Reg Livermore
Encyclopedia
Reginald Dawson Livermore AO
(born 11 December 1938) is an Australian actor, singer, theatrical performer and television presenter.
s at the famous Tivoli Theatre Sydney indicated the sort of productions he enjoyed, and hinted at the direction his career would eventually take. At the age of 13 he started hiring local halls to stage performances of his own pantomimes in aid of local charities, his casts made up of coerced neighborhood children and school friends. As the size of the venues increased so did the expenses. Having hit his straps early on and fired with a strong sense of his own destiny he hired the Mosman Town Hall in 1955 and again in 1956 to stage Snow White
, and then Mother Goose
. More money was taken at the box office but profits were small. The young actor-manager began to appreciate the hit and miss nature of show business.
During his last years at school he worked hard at the drama club and worked nights at the Independent Theatre where he’d been attending acting classes, and as the opportunities presented themselves appeared in Toad of the Hall, The Glass Slipper
, The Merchant of Venice
and A Midsummer Night's Dream
; his mind was on everything but scholastics and wisely he chose to leave school early rather than suffer humiliation at the hands of any examiner. More plays for the Independent followed, and in 1957, after a successful audition for well-known Phillip Street Theatre his professional career was underway.
's at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, Livermore's first professional job was as understudy
in Around The Loop, covering Gordon Chater
and Barry Humphries
; in the next revue, Cross Section, he shared the stage with Ruth Cracknell
, June Salter
and John Meillon
. During this period he met Hayes Gordon and began acting lessons in earnest, becoming one of the select and privileged founding members of the Ensemble Theatre-in-the-round. Like many actors of that time he was drawn to the bright lights of London; rather than change the nature of his speaking voice and possibly his whole persona in order to satisfy the expectations of English theatrical producers and directors the assertive young Mr. Livermore returned to Australia and the Ensemble Theatre
, by then re-located to a boatshed at the edge of Sydney Harbour in Kirribilli.
There followed an intense period of instruction and practical experience with his true teacher, Hayes Gordon. Livermore appeared in Ensemble productions of Orpheus Descending, The Drunkard, The Double Dealer, The Canterville Ghost, The Thracian Horses, Miss Lonely Hearts, The Physicists and The Real Inspector Hound. He moved to Melbourne for a two and a half year stint with the Union Theatre Repertory Company, performing in the works of Rattigan, Ionesco, Shakespeare, Peter Ustinov
, Bram Stoker
and Patrick White
. He also made his directorial debut in a new production of The Shifting Heart by Australian playwright Richard Beynon and wrote his first musical The Good Ship Walter Raleigh. At the conclusion of this very busy period, he returned to Sydney to re-establish his career in that very difficult city. He performed in the Independent Theatre production Oh Dad Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad with Lyndall Barbour, followed up by The Importance of Being Earnest at the Old Tote Theatre Company
with Sophie Stewart and Ron Haddrick
.
another Sydney Phillip Theatre show featuring Gloria Dawn and Ruth Cracknell
. After fifteen months in this record-breaking show, Livermore was invited to compare a children’s program for ABC
TV called CrackerJack. On the strength of his success the ABC offered Reg his own Saturday night Variety show called I’m Alright Now. Next year he took over from Ronnie Fraser in the Mavis Bramston Show, and when Mavis was finally put to bed in 1968 stayed on at Channel 7
to participate in Anything Goes.
In 1969 Livermore added to his list of musical credits roles in The Mikado
. In 1969 he joined the cast of the original Australian production of the groundbreaking rock musical
and then Hair
. He originally joined as a member of "the Tribe", then became the understudy to Keith Glass who played the role of Berger. When Glass left the production in 1970 Livermore took over as Berger, and Hair rapidly and dramatically elevated his commercial and theatrical profile.
After two years starring in this liberating show he moved on to The Tooth of Crime by Sam Shepard
at Nimrod
, his own musical Lasseter for the Old Tote
, and then joined the cast of the acclaimed Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar
for Harry M. Miller
, where he won rave reviews for his showstopping performance as King Herod. In 1974 he was rewarded with one of his greatest and best-known roles, Dr Frank’n’Furter in the original Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show
, and he also performed the role for the Australian cast soundtrack.
