Tim Finn’s Musical Adventure

New Zealand songwriter Tim Finn has spread his wings from pop music to embrace musical theatre and opera. The musical he composed, Ladies In Black, is currently touring. David Spicer spoke to both Finn and a leading lady in black, Trisha Noble.

On the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House the Finn family experienced another moment of musical exhilaration.  Last November on the 20^th anniversary of Crowded House’s ‘farewell concert’ Tim joined the band, led by his younger brother Neil, along with thousands of others in the crowd who sang along.

“It was beautifully poignant. Tears were shed in a massive celebration,” he said.

What was noticeable was the high standard of the impromptu choir.

“There was a good balance of male and female voices. People wanted to sing and there was a natural amplification which was pretty magical.”

Crowd singing is not always so good. He ruefully remembers average blokes struggling with the high pitch of ‘I hope I never have to see you again’ at another concert.

Fans of Tim Finn are getting new opportunities to hear his songs. Most exotic is an opera commissioned by three companies. Star Navigatorwill explore the story of Tupaia, a Tahitian star navigator who travelled with Captain Cook from Tahiti in the South Pacific Ocean to Batavia, now Jakarta, on the first voyage of the Endeavour.

“I found it refreshing. The opera world is not elitist but (those I’m working with) are keen to interact with people and refresh the form.” 

Star Navigator is what he describes as a song based opera. It will be staged in a few years.

The worlds of music theatre and pop music are closer in form, but Tim says they still have different song-writing requirements. He says that in a musical a “song has to pull a story along or express what a character is feeling at the time.

“Also pop music is full of imperfect rhyme, whereas in music theatre audiences use rhyme to anticipate the lyrics.”

The idea for a musical based on the Madeleine St John’s popular 1993 novel, The Women in Black, came to Tim when he picked up the novel at an airport. He soon rang Director Simon Phillips to suggest it be adapted into musical, and so their collaboration, along with writer Carolyn Burns, began.

The novel takes place in an upmarket Department Store in Sydney.

“It is set in 1959, but I never thought I was writing a 1950’s musical. I composed the best songs for each character.”

Tim says he immediately felt a connection to the central character of the novel – Lisa – a seventeen-year-old girl who is working in the Department Store over the Christmas holidays, whilst waiting for her Leaving Certificate results.

“She makes a daring announcement on her first day at work about what she wants to do with her life. It made me think what would it have been like if I had announced when I was growing up that I wanted to be a songwriter? I had not even met a songwriter.”

Of course not only did Tim Finn become a famous songwriter, but so did his younger brother Neil.

“I was six years older; luckily he had his own talent. He was off and running when he was 13.”

One of the leading ladies in Ladies in Black, Trisha Noble, has her own connection to the story.

“It takes me back to my childhood, going to these beautiful stores - Mark Foy’s, David Jones, Anthony Horderns, Farmers - so many elegant top class stores.

“My mum or grandma would take me to the store wearing a hat and gloves. It was a whole day outing; lunch in their restaurant and service by these ladies in black, with beautiful make-up.

“These women were so impeccably trained to be of service. They stood apart with their grooming; some could be quite intimidating.

“I can remember going to these stores. We would bring back these gorgeous dresses. My mother would buy two or three at a time.

“In those days it was magic. Children were mesmerised by the glorious Christmas windows. The 1950’s were so uncomplicated.”

Trisha can also relate to the experience of the young lead, Lisa. However her job after she left school was on national television.

“When I was 17 I was appearing on Bandstand with Peter Allen.

“I too came from a protective family.

“It was a bit of a shock working on TV.  We were going into people’s living rooms. They took an ownership of us, and would walk up in the street and say anything  - complimentary or quite nasty.”

Trisha Noble plays two characters in the musical, who she says are “180 degrees apart.”

The first, Miss Jacobs, has been working in the glove department for over 40 years.

“She is dignified, but is defined by a tragedy in the past when she lost her fiancé in the First World War.

“We up are on top floor, which is for model gowns. It’s run by a mad Hungarian character who is a refugee. She refers to herself as a refo, which is gorgeous. Long before political correctness everyone was light hearted.”

The other, Mrs Crown, “has three adult daughters, is a bit rough around the edges and doesn’t mind calling a spade a spade.”

There are lots of quick changes of character and quick changes of wigs.

Trisha’s favourite song in the musical is called ‘Standard Issue Bastard’.

‘He’s a bastard, a bastard, a standard issue bastard, a bastard, coming home half plastered, I don’t know how it’s lasted …’

 It comes from a line in novel about the characteristics of Frank, the son-in-law of Mrs Crown.

“Frank is a little bit dismissive. He just wants to have TV dinners and is not very attentive.”

Trisha implies that many men of the era could be classified as standard issue bastards.

“In the 1950’s men were intimidated about talking about relationships. Today they are more open to communicating.”

Tim Finn says the bastard song “has had a huge response.”

Enjoying the sound of laughter in the audience from the first season he “wants to write another funny song.”

She was being kind to him… “But it is not a parody of people who lived in the 1950s. There was tenderness in (novelist) Madeleine St John’s razor.”

Trisha Noble believes that the bastard song could only “be understood by an Australian or New Zealand audience.”

Tim Finn has a foot over both sides of the ‘ditch’. He married an Australian and works here often, although he based is Auckland.

Ladies in Black is the first original musical he has written and he is still getting used to the culture.

During a rehearsal “Simon Phillips complained that the music was too loud” as he wanted to hear the lyrics of every song, whereas Tim thought it was “too soft” as he was used to the volume at rock gigs and wanted the music to wash over him.

“I have found it liberating working in musical theatre.”

He enjoyed being given a deadline and “rushing back to the hotel to compose a song quickly.”

Once he had worked out (with Carolyn Burns) the structure of the book the “songs came thick and fast.”

With the success of Ladies in Black it sounds like Tim Finn will keep scouring novels in airport lounges for his next project.

The Queensland Theatre production began it's 2017 tour in Sydney (Jan 3 – 22), followed by seasons in Brisbane (Jan 28 – Feb 19), Melbourne (Feb 25 – Mar 19) and Canberra (Mar 27 – Apr 2).

Article originally publisshed in the January / February 2017 edition of Stage Whispers.

Production images by Lightbox Photography