Satango

[Talissa]

Griffin Theatre Company
Wayne Harrison, Ross Mollison and Robert C Kelly present the world premiere of Satango
by Stewart D’Arrietta and Justin Fleming

Previews November 3 to 9
Season November 11 to December 4

Starring Simon Burke and Sharon Millerchip
with Jairo Sanchez Rivera and Stewart D’Arrietta
Director Wayne Harrison Designer John Senczuk Lighting Designer Martin Kinnane
Tango Choreographer Jairo Sanchez Rivera Additional choreography by Tony Bartuccio


Move over Boy From Oz! Griffin Theatre Company is doing its bit to foster the development of the new Australian musical, proving that you don’t need a big stage and a cast of thousands to create a show that’s hotter than hell.

Satango, by Stewart D’Arrietta and Justin Fleming, is a sexy and wickedly funny new musical starring Simon Burke and Sharon Millerchip, two of the biggest names in musical theatre. This world premiere production, directed by Wayne Harrison, draws on the current craze with Latin dancing, in particular the fiery tango.

Displaying extraordinary versatility with roles from Play School to Chicago, Simon Burke is currently starring in Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of the Broadway hit, Take Me Out. Having won an AFI Award at the age of 13 for his role in The Devil’s Playground, Simon is now finally playing the devil himself.

The All Souls’ Ball is approaching where for one incredible night, the souls of heaven and hell meet and dance the dance of seduction, the tango. But the devil has lost his groove. Enter Sofia (played by Sharon Millerchip), a Sydney girl with dance pumps and a secret. But will she go through Hell to teach the devil how to tango?

Sharon Millerchip is adored by Australian musical theatre audiences for her roles as Meg Giry in The Phantom of the Opera and Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Most recently she appeared in the innovative cabaret Kooky Tunes and starred alongside Judi Connelli, Marina Prior and Geraldine Turner in Australia’s Leading Ladies. Wayne Harrison has previously directed Sharon in the Australian premieres of Into the Woods and Falsettos, which also starred Simon Burke.

Simon and Sharon will be joined on stage by one of the hottest stars of Sydney’s latin dance community, Jairo Sanchez Rivera, who is also choreographing the tango sequences in the show.

Librettist and lyricist Justin Fleming is the author of The Cobra, Burnt Piano and the recent Melbourne Theatre Company hit, Coup D’Etat. Stewart D’Arrietta, the co-creator of Looking Through A Glass Onion and Café Brel and the star of Tom Waits For No Man, has written and will perform the show’s original score. The authors were attracted to the idea of the tango as a theatrical device to convey the complexities of a relationship between to very different but mutually attracted people.
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As seductive, sexy and subversive as Sydney itself, this new music theatre production revels in the many faces of the tango – the dance of power and vulnerability, of history and spontaneity, of love and hate.

Satango is a celebration of the great erotic duel. For the tango is more than a dance. It’s a moment of truth.


GRIFFIN SEASON
SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod St, Kings Cross
Previews: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 November
Season: 11 November – 4 December
Performance Times: Mon 6.30pm, Tue-Sat 8pm, Matinee Sat 2pm
Bookings: 9250 7799 www.griffintheatre.com.au

RIVERSIDE SEASON
Riverside Theatres, Cnr Church and Market Sts, Parramatta
Season: 7 to 11 December
Performance Times: Tue-Sun 8.15pm, Matinee Sat 2.15pm
Bookings: 8839 3399 www.riversideparramatta.com.au

MEDIA: For interviews, images and further information please contact Nathan McIlroy at Mollison Communications on [phone] or [e-mail]


Griffin Theatre Company is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; and the NSW Government through the Ministry for the Arts.

[Hannah]

These guys are rehearsing in my theatre building. They keep stealing our chairs... and they're always wandering round. Nice to know exactly what they are rehearsing

[Talissa]

Ooooh, cool Can you hear anything they're doing?

I wonder why they need that many chairs

[Hannah]

Yeah they're been singing - sounds quite cool.

I've seen them tangoing quite a few times too - the dance shoes with trakky-daks are a great look lol

I think they need chairs because the chairs in our school always go missing

Sharon almost fell down our steep stairs a week or two ago - we just kind of all caught her and she caught herself. The look on her face was like "oh god - I almost lost my role" hehe

[Talissa]

Poor thing! That would be a scare.

There are two articles about the show here.

www.ssonet.com.au/display.asp?ArticleID=3817
www.smh.com.au/news/Arts/The-devil-in-detail-of-dance/2004/11/07/1099781246756.html?oneclick=true

For anyone up in Sydney, it does look worth a look, so go along and give it a go.

[Talissa]

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11384478%255E16947,00.html

A fairly informative review.

[Sally]

Ahh geez. There has to be some way of getting up there before December 11th!

[Hannah]

I went to try and steal the "Satango" rehearsal sign from my uni today but they'd taken it down cause another group were rehearsing