STAGES with Peter Eyers

It’s World Pride 2023 and the queer globe is converging on Sydney Australia to celebrate diversity, inclusion, community and fabulousness!

To mark this momentous event the STAGES podcast is saluting the cast of captivating drag divas and personalities who have been featured on the podcast during the past 5 seasons.

They are artists who have appeared on national and global stages; thrilling audiences, making a difference, healing community and expressing unique and wondrous talents.

We spotlight these episodes so you can savour a second listen - or so you can sample the delights of these entertainers for the very first time.

A Diva a day for each day of World Pride!

One of Australia’s most loved and enduring comedy characters, Bob Downe, is the creation of journalist, comedian, actor and broadcaster Mark Trevorrow.

Born in Melbourne, Mark started his working life at 17 as a copyboy with The Sun News-Pictorial, before co-founding cabaret comedy group The Globos, who released two Australian Top 20 hit singles, Tintarella di Luna (1982) and The Beat Goes On (1983).

He created Bob Downe in1984 and has toured the world as the Prince of Polyester ever since.

Bob’s stage shows have played to acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with decades of touring across Australia and the UK including P&O Comedy Cruises and performing for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance.

Bob’s TV appearances range from Countdown to The Project, from the Mike Walsh Show to Studio 10, and hosting multiple Sydney Mardi Gras broadcasts. As Mark he has been heard regularly on ABC local radio and presented The Way We Were, a ratings winner on ABC TV in 2004. He was also featured regularly on Kath & Kim as ‘Darryl’ the menswear salesman.

Bob's comedy/chat series, The Bob Downe Show (Foxtel/ TV1), went to air in December 2000. Bob Downe's national theatre tours, Whiter! Brighter!, Cold August Night and iBob have been sellouts everywhere, including the Sydney Opera House and the State Theatre.

Mark Trevorrow and Rupert Noffs perform their show, ‘Old Friends’ at Claire’s Kitchen at Le Salon on Monday February 20th and Tuesday February 21st. Bookings at wwwclaireskitchen.com.au

The STAGES podcast is available from Apple podcasts, Spotify and from where you find your favourite podcasts. Tune in daily for a history of drag in Sydney. Tell your friends, share the podcast, relish the stories and embrace your own sense of Pride.

It’s World Pride 2023 and the queer globe is converging on Sydney Australia to celebrate diversity, inclusion, community and fabulousness!

To mark this momentous event the STAGES podcast is saluting the cast of captivating drag divas and personalities who have been featured on the podcast during the past 5 seasons.

They are artists who have appeared on national and global stages; thrilling audiences, making a difference, healing community and expressing unique and wondrous talents.

We spotlight these episodes so you can savour a second listen - or so you can sample the delights of these entertainers for the very first time.

A Diva a day for each day of World Pride!

For 30 years Aaron Farley and his drag persona Minnie Cooper have been entertaining audiences from Oxford street to Oxford circus.

A happy accident in 2003 saw Farley embrace the art of drag and a new diva was born.

Minnie Cooper is an enamoured part of the Australian drag industry and a recipient of more Drag Industry Variety Awards (DIVAs) than just about anyone. Minnie has been awarded Entertainer of the Year on a record number of four occasions.

This new dimension in Farley’s career followed an established position in many commercial musical productions throughout Australia including The Witches of Eastwick, Showboat, Crazy For You, Chicago and Singin’ in The Rain.

Successful turns as a choreographer and director have also allowed Farley to flex his creative muscle, teaching a new legion of performers and constructing engaging artistry for audiences.

Minnie Cooper was abandoned as a baby and left in the doorway of Arq Nightclub. Thankfully, she was adopted and raised by drag queens who taught her everything about miming, glitter lipstick, platform heels and everything in between.

She is the Queen of Oxford St, producing award-winning shows and driving Sydney’s party goers wild with excitement. She has produced and choreographed many large-scale spectacles at events such as Mardi Gras ,Sleaze Ball and Flash Mobs .

Minnie has worked with stars including Jimmy Barnes, Cyndi Lauper, Kylie Minogue, Tina Arena, Dannii Minogue, Kate Miller-Heidke, Adam Lambert ,Deborah Cox,  David Atkins, Todd McKenney, Rhonda Burchmore and Australia’s most famous drag performer, Carlotta.