In 1975', at the request of producer Eric Dare, Livermore conceived his first one man show, Betty Blokk Buster Follies, which played to record crowds in Sydney, Canberra
, Perth
, Adelaide
and Melbourne
. After the phenomenal success of this, he wrote and performed a string of successful one-man shows – Wonder Woman, Sacred Cow, Son of Betty and Firing Squad.
His trip to London with Sacred Cow in 1980 created an unexpected sensation: the audience tried to boo him off the stage but he refused to oblige them. The Sydney Daily Telegraph
subsequently lamented that his appearance in the West End
had given Australia a bad name. In 1982 he played the title role in the American musical Barnum, and 1984 saw him in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show directed by another Rocky star Daniel Abineri
.
, concurrently writing and performing Wish You Were Here, a one-man show at the Clarendon Theatre Restaurant in Katoomba. This subsequently played the Melbourne International Festival and a season at the Victorian Arts Centre. In 1991 he appeared in the Gilbert and Sullivan
opera Iolanthe
for Victoria State Opera
and directed La Traviata
for the same organization at the Ballarat Easter Opera Festival in 1992. In that year he also wrote and performed his second one-man show for the Blue Mountains, Santa on the Planet of the Apes. This was followed by his performance as Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance
, again for Victoria State Opera.
During 1993 he toured regional Victoria
with Wish You Were Here and in 1994/95 he performed the same play to ecstatic audiences at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney. He also wrote and performed the highly successful Red Riding Hood, the Speed Hump and the Wolf at the Clarendon and the Ensemble Theatre again, before receiving an Australian Artist Creative Fellowship through the Australia Council. In 1996 Livermore was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Livermore became a regular presenter on Channel Nine’s Our House, an infotainment
show that notched up nine years of television. In 1998 Livermore wrote and performed Home Sweet Home, Leonard’s Last Hurrah for the Clarendon Guest House, followed by a season at the Melbourne Festival, and then at the Sydney Opera House in 1999. In 2001 Reg enjoyed enormous success again at the Clarendon with The Thank You Dinner – A Feast to Remember, and in 2002 joined Opera Australia
for their production of Iolanthe at the Sydney Opera House
. Livermore starred as The Lord Chancellor in a sell out, three times extended season.
Mid 2003 Livermore auditioned in Los Angeles for Mel Brooks
and director Susan Stroman, winning the leading role of Max Bialystock in the new Brooks musical The Producers
subsequently playing Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to great acclaim. In 2006 Livermore played the Duke of Plaza Toro in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera The Gondoliers for Opera Australia. 2007 Brought a return to Pirates of Penzance at the State Theatre in Melbourne and The Gondoliers Sydney season at the Sydney opera House.
2008 introduced Reg to the role of Professor Henry Higgins for Opera Australia's production of My Fair Lady in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. Following this appearance and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, Reg a foundation member of this historical theatre is reprising his entertainment The Thank You Dinner, first performed at The Clarendon in Katoomba in 2001.
The recipient of many awards for his considerable achievements Reg’s long awaited autobiography, ‘Chapters and Chances’ a coffee table style photographic history, was published in 2003 through Hardie Grant books. He has since completed a second volume of biography titled ‘Omissions, a companion memoir and diary’; it’s burning a hole on the desk of somebody at the same publisher presently, nonetheless may never reach the bookshops.
Chapters and Chances, a coffee table style photographic history, was published in 2003 through Hardie Grant books. He has since completed a second volume of biography titled ‘Omissions, a companion memoir and diary’.
In a special ceremony at Melbourne’s Docklands
in 2006, Livermore was named one of 100 Australian Entertainers of the Century.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(born 11 December 1938) is an Australian actor, singer, theatrical performer and television presenter.
