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| Photo by Brian Geach |
I arrived at Sydney’s Lyric
Theatre on Monday night with my friend Courtney, after receiving an invitation
for the Preview of the musical Dream Lover. The theatre is located near Darling Harbour, and is off to the
side of the very impressive Star Casino. There is a beautiful view, from the
Lyric Theatre's gorgeous balcony, of the waterfront and famous city skyline.
Around 400 of us started our journey through a long corridor. It was clear that we were not taking the usual route into the theatre. No, we were headed to the theatre stage. My friend Courtney and I were pulled aside and offered to sit in the front row, where a small stage was set up. Score!
Producer John Frost (Wicked) soon took the stage, and introduced us to the acclaimed
director Simon Phillips (Priscilla Queen of
the Desert). Both shared their excitement about this world first, brand
new musical about the life and music of legend Bobby Darin.
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| About to enter the theatre, and getting excited! |
One big highlight for my
friend Courtney and me was hearing from the writers, Frank Howson and John
Michael Howson. They shared with us their desire to teach their audiences about
the 1950’-60’s Grammy winner Bobby Darin’s unbelievable life and his very
famous songs; including Splish- Splash,
Mack the Knife, Beyond the Sea and of course - the multi-million seller, Dream Lover. Mack the Knife is a song
you would instantly recognise because it’s also been sung by Frank Sinartra and
Tony Bennett.
A brief but interesting life history of Bobby Darin:
Bobby was a boy born in the
Bronx in New York in 1936, and had an incredible but very short life. He
suffered on and off from rheumatic fever that did permanent damage to his
heart. The Dr’s never expected him to live as long or accomplish as much as he
did. His recurring health problems didn’t stop him from learning to play
several musical instruments and write and perform his songs. Even though very
successful, his short life was full of up’s and downs like finding out at age
32 that his mother was actually his grandmother, and his sister was actually
his biological mother. He also campaigned tirelessly for Robert F. Kennedy, and
was present at the Ambassador Hotel on the night that Robert was assassinated.
Bobby was married to the
beautiful actress Sandra Dee, who had their son Dodd, but re-married shortly
before his death (of heart failure) to Andrea Joy Yeager in 1973.
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Hard to miss: see my red head at the
front there. Photo from Dream Lover Australia 's official Instagram
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After hearing some of the
history of Bobby’s life we were entertained by David Campbell (who coincidently
was born the year Bobby died, to Aussie Legend Jimmy Barnes). David Campbell is
playing Bobby in Dream Lover.
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| Hannah Fredricksen who stars as Sandra Dee and David who stars as Bobby Darin |
Then it was off to enjoy canapés and drinks, and even a photograph and signing with the musical’s two
stars.
If you’d like to have a chance to WIN a double pass (that’s two tickets) to see a full preview showing of Dream Lover in Sydney later this year. All you have to do is enter here (on this blog post) with a comment telling me why you’d love to have seats to the show. Make sure you leave contact email address that is easy to match with your entry name. Creativity counts so be interesting!
Competition starts today, April 6th.2016 at 6pm
(AEST) and ends at 6pm sharp (AEST) April 27.2016
Competition is open to Sydney and Hunter area
residents only (in other words you need to be able to get to the theatre if you
win).
For full terms and conditions click here
Meet the judges: As always I try I choose unbiased judges to pick winners for my competitions to make it fair and honest for all involved. This time it's Newcastle singing sensation's Glenn and Larelle from 2 Good Reasons. They had a really tough time going through the creative comments below. Thank you guys so much for taking on the job and accepting you'll only be paid in hugs!
Meet the judges: As always I try I choose unbiased judges to pick winners for my competitions to make it fair and honest for all involved. This time it's Newcastle singing sensation's Glenn and Larelle from 2 Good Reasons. They had a really tough time going through the creative comments below. Thank you guys so much for taking on the job and accepting you'll only be paid in hugs!
So the WINNER is... Natalie Barclay! Congratulations, you've won two tickets to Dream Lover, The Musical!
This winner had been notified. Thank you so everyone who entered, and please keep coming back for more great giveaways.
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