Julie Black can still remember the first time she saw Beauty and the Beast performed live on stage.
The Disney classic was making its Australian debut in 1995, a year after the animated version was successfully adapted for Broadway, with Rachel Beck (from television show Hey Dad) and Michael Cormick playing the lead roles.
But it was a young graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) who really captivated audiences at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre with his portrayal of the arrogant “villain” from the Disney movie, Gaston.
“When the very first professional production of Beauty and the Beast was on, we happened to be in Melbourne and saw it,” Julie said.
“Honestly, I was absolutely mesmerised by it. The leads in that were Rachel Beck, Michael Cormick, and this very young man who’d just left WAAPA and was doing his first show. An unknown actor called Hugh Jackman.
“That’s the first time he’d done anything and… Hugh Jackman was unbelievable. He almost stole the show.
“I’m sitting there going, ‘Who in the hell is this guy?’ He’s acting, he’s singing, he’s dancing, and he’s drop-dead gorgeous! Everything about him was just unbelievable, and then, of course, look where he ended up.”
However, it wasn’t just the star in the making that Julie was captivated by, but the overall production itself.
“To me, Beauty and the Beast is probably the most beautiful Disney movie of all,” she said.
“I love the story; I really do, because of the prince being awful when the old lady turns up, and then the enchantress turns him into a beast. But once Belle arrives and everything happens, it makes him a better person. I just love the whole story.”
Having been involved in theatre all her life, and as the long-standing director of Newcastle’s iconic Metropolitan Players theatre group, Julie knew this was a production she wanted to put on for local audiences.
But while it can sometimes take some years before a musical or play is licensed for non-professional groups to stage, Julie never expected she would have to wait 24 years to bring her dream to life.
“Needless to say every year I used to pester Hal Leonard (one of the leading licensing and hire agents of plays, musicals and classical works in Australasia) to ask is it coming out yet? Is it coming out for the non-professional?” Julie said.
“When it did become available (in 2006) I applied, but someone else in Newcastle applied, and they got the rights.
“It was very disappointing, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, and so when the opportunity became available to do it this year, I jumped at it. I absolutely adore not just the story line but also how the musical version has been adapted.
“It is so funny, and it’s a show I felt four-year-olds to 104-year-olds would love. Beauty and the Beast is something where you take the children and the parents and the grandparents and the next-door neighbours. It is beautiful, just beautiful.”
Beauty and the Beast is the 10th longest-running musical in Broadway history and has grossed more than $1.4 billion worldwide with productions in 13 countries and 115 cities. Disney is now in planning to bring it back to Broadway again to celebrate the musical’s 25th anniversary.
Newcastle audiences will have their chance to see it this month, with Metropolitan Players set to stage nine performances of the show at the Newcastle Civic Theatre from August 14-24.
Stepping into the lead roles for the Newcastle production will be accomplished local actors Rachel Davies (Belle), Danny Folpp (Beast) and Julie’s son Andrew, who will take on the role of Gaston.
Theatre and the Metropolitan Players, in particular, have always been a family affair for the Blacks.
Julie and her husband Graham actually met on stage in 1973 during a production of Mame and are the only founding members still actively involved in the Metropolitan Players today, with Graeme in charge of set design (and the current President of the theatre group) and Julie holding the reins of the productions as the company’s long-standing director.
Their two children, Andrew and Nicolette, are also heavily involved, with both regularly appearing in productions, while Andrew also takes on marketing duties including designing the posters and programs for each show.
“It’s lovely that as a family we can sit and talk about theatre and they have this same excitement that Graeme and I have for theatre, wanting to do everything and put everything into it,” Julie said.
“It’s so exciting to see them have this same feeling, because (the theatre) is lovely. While you’ve got your job to go to during the day (because you've got to earn money), you also have this wonderful hobby at night working with lots of lovely people and being able to see the joy on the faces of the people you work with, even on Andrew and Nicolette's faces, because they love being in shows, it’s such an amazing thing.”
Julie’s passion for the theatre is clearly evident when you talk to her, and she is thankful for the long-lasting joy it has provided, even through the more painful periods of her life.
“My mother used to say I was dancing before I was walking and singing before I was talking,” she said.
“Mum and Dad would have parties, and I would get up and perform and do a song and dance number and everything. I love acting; I really do. I go into character, I always forget about me, and I live the character because I want to make it believable.
“It’s just something that I’ve done ever since I was a little girl, and I just absolutely adore it. But I’ve had a really bad back ever since I was young, even though I sang, danced and acted on stage and everything I eventually had to have a huge spinal fusion.
“I couldn’t dance anymore because I had the whole lumbar region fused, so I turned to directing.
“It’s funny what life does to you because that’s where I've had all my success. And I absolutely adore it because I'm a person who has always been a perfectionist.
“To me (theatre) is one of the best hobbies and while through the years I’ve actually got worse physically and I’m on a walker now, at least I can still do theatre because I sit there and I can direct.
“While ever I have that, I’ll do it as long as I can.”
Julie has certainly experienced plenty of success since first trying her hand at directing in 1983 with a production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
She was nominated for best director in that year’s City of Newcastle Drama Association awards (CONDA) and in the years since has gone on to earn a stack of nominations and award wins including the event’s top award, the CONDA Award for Excellence.
“Oh gosh, that’s something you never expect,” Julie said.
“I always think everyone puts on a show; you’re all in it together. I've never singled myself out, so I get a shock when I win awards for being the director, I really do.
“The first time I won was for The King and I, and when they called out my name, I have never been so nervous in all my life. I was walking up the stairs thinking ‘What will I say?'
