More Treasures from the Archives : The Magic Flute

This just in from Alan Owen:

Friday Evening, 7.00 pm, 1964.

"On Friday the 31st July 1964, the boys of Sydney Tech and girls of St George Girls’ High presented an evening of music and drama. The evening featured The Magic Flute and The School for Scandal and launched the stage careers of several boys brave enough at that early age to flaunt their musical talents.

It was under the careful direction of Miss Helen Ley that the likes of Stephen Gard found his inspiration to rise to the challenge of his role as the “Fifth Genius”, and Paul Brown was able to realise his early-puberty dream of singing Bass.

Meanwhile, in 1964 in that other cultural hotbed of New York, Paul Simon had written "The Sounds of Silence" in February 1964 in the aftermath of the November 22, 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. It was recorded on March 10, 1964 and released in October 19, 1964 on Simon & Garfunkel’s debut album, “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M”. It was not widely acclaimed at the time, being only marginally more popular than the STHS/St.GGHS production of The Magic Flute. After being re-mixed and re-released, by the end of 1965 and the first few weeks of 1966, the song reached number one on the U.S. charts. The STHS Magic Flute was never re-mixed and re-released, likely accounting for its failure to reach the charts."

From the 1964 STHS Year Book, a still from The Magic Flute.
Unlike Hair which was only a few years down the track, hardly any of them is naked.

Gard comments: Thanks to Alan's researches into antiquarian matters, we can now provide a full cast list for this hoopla (see below). On reading the program after all this time, I was puzzled by one thing: I am listed as Fifth Genius, and I can see only four Genii in the photo, of whom I am the one on the far left. The Genii are the short, sheeted figures downstage centre, holding gilt-cardboard wands of some kind. Where is Raymond Palmer, Genius # 4? On closer examination, I see that he is standing behind the kneeling Sarastro (Keith Brandt), with only the top of his head showing. Obscured genius, clearly.

I also now understand why my major memory of the event includes perpetual shivering; it was July, and I was wearing nothing but a pair of snow-white Jockeys and a blue rayon shift.

And which is P. Brown, bass? Where is he, among all those eager young faces?

There can never again have been so much pussy so many young ladies present on the STHS auditorium stage. An epochal event; no wonder it was a one-off. I clearly recall Bong seated in the stalls at every rehearsal to supervise those cast members who were off-stage, a balding Berlin Wall grimly dividing all those tasty Georgy Girls from the lustful clutches of pimply Tech lads.

Miss Ley.
Major babe.

Die Zauberflöte in Bexley North remains a tribute to the energy and vision of Music Teacher Miss Helen Ley, whom as we have remarked elsewhere, was a babe of the first magnitude.

As for our failure to reach the charts with The Flute: Paul Simon was reportedly furious that 'The Sounds of Silence' had been remixed by his producer, without consulting either himself or Funkel. The mix added bass guitar and drums to the backing track and installed a hyphen, transubstantiating a wistful little ballad into the bastard genre of folk-rock, a musical miscegenation that sent it soaring into the charts to become an instant anthem for a generation of Holden Caulfields. The Byrds soared eight miles higher, launched from the same hyphen. It was all the fault of the 'electric' Dylan, but Dylan said it was down to The Animals, due to Alan Price mucking around with 'House of the Rising Sun'...

If only we'd added bass, drums and a hyphen, we might have spawned another bastard genre: Tech-rock.

Hello classroom, my old friend

I've come to talk in you again...

The other 'spoiler' factor was Brian Epstein's launch of A Hard Day's Night, which also premiered in July of 1964, just two weeks before us, wrenching press attention away from The Flute and onto The Fabs. The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader completely ignored us, no doubt a brown paper bag from NEMS stuffed with used readies was furtively thrust into the pocket of some grubby Leader  trench-coat. Dirty game, the music business.

Cast in order of appearance

    Papageno     MICHAEL BRENNAN
    First Lady         MARGARET STUBBS
    Second Lady     ROBYN THOMAS
    Third Lady     DEBORAH COX

    Queen of the Night     ANNE HULL
    Monstatos    EDWIN HO
    Papagena     HELEN SANDERSON

       Slaves....  P. Parton. C. Powell, G. McGill, M. Chapman.
        C. Isberg, J. Stephenson, G. Lambert


    Sarastro         KEITH BRANDT
    High Priest        GREGORY BROWN
    First Genius     JAMES WILSON
    Second Genius     WILLIAM NIELSON
    Third Genius     ALLAN BATTISHALL
    Fourth Genius     RAYMOND PALMER
    Fifth Genius     STEPHEN GARD


Chorus: Elizabeth Brown, Lois Selmon, Jennifer Harris, Judy Donaldson, Margaret Atkins, Lyn Moffat, Narelle Brown, Anne Nolan, Jan Atkinson, Kerrie Nunn, Robyn Cheetham, Jennifer Kretchman, Cheryl Trescott, Beth Wells, Ann Brienne, Heather Vaughan, Ann Hull, Helen Sanderson, Robyn Thomas, Marg Stubbs, Kerry Warnock, Barbara Stubb, Gail Tiernan, Del Pilkington, Narelle Sharpe, Penny Jones, Betty McNeal, Jennifer Davy, Denise Smith, Rhondda Reilly.

Tenors: C. Powell. P. Parton, G. McGill, M. Chapman. K. Treasure, R. Tunnicliff, R. Suggate, W. Moore.

Basses: P. Brown, K. Miley, J. Stephenson, G. Lambert, K. Harris, L. Arthur, L. Gray. G. Isberg, G. Walker, 

B. Peddle, W. Roberts, D. Wilson.

Piano: Robert Ireland     Percussion: David Small, Peter Parton.

--
Produced and directed by Miss A. Arundel, Miss H. Ley.

Assisted by Mr. J. Faasen