Oh, What a Season…

With CLOC Musical Theatre's production of Chicago now hitting the stage, Karen Greenwood reports on the drama faced by Melbourne’s largest community theatre company on the dramas involved in finally getting their previous production to the stage.

When Melbourne’s CLOC Musical Theatre decided in 2019 to mount what would be a community theatre premiere production of Jersey Boys in October 2020, little did they realise that they were beginning a three-year saga fraught with delays, changes, holdups, offstage dramas and yet, ultimately, triumph.

The first delay was a twelve-month postponement until October 2021, when almost all theatre in Australia closed. In what was a portent of things to come, auditions, scheduled for June, had to be delayed due to yet another lockdown. Casting took place and rehearsals began (under Covid rules of masks, QR codes and social distancing) with much excitement and anticipation.

After two weeks of rehearsals, lockdown rules changed yet again, and the company continued rehearsals remotely via Zoom. Two weeks later, the company was forced to make the painful decision to postpone the production once more until 2022. 

Rehearsals recommenced in February 2022, and the show finally opened on May 13. Policies and protective measures in place throughout the theatre included Covid marshals both backstage and front of house. Despite this, the company was decimated by Covid, which ripped through the cast and backstage team.

After a successful opening weekend with a full cast and crew, which was rapturously received by audiences and critics, Covid found its way into the company.

Ultimately five cast members (out of 17) were affected and had to be covered. This was manageable with the professionalism of all remaining cast members, who supported each other and adapted to circumstances that changed daily. 

CLOC also lost many regular crew members, so that backstage was frequently filled with helpers who were brought in at short notice from far and wide. In a twelve-performance season, two shows had to be cancelled (when one of the Four Seasons tested positive three hours before the scheduled start of the show), which caused consternation and distress to both CLOC and audiences, and of course was a major headache for CLOC’s ticketing team, which itself had been felled by Covid. 

It is a testament to the efforts of everyone involved in this saga that the feedback received from CLOC audiences was equally as ecstatic after the Covid losses as before. Despite all the challenges, CLOC still managed a first-rate show which did not short-change their patrons and gave joy, delight and pleasure to so many.

At the end of it all, everyone involved with the production agreed that what made it so difficult and challenging also made it an extraordinary and (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime experience that they will never forget. CLOC is following Jersey Boys with Chicago (pictured below) at the National Theatre St Kilda from October 7 to 22, 2022. Bookings at www.cloc.org.au

Read our review here.

Photographer: Ben Fon