“Even my daughter said, ‘Mum, your voice was shaking’. I was so nervous up there, and I thought I don't like winning awards because I have to get up there and speak as me.
“To win the big one (Award for Excellence) it was the absolute shock of my life, and very exciting, I just couldn’t believe it.
“My first and foremost priority is my family. They mean the world to me, and if doing theatre in any way had ever been detrimental, I would have given it up in an instant because they’re always my number one.
“So to see that my kids were so proud of me, to see the pride in my husband and my children’s faces, that brought tears to my eyes.
“And then you're looking around at everyone, the smiles on their faces, oh gosh, it’s just beautiful, just beautiful.
“I think it’s an honour to think that they think you're good enough, that the judges think you're good enough because I just do it for the love of it.
“We don't get paid for it; I just do it for the sheer love of it, so you don't expect awards. I suppose it's the cherries on top of the icing on top of the cake sort of thing.”
Julie isn’t alone at the Metropolitan Players in receiving awards, with the group itself winning the CONDA for Best Musical Production an impressive nine times for productions including Crazy For You, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Producers, The Boy From Oz, Oliver, The Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray, Mary Poppins and Wicked.
Metropolitan Players has also received 14 other CONDA nominations for Best Non-professional Musical for its productions, including The King and I, Victor/Victoria, My Fair Lady and Les Misérables.
Their production of Hairspray in 2014 received a record 17 nominations and won 6 CONDAs for Musical, Director, Musical Director, Lead Actor in a Musical, Lead Actress in a Musical and Supporting Actress.
Production members that have taken home the prestigious Award for Excellence have included costume designer Steven Harrison (2008) and musical director Greg Paterson (2017), while other accolades over the years have celebrated the group’s lighting design, hair and wig design, and costume design.
“That’s what's lovely, even if you don’t win I love just seeing all my friends get nominated and when one of them wins that is so exciting for me,” Julie said.
“Just to see my friends win this and the thrill on their faces means the world to me, the absolute world.
“I think I’m so lucky to be involved in a hobby that gives me so much pleasure but gives everyone else so much pleasure as well, it’s wonderful.”
A lot has changed in Newcastle’s theatre scene over the years since the Metropolitan Players was formed in 1977, but Julie believes the community has never been healthier.
“In Newcastle, you've got so many companies now, there would be definitely over 30 companies which is fantastic, and they all do different things,” she said.
“I always say to my cast do as many shows as you can with as many different companies because you learn the best of all of them, which is a fantastic opportunity.
“These days we would get 300-odd people auditioning for every one of our shows.
“They get so much opportunity starting in the schools now, which never happened when I was young. The schools are putting on amazing shows. I mean, look at St Phillips Christian College, their musicals are superb.
“So you’re training children in school, and they’re getting this love of theatre way back then, which is fabulous.
“Every year I try to put in people who’ve never been in a show and try and teach them to love it and put the best work in that they can. I love that idea that I’m able to help people to get into that spot where they love it.
“Three years ago we went over to London because our Nicolette had been working at the Savoy Theatre for four years and then she was coming back with us. We ended up over in New York, and one of the boys who I had been guiding was on Broadway in Wicked, and that was Jye Frasca.
“Jye came to us as a 13-year-old dancer way back in 1995, and he had charisma. He just had the X-factor. And I used to look at him and go, ‘Jye, do you sing or act darling?’ He goes, ‘No, no, I'm a dancer.’ I said, ‘Well, guess what, we’re going to teach you acting and singing love. You have the X-factor. You’ve got to go further than just your dancing.’
“And to go and see him in the show… I had so much pride in him, and afterwards, he says, ‘Oh, I can't thank you enough.’ But I said, ‘You already had it in you darling. You had it there.’
“It’s so lovely to see them do so well. Also in that production of Grease with Jye that year at the Griffith Duncan Theatre was David Harris, who is so famous now and has been in the professional shows, he was the lead in Priscilla Queen of the Desert that was on in Sydney recently. He’s based over in America and is such a fabulous actor and singer, but he was Kenickie in our production of Grease.
“One of the other boys in it, Grant Turner, another dancer, also ended up on Broadway in A Chorus Line. To see them go so far is wonderful, I’ve got so much pride in them, and I still love to catch up with everyone and see what they’re doing.
“We went down to see Barnum – the Circus Musical recently with Rachel Beck and Todd McKenney in it, and Tyran Parke was the director. Tyran started in Young People’s Theatre in Newcastle, he was in my Li'l Abner, and we have remained friends ever since.
“Now Tyran is (in my opinion) one of the best directors in all of Australia. And he’s often overseas and having dinner with (composer) Stephen Sondheim and (Broadway director) Hal Prince and these famous people. The day after Barnum we went to the Victoria College of Arts where he’s head of music and drama and had a two-hour lunch with him, and Tyran is exactly the same as when he was back here in Newcastle. He is still a lovely young man.
“I come away and go ‘Oh my god, I am so proud of all these people. Look how well they’ve done and yet they still remain gorgeous. There are no egos; they’re just absolutely gorgeous. Newcastle is just abundant with talent.”
There will certainly be plenty of talent on show this month when the Metropolitan Players’ production of Beauty and the Beast takes to the stage, with more than 100 people involved in creating an enchanting night of wonder and magic that all the family can enjoy.
Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek, with the opening night kicking off at 7.30pm on Wednesday, August 14. It will run through until the closing performance on Saturday, August 24, with both evening and matinee performances on offer.
For more information about the show and Metropolitan Players visit www.metropolitanplayers.com.au
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