Lola Montez
Ad SMH 7 May 1962
Written byAlan Burke
Directed byAlan Burke
StarringBrigid Lenihan
Music byPeter Stannard
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerAlan Burke
Running time90 minutes
Production companyABC
Original release
ReleaseApril 28, 1962 (1962-04-28) (Melbourne)[1]
7 May 1962 (1962-05-07) (Sydney)[2]

Lola Montez was a 1962 Australian TV play which was based on the musical of the same name.[3][4]

The TV production was directed by Alan Burke, who had written the book for the musical. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[5]

Plot summary

Cast

Production

Burke says because he directed, things were not misunderstood. Johnny Rohan was cast as Daniel after Burke saw him singing on a pop show.[6] For the role of Lola, Burke wanted to cast an actress who could sing, and picked New Zealander Brigid Lenihan, who had appeared in shows such as Little Woman, Revue 61 and A Night Out.[7]

It was filmed in the ABC's Southbank Studios in Melbourne. Choreography was by Rex Reid, and Mary Duchesne danced the Lola in the Bavaria sequence. The dance ensemble included Kelvin Coe and Barry Moreland.[4][8] There were 33 actors, singers and dancers.[9]

Songs

  • "Southerly Buster" - sung by miners
  • "Saturday Girl" - sung to by Daniel to Jane
  • "Let Me Sing Let Me Dance" - sung by Daniel to Lola
  • "Maria Dolores Eliza Rosamia" - sung by Sam and Lola
  • "A Lady Finds a Love" - sung by Lola and Dan
  • "I'm the Man"
  • "There's Gold in Them There Hills"
  • "Lady Lady Please Don't Cry"
  • "Summer Been and Fore"
  • I Can See a Town"
  • "He's Mine"
  • "Beware"
  • "I Alone"
  • "Partner Name Your Poison"

Reception

The Age praised the "superb acting" of Lenihan but felt apart from Frank Wilson that "others in the show... gave stereotyped performances."[10] The Sydney Morning Herald thought the character of Lola remained "the most intractable fact" of the production thinking she was better used to "material for a sensitive play which hardly in with the lusty, simplicity of a musical that sounds like a marriage of Oklahoma and Paint Your Wagon... All the same, it was interesting to have the chance of seeing again a. musical that promised so much for the talents that combined to devise it; and also a little saddening to think how little has been heard of these talents since."[11]

The Sunday Herald said "it was a brilliant piece of work, sizzling in pace from start to finish, with a cast and chorus as perfectly rehearsed and drilled as an Army platoon. "Lola Montez" was good on stage; it emerges on television even better; almost as though it had been originally written with the small screen in mind. The only flaw in the entire 90 minutes so far as I was concerned, and it was a minor one, was [the]... dream sequence flashback to Lola's days as a court beauty. It was competently done, but it dragged a little toward the end."[12]

Frank Roberts of The Bulletin admitted to missing the first half of the broadcast but still ran his review saying "the part I did see was so lacking in entertainment values that the use of 90 minutes of prime viewing time for a show of that standard would not prove courage, but sheer foolhardiness... On “Lola Montez’s” showing, very little of the talent on view deserved encouraging. It is difficult to criticise the production piecemeal because nearly all of its ingredients were uniformly dreadful."[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lola Montez, and Rodeo Edition of Revue 62". The Age. 26 April 1962. p. 12.
  2. ↑ TV Guide May 7 Sydney Morning Herald 1962
  3. ↑ 1962 TV adaptation at Ausstage
  4. 1 2 "Lola Montez the musical". Janus Entertainment.
  5. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (February 18, 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  6. ↑ "Alan Burke interviewed by Bill Stephens in the Esso Performing Arts collection". National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Casting Surprise". The Age. 22 February 1962. p. 12.
  8. ↑ "Lola Montez for Sydney". Sydney Morning Herald. April 23, 1962. p. 14.
  9. ↑ "Lola Montez on TV". The Age. 26 April 1962. p. 14.
  10. ↑ "A Vivid Lola Montez was not enough". The Age. May 3, 1962. p. 13.
  11. ↑ ""Lola Montez" Televised". Sydney Morning Herald. May 8, 1962. p. 10.
  12. ↑ "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. May 13, 1962. p. 102.
  13. ↑ Roberts, Frank (19 May 1962). "REVIEWS TELEVISION ESSAYING A POOR LODE". The Bulletin. p. 55.
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