Hollywood veterans Rex Harrison and Claudette Colbert starred in a six-week revival of Frederick Lonsdale’s Aren’t We All? from 16 October 1986. Both were well received although The Age noted: ‘On opening night Mr Harrison had trouble with his lines, which made for some discomfort on both sides of the footlights.’ The problem was later solved by fitting the 78-year-old with a hearing aid via which he was prompted.
Program cover for Nine, 1987
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for Jerry’s Girls, 1987
Theatre Heritage Australia
Run For Your Wife, a farce starring British TV actors David McCallum and Jack Smethurst, played for five weeks from 4 February 1987 followed by the musical Nunsense, from 28 April for eight weeks until it transferred to the National. 1987’s longest run (thirteen weeks from 11 July) was scored by the Arthur Kopit - Maury Yeston musical Nine, a personal project of John Diedrich who headed the all-female supporting cast. Another musical, Jerry’s Girls, a compilation of songs from Jerry Herman Broadway hits, followed on 23 October and lasted until Christmas.
Program cover for Wife Begins at Forty, 1988
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for The Browning Version & Harlequinade, 1988
Theatre Heritage Australia
Wife Begins at Forty, a Ray Cooney farce with Stuart Wagstaff which followed another Rocky Horror Show revival ‘with Gordon Chater as Narrator’ did five weeks from 16 March 1988. Then came Beehive, a compilation of Sixties pop songs, for six weeks from 30 April. But once again, the longest run occurred mid-year when Seven Little Australians, a musical adaptation of Ethel Turner’s novel by David Reeves, ran thirteen weeks from 22 June. A substantial flop followed however, when British actor Paul Eddington starred in Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version and Harlequinade, with Julia Blake, Michael Craig and Lewis Fiander, but failed to draw during the four-week run. A new stage lighting installation, including a switchboard, dimmers and patching system, was also installed late in 1988. Seating had been further reduced to 996 by this time.
Program cover for Beyond Reasonable Doubt, 1989
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom, 1989
Theatre Heritage Australia
Frank Finlay and Nyree Dawn Porter co-starred in Jeffrey Archer’s Beyond Reasonable Doubt, the first attraction of 1989, which played seven weeks from 14 February. A catastrophic flop followed, however, when Better Known As Bee, with Val Lehman, closed less than a week after its 15 April opening, leaving cast, musicians and theatre management all unpaid. Hinge and Bracket returned in their cod version of The Importance of Being Earnest for three weeks from 14 June and on 16 September came the world premiere of Daniel Abineri’s rock musical, Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom, which ran for ten weeks.
Program cover for Rumors, 1990
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for Favourite Son, 1990
Theatre Heritage Australia
A gender switched revival of The Odd Couple, with Pamela Stephenson and Angela Punch McGregor, ran a month from 29 March 1990, but over two months of darkness preceded the Australian premiere of Neil Simon’s Rumors. This played seven weeks from 6 July but was later revealed to have lost its producer ‘in excess of $550 000’, according to an Age report of 22 December 1994. The newly knighted Sir Peter Ustinov arrived for a fortnight of his well-received one man show on 28 August, and from 25 September, the all-dancing Dynamite! with David Atkins was also applauded for two months. Favourite Son, a new musical scored and produced by David Reeves, fared far worse, closing five nights after its 28 December premiere, with an estimated loss of $500 000, according to an Age report of 5 January 1991.
Program cover for Noises Off, 1991
Courtesy of Marriner Theatre Archive, Melbourne
Program cover for The Rocky Horror Show, 1991
Courtesy of Marriner Theatre Archive, Melbourne
An MTC season of The Importance of Being Earnest, with Ruth Cracknell and Gordon Chater, running eight weeks from 2 February 1991, partly restored the Comedy’s reputation. But it was during this time that the theatre was reported as being unofficially for sale for $6 million and that fears were raised for its future if it was bought by a developer. The handful of other 1991 attractions included a five-week revival of Noises Off from 24 April, a Royal National Theatre of Great Britain production of Tartuffe for eleven performances from 27 August, and a four-week revival of Arsenic and Old Lace from 10 September.
Return to the Forbidden Planet, a spoof sci-fi musical based on The Tempest, was the first offering of 1992, playing ten weeks from 3 January; a month later Noddy Goes to Toyland arrived for a fortnight from 9 April. A new production of The Rocky Horror Show, designed and directed by Nigel Triffitt, scored the longest run of the year with 17 weeks from its first preview on 26 June.
