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Talking to the Stars: James
Millar
 Much loved
within Australian musical theatre, James Millar is quickly rising up the ranks, and could
well be our next big leading man. AussieTheatre.com Editor Troy Dodds caught up with James
this week to discuss his success so far and his exciting new venture....
TD: You’re about to go overseas to compete in the Voice of Music Theatre
Competition. Tell me a bit about it?
JM: It was always something I've wanted to do. And I try to do everything I want to do. I
auditioned for it in person in Manchester in August and I was very nervous and wanted to
cry. I don't know if that was because I was nervous, or simply because of Manchester.
Basically what it is is a competition that goes in three stages - preliminary, semi-final,
then gala. And each round the contestants are halved. Not cruelly - not "It's time to
go...James" - nothing like that. It sounds a little like Idol, I know, but
it really isn't. It's judged in terms of vocal quality and dramatic realisation of the
lyric. NOT DANCING. Which appeals to me, hehehe. Anyway, it's a mighty good experience and
a good showcase of your abilities over there, if you feel that way inclined...which I do.
30 contestants get selected for it and you have to select a program of music from the
BBC's list of orchestra charts, as the entire competition takes place at the New Theatre
in Cardiff with the BBC orchestra. The tough bit is, you have to select the entire program
(for preliminary, semi-final and Gala) all before arriving. It's quite a task to figure
out what is absolutely best for you from their four lists of music that are largely
standards, and to make sure you pick one song from each list and don't double up etc etc.
Anyway, I hope that made sense- basically I have eleven songs to learn between now and the
12th of October. And I hope I have selected the right ones for me! If not...gong. But it's
an experience I am really looking forward to, regardless of the outcome and I hope it
teaches me a thing or two. I have never been to Wales, so the adventure of it all is fun.
TD: Bravo was something that started to take off for you big time. How’s it
all going?
JM: Well due to a massive corporation deciding they didn't want the three of us to have
that name anymore, we have had to find a new name for ourselves. See if you can unscramble
these letters: YSNO. It's a fun game that may give you the name of a corporation that made
a vocal trio change their name. Since performing that debut season at the Showroom we have
had alot of interest and have been performing quite consistently round the traps. We are
slightly on hiatus at the moment due to Scott and Ian's commitments with the Production
Company this year, Ian's involvement in Sea Patrol and my involvement over
Christmas with another show. But the three of us have got quite a few concerts setup for
next year which we are really looking forward to. Anyway, it's really great fun when we
are all available together to do it. They are good guys to sing with and good friends, and
we will certainly be doing alot more concerts and new material next year. When we have a
new name. Bastards.
TD: Musical theatre in Australia is in a bit of a strange place at the moment. How
do you see it all?
JM: Well I reckon it's looking pretty great at the moment! First and foremost we have a
new national Music Theatre company in Kookaburra, which is clearly aiming at presenting
some excellent pieces of work....I am so happy Australia is going to get to see a
professional production of Floyd Collins. Brilliant. We have Saigon
coming back, Phantom apparently, Titanic, Billy Elliott
opening, Priscilla, Sideshow Alley doing a tour, The Boy From Oz,
Spelling Bee up in Sydney....I actually think Australia is a good place for
singing actors at the moment. And the selection of material ranges from Classic to brand
new Aussie shows. So to me it looks pretty excellent. Of course it will drop and we will
all be miserable again, but at the moment I think it's exciting. I am also very pleased to
see that the idea of drama is edging back into the shows we are seeing. Slapstick pastiche
is fun, but I am very glad to see STORIES being told that aren't just about
taking-the-piss out of musicals. Which was a movement that was pretty prominent on
Broadway for a while...but I don't think our country has ever had a strong enough culture
of musical theatre for us to earn "taking the piss out of it", without possibly
doing some damage to the more dramatic branch of the genre. So I am really happy to see
stories with drama in them - the heart of Priscilla is an entirely moving story
about identity, Titanic is a tale of sudden loss and disaster, Saigon is
about bridging cultural gaps and loving beyond yourself (and essential for Australia in
regard to our refugee issues), anyway, we all know the stories. But to finish my answer -
I think we are in a good place regarding the number of shows emerging, but more
importantly the TYPE of show emerging...great levels of diversity, so people are
understanding just how broad the genre is (which I think is exemplified in the astounding
production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch that is playing at the moment. That's got
it!) Also we have extraordinary writers like Dean Bryant and Matthew Frank (who have a
second show now playing off Broadway), Matty Robinson, Paul Keelan, Gary Young, Anthony
Costanzo, Eddie Perfect, Pete Rutherford and Craig Christie who are writing the most
incredible new stuff that will really see Australia emerge, I think, as one of the
creative-hubs for new music theatre. Bloody talented. I have to say one last thing on
this, though. I think it's Simon Phillips' recent commitment to musical theatre, and new
shows, that has paved the way for this current boom time in many ways. I think Spelling
Bee and Urinetown both opened up the public's eye to the possibilities of
the genre. And I think that is a great achievement.
