After 23 years in the Sydney Street Theatre, Harvest Rain Theatre Company is moving on. 2009 will see them as QPAC’s resident theatre company, starting the year with Peter Pan in the Cremorne Theatre. But, before they say their final goodbyes to Sydney Street, Harvest Rain is putting on a grand finale with Divas.
Divas played at the theatre last year and was hugely successful, with many people missing out on tickets because of its short run. So this year they’re bringing the wild frivolity back for another 9 shows. ourbrisbane.com caught up with the prima diva (according to her persona in the show at any rate!) Leisa Barry-Smith, who adores the opportunity to play such an over-the-top character.
“It was Tim O’Connor’s idea to bring together five of Queensland’s music theatre divas in the one show,” Leisa said. “When he spoke about bringing it back this year we all went, ‘Of course!’ – we were just hitting our straps last year and really enjoying the show and then it was over so it will be great to get back to it this year.”
“We decided we would take on extremely over-the-top characters,” said Leisa when asked to explain the concept of the show. “We’ve based them on celebrities – people like Brittney Spears, Whitney Houston and J-Lo – so we’ve kind of stolen little bits from the trashy mags and incorporated those into our characters. Even though we’re playing ourselves it’s a very heightened version of ourselves.”
Want an idea of how heightened? Well, this is an example of the sort of thing Leisa’s diva version of herself says:
“I think what most people don’t realise about me is that apart from being an amazing singer and actor, I’m also an incredibly talented director, writer, producer and dancer – and the only other person in the world who can do all of those things is Barbra Streisand and, from all accounts, I’m a much nicer and humbler person than she is…”
Ouch!
Leisa explains that Divas isn’t just five women on stage belting out showstopping numbers, although they certainly do that. It’s also a mockumentary type of story.
“We play members of this fictional group called Divas who have an enormous following. The show is a documentary style show so, interspersed with the live musical numbers, we have quite a lot of video footage. There’s documentary video footage of the girls backstage and of the girls on tour. In a way it’s a multimedia performance and it’s very irreverent and funny. It’s such fun to do because we all get to play these complete nightmares!”
Joining Leisa on stage are the other divas: Julie Cotterell, Angela Cornford, Belinda Heit and Naomi Price. Their performance promises to be an evening of song and frivolity to celebrate 23 years of wonderful theatre at Sydney Street.
Being a diva isn’t the only thing Leisa’s up to at the moment. She’s also “neck-deep” producing this year’s Lord Mayor’s Carols in the City.
“I’ll be rehearsing both shows at the same time,” she said. “I’ll be a wee bit mindless I think! Once again it’s all very enjoyable. Carols in the City is such a fantastic event and we work with some amazing stars so we’re really blessed to have such a great carol show in Brissie.”
When she finishes with Divas and Carols in the City, Leisa and her husband Jason Barry-Smith will be writing a touring show for Opera Queensland. Based on Banjo Patterson's most beloved work, Waltzing Our Matilda will be part of Queensland’s 150 year celebrations.
It’s clear that, unlike her diva persona, Leisa Barry-Smith doesn’t mind hard work. In fact, she relishes it.
Why not celebrate Christmas with a bunch of Divas? The show runs from 10 - 20 December 2008 at New Farm's Sydney Street Theatre.
