In a rehearsal room at Perth’s ABC Studios, Eddie Perfect is fine-tuning his brand new musical, guiding more than 40 performers through tap routines and comedy sketches, showgirl numbers and even a Scottish jig. “It’s a huge show,” he laughs. “We’ve got 64 people on stage between the cast and the orchestra, and we’re refining and rewriting it as we go. It’s wild and very exciting.”
Premiering on 7 November at Perth’s Heath Ledger theatre, Tivoli Lovely – written by Perfect and directed by Dean Bryant – is performed by musical theatre students from Perfect’s alma mater: the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Set in 1954, the work resurrects the golden world of Australian vaudeville, where comics, crooners and chorus girls kept the nation laughing through two world wars and into the television age.