Childhood
From a young age, Livermore demonstrated an interest in the performing arts. Regular outings to see pantomimePantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s at the famous Tivoli Theatre Sydney indicated the sort of productions he enjoyed, and hinted at the direction his career would eventually take. At the age of 13 he started hiring local halls to stage performances of his own pantomimes in aid of local charities, his casts made up of coerced neighborhood children and school friends. As the size of the venues increased so did the expenses. Having hit his straps early on and fired with a strong sense of his own destiny he hired the Mosman Town Hall in 1955 and again in 1956 to stage Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
, and then Mother Goose
Mother Goose
The familiar figure of Mother Goose is an imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes which are often published as Mother Goose Rhymes. As a character, she appears in one "nursery rhyme". A Christmas pantomime called Mother Goose is often performed in the United Kingdom...
. More money was taken at the box office but profits were small. The young actor-manager began to appreciate the hit and miss nature of show business.
During his last years at school he worked hard at the drama club and worked nights at the Independent Theatre where he’d been attending acting classes, and as the opportunities presented themselves appeared in Toad of the Hall, The Glass Slipper
The Glass Slipper
The Glass Slipper is a musical film adaptation of Cinderella, made by MGM, directed by Charles Walters and produced by Edwin H. Knopf from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch. The music score is by Bronislau Kaper, the cinematography by Arthur E. Arling, the art direction by Daniel B...
, The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
and A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
; his mind was on everything but scholastics and wisely he chose to leave school early rather than suffer humiliation at the hands of any examiner. More plays for the Independent followed, and in 1957, after a successful audition for well-known Phillip Street Theatre his professional career was underway.
Early career
Initially a student of Doris FittonDoris Fitton
Doris Alice Fitton Mason, DBE was an Australian actress and theatrical director who founded and for 35 years headed Sydney's Independent Theatre, staging a diverse range of local and international dramas, many for the first time in Australia, including Sumner Locke-Elliott's wartime comedy, Rusty...
's at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, Livermore's first professional job was as understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
in Around The Loop, covering Gordon Chater
Gordon Chater
Gordon Chater was a comedian and actor.Chater attended Cambridge University to study to become a doctor but did not finish his degree. While at Cambridge he took part in many student revues.He arrived in Australia following World War II...
and Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
; in the next revue, Cross Section, he shared the stage with Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Cracknell AM was an Australian theatre and television character actress who appeared in many comedy roles. She was known variously as "Crackers", "Dame Crackers" and "Dame Ruth" throughout a career spanning 56 years....
, June Salter
June Salter
June Marie Salter AM was an Australian actress.-Biography:June Salter was born in Bexley, New South Wales, the youngest of six children. As a child she studied piano and elocution and attended Kogarah Secondary School...
and John Meillon
John Meillon
John Meillon was an Australian actor, most widely known outside Australia for his role as Walter Reilly in the films "Crocodile" Dundee and "Crocodile" Dundee II. He also voiced Victoria Bitter beer commercials until his death.-Biography:Meillon was born in Mosman, Sydney...
. During this period he met Hayes Gordon and began acting lessons in earnest, becoming one of the select and privileged founding members of the Ensemble Theatre-in-the-round. Like many actors of that time he was drawn to the bright lights of London; rather than change the nature of his speaking voice and possibly his whole persona in order to satisfy the expectations of English theatrical producers and directors the assertive young Mr. Livermore returned to Australia and the Ensemble Theatre
Ensemble Theatre
The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company, situated in Kirribilli, New South Wales. It is promoted as Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, established in 1958.- References :...
, by then re-located to a boatshed at the edge of Sydney Harbour in Kirribilli.
There followed an intense period of instruction and practical experience with his true teacher, Hayes Gordon. Livermore appeared in Ensemble productions of Orpheus Descending, The Drunkard, The Double Dealer, The Canterville Ghost, The Thracian Horses, Miss Lonely Hearts, The Physicists and The Real Inspector Hound. He moved to Melbourne for a two and a half year stint with the Union Theatre Repertory Company, performing in the works of Rattigan, Ionesco, Shakespeare, Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
, Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
and Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
. He also made his directorial debut in a new production of The Shifting Heart by Australian playwright Richard Beynon and wrote his first musical The Good Ship Walter Raleigh. At the conclusion of this very busy period, he returned to Sydney to re-establish his career in that very difficult city. He performed in the Independent Theatre production Oh Dad Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad with Lyndall Barbour, followed up by The Importance of Being Earnest at the Old Tote Theatre Company
Old Tote Theatre Company
The Old Tote Theatre Company began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art and was the precursor to the Sydney Theatre Company.. It was one of the leading Australian theatre companies of the period.The Old Tote began in a converted tin shed on...
with Sophie Stewart and Ron Haddrick
Ron Haddrick
Ronald Norman Haddrick MBE is an Australian theatre, film and voice actor.-Early life:Haddrick was born in Adelaide, Australia, the only son of Olive May and Alexander Norman Haddrick.-Cricket:...
