AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MITCHELL
Co-writer of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva
January 2006
The writers of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva:
(from left) David Mitchell, John-Michael Howson, and Melvyn Morrow.
The writers of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva:
(from left) David Mitchell, John-Michael Howson, and Melvyn Morrow.
The result of the creative and collaborative efforts of writers John-Michael Howson, David Mitchell and Melvyn Morrow, Dusty: The Original Pop Diva stars Tamsin Carroll as Dusty and features some of Australia's best music theatre performers - including Demi Hines, Mitchell Butel, and Alexis Fishman.
Shortly after Dusty: The Original Pop Diva premiered in Melbourne, Woman of Repute creator, Michael Bayly interviewed David Mitchell, one of the show's co-writers.
Initial reviews of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva have been glowing. How are you feeling now that the show has finally opened and critics and the public alike are providing you with feedback? What are the comments you're most consistently hearing about the show?
We are actually walking on air. The reaction from audiences and critics alike has been incredible. (A couple of naysayers aside!) Mostly people say "Isn't Tamsin incredible?" and "What are you going to do if she ever gets sick?
What was the genesis of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva? What is it about Dusty Springfield - her life and music - that appealed to you and the other writers? Can you talk a little about the journey from the initial idea for the show to opening night?
When our first collaboration Shout! (about Aussie rock pioneer, Johnny O'Keefe) was such a hit we looked for a follow-up which could have a life beyond Australia. I had always been a fan of Dusty Springfield (since I first saw her a Sydney Stadium in a British Invasion concert with Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Dave Clarke Five and Cilla Black). I suggested Dusty's life as it has all the elements of a great musical: great music and a wonderful story.
Then came many, many drafts of the script, a workshop production and a year of producer Dennis Smith chasing the money to bankroll the multi-million dollar production.
You worked with Dusty in 1967. What were the circumstances of this and what was it like to work with her? Can you share any anecdotes about that experience?
I was a boom (microphone) operator at Channel Nine in Sydney. Dusty was appearing at our top nightclub, Chequers, and had agreed to do a special episode of Bandstand (available