TD: You’ve done some work with The Production Company. How’s that been
for you?
JM: I really enjoyed that experience. Have always wanted to have a shot at Jud Fry...I am
a big fan of trying to understand the "bad guy" in some new way. I find that
interesting and I think I am tending to get cast as the bad guy now...even after getting
all my hair cut off. I am coming to the conclusion there is just something inherently evil
looking about me. I don't mind. My mother loves me. Anyway, playing Jud was a great
experience. I just wish he could have been with me for more than five shows.
 TD: How did you first get
started in musical theatre?
JM: I used to sing around high school a bit. I don't mean perform - I mean walking up to
the canteen to buy a sausage roll and a coke and a finger bun and singing "Sun and
Moon" or "All I Ask of You". And people at school used to ask me to do the
"funny Andrew Lloyd Webber voice" for their entertainment. Kids are cruel.
Anyway, a friend of mine from High School, Ruth, asked me to sing at her wedding. So I
wrote a little song and sang it for her wedding. It was called "Ruth's Wedding
Song". Then someone was at the wedding and they said "come audition for this
production of Fiddler on the Roof, so I did. And then when I was in that
production, I met a few people who were trying out for WAAPA, so I thought "why not
try out too?" So I did. Then I ended up there. Then I ended up out here. I had always
loved music theatre voices though, so the interest had been around since my mum and dad
took me to see Return to the Forbidden Planet" at the Theatre Royal which
inspired me as a 14-year-old!
TD: Writing is something you’re heavily involved with. Is that where your future
lies?
JM: If I knew where my future lies, then I would be clever. I did a degree in creative
writing at UTS prior to studying music theatre at WAAPA, so both elements are interests
within me that I want to forge a career from. Because I am crap at Maths and Science and I
cant do anything else except perform and write. Nor would I want to. I love to write. I
have alot of fun putting together shows for people, cos such fantastic performers come up
to me and say "could you help me put this together" and I love doing it because
it just means I can write a show that I want to see! But I like the creative process of
doing it. Even if nobody ever reads it or watches it I will keep writing til I die.
Because I love telling stories. Anyway I can! I particularly love telling them with my pal
Peter Rutherford, who composed the music to a show we wrote about a true Australian story.
He writes beautiful music and there is nothing quite like hearing your words suddenly have
a MELODY.
TD: Tell me a little about Nostradamus – which you just workshopped in Melbourne?
It was great to work with Roger Hodgman. He's terrific. Nostradamus was written
by Jackson B Sutcliffe and Ziggy De Voight who are two writers from Perth who have been
working on the project for some time. It originally started out as a very large opera, but
Roger came on board and transformed it into a musical theatre piece (by adding scenes,
removing recite, finding the "lock-in tunes"). So this workshop was about
staging that version of it for the purposes of seeing this new version in play. It's a
very dark piece- which I love. And it is full of some very very stunning music. Workshops
are the best experiences, I think, because in many ways you get to form a character from
the start, find its voice, help mould the story. Workshops happen constantly in America,
but seldom here. So the chance to do a workshop is something rare and something I love to
do. |
