RHMTC Act 1 – the company begins

From being the new kid on the block, to now being a key part of Goulburn’s performance community, the Rocky Hill Musical Theatre Company turns nine today. Put that another way. Nine years and one day ago, RHMTC didn’t exist. All that it has achieved, all the shows that it has staged, have happened in nine short years.

On 24th January 2016 a group of enthusiastic souls met at a meeting room at Radio Goulburn, home of GNFM and Eagle FM, and formally proposed and named a new musical theatre group for Goulburn.

But ask any historian and they’ll tell you beginnings are often open to interpretation.

For instance, you could mark the beginning of RHMTC from the date the Company became incorporated.

You might even start it from the date of the Company’s first show: Seussical.

In reality, beginnings have their own beginnings and it’s worth looking back over what came before to understand the company’s context.

Before the Beginning

The history of Goulburn as a European settlement dates back to around 1798 when it was first explored, or 1818 when it was “discovered” and named by James Meehan (Goulburn Heritage Study Final Report, Firth 1983) or October 1820 when Hume and Hovell camped nearby Goulburn on their journey south. You can see what I mean about beginnings being open to interpretation.

Of course, that’s just the beginning of the European part of the story. First Nations people have been here for up to 60,000 years before that. The area was widely regarded as a meeting place, and you can safely bet it was a place of much storytelling, folklore sharing and performance. But in the absence of any detail, I’ll start at about 1820, give or take.

On 20th January 1886 the first Concert of the Goulburn Philharmonic Society took place in the Hall of the Mechanics Institute, where the NAB is now -130 years (and 4 days) before the founding of the RHMTC and just half a block from GPAC.

In 1891 the Goulburn Liedertaffel Society was formed, operating out of the Landers Hall from 1908, on the site of what would become the Lieder Theatre in 1929.

The Goulburn Gilbert and Sullivan Society got off the ground in 1957 (the same year as the reformation of the Goulburn Rugby Club… not relevant to the story but relevant to me), performing, initially, Gilbert and Sullivan Shows, and then a mix of musicals, and eventually not performing Gilbert and Sullivan Shows at all. They would make their home at the Lilac Time Hall.

In around 1982 the Argyle Society was formed with Len Robinson and Dr Paul Paviour at the helm. The Argyle Society DID perform Gilbert and Sullivan Shows, the Goulburn Gilbert and Sullivan Society didn’t. Make sense? Only in Goulburn.

At the end of the 1990s, the Lilac Cinema (which had allowed Gilbert and Sullivan Shows to be performed in it’s main theatre) was no longer available and the Society commenced a nomadic lifestyle. This preceded their change of name to the Goulburn Musical Society (GMS) and subsequently their closure as the combination of difficulties of finding acceptable venues and attracting audiences became tougher.

In 2010, when they lost access to the hall at Kenmore, the Argyle Society also closed shop… but not permanently. At this point there was no longer a company entirely focused on Musical Theatre, although the Lieder was including musicals, and very good ones, into their mix.

In the early 2000s, Lynda and Martin Yeadon from the GMS joined with other people from Goulburn’s performing arts community to seek a performing arts centre but their efforts were unsuccessful.

Here’s where my cameo role comes into the picture a bit.

In 2010, I organised a meeting of key stakeholders from the performing arts community and we also sought a potential new performing arts venue. The Goulburn Performing Arts Collective (GPAC) lasted about a year but with no funds and some differences of opinion on what was needed, that group also dissolved.

In 2013 and 2014, with GMS closed and the Argyle Society in a long hiatus, I posted messages on Facebook to see if there was any interest in forming a NEW musical theatre company that combines / merged / attracted all those who’d been part of its two spiritual predecessors and would also attract whole new participants.

Crickets.

Pretty much the same result you’d get if you were advocating for a performing arts awards night.

But then, in 2015, things changed.

In July 2015, Goulburn Mulwaree Council gave unanimous in principle support to purchase the former TAFE building which is now (and was then) the Goulburn Conservatorium of Music (the Con). The proposal was to substantially renovate the Ceramics room at the Con to build a 300 seat theatre.

Then in November 2015, mayor at the time (Bob Kirk) and general manager (Warwick Bennett) floated the idea of adapting the Civic Centre to house a performing arts centre, with the library and arts galleries to stay there and staff to be moved to the former Corrective Service Centre in Clinton Street.

In a Goulburn Post poll asking people which option they preferred, the latter won commandingly with 70% of the vote.

