No Sinking Ship

Creative Producer Robbie Carmellotti talks to Coral Drouyn about StageArt’s new musical production – Titanic – at Chapel off Chapel.

There’s been a trend in the past few years for small boutique production companies to take on the main stage Giant players by presenting small musicals that the main stage won’t touch. It works well, but it has meant that there are a lot of BIG Broadway musicals that we don’t get to see, because they’re too much of a gamble, or producers think have insufficient appeal for Australian theatre-goers. 

Fortunately, there is StageArt, who may well adopt “Go Big or Go Home” as their motto. They have never shied away from taking on big shows, most of them Tony Award winners, and in five short years they have gone from a self devised production of Grease 2 in concert, to producing some of the biggest Broadway hits of the 21^st Century.

We’ve been treated to large scale productions of Hair, In The Heights (twice), Dreamgirls, Saturday Night Fever, and now Titanic, with The Colour Purple still to come later in the year. It’s been a huge undertaking, one that surprised even creative producers Katherine Armstrong and Robbie Carmellotti.

“We didn’t set out with any big five year plan or anything like that,” Robbie tells me. “In actual fact we scraped together enough to mount Grease 2 in concert because I had written it, and we couldn’t find anyone to produce it. It was a success and we thought – maybe – just maybe we should do another one. But we never thought –‘in five years we’ll produce Titanic’ – in fact, if anyone had suggested it we would have laughed at them; it would have seemed impossible.”

But Robbie and Katherine were savvy enough to see there was a niche in the market, and they took a giant leap of faith to fill it.

Each production is bigger than the last, but that doesn’t deter the two producers.

“Titanic is a huge show and originally we didn’t think we could do it,” Robbie explains. “On Broadway and in London there were 60 people in the cast and a full orchestra. But then we heard that there was a new stripped down chamber version – with just a six piece orchestra, beautiful strings, an abstract set and some clever projection – and we thought….just maybe.”

When the two saw the West End production they realised that it was do-able, especially with a cast of twenty playing the sixty roles. The show calls for classically trained singers who can also act. Big voices are needed for the difficult but lyrical score.

“Fortunately, Melbourne has so many incredibly talented artists and, when we were auditioning, everyone was excited because they had heard the glorious music but never expected to even see the show, let alone be in it.”

I pose to Robbie the question often asked about Independent companies like StageArt – payment for artists at an award rate?

“We wish we could pay everyone what they are worth, even above the award.” he says, “but it wouldn’t be possible to mount shows of this size with short runs in a small theatre. We do pay what we can afford and everyone knows before we start rehearsing what that will be. All our artists receive an equal honorarium which is approved by their agents or managers prior to them accepting a role in the company.  These honorariums are not static and have been reviewed and increased with each of our productions. One of our goals is to be able to pay artists in full in the not too distant future. Payment is going up, but not as fast as we would like in a perfect world. Artists know that and are very understanding.”

Titanic won five Tony Awards when it first appeared on Broadway in 1997, including Best Musical and one for composer and lyricist Maury Yeston.

“Yeston isn’t a household name to everyone,” Robbie says, “but he wrote the score for Nine and that also won him a Tony . His music is just beautiful.”

Robbie and Katherine have brought back director James Cutler to direct, after his stunning success with In the Heights.

“James always has such a strong vision and he often seems to read our minds,” Robbie says.

Is there a danger that, with everyone knowing the tragic ending, some people might think the show will be depressing?

“It’s actually uplifting,” Robbie says. “It’s about the human spirit, and miracles, and ultimate triumph. The ship might hit an iceberg, but the show doesn’t. It really soars.”

And not a Celine Dion song in sight!

Titanic runs until July 7 to 24,2016.