She has won more DIVA awards than just about anyone, including Entertainer of the Year 4 times, Sydney’s Favourite Drag Queen and Choreographer of the Year just to name a few.In 2016 Minnie was semi finalist on’ Australia’s Got Talent’ combining her drag and musical theatre talents.

She appeared in season 4 of Jack Whitehall:Travels with My Father on Netflix. Minnie Cooper most recently appeared in RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2.

And this is why they call her the “Super Duper Minnie Cooper!”

Minnie Cooper performs her show, ‘From Chorus Boy to Leading Lady’ at Claire’s Kitchen at Le Salon on Sunday February 19th. Bookings at wwwclaireskitchen.com.au

The STAGES podcast is available from Apple podcasts, Spotify and from where you find your favourite podcasts. Tune in daily for a history of drag in Sydney. Tell your friends, share the podcast, relish the stories and embrace your own sense of Pride.

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s episode 359. The final episode of season 5 -  from the STAGES podcast.

It’s that time of year again when we haul out the holly, stuff the stockings and trim the turkey … have you been naughty or nice?

Kate Fitzpatrick drops in for our annual lunch and reflections. We are also visited by Rhonda Burchmore, Tony Sheldon, Ron Creager, Lauren Schmutter, and Geraldine Turner -  sprinkling their Christmas cheer and spicing up the festive period with mirth and music.

It’s been another wonderful year for the podcast, recording and preserving precious stories and experiences from a diverse range of creatives, performers and essential supporting roles, who all contribute to the arts and entertainment, on and around our stages.

We’ve lots planned in this episode; a perfect accompaniment as you wrap your gifts, decorate the tree or pour that first glass of Christmas cheer!

Happy holidays! Merry Christmas! And best wishes for the New Year!

Though the shops seem to commence their yuletide spruiking earlier with each passing year, the Christmas period is fleeting. It begins to look a lot like Christmas when carollers stalk our shopping centres and actors in jolly red suits beckon little ones to approach and impart their festive wish list. 

Christmas is time to replay our favourite Christmas movies; to revisit that miracle on 54th street or relate to the Griswolds family as they navigate their stressful Christmas. It might mean your annual intake of plum pudding, egg nog; or that singular opportunity to pull a Christmas cracker.  It’s a merry time that beckons us to haul out the holy and to put up the tree, before our spirits fall … again! 

But in the worlds of the Broadway musical, Christmas is a setting, a period, a backdrop, a location, a moment; that is called upon to elicit an emotional engagement. STAGES was recently spinning some show tunes and was caught by the magnificent Christmas sequence (The Twelve Days to Christmas) in the jewel box musical, She Loves Me. A golden age musical that takes place over the Christmas period, providing an enchanting backdrop for the two protagonists to slowly realise that they are destined for each other. This show tune set off a challenge to compile a list of musicals that are set at Christmas time or feature a Christmas themed song. The show might even feature a scene set at Christmas time. The challenge became obsessive. 

Then it dawned that the the best source to seek out, to satisfy the search for Santas and snow in the show tune, would be none other than our favourite showbiz oracle, Tony Sheldon. Sheldon is one of our favourite Australian actors and theatre-makers. Show business is the family business and he has tread the boards on national and global stages for several decades. His respect, passion and investigation of the entertainment industry has equipped him with an infinite knowledge of all things show. 

So, the challenge to provide STAGES with a stocking stuffed with shows and show tunes celebrating and set during the festive season was met with the excitement of Old Saint Nick delivering toys on Christmas morning. This is the perfect episode to indulge as you wrap your gifts and get in the Christmas mood. We may be rushing things but deck the halls again now! 

Merry Christmas from Sheldy, and STAGES. 

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages). www.stagespodcast.com.au

This is STAGES companion episode to our conversation with Entertainment Entrepreneur - Kevin Jacobsen.

In part 1, we learned of Kevin’s early days as a musician - forming and guiding bands that included the KJ Quintet and Col Joy and the Joy Boys.

A triumphant career in music, that saw national acclaim for the band and many chart topping hits.

In part 2 Kevin takes us on a journey through some of his trials and triumphs as a promoter of artists that include The Bee Gees, Evel Knievel, The Three Tenors, Barbra Streisand and Michael Jackson; and his success as a producer developing the home-grown musical - Shout! - The Legend of the Wild One - Johnny O’Keefe.

It is a fascinating career and a conversation that reveals much of the negotiation, collaboration and frustration that goes into securing and presenting such iconic entertainment experiences.