But regardless which proposal you preferred, there was now an appetite for discussing performing arts. And if a Performing Arts Centre / Theatre was imminent, then I felt it was important for a musical theatre presence to be part of the decision moving.

In December 2015 I threw out the topic again, on Facebook, that wouldn’t it be great to get a musical theatre company up and running again, and this time there was a LOT more than crickets. Interest was coming out of the woodwork from people who’d been having similar discussions independently. It was clearly an idea whose time had come and there was now widespread interest in starting a new musical theatre company.

Ideas were dancing about like sugar plum fairies.

We could do this, we could do that… hell, we could do anything.

It was all very exciting. Now we just had to give it some form.

I remember making a number of calls to try and bring it together. I’m not sure what that number is because I am old and forgetful..

The first call was to long-time friend Jane Van Dorp who had trod most of Goulburn’s stages and who I’d known through some of that and even further back through our mutual involvement in the Goulburn Rugby Club.

We talked about a whole bunch of things. Who should we contact, what sort of shows would we do… what should the group be called.

One of the things I admire most about Jane is that she has always been unflinching (and sometimes brutal) in her honesty about ideas I throw up at her. If she thinks it’s rubbish, she tells me. A poster I designed for Getting There some years later, which she called “embarrassing” and “laughable”, comes to mind.

I suggested a few names for the new group, doing our best to avoid anything that seemed too strongly linked to either the GMS or Argyle Society.

Two Rivers Theatre Company? NO WAY!

Twin Rivers? HELL NO!

Rocky Hill Musical Theatre Company? YES she said. That’s it! Now of course we didn’t have naming rights, but we had an idea to present at a meeting, and Jane said she’d ring around some of the usual suspects.

Another call I made was to Lynda Yeadon, who I’d known from our time together in G&S in the 90s and whom I’d kept in touch with over the years since.

That call made me feel like Santa. Lynda was jumping out of her skin. She’d hated that GMS has wound down, largely due to the lack of a suitable venue, so the prospect of a reignited musical theatre company, and of a new theatre on the horizon, was a dream come true. We also bounced around idea and at the end Lynda, who knew a lot more people in the theatrical sphere than I did, she said she’d ring around.

All we needed was a venue.

I called my friend Gail Bowdern who was then the manager at Radio Goulburn (2GN and Eagle FM). They had a meeting room, I asked if we could use it and she said of course.

We had a date, we had a time, we had a place

Day One – Remembrances

Some people who hoped to attend weren’t able to make it, but there was still a very healthy sized group in attendance, some of the creme de la creme of Goulburn theatre with some significant links to the Goulburn Performing Arts community (and many that I was meeting for the first time).

Of course Lynda and Marty Yeadon were there…both tireless worker for the G&S and later GMS, both Life Members, and both tireless workers in the cause of getting a new Performing Arts Theatre for Goulburn.

Marty Yeadon’s fondest memory of the meeting was that indefinable thing he felt when he walked in the room… the buzz.

“There really was a buzz,” he said.

“Just to know we’d be back involved in shows, and we’d missed that a lot. We’d been itching for years. I’d picked up set design working alongside Lynda’s dad so I gave Chrisjohn and the Lieder a hand sometimes, but we’d really missed musicals and producing shows.”

Marty said that he and Lynda probably knew three quarters of the people in the room, and knew of the rest by name. A conversation starter at the beginning of the meeting asked what shows had really got people to love musicals.

“Mine was Oliver, and Lynda’s were Sound of Music and Nunsense,” Marty said.

“Just talking about shows got everyone keen and and when we left Lynda and I thought how great it would be if we can really make this happen. And we did.”

Long time performer with the Argyle Society and G&S / GMS Jane Van Dorp drove down from Bathurst especially for the meeting.

“Musical theatre… theatre in general… is something I’m passionate about,” she said.

“I’d been in shows for years in Goulburn, and in places like Lithgow and Bathurst since. It was so frustrating to have the Argyle Society all-but closed down and if there was anything I could do to breathe life back into musical theatre in Goulburn then I wanted to do all I can.”

Deb and Rod McConnell were also there. Deb had performed for years with the Argyle Society, starting as a teenager in 1985. In fact it was in at an Argyle Show in 1996 that Deb met Rod. A marriage made in musical?

