Jon English’s rock opera ‘Paris’ will be staged for Melbourne this Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a cast that matches the original album.
‘Paris’, the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan Wars stars John Waters, Ben Mingay, Kerrie Annie Greenland, Tim Freedman and Brian Mannix. Brian is especially excited to be working with John Waters.
“He is a very good looking guy. He is very good-looking and very cool. I am in awe of John Waters,” Brian gushed to Noise11.com.
Jon English and David Mackay released ‘Paris’ as a 2CD box set in 1990. The expectation was that the show would be produced as a stage production but that took 13 years to happen. “It seemed to have all the ingredients to make a ripper show,” Brian said. “These days we tend to recycle the same old plays. ‘Jersey Boys’ is on its way back and I think why. ‘Mamma Mia’ is coming back. They were good shows but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of new ones coming out. The same old plays keep resurfacing. ‘Paris’ needs a go”.
English’s original album featured a stunning cast with Doc Neeson, Harry Nilsson, Barry Humphries, Francis Rossi, Jon Parr, John Waters and, of course, Jon English.
Rock star Mannix says he is comfortable switching to actor Mannix mode. “It’s a different discipline,” he says. “In rock and roll there is no discipline. You’ve got to hit your mark and be on queue. It’s nice to not have to think on your feet. It’s a nice challenge”.
Over the years Brian has been recruited for various stage roles. “I did ‘Bad Boy Johnny’ where I had to kick Russell Crowe in the balls every night which was fun,” he says. “I did ‘Ladies Night’. The Full Monty ripped off the New Zealand guys who wrote that. I did ‘Countdown The Musical’ and another show called ‘The Bench’ then ‘We Will Rock You’. I enjoy when I get the opportunity”.
Brian plays Sinon in the show. The original part was played by Barry Humphries. “I am basically playing a hopeless drunk which you can imagine is a stretch for me as an actor. It’s fun. It’s a fairly heavy piece but it is wonderful following in Barry Humphries footsteps,” he says.
His main song is ‘Inside Outside’. Barry Humphries, Demis Roussos and Francis Rossi sang the main song I sing on the original album. They were the trio singing ‘Inside Outside’. It was a star-studded cast’.
At this stage ‘Paris’ is only being performed for Melbourne. “We are just doing Melbourne and we’ll see what happens after that,” Brian said.
