''The Sentimental Bloke'' is a 1961 Australian musical by

Albert Arlen Albert Arlen AM (10 January 190524 March 1993) was a Turkish Australian pianist, composer, actor and playwright. He is best known for his musical ''The Sentimental Bloke'' (to the poetry of C. J. Dennis), the "Alamein Concerto", and his setting ...

, Nancy Brown and

Lloyd Thomson Lloyd Thomson Royal Victorian Order, LVO (22 May 191926 August 2015) was an Australian public servant and diplomat. He also co-wrote the book and lyrics of the successful Australian musical ''The Sentimental Bloke (musical), The Sentimental Blok ...

based on ''

Songs of a Sentimental Bloke ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis. Portions of the work appeared in ''The Bulletin (Australian periodical), The Bulletin'' between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was comp ...

'' by C.J. Dennis. It is one of the most successful Australian musicals of the 20th century. The musical has also been adapted for television and ballet.

Development

Albert Arlen and Nancy Brown had worked on the musical since 1950. Initially they sought the involvement of George Johnston, who showed little interest. Later, the actor Lloyd Thomson was brought on board as writer. Arlen and Brown went to England in 1955 to promote the show. This was unsuccessful so they returned to Australia, borrowed some money, and self-produced the musical in an amateur production at Canberra's

Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...

in March 1961. The cast included Edwin Ride and Brown. The show had a one-week run in Canberra, which was so popular that extra seating in the aisles had to be arranged. J. C. Williamson's directors Sir

Frank Tait Frank Samuel Tait (12 November 1883 – 23 August 1965) was an Australian theatre entrepreneur, managing director of J. C. Williamson's. He was the youngest of five Tait brothers, well known in Australia as show-business entrepreneurs and manager ...

and

John McCallum John McCallum (born 9 April 1950) is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament ( MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for h ...

attended the final performance.

Productions

Original production

Later that year, J. C. Williamson's produced the musical professionally in Melbourne. The original six-week season at Melbourne's

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

(from 4 November 1961), directed by John Young, was later extended to five months. The roles of The Bloke, Doreen and Rose of Spadger's Lane were played by Edwin Ride (from the amateur Canberra production), Patsy Hemingway and Gloria Dawn respectively. Through 1962, the production toured to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

(Tivoli Theatre),

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

(Her Majesty's Theatre), Sydney ( Theatre Royal) and Auckland,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

(His Majesty's Theatre).

Revivals

''The Sentimental Bloke'' was revived professionally by Penrith's Q Theatre Company in April–May 1983, directed by

Doreen Warburton Doreen Warburton (22 March 1930 – 19 July 2017) was an Australian actress, director, and theatre co-founder. Biography Evelyn Doreen Warburton was born in London on 22 March 1930. At 18 she began her theatre career with the Theatre Worksho ...

. A subsequent professional production was staged by the Parramatta Cultural Centre and Q Theatre Company in March–April 1988, also directed by Warburton. Amateur theatre groups in Australia often perform the musical. Neglected Musicals revived the show in a professional, semi-staged read through at

Hayes Theatre The Hayes Theatre is a 111-seat theatre specialising in music theatre and cabaret in Potts Point, Sydney, Australia. It is named after the Australian performer Nancye Hayes. Hayes Theatre Co was established at the former Darlinghurst Theatre afte ...

, Sydney in October 2019.

Recordings

A live cast recording was made during a Melbourne performance, released by Talent City in 1962. The

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

made a studio cast recording in 1967 featuring Neil Williams, Janet Crawford,

Jimmy Hannan Jimmy Hannan (25 August 1934 – 7 January 2019) was an Australian radio and television personality, variety show host, singer, entertainer and game show host of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the pioneers of television, he appeared regularly on va ...

and

Jill Perryman Jill Perryman AM, MBE (born 30 May 1933) is an Australian former stage and screen actress and singer. Combining both her stage acting and her singing, she featured in numerous musical theatre roles, over eight decades and spanning 70 years of p ...

. Songs from the musical have been featured on various other recordings.

1976 TV version

The musical was filmed for ABC TV in 1976. The television adaptation was written and directed by

Alan Burke Alan S. Burke (September 15, 1922 – August 25, 1992) was an American conservative television and radio talk show host who was on the air primarily in New York City from 1966 to 1969 on WNEW-TV. Life He was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1922 ...

and featured

Graeme Blundell Graeme Blundell (born 7 August 1945) is an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, playwright, lyricist and biographer Early life Blundell was born on 7 April 1945 in Melbourne; he grew up in the suburb of Clifton Hill. He was educated a ...

as Bill and

Geraldine Turner Geraldine Gail Turner (born 23 June 1950 in Brisbane, Australia) is an Australian actress and singer. She has been a leading performer in Australian musical theatre since the 1970s, and has also been active in plays, recordings, film and tele ...

as Doreen.

Cast

as The Bloke *

as Doreen *

as Ginger Mick *

Nancye Hayes Nancye Lee Bertles AM ( Hayes; born January 1943), billed under her maiden name as Nancye Hayes, is an Australian actress, dancer, singer and choreographer/director and narrator. She has been a leading figure in Australian musical theatre sin ...

as Rose *Jon Finlayson as Mr Smithers *

Anne Phelan Anne Mary Phelan (2 August 1948 – 27 October 2019) was an Australian actress of stage and screen who appeared in many theatre, television and film productions as well as radio and voice-over. Her television soap opera roles included '' B ...

as Mabel *Laine Lamont as Gertie *Joy Westmore *Jon Fabian as Chorus

Production

A decision was taken that the whole thing should be very stylised in form. "Dennis certainly drew a picture of the life of the poor but he was interested in the warmth, the humour - there's no real social statement," said Burke. "And I decided it wouldn't be appropriate to try for real, down-at-heel neighbourhood settings, especially in this musical adaptation."Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p139

Ballet

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

developed a ballet version of ''The Sentimental Bloke'' choreographed by Robert Ray, with Arlen's music freely arranged by

John Lanchbery John Arthur Lanchbery OBE (15 May 1923 – 27 February 2003) was an English-Australian composer and conductor, famous for his ballet arrangements. He served as the Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972, Principal Conductor ...

. The Australian Ballet first presented this in 1985 in Australia, and subsequently on its tour of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Other versions

A second musical theatre adaptation of ''The Sentimental Bloke'', not related to the Arlen, Brown and Thomson version, was written by

with music by

George Dreyfus George Dreyfus AM (born 22 July 1928) is an Australian contemporary classical, film and television composer. Early life and orchestral career Dreyfus was born to a Jewish family in Elberfeld, Wuppertal, Germany. He was the younger of two sons ...

. It was premiered by the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

at the Playhouse,

Victorian Arts Centre Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...

on 12 December 1985, with John Jarrett in the starring role. This production, hosted by The Melbourne Theatre Company, offered its first Auslan interpreted performance on 18 December 1985.

References

External links

* * *
Clip from 1976 film
at You Tube {{DEFAULTSORT:Sentimental Bloke Australian musicals 1961 musicals 1976 films Musicals based on poems The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke Musicals based on novels 1970s English-language films