awards website and check back at the social shuttle later tonight.

Australian Of The Year....

He follows in the footsteps of Sir Robert Helpmann (right) and Paul Hogan to become the third actor to be declared Australian of The Year ten minutes ago at Parliament House In Canberra.

Our favourite Oscar winner-Geoffrey Rush receives a well deserved honour.
Below is part of the speech we recorded a few months ago when Geoffrey helped launch a book about the Belvoir Street Theatre where Rush along with his good friend director Neil Armfield got their start in the theatre.

The 2011 Robert Helpmann Awards

Marina Prior

So You Think You Can Dance judge Jason Coleman

To the Sydney Opera House for the Helpmann Awards, recognition for local theatre, musical theatre, opera, dance and music.          

Geoffrey Rush at the Helpmanns

Barry Otto adores his daughters-Miranda Otto & Gracie

The new musical Mary Poppins picked up the most awards including best musical, Stephen Mear and Mathew Bourne for best choreography, Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne-direction, Philip Quast for best supporting actor, best actress for Verity Hunt-Ballard and best actor for Matt Lee.

Our favourite Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush picked up best actor in a play for  The Diary of a Madman which also earned Rush's great pal Neil Armfield the best director award and best original score for Alan John.


Cate Blanchett won best actress in a play for her role in Uncle Vanya produced by the Sydney Theatre Company.

International acts who won awards for their appearances in Australia-Leonard Cohen and Sir Simon Rattle and the

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's for their performances at Sydney Opera House and the Perth Concert Hall.

Rock of Ages cast Melanie Hawkins Michael Falzon and Ellen Sutton

**********************************

Aussie actress and model, gorgeous Cheyenne Tozzi (left) was out in New York last week at a screening of  "The Whistleblower" at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, hosted by The Cinema Society and DeLeon.

pic by Patrick McMullan  www.patrickmcmullan.com

Rudi's shorts up for grabs

A pair of leather Rudolf Nureyev's shorts will be auctioned tomorrow night at Australia House in the Strand in London to aid the Tait Memorial Trust. Designed and signed by Yves St Laurent and presented to the ballet star in 1961, the funds raised will go to scholarships to be awarded to young Australian dancers studying ballet in the UK.

The Tait Trust was set up by Isla Baring in 1992 to honour her parents Sir Frank and Lady Viola Tait who played an important part in the establishment of theatre and the performing arts in Australia. Dame Joan Sutherland, Barry Humphries and the Countess of Harewood are patrons. Actors Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward will be at the Tait-a-Tait night which will be a celebration of Tchaikovsky ballet music with young Aussie dancers performing and a recital by distinguished pianist Leslie Howard.Tickets are £45 and can still be had by emailing info@taitmemorialtrust.org or by phone/fax to 020 7385 2719.

 Will they be these shorts ?. In the 1960's Nureyev made his first visit to Australia with Sir Robert Helpmann. Staying at Sydney's Sebel Town House, on his second night he wandered down to the notorious gay beat in nearby Rushcutters Bay park. He chose the wrong night with the "pretty police' out in force-young handsome officers sent out to public conveniences to attract gay men with gay sex highly illegal (although rampant) at the time. The following day, after much diplomatic action late into the night to suppress Rudi's name, a small newspaper article appeared under the headline: "Leather shorted Pervert arrested in Park". A week later Nureyev flew out when charges were quietly dropped, presumably with his leather shorts intact.

Friends said later Nureyev would describe the scene almost imitating an Aussie accent correctly . Apparently he really fancied the young copper who slapped handcuffs on him, and thought it was part of a sex game. As he was hauled away he announced "I am the great Nureyev ! ", to which the plod said "I don't care who the fuck you are mate, you're nicked"