In 1985 Kevin received the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in recognition of his services to the performing arts. He has also garnered numerous ARIA, Mo and Green Room Awards for his theatrical productions. In 2002 Live Performance Australia honoured his contribution to the industry with its James Cassius Williamson Award.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages). www.stagespodcast.com.au

Mariette Rups-Donnelly has transferred her extensive experience on stages around Australia to guide the corporate world in effective communication and establishing a firm rapport with their audience. Essentials, she knows only too well; garnered from extensive forays into musical theatre, plays and cabaret.

A graduate in languages from Sydney University, Mariette was intended for a career in the diplomatic corps but fate took a hand when she auditioned and was cast in the musical Godspell. Her career in the theatre was off to a promising start and subsequent work in children’s theatre and pantomime (including the role of the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and with Ashton’s Circus, extended her theatrical experience.

Several other musical productions followed, including The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band and Paint Your Wagon, before Mariette landed the role of  Val in the original Australian production of A Chorus Line.

She played another iconic role in the musical theatre cannon when cast as the alternate ‘Evita Peron’ in the original Australian production of Evita. Following Evita she went on to appear in Company, The Sentimental Bloke, Side By Side By Sondheim, Big River, and the national tour of Forbidden Broadway.

Roles in Annie,  The Seagull, Hamlet, Emerald City and Away are further credits with companies that include the Sydney Theatre Company, Hole in the Wall Theatre, (Perth), JC Williamson’s, The Q Theatre (Penrith), the Gordon Frost Organisation and the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Mariette has taught at tertiary level in some of Australia’s leading acting schools including Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, The Actor’s College of Theatre and Television, Sydney; the Actors' Centre, Sydney; The University of Western Sydney; The Sydney Institute of TAFE and in The National Institute of Dramatic Art’s Actor’s Program, Open Program and Corporate Program.

Taking her experience as a leading actor and teacher of actors, she has combined this knowledge with an astute business understanding to create programs that go to the core of business performance. She develops and expands her client’s ability to create personal presence, engage on an emotional as well as an intellectual level, run meetings with authority, pitch persuasively and to deliver dynamic presentations.

Her clients particularly value her understanding of how to use the voice and body to create maximum impact and her ability to specifically target what each person needs, to take their speaking performance to the next level.

Her company, Powerhouse Presentation devises one-on-one programs and customised workshops for business owners, professional speakers, senior executives, and corporations.

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au

Claire de Lune is the alter ego of Restaurateur and Chef, Marc Kuzma. Claire has been a mainstay in Sydney’s Gay life for several decades while Marc has been a celebrated mainstay of our food scene.

Claire de Lune gained fast notoriety after her 17 cooking segments on Channel 9 “The Midday Show” with Kerrie Anne.

She then did her Drag apprenticeship by working in most of Sydney Gay and Lesbian venues. Renowned for her kooky sense of humour, Claire was often in demand on TV, radio and for corporate functions.

Claire career peeked in 2000 by winning 3 DIVA (drag industry variety award) including entertainer of the year, best cast 3 & under for Lady Penelope’s Baby with Verushka Darling, and an award for her charity work, particularly for the AIDS Trust of Australia, an award also won in 2001.

Claire also took part in the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games and was part of the entertainment at the Olympic village during the Paralympic games.

2001 was a great year with From D’Rags To Riches, Claire de Lune The Musical selling out during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival, followed by a 4 week season of The Tempest, a major part in a Lipton Tea television commercial, a guest spot on Beauty and the Beast (channel 10) and as a guest judge on SBS broadcast of the Eurovision song contest.

Claire has been featured many times on television: Food Lover’s Guide to Australia, Young Lions, White Collar Blue, Fresh, Georges Negus Tonight, Queer TV, Faut pas Rever, Voyage, Mondo Thingo, Good Morning Australia and a Virgin Blue Mobile and Vodaphone ad campaign and the launch of Virgin Atlantic in Sydney.

Marc was the general manager at Slide in Oxford street, Sydney and created two highly successful weekly shows: El'Circo and Vampire stories.

He now delights patrons at a very special venue that combines exquisite French culinary excellence and stellar cabaret performance at Claire’s Kitchen at Le Salon.  The restaurant is a favourite destination for diners and connoisseurs of classic cabaret performance. A weekly line-up or artists complements the artistry of Marc and his staff who deliver a superb experience - merging Marc’s three great personas - performance, food and fabulousness!

The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).

www.stagespodcast.com.au