Cast & Creatives

Cast

DAVID SOMERVILLE – BUD DAVENPORT

After studying drama at the Queensland University of Technology, David completed a Bachelor of Music Theatre at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.  Most recently, David toured Australasia in The Phantom of the Opera for The Really Useful Company/John Frost, in which he understudied and performed the role of Raoul.  Other credits include Fiddler on the Roof with Topol Australian Tour for TML Enterprises, On Our Selection for the Black Swan Theatre Company in Perth, South Pacific for Seabiscuit Productions, and a workshop reading of The Silver Donkey for the Melbourne Theatre Company.  David made his screen debut in the AFTRS short film The Saviour, which was nominated for an Oscar in 2007.
 

 

  

SIMON VAN DER STAP – DOUG SIMON

Simon graduated from NIDA in 1996 and is probably best known as Dr Rudi, in SBS’s cult comedy series, Life Support. His other television credits include Water Rats, All Saints, Big Sky and Murder Call.

Simon also was an original cast member in the Australian production of Disney Theatrical’s The Lion King in which he understudied understudied and performed the roles of Scar and Pumbaa. He also appeared in the Australian premiere of Alan Bennett’s the Lady in The Van for the STC.

Last year Simon completed his first feature film, The Nothing Men, written and directed by Mark Fitzpatrick and starring Colin Friels and David Field. This film is due for U.S release later this year. He is looking forward to working again with Mark on another feature in 2009.

As well as a performer, Simon has worked as an English language teacher, bar manager, BridgeClimb leader, armed security officer, carpark attendant, acting tutor, labourer, firearms instructor, poker machine attendant, youth worker and boxing coach.
In his spare time Simon enjoys boxing, reading biographies, cooking and stalling his motorcycle at busy intersections.

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Creative

NEIL GOODING – DIRECTOR

Most recently, Neil recently produced the World Premier of The Hatpin starring Caroline O’Connor, Peter Cousens, Barry Crocker AM and Melle Stewart, which then went on to perform at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in September 2008. Neil also served as the Assistant Director on both of these productions.

For several years, Neil was employed by Jacobsen Entertainment, where he responsible for the financial administration of the Arena Productions of The Man From Snowy River Arena Spectacular, the Long Way To The Top concert series, De La Guarda and Dirty Dancing, as well as being the tour accountant on the road with Ja Rule & Ashanti in 2003.

At the start of 2000, Neil established Neil Gooding Productions. The company’s first production was Stephen Sondheim's ASSASSINS in June 2000, which Neil both Produced and Directed. This company works on a variety of projects – ranging from staging its own productions, providing production services to external productions, as well as administering the rights to Back To The 80’s! which was written by Neil Gooding in 2001, and is now performed hundreds of times annually across the globe. Other productions staged by Neil Gooding Productions include the Sydney season of Back To The 80’!, Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls, and The Hatpin.

In 2005, Neil spent several months contracting to Jacobsen Entertainment exploring the potential of overseas productions of Dirty Dancing. Neil also worked for Delta Goodrem and toured Australia as her Tour Accountant on her Visaualise Tour.
Neil established Fast & Fresh, the under 18 short play competition which is the offshoot of Short & Sweet – the largest short play festival in the world. 2008 Neil marked the 4th year of this successful competition.

As a director, Neil has worked on many projects including Back To The 80’s, The Road To Bethlehem for Short, Sweet & Song (which was awarded the Best Australian work), the Kookaburra workshop of The Silver Donkey (a new Australia musical by Dean Bryant and Matthew Frank), Keeping AnnabelleListen To My Heart for Short & Sweet 2007, (The Statement Bar), and the two workshops of new Australian musical The Hatpin. Neil was also Assistant Director / Ensemble Director for the launch concert of Kookaburra Music Theatre Company, directed by Gale Edwards, and also directed Building A Wing – a 10 minute musical for the inaugural Short, Sweet & Song competition. This piece was voted by the judges as the Winner of the Best Musical. Most recently, Neil directed Nick Christo’s cabaret show The Fabulous Frances Faye which has played seasons in Sydney and New York, and will be part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2009.

Neil has been awarded a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Law, both from the University of Queensland.

 

BEV KENNEDY – MUSICAL DIRECTOR

Bev Kennedy is generally regarded as one of Australia’s leading Musical Directors & accompanists, having worked on over 20 professional productions.

Shows she has worked on include Billy Elliot, Mamma Mia!, The Producers, We Will Rock You, the Lion King, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Chicago & The Concert version of Sunset Boulevard with Judi Conelli. She was assistant Musical Director for Simon Gallaher’s Pirates of Penzance which is the highest selling video of a musical in Australian history & also won an Aria award for best soundtrack.
Bev has also worked for Cove musical theatre agents booking musicians & entertainers at The Regent Hotel during the Olympics when it was the official SOCOG Hotel & host to several international dignitaries and Royal families.
Bev has worked as Musical Director for the last 2 years on Short Sweet & Song, and for several Mardi Gras ‘Hats Off’ Concerts, including the 2008 Hats Off Meets the Stars Come Out 30th year Anniversary concert. She has also worked as Musical Director for the last 2 years on Light the Night charity concert.

