Musical Greats Perform in Swan Hill
Two of Australia’s legends of opera and musical, Theatre Marina Prior and David Hobson, will be in Swan Hill for the final show in a busy four days of entertainment for the region.
The powerhouse soprano and tenor are embarking on their encore tour The 2 of Us which delves into their their show business journey including brand new songs, back-stage and life stories, and including the classics from their vast repertoire spanning 35 years in a two hour spectacular show.
Coming on the heels of a four-year sellout season of more than 180 shows around the country boasting tickets sales of over 85,000, the duo will perform at Swan Hill Town Hill from 3pm.
They will be accompanied by renowned pianist David Cameron as they perform classics from productions such as The Phantom of The Opera, Cats, 9 to 5 The Musical, Evita, Les Miserables and West Side Story, as well as favourites from their award-winning albums.
“It’s been beyond our wildest dreams to travel this beautiful country of ours being supported by Australians in our own backyard,” Marina said.
“We’ve met so many wonderful people and made new friends along the way and we privileged to be able to do this and do not take it for granted.
“It’s great that we have the opportunity to take the show to the people, in areas around the country, that we may not have otherwise been able to get to with some of the bigger productions we perform in.” says Marina.
David Hobson is one of Australia’s best-known operatic tenors, musical theatre performers and recording artists and he spoke with The Guardian about the show and his connection to Swan Hill.
Marina and David started performing together in the original Broadway version of Pirates of Penzance in 1984.
“I had no intention of being a performer or singer, I was at university and playing rock’n’roll and pop and I had written a rock opera based on Macbeth and my voice was heard on a demo tape and they convinced me to come and sing,” David said.
“At the timem, I thought I was just an accidental tourist and here I am 40 years later, still singing with the same person,” he laughs.
“Our careers did take divergent ways but we maintained contact and remained good friends particularly over the last ten years.
“People are accustomed to seeing us in big formal musicals and opera productions, so here we get to be really up close and personal.
“It’s unstructured and a lot of fun, of course we do big hits but there are lots of back stories.
“Audiences are really surprised as to how much humour there is in the show as well as the great music.
“We couldn’t have done a show like this 20 years ago. With experience and wisdom, you really work out how to do these things and a level of relaxation because you have a backlog stories and experience you can draw on and you can just inhabit the stage.
“The beauty of a show like this is that we can ad lib a little and tailor to what the audience wants, it’s terrific fun.
“When we do the really serious dramatic moments they are given their full gravity. We are so lucky to get to do what we do and we have a ridiculous amount of fun.
“I have a bit of a history with Swan Hill, Hobsons Paint and Wallpaper was a store owned by my father but that was probably 40 or 50 years ago.”
Visit the Swan Hill Town Hall website for ticket details.