For her recollections of the day Deb said,

“I remember you calling me and asking me to come to the meeting, so we went down to the building and met there,”

“All the usual suspects were there and we’d talked a bit on the phone before hand. We bounced around a lot of fabulous ideas and we on the company’s name, and were able to start some early planning. For instance we had all the costumes from argyle society sitting at Richard Orchard’s property that we’d had to retrieve from Kenmore as quickly as we could. These were able to be donated to RHMTC and most of it is still stored away.”

Another couple there was Andy and Catriona Wood.

Andy had been the musical director of GMS for a while and had performed in some of their shows and after it all finished up was keen to get his teeth into something new. Catriona went on to play bass in virtually all Argyle, GMS and Rocky Hill shows and there have been very few RHMTC shows without a representative from the family. 

Given their instrumental perspective, musical theatre was of particular interest to Catriona and Andy.

“That first RH meeting was the stuff I had previously only dreamt of,” Catriona said. 

“All stakeholders sitting around one table. The world was our collective oyster. And it hasn’t disappointed.” 

Catriona said one of her favourite parts of the growth of RHMTC has been the cross-pollination between shows from all of the town’s performing groups.

Ant Lewis, another Argyle Society regular was there, and remembers loving the concentration of enthusiasm.

To be honest, the actual meeting is a bit of a blur but I was excited about the people who attended and how keen they all were. There didn’t seem any doubt this was going to happen.

Alfie and Alecia Walker, long time performers with Argyle and Lieder and two of Goulburn’s best known performers, were also there and also super-enthused.

Alfie Walker remembers it this way.

“I remember my disappointment when the Argyle Society stopped because that was where Alecia got me involved in musical theatre, although I’d had a bit of taste of it at high school before that,” said Alfie who [spoiler alert] went on to be the Company’s first president..

“And my start with Argyle was very humble, as an avid audience member to rev up the crowd. Then I was involved in Pirates of Penzance and it grew from there.

“While I still had a lot of enjoyment in Lieder shows, for me something was lost when musicals ceased. I know that the Lieder dabbled in musicals, but Chrisjohn was the first to admit that they weren’t really his thing and I felt we needed a dedicated musical theatre company. And that’s what made my ears prick up and my excitement was back at the idea of a group that specialised exclusively in musical theatre.

“So seeing all those people that I’d either done shows with or seen in shows was very encouraging. And since I was on Council at the time and involved in discussions about getting a performing arts centre, it was doubly relevant and I believed it was crucial to have a musical theatre company in those discussions. To quote Hamilton, I wanted to be in the room where it happens, because of how important it had been in my journey, and because I wanted to pass on what I’d been given from those that went before me.”

Alecia Walker had this to say:

“I sit here reflecting on the first meeting and first year of RHMTC as I’m currently designing the set for our next production Legally Blonde,” she said.

The First Meeting was filled with good friends that loved musical theatre and our community and wanted to bring quality productions back to the community we loved, with an emphasis on training and championing the next generation of musician theatre family.

“I remember brainstorming what were we’re going to call our company, so many good names were put forward, allowing the merging of Argyle, Goulburn Musical Society and G&S (etc) histories & after vigorous discussion landed on RHMTC – a new and fresh name, honouring the past but propelling musical theatre in Goulburn into a new united chapter. –

“Ever the creative, I didn’t put my hand up for an initial position on the committee (as Alfie was president) but I did two creative things, the first was to write on the whiteboard our new name and date for the inaugural meeting and first photo and the second thing was to volunteer to design the company’s new logo, which is still used today.”

The following people were also in attendance at that meeting but I left it a bit late to get their remembrances and will add their comments as they come to hand.

• Susan Gardner
• Kate Robinson
• Leonard Buckley

Day one – The room where it happened

The meeting got underway with me chairing it. We started with a conversation starter about what was the first show that made you love musicals (there were a LOT of Sound of Musics and Greases). and then down to the agenda.

There was a discussion about what sort of shows would be produced across a year with general agreement that the company would aim to perform three shows a year – (1) a broadway / popular style musical; (2) a Gilbert and Sullivan sub-operatic style musical; and (3) a kids / family / panto at the end of the year.

Ant Lewis raised the point that the company should endeavour not to compete with or undermine Lieder shows and there was unanimous.

A number of names were suggested for the organisation including Two Rivers Musical Theatre Company, Rocky Hill Musical Theatre Company and Rocky Hill Players.and … well you already know the result of that.

Time then to elect a steering committee. I was put forward for the job of temporary president (most likely out of politeness because I’d chaired the meeting) but I made the point that I believed it was more important to get someone better known and accepted in theatrical circles (not to mention someone better liked) and I suggested Alfie to lead us. Nominations were sought, a unanimous vote took place and the inaugural steering committee was elected as follows.