Earlier last year, Bev was the official pianist at the Papal welcome which was televised worldwide, and the year before played at Kerry Packer’s memorial.
Bev continues to teach at various venues including NIDA, The Australian Theatre for Young People & the Australian Institute of Music & works for several charities including the Luncheon Club & St. Vincent’s Hospice.


NATHAN M. WRIGHT – CHOREOGRAPHER
Nathan has worked extensively throughout Australia & Asia in all facets of the entertainment industry. He began his training at The Conroy Dance Centre in Brisbane and made his professional musical theatre debut at the age of twelve, starring as Louis alongside legendary Hayley Mills in the Gordon Frost’s Production of The King And I. He played The Wicked Faced Boy alongside Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. He also performed as a motion capture Penguin in George Miller’s Academy Award winning film Happy Feet.

Television credits include The Footy Show, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Good Friday Appeal and Breakers. Commercials include Coca-Cola, Lipton Tea, Wendy’s Ice Cream and Warner Bros Movie World.

Musical Theatre credits include the role of Simon Zealotes in Jesus Christ Superstar in Korea, featured roles in the Australian productions of Pippin (Theo), Eurobeat, Oh! What A Night, Leader of the Pack (Sydney and Melbourne Seasons), Get Happy (Carmen Miranda), Hot Shoe Shuffle (Tap Bros), Shout! The Legend of The Wild One (Young Johnny), Mamma Mia (Pepper) for which he was nominated for the prestigious Green Room Award as a Best Supporting Actor in a musical.

Nathan was Assistant to the Director of Choreography (Jason Coleman) for The 15th Annual Asian Games in Doha, Qatar for David Atkins Enterprises and worked on the Parade of Athletes for The 2007 World Special Olympics Opening Ceremony in China, coordinating (choreographing) 500 Marshals for the welcome of over 150 countries to Shanghai. Additional Choreography credits include The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Dracula’s Theatre Restaurant.

In 2007 Nathan was Assistant Choreographer to John O’Connell on Gale Edwards’ production of Company, and was Associate Choreographer on the recent production of The Rocky Horror Show, during this time he had the pleasure of teaching Gretel Killeen, Derryn Hinch and Hamish & Andy The Timewarp!! In 2008 he choreographed, the Fund Raising Concert version of Breast Wishes, a new Australian Musical and restaged the finale of Boeing Boeing. In 2009 he will choreograph productions of the Australian Premier of Avenue Q and Breast Wishes both set to tour nationally.


MARTIN KINNANE – LIGHTING DESIGNER

Since graduating from NIDA, Martin has designed for theatre and events both nationally and internationally. He has worked extensively with the Ensemble Theatre including SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS, END OF THE RAINBOW, QED, YOU TALKIN TO ME, BURNT PIANO, RABBITHOLE, SWEET ROAD and KID’S STUFF. For other producers, Martin’s theatre credits include WILD BOYS for Australian Theatre of the Deaf, JUST MACBETH for the Bell Shakespeare Company, TELL ME ON A SUNDAY for Kookaburra, THE GOOD GERMAN for Black Pearl Theatre, THE HATPIN and LOVEBITES for White Box, EMBERS for HotHouse Theatre/Sydney Theatre Company, MEMORY OF WATER for Whoosh Productions, SATANGO for the Griffin, DEBBIE DOES DALLAS – THE MUSICAL for Three Amigos Productions, PEARLIE IN THE PARK, SPRUNG, WORRY WORTS and FAIRY’S WINGS for Monkey Baa Productions, MY SECRET CIRCUS for the National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA), SUNSET BOULEVARD for The Production Company, DINNER WITH FRIENDS for Fishy Productions, AWAY and TWELFTH NIGHT for Railway Street Theatre Company, ALONE IT STANDS and DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN for Ross Mollison Productions, DESIR and ABSINTHE for Speigelworld in New York and Miami and SHAKESPEARE’S R&J for the Bell Shakespeare Company/Spirit Entertainment.

Work beyond the theatrical ambit includes lighting design for events such as the Helpmann Awards in 2006 and East Timor’s Independence Day Celebrations for the United Nations. Martin was the Lighting Designer for WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008 at Randwick and Barrangaroo and Australia Day 2009 at Darling Harbour. Martin is possibly best known for his lighting design for all of the City of Sydney's New Year’s Eve events between 2001-2007: his spectacularly theatrical lighting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (the Bridge Effect) has brought him international renown; as a result he was the keynote speaker in Atlanta, at the Festival of Light Conference in the United States in 2005.

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Producers

NEIL GOODING – PRODUCER

Most recently, Neil recently produced the World Premier of The Hatpin starring Caroline O’Connor, Peter Cousens, Barry Crocker AM and Melle Stewart, which then went on to perform at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in September 2008. Neil also served as the Assistant Director on both of these productions.

For several years, Neil was employed by Jacobsen Entertainment, where he responsible for the financial administration of the Arena Productions of The Man From Snowy River Arena Spectacular, the Long Way To The Top concert series, De La Guarda and Dirty Dancing, as well as being the tour accountant on the road with Ja Rule & Ashanti in 2003.