.
Television Debut
During 1964/65 Livermore starred as the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz at the Sydney Tivoli, and then played the lead role in The Knack for the Phillip Theatre management. He then became the first guest of the newly formed South Australia Theatre Company performing Andorra by Max Frisch and West of the Black Stump which he wrote with Sandra McKenzie. This was followed by the popular, A Cup Of Tea, A Bex and A Good Lie DownA Cup Of Tea, A Bex and A Good Lie Down
A Cup Of Tea, A Bex and A Good Lie Down was a comedy revue that opened at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre in 1965. It was the longest running show at the Theatre in 1966. The cast included John Ewart, Gloria Dawn, Ruth Cracknell and Reg Livermore...
another Sydney Phillip Theatre show featuring Gloria Dawn and Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Cracknell
Ruth Cracknell AM was an Australian theatre and television character actress who appeared in many comedy roles. She was known variously as "Crackers", "Dame Crackers" and "Dame Ruth" throughout a career spanning 56 years....
. After fifteen months in this record-breaking show, Livermore was invited to compare a children’s program for ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
TV called CrackerJack. On the strength of his success the ABC offered Reg his own Saturday night Variety show called I’m Alright Now. Next year he took over from Ronnie Fraser in the Mavis Bramston Show, and when Mavis was finally put to bed in 1968 stayed on at Channel 7
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
to participate in Anything Goes.
In 1969 Livermore added to his list of musical credits roles in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
. In 1969 he joined the cast of the original Australian production of the groundbreaking rock musical
Rock musical
A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept albums become rock musicals...
and then Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
. He originally joined as a member of "the Tribe", then became the understudy to Keith Glass who played the role of Berger. When Glass left the production in 1970 Livermore took over as Berger, and Hair rapidly and dramatically elevated his commercial and theatrical profile.
After two years starring in this liberating show he moved on to The Tooth of Crime by Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
at Nimrod
Nimrod Theatre Company
The Nimrod Theatre Company, in Nimrod Street, Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia, was founded by in 1970 by John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "good new Australian drama" from 1970 to 1985 than any other Australian theatre company...
, his own musical Lasseter for the Old Tote
Old Tote Theatre Company
The Old Tote Theatre Company began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art and was the precursor to the Sydney Theatre Company.. It was one of the leading Australian theatre companies of the period.The Old Tote began in a converted tin shed on...
, and then joined the cast of the acclaimed Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
for Harry M. Miller
Harry M. Miller
-Early career:Born in New Zealand, Miller grew up in Grey Lynn, Auckland, and moved to Australia in 1963, where he established a company called Pan Pacific Productions with Keith and Dennis Wong, owners of the noted Sydney nightclub "Chequers"...
, where he won rave reviews for his showstopping performance as King Herod. In 1974 he was rewarded with one of his greatest and best-known roles, Dr Frank’n’Furter in the original Australian production of The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
, and he also performed the role for the Australian cast soundtrack.
In 1975', at the request of producer Eric Dare, Livermore conceived his first one man show, Betty Blokk Buster Follies, which played to record crowds in Sydney, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. After the phenomenal success of this, he wrote and performed a string of successful one-man shows – Wonder Woman, Sacred Cow, Son of Betty and Firing Squad.
His trip to London with Sacred Cow in 1980 created an unexpected sensation: the audience tried to boo him off the stage but he refused to oblige them. The Sydney Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...
subsequently lamented that his appearance in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
had given Australia a bad name. In 1982 he played the title role in the American musical Barnum, and 1984 saw him in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show directed by another Rocky star Daniel Abineri
Daniel Abineri
Daniel Abineri is an English actor, songwriter and playwright, famous for writing the book, music and lyrics for the controversial musical Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom....