• President: Alfie Walker
• Secretaries: Jane Van Dorp and Lynda Yeadon
• Treasurer: Sue Gardner
• Properties and Assets Manager: Martin Yeadon
• Sponsorship and Publicity Team: Chris Gordon, Sue Gardner, Lynda Yeadon

As Marty said, there really was a buzz about that meeting. This summary barely scrapes the surface of the many great ideas that popped up throughout the meeting or the pervading vibe that something was about to become real.

But in a few short hours, we’d picked a name, agreed on some broad ideas about expectations for the Company, and elected a steering committee. That was Day One.

Year One

The first year was a long slog as we went through the processes of forming a company and preparing for our first show at the end of the year. As luck would have it a few of those early minutes have survived and help tell he tale of those early days.

The next meeting (and all of the meetings for the first few years) took place at the Goulburn Club. In the first few months, meetings were fortnightly.

That first post foundation meeting was held on 9 February with six more people in attendance.

A bank account was created, a sample constitution was shared, possible shows were discussed, Deb McConnell investigated possible venues, I suggested Life Memberships be carried over for Life members of Argyle and GMS/G&S, and Jane Van Dorp advised that the Argyle Society was reforming for one last reunion/farewell show – to be held on 16 and 17 April and to raise funds for RHMTC.

At the meeting of 23 February (minutes not yet available) following a lengthy discussion, Seussical pipped out Joseph’s Technicoloured Dreamcoat as our first show… aiming for a November / December production schedule with venue to be decided.

On March 2 2016 RHMTC became incorporated and this was celebrated, from memory, with a bottle of Moscato donated by Alfie and Alecia Walker..

The next meeting was held on 12 March, it was suggested that RHMTC write a letter to Council to seek to be the “company in residence” of the new Performing Arts Centre. Expressions of Interest were called for the Production Team for Seussical, to be submitted by and decided at the meeting of Tuesday 26 April.

Given the length of time before our first show, I proposed a fund-raising/performance activity called “Hills are Alive” Nights to be performed monthly at the Goulburn Club.

As a point of clarification, these were never open microphone nights (although the third hour of each was exactly that). The Hills nights were designed with two one hour sets of consisting of pre-set songs that provided a variety of shows, of song types, of voice types so that audience had a sense of seeing a show with light and shade, ebbs and flows. Where no one wanted a particular song, performers could offer a like-for like substitution. And then in the third hour, it was most definitely open mic with Alfie Walker twisting arms and taking names.

Those Hills nights were an instant success, pulling full houses and making good money for the Company, generously donated by the Goulburn Club from bar takings.

In the absence of any more minutes, I’ll go from memory.

Much more happened that year. The selection of our production team for our first ever show (including Director Lynda Yeadon, Producer Jane Van Dorp and Musical Director Kerrie Jiear), Bunnings BBQs organised by Marty Yeadon, more fundraising and Hills nights, and as you could imagine, more discussion about future shows.

A steering committee was set up for the new preferred proposal for Goulburn’s Performing Arts centre, the McDermott Centre. I put my name forward and was voted as the RHMTC’s representative on the steering committee.

Seussical… and beyond

Eventually, after what seemed an eternity, our first show was upon us.

Seussical was performed at Trinity College Great Hall from Friday 25, 2016.

It was a glorious production that drew hundreds upon hundreds of audience members and unearthed a bunch of stars, some of whom are still treading RHMTC stages.

Like all shows I imagine, it wasn’t always clear sailing. There were bumps along the way and sometimes it seemed quite appropriate that the word Rocky was in our title. But it’s the grit in the oyster that makes the pearl they say, and this production was a very bright and shiny pearl. It demonstrated a Company that wouldn’t shy from big challenges and which became a training ground for performers of all ages.

In under a year, this fledgling company had created a solid organisation and produced a massive all singing all dancing extravaganza. Not bad. And while it was a costly show to produce, it still made a good profit for the club.

From there… SO much has happened. So many venues, so many shows, so many gifted performers.

Many people have come on board from that first day, and many of those have taken up a far greater load than some of the founders. Their efforts are what has continued the longevity and security of the Company, and have set it with an ever growing reputation for quality and a reliably enjoyable audience experience.

But as we head into the Company’s tenth year, it’s handy to look back on those humble beginnings, how it all started and came together, and to celebrate a Company that has become a recognised centre of performing excellence in Goulburn and district.