Program cover for Out of Order, 1993
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for Aspects of Love, 1993
Courtesy of Marriner Theatre Archive, Melbourne
A Ray Cooney West End farce, Out of Order, with imported Britishers Ronnie Corbett and Donald Sinden, began a six-week run on 5 January 1993—seemingly the last time this once popular but now outdated staple was to be seen here. A new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Aspects of Love, opened on 3 April but completed only eight of its projected twelve weeks here—despite a four-month run in Sydney.
Beginning in mid-1993.the Comedy underwent a series of modest renovations, initially supervised by architect Garry Martin of the firm Meldrum Burrows, and funded by the Paul Dainty Corporation. Firstly, the Exhibition and Lonsdale Street facades were stripped of paint, cleaned and repaired; in 1994 some works to the ground floor interior were carried out including a new box office, new signage and minor alterations to dressing rooms. In 1995 more work was done to the foyer, including relocation of the box office to a side wall and opening the bar into the main foyer area.
Program cover for Fallen Angels, 1993
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for High Society, 1993
Theatre Heritage Australia
A Herald Sun report of 30 July 1993 noted that renovations would take place without any disruption to shows; sadly, there were very few shows to disrupt: a revival of Noël Coward’s 1925 comedy Fallen Angels was a vehicle for the British sisters Hayley and Juliet Mills, whose popularity powered the play through its four-week run from 24 August 1993. Another revival, the Cole Porter scored High Society, saw the year out with a five-week run from 19 November. This was a co-production by the MTC and the QTC, first seen at the Playhouse, whose cast included Josephine Byrnes, John Diedrich, Helen Buday, Lorrae Desmond and Bob Hornery.
Program cover for Looking Through a Glass Onion, 1994
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for Blood Brothers, 1994
Theatre Heritage Australia
Three nights of stand-up sponsored by the Melbourne Comedy Festival belatedly reopened the theatre on 14 April 1994. Then came John Waters in a revival of his popular tribute to John Lennon, Looking Through a Glass Onion, for a month from 18 April. A Bell Shakespeare season comprising modern dress versions of Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew followed this between 19 May and 5 June. Last up was Willy Russell’s musical Blood Brothers, with Deliah Hannah, Stefan Dennis and former US TV star David Soul, who suffered from laryngitis on opening night but got good notices none the less. This story of two Liverpudlians, separated at birth, raised apart and later reunited, previewed from 13 July and ran until 3 September, before transferring to Sydney.
Program cover for An Inspector Calls, 1995
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for ReUnion, 1995
Theatre Heritage Australia
1995 was busier than many of the preceding or following years but had the usual quota of hits and misses: Bananas in Pyjamas, presented by the ABC and adapted from their popular TV series, was happily in the first category, entertaining school holiday audiences between 16 January and 4 February. Also well received were Amanda Muggleton in a ‘farewell’ of Shirley Valentine for a month from 8 March, and a Royal National Theatre of Great Britain production of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, with Barry Foster and Helen Lindsay heading the cast, for a month from 26 April.
On the debit side, however, was ReUnion, a musical about a faded rock star, written by John Waters and Stewart D’Arrietta and starring Waters and Jacki Weaver. An Age critique of 6 June beginning: ‘My God, this show was awful. Worse than awful. Appalling, disastrous...’ was held largely responsible for ReUnion’s box office failure. A Sunday Age report of 11 June noted that $15 000 worth of bookings had been cancelled on the day The Age review appeared and that this figure had risen to almost $40 000 by the end of that week. Despite the damage, ReUnion managed to complete a month-long run to 24 June.
Program cover for Tap Dogs, 1995
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for Phantom of the Opera, 1995
Theatre Heritage Australia
Fornicon, a ballet from Graeme Murphy’s Sydney Dance Company depicting a variety of erotic fantasies, followed from 6 –15 July. Then came Ken Hill’s The Phantom of the Opera, a musical adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel, written several years before the Andrew Lloyd Webber version. This got very good local crits but closed within a fortnight of its 31 August opening. 1995’s last attraction was something different: Tap Dogs—a non-narrative dance show devised by Sydney choreographer and dancer Dein Perry. Designed and directed by Nigel Triffitt, this began a five-week run on 31 October. The cast of six (which included Perry) looked like ‘knock-about blokes with bricklayer biceps’, to quote the Herald Sun of 5 November. ‘For 75 mostly exhilarating, always entertaining minutes, (they) pile drive those boots...and thrash their bodies to within a breath of total exhaustion.’
The Sydney Dance Company returned for another short season between 29 February and 9 March 1996: Berlin was an evocation of that city at various stages of its 20th century existence. Late in April 1996 press reports revealed that, after months of negotiations, Paul Dainty had agreed to sell the Comedy Theatre to property developer David Marriner for an undisclosed sum. The Comedy thus became the fourth Melbourne theatre in Marriner’s portfolio—the others being the Princess, the Forum and the Regent. The Marriner group was due to take possession in July 1996, according to the Herald Sun of 27 April, which also pointed out that the change of ownership was a blow to the BASS ticket agency because the Marriner and Kerry Packer venture, Ticketek, would now take over ticket sales for the theatre.
