Simon Militano and Pippa Luscombe in a recent production of Carousel. Photo: Supplied.
When a young Simon Militano was performing in the operatic competitions for the Wollongong eisteddfods, little did he know he’d one day return with his own show.
The now acclaimed baritone will bring Some Enchanted Evening to the IPAC Theatre in Wollongong on 14 March, celebrating the golden age of musical theatre with everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein classics to Broadway favourites and timeless standards.
A precursor to potentially bringing down a full production of Carousel, Some Enchanted Evening will feature songs from My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, South Pacific, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, alongside big-band classics by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr, Italian songs, and modern cinematic crossover pieces.
Returning to the Illawarra is special for Militano, who has “great memories of Wollongong” from the five years he competed in the city’s eisteddfods.
“There was a great pianist there, David Vance, and he used to play for me,” he said.
“I made the finals in a few of the operatic competitions they had. The community was always so great.”
Some Enchanted Evening will be under the musical direction of one of Australia’s most distinguished accompanists, Glenn Amer, and feature a 10-piece band, large-scale cinematic projections to complement the storytelling on stage, and talented ensemble, including rising star and Carousel co-star Pippa Luscombe.
Militano said the idea to bring it to Wollongong stemmed from the Sydney Musical and Opera Society, of which he was president, staging Carousel at Sutherland’s Pavilion Arts Centre, attracting strong audiences from Wollongong.
“Quite a few said it would be much appreciated if you could get this production to Wollongong, rather than us trying to get to Sutherland,” he said.
“I thought, well, we started this aboard the Cunard Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, and we took it to Glen Street Theatre, and then we took it to the Pavilion Arts Centre in Sutherland, so there’s no reason why we can’t take it to Wollongong.”
He said when they were aboard Cunard Queen Elizabeth, people were lining up 90 minutes before the production started.
“It said to me that there still is definitely a market,” he said.
“The challenge is finding our cast of people who want to do that work, versus the Heathers and Book of Mormon and all the new things coming through.
“Personally, I just think it’s beautiful music, and it’s important that somebody does it to keep it going.
“The key thing is nostalgia. The amount of times people have come to me after a show and said, ‘Oh, that reminded me of my father.'”
He said finding that niche was important, as theatre productions became more difficult to stage.
He said his style was to grow slowly, hence taking a smaller curated show to IPAC to gauge interest, before considering staging the bigger Evening With Rodgers and Hammerstein or Carousel to Wollongong.
“We like to do the big orchestras the way Rodgers and Hammerstein did it,” he said.
“An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein would be a full 23-piece orchestra and a cast of 15 to 17 people with a fully licensed production.
“That’s a much bigger production to bring to the stage, so Some Enchanted Evening is a snippet of a bigger production that we have.”
Militano said the show was part personal connection and part wanting to keep the golden age of musical theatre alive, whether it was the nostalgia of Rodgers and Hammerstein, modern greats influenced by them such as Andrew Lloyd Webber, songs from his Italian heritage, classic jazz standards or even embracing the contemporary crossover tradition made famous by Andrea Bocelli.
“It’s the music that is very personal and important to me from the golden age,” he said.
“I often tell people that I feel I was born in the wrong era.
“Richard Rodgers, for all the musicals that he did, he always said Carousel was his favourite musical.
“He said the music he wrote for that was his best work out of all his compositions. That’s why it was important for us to do it.”
Militano said he first got into musicals because his mother watched the classic movies with Gordon MacCrae and Shirley Temple.
“Gordon MacCrae was in Oklahoma! and Carousel, so I would watch him and hear this beautiful baritone voice.
“The first role I ever had was Curly in Oklahoma! I’m a baritone and Rogers and Hammerstein really wrote for the baritone voice.”
Militano has gone on to grace stages throughout Australia, New Zealand and the US, including Carnegie Hall in New York.
Tickets are on sale for Some Enchanted Evening at IPAC Theatre, Wollongong on 14 March at 2 pm.