.
Return to television
After this Reg enjoyed a period of well-earned quiet tending his well-known garden property in the picturesque Blue Mountains, also mounting several exhibitions of his own colourful paintings. In 1989 he returned to television, as a member of Burkes Backyard on the Nine NetworkNine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
, concurrently writing and performing Wish You Were Here, a one-man show at the Clarendon Theatre Restaurant in Katoomba. This subsequently played the Melbourne International Festival and a season at the Victorian Arts Centre. In 1991 he appeared in the Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
opera Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
for Victoria State Opera
Victoria State Opera
The Victoria State Opera, based in Melbourne, Australia, where it was founded in 1962 as the Victorian Opera Company, collapsed in 1996 due to financial difficulties. At this point, the former Australian Opera merged with this company and renamed itself Opera Australia, taking on the...
and directed La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
for the same organization at the Ballarat Easter Opera Festival in 1992. In that year he also wrote and performed his second one-man show for the Blue Mountains, Santa on the Planet of the Apes. This was followed by his performance as Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, again for Victoria State Opera.
During 1993 he toured regional Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
with Wish You Were Here and in 1994/95 he performed the same play to ecstatic audiences at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney. He also wrote and performed the highly successful Red Riding Hood, the Speed Hump and the Wolf at the Clarendon and the Ensemble Theatre again, before receiving an Australian Artist Creative Fellowship through the Australia Council. In 1996 Livermore was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
Livermore became a regular presenter on Channel Nine’s Our House, an infotainment
Infotainment
Infotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." It is a neologistic portmanteau of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media which provides a combination of...
show that notched up nine years of television. In 1998 Livermore wrote and performed Home Sweet Home, Leonard’s Last Hurrah for the Clarendon Guest House, followed by a season at the Melbourne Festival, and then at the Sydney Opera House in 1999. In 2001 Reg enjoyed enormous success again at the Clarendon with The Thank You Dinner – A Feast to Remember, and in 2002 joined Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
for their production of Iolanthe at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
. Livermore starred as The Lord Chancellor in a sell out, three times extended season.
Mid 2003 Livermore auditioned in Los Angeles for Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and director Susan Stroman, winning the leading role of Max Bialystock in the new Brooks musical The Producers
The Producers (musical)
The Producers is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich...
subsequently playing Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to great acclaim. In 2006 Livermore played the Duke of Plaza Toro in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera The Gondoliers for Opera Australia. 2007 Brought a return to Pirates of Penzance at the State Theatre in Melbourne and The Gondoliers Sydney season at the Sydney opera House.
2008 introduced Reg to the role of Professor Henry Higgins for Opera Australia's production of My Fair Lady in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. Following this appearance and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, Reg a foundation member of this historical theatre is reprising his entertainment The Thank You Dinner, first performed at The Clarendon in Katoomba in 2001.
The recipient of many awards for his considerable achievements Reg’s long awaited autobiography, ‘Chapters and Chances’ a coffee table style photographic history, was published in 2003 through Hardie Grant books. He has since completed a second volume of biography titled ‘Omissions, a companion memoir and diary’; it’s burning a hole on the desk of somebody at the same publisher presently, nonetheless may never reach the bookshops.
Awards and achievements
The recipient of many awards for his considerable achievements Livermore's long awaited autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
Chapters and Chances, a coffee table style photographic history, was published in 2003 through Hardie Grant books. He has since completed a second volume of biography titled ‘Omissions, a companion memoir and diary’.
In a special ceremony at Melbourne’s Docklands
Melbourne Docklands
Docklands is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia occupying an area extending up to 2 km west of and adjacent to Melbourne's Central Business District . Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
in 2006, Livermore was named one of 100 Australian Entertainers of the Century.
External links
- Official site
- Reg Livermore Collection at the Performing Arts CollectionPerforming Arts CollectionThe Performing Arts Collection at the Arts Centre, Melbourne is the largest specialist performing arts collection in Australia, with over 450,000 items relating to the history of circus, dance, music, opera and theatre in Australia and of Australian performers overseas.- Highlights of the...
, Arts Centre, MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...