Having spent the last few weeks indulging in movies as part of his character research, actor Kane Alexander, is certain he and his cast members will bring to life one of Broadway’s most successful shows. Life Like Company have taken a risk bringing City of Angels to Australian audiences, but given the way Kane has spoken about it, we’re thinking the risk may just pay off…
From my understanding and research this is an Australian premiere. Congratulations!
Yeah, it is. It’s the first time it’s been done professionally, which is so surprising cause this is a show that won six Tony’s. It has a bit of a cult following; it’s one of those shows that everyone in the industry certainly loves.
Upon hearing the name of the show for the first time people may think it is the stage adaption of the 1998 film with Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage.
[Laughing] So many of my friends when they heard I was doing the show said ‘Oh, so you’re playing Nicholas Cage?’ And I’d say ‘No I am not, thankfully.’
So for people who might get this misconstrued, what is this show about in a nutshell?
In a nutshell, it’s a tribute to the glory days of Hollywood in the 1940s. It also tips its hat to the film noir genre; so it’s all about detectives, femme fatales, murder mysteries, cops and robbers, all that sort of stuff. Of course it’s underscored by all this incredible jazz music, so it’s glamorous and sexy. It’s very funny; the script was written by the guy who wrote M.A.S.H. so it’s got a lot going for it. Also, the way the story is told has never been done before. We’ve got two concurrent stories on the stage at the one time. Stine is writing a Hollywood adaptation of one of his famous novels and we’ve got the actual film he’s writing playing out in black on white on the other side of the stage. As the show goes on, the two worlds start to combine.
It is quite an intricate and complex structure. How do you think it’s going to resonate with modern-day audiences?
It’s gonna be interesting to see. In my preparation I’ve watched a lot of those old film noir movies and sometimes you’re thinking, what the hell is going on here? But I think audiences nowadays are gonna be smart enough to pick up on it all. It takes a little bit of adjusting and getting used to the language; again it’s very much a period piece so there are all these references to things I didn’t even know about. But hopefully, if we do our job right, we’ll be able to create a sense of being in another time and another place. LA back in the 1940s was a pretty exiting time with music, crooners, the big band sound, Hollywood itself, colour film was just being introduced, so it was an exciting part of everyone’s lives. And it’s all here in this show.
Do you think the character Stine is in a way writing about your character Stone because he wishes he was him?
Detective Stone, in Stine’s mind, is who he wants to be. Stone is a private eye, he’s irresistible to women, he has all these adventures solving crimes, disappearances, murders and there’s all this double crossing of people, and people being framed; it’s all of that sort of stuff that you’d imagine from the film noir movies. You’ll see the characters reflected in Stine’s mind in the movie. It’s also a real insight into the creative mind of a writer as well and the compromises that the creative process needs to take when it comes to adapting your work for Hollywood. What their story becomes can quite often turn out different to what they imagined.
You’ve been working alongside some really amazing and well-seasoned actors, and you’ve been working with industry legends Martin Croft (Director) and Kellie Dickerson (Musical Director). How have they nurtured the rehearsal process for you guys?
We have a very short rehearsal process; we’re currently only four days in, so I think everyone is fully aware of that and so they came prepared. They’re such pros. Martin had done all of this research and he knew exactly what needed to be achieved in such a short period, and Kelly of course had researched the period of music, what works, what doesn’t work. Everyone had to do all the preparation before we got into the room, so we had all learnt the songs, got our heads around the dialogue; now it’s just putting it on its feet and getting it on stage.
Given that the show has won so many awards over the years, what are some of the pressures you’re facing to keep up the integrity of the show?
I think just trying to get the style as authentic as possible. Those of us that have worked a lot in musical theatre are so used to having to work with dialects and things like that, but what I’ve found is that the style of this piece, in regards to the movement, is that it’s cinematic and theatrical at the same time. The rhythm of speech and where it sits in the voice and pitch, all of that stuff you can only really pick up from watching those sort of films and getting a sense of it because it’s so different to the way people speak now, so for me that’s been an important part of it; to go back to the original movies as a reference point. I hadn’t really seen a lot of film noirs so to be immersed in that for a few weeks leading up to the rehearsal period has been very helpful for me. It’s been tough watching movies everyday, but we do what we gotta do! I can’t complain.
The season is sadly only running for four shows, so why must theatre lovers and people alike go and see it?
The fact Australia has waited this long to see this piece is enough. I think it may not be done again or certainly not any time soon. Get along and see this piece because it’s a bit of a cult favourite, people have waited a long time for it and it’s just different to what people will have seen before. If you love big band, jazz and cinema, get along and see this because it will be very refreshing, I promise. It will be a very entertaining night out. It’s got everything; the jazz, the sex, the glamour, and it’s just a good belly laugh as well.
—–
City of Angels is showing at The Arts Centre from November 5-8 with tickets on sale now from https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/musicals/city-of-angels
———-