Meanwhile, the only substantial stage attraction was The Queen and I, a comedy by Sue Townsend that postulated a republican Britain expelling the Queen and her family to Australia. This opened on 15 June and closed after thirteen nights—a fortnight short of its intended run. The Age of 18 June described it as ‘an unbalanced panto’ and noted ‘at least 100 people’ leaving at interval on opening night. Next up was Wrung Out with Glynn Nicholas, a comedy that got much better crits and managed a four-week run from 13 August. A week’s return of Bananas in Pyjamas from 23 September and a fortnight of Flamenco Fiesta by the Paco Pena Dance Company from 1 October were the last offerings that year.
Glynn Nicholas in a revival of his 1992 show, Kissing Frogs, reopened the Comedy for a month from 3 February 1997, but five months of darkness followed before another attraction came along: a three-week revival of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. A touring production of Trainspotting, a stage version of a British novel and hit movie, had a cast of four imported Scottish actors and opened for a three-week run on 2 September. Trainspotting pleased local critics and had come from a sell-out season in Perth but, according to an Age item of 29 September, the Melbourne box office was so bad that the Newcastle, Brisbane and New Zealand tour dates had been cancelled and even a Sydney season was in doubt.
Program cover for Rent, 1999
Theatre Heritage Australia
Program cover for A Passionate Woman, 1995
Theatre Heritage Australia
Two short-run dance shows interspersed by a few weeks of Curtains, with local comics Lano and Woodley, wound up the year: African Moves was sponsored by the Melbourne Festival between 21 and 26 October and Mosaico featured dancers from Spain between 26 and 29 November. As was now evident, the change of ownership had done nothing to improve the Comedy’s fortunes and worse was to come, for it remained in the same predicament as Melbourne’s other older live theatres: too much competition from too many newer and mostly subsidised theatres and venues south of the river.
The Comedy stood dark for the first half of 1998, the first substantial show being a month- long run of Frank—the Sinatra Story in Song, with Tom Burlinson, from 10 July. Another Melbourne Festival dance show that got a good reception was Tango Passion, which ran for three weeks from 15 October. Last up was local stand-up, Tracy Bartram, in Discovering My Roots for a fortnight from 9 December.
A return of Tom Burlinson’s Sinatra show between 17–27 February 1999 preceded the longest running attraction the Comedy had housed in over half a decade: Rent, a ‘New York grunge musical’, inspired by Puccini’s La Bohème, had been a rumoured attraction for more than two years and finally arrived on 17 March in a production co-sponsored by London entrepreneur Cameron Mackintosh. Rent played for 17 weeks to 17 July and received excellent crits, with particular praise going to the cast, headed by Christine Anu as Mimi.
After a couple of concerts by local songstress Samantha Sang early in October, Reg Livermore arrived in Home Sweet Home: Leonard’s Last Hurrah for three weeks from 19 October. Leonard, now an irascible geriatric in a nursing home, was the sole survivor of a gallery of Livermore characters and had appeared in all his shows since the mid-1970s. Leonard’s Last Hurrah drew mixed responses, however, The Age finding him ‘a sad clown… Even his songs are melancholy… And his situation is not one that easily arouses laughter.’ The last show for 1999 was A Passionate Woman, a ‘hit West End comedy’, with British TV ‘names’ Geoffrey Hughes and Linda Robson, that ran for a week from 2 November.
The Comedy housed just three attractions in 2000: Slava’s Snowshow, featuring Russian clown Slava Polunin, was both popular and original and remained for a month following its 16 May preview. The Age summed it up as ‘a package of inspired circus interludes’, the show climaxing with ‘an amazing snowstorm… as powerful fans blow a storm of white paper into the theatre from the back of the stage, while Slava struggles to stay upright against its force.’
2 Pianos 4 Hands, which also stayed a month after its first preview on 15 August, was a Canadian piece for two actor-pianists (Edward Simpson and Jonathan Gavin) and their pianos. ‘They make a splendid team who play a host of characters during the 90-minute show’, the Herald Sun enthused. Buskers and Angels, opening on 4 November, was a musical written by and starring Jon English, about a busker and the music industry. It combined ‘live original songs... with video footage, dance routines and acting’, to quote The Age of 7 November, which thought it ‘simple and obvious.’
After the closure of Buskers and Angels on 19 November 2000, the Comedy endured nearly two years without a press advertised attraction.
