I was very pleased to find the following letter in my mail box today from my “Australian mate,” David Gilchrist, one of the premiere character actors in VC. I’ve worked with David on a couple of shows but have always found him extremely versatile and delightful. David is appearing in a brand new musical called “The Diary,” which is a musical based on the life of Anne Frank. You’ll be hearing a lot more about that show in the coming days, but I thought I would share this letter with everyone to show what a wonderful area we have here in Ventura County for theater.
G’day Cary! Great to see you last night at our rehearsal for “The Diary”!
Sorry I didn’t get a chance to chat, but thought I could give you a few bits about me and this wonderful new show!! I came to the US in 2002 to perform my own show in Vegas having performed on US cruise ships from 1982-2002 as a headliner and male guest entertainer in the production shows! My voice was getting very tired having performed in West End theatre from 1967-1982 doing mostly Broadway musicals, and the Sydney Club Circuit 1982-1992, so I came to settle in this incredible land of the American Musical and live in Westlake Village with my new family and enjoy my senior years!
I went to see Cabrillo’s “Jekyll and Hyde” at the Civic Arts Plaza and was just overwhelmed with the professional standard produced, that it brought me back to life! So I auditioned for “King and I” and Lewis Wilkenfeld very kindly gave offered me the part of Captain Orton which was life changing and I’ve had the best time of my life just working with American artistes in Broadway musicals ever since!
Becoming a character actor I guess is a natural progression, but I haven’t stopped since that first opportunity in 2008 and now I have the chance of playing a character so close to our hearts -Otto Frank – in this incredible new musical called “The Diary”,written by the musical genius of Lloyd Cooper and his beautiful and talented wife Barbara! I have been very fortunate to have worked with Lloyd Cooper in many of the Cabrillo shows, but had no idea that he could write such a beautiful score and his script is right up to Broadway standard!
I’m in the middle of playing Fagin in “Oliver” at the moment which is quite a role, but luckily our director is the legendary Allan Hunt, who makes the whole task an absolute pleasure! I am so fortunate to have Allan Hunt direct this premiere production and feel this show is going to be another life changing event for this old thespian!!
Rehearsals are going so well and the cast is just the best you could ever hope to work with! We are so lucky to have the best of the best living and working in this part of the country to be able to produce such a wonderful new show! I just love living here and having this opportunity to appear in the premiere production of “The Diary” opening in a couple of weeks at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks! Don’t miss it as it’s only on for five days!
No Comments