At the start of 2000, Neil established Neil Gooding Productions. The company’s first production was Stephen Sondheim's ASSASSINS in June 2000, which Neil both Produced and Directed. This company works on a variety of projects – ranging from staging its own productions, providing production services to external productions, as well as administering the rights to Back To The 80’s! which was written by Neil Gooding in 2001, and is now performed hundreds of times annually across the globe. Other productions staged by Neil Gooding Productions include the Sydney season of Back To The 80’!, Long Gone Lonesome Cowgirls, and The Hatpin.

In 2005, Neil spent several months contracting to Jacobsen Entertainment exploring the potential of overseas productions of Dirty Dancing. Neil also worked for Delta Goodrem and toured Australia as her Tour Accountant on her Visaualise Tour.
Neil established Fast & Fresh, the under 18 short play competition which is the offshoot of Short & Sweet – the largest short play festival in the world. 2008 Neil marked the 4th year of this successful competition.

As a director, Neil has worked on many projects including Back To The 80’s, The Road To Bethlehem for Short, Sweet & Song (which was awarded the Best Australian work), the Kookaburra workshop of The Silver Donkey (a new Australia musical by Dean Bryant and Matthew Frank), Keeping AnnabelleListen To My Heart for Short & Sweet 2007, (The Statement Bar), and the two workshops of new Australian musical The Hatpin. Neil was also Assistant Director / Ensemble Director for the launch concert of Kookaburra Music Theatre Company, directed by Gale Edwards, and also directed Building A Wing – a 10 minute musical for the inaugural Short, Sweet & Song competition. This piece was voted by the judges as the Winner of the Best Musical. Most recently, Neil directed Nick Christo’s cabaret show The Fabulous Frances Faye which has played seasons in Sydney and New York, and will be part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2009.

Neil has been awarded a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Law, both from the University of Queensland.

 

IAN STENLAKE – PRODUCER

Ian is best known to audiences around Australia for his work as an actor - working consistently in film, television and theatre since graduating from NIDA in 1996 - and this year will be seen on tv screens as Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn in the Channel Nine Drama Sea Patrol and on stage in Sydney as Sky Masterson in the ATG/Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls before heading up to the Queensland Theatre Company to help create their new Australian play The School of Arts.

He is no stranger to production though, having assisted Bille Brown in directing Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde (Noah’s Flood) for Opera Queensland and an adaptation of A Christmas Carol which was later staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company back in 1994. Along with James Millar and Scott Irwin, Ian also created a singing trio, performing at various venues around the country and culminating in a 5 night run at the Star City Showroom, backed by a 15 piece orchestra.

Gutenberg! The Musical! is hopefully the first of many collaborations with Neil Gooding and James Millar who are already wowing audiences nationally with their new works.

 

JAMES MILLAR – PRODUCER

James is a graduate of WAAPA. His performance credits include Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for Company B Belvoir, Eureka for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Oklahoma for the Production Company, Boyband, LoveBites, The Letter, Nostradamus and Sondheim's Company at the Theatre Royal. In 2006 James won a Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor in the role of Jud Fry in Oklahoma. In the same year, he was selected to perform in Cardiff for BBC Radio 2's Voice of Musical Theatre. Also trained in writing, James has penned two musicals: The Hatpin, which played seasons in Sydney and New York in 2008; and Lovebites: A Song Cycle- both of which were nominated for Sydney Theatre Awards in 2009. James' work on television includes A Country Practice, Water Rats, Naked: Coral Island, Home And Away and Police Rescue and in 2009 he appeared in the film The Eternity Man, directed by Julien Temple.

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Writers

SCOTT BROWN – AUTHOR

Scott has appeared in several shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. He originated the role of "Bud Davenport" in the New York and London premiere of the show. Brown, as well as co-author Anthony King, was nominated for a 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! Offstage, Brown writes articles and reviews for Entertainment Weekly and Time.

ANTHONY KING – AUTHOR

Anthony has performed solo shows including Chosen at the New York City International Fringe Festival and DAY 8: Take Complete Control at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. On television, King has been featured on "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn" and MTV's "Human Giant." He has starred in the Comedy Central Motherload show "All Access: Middle Ages." King's regional and New York City directing credits include 1940s Radio Hour, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Chorus Line, as well as many new shows including The Patriots (HBO Aspen Comedy Festival), Who's Your Daddy? (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), God's Pottery (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Listen Kid (NYMF 2005) and Mister (starring Anthony Rapp). He has written for GQ and Entertainment Weekly. King is currently the Artistic Director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York where he also performs every Saturday night in the improvised comedy show REUBEN WILLIAMS: As Seen on TV.

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A smashing success! - The New York Times

Vigorous & Entertaining - Sydney Morning Herald

Makes a lot more sense than Cats - Doug's Mum

The show is not about me - but it's fantastic - Steve Guttenberg

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Neil Gooding productions, Ian Stenlake and James Millar present Gutenberg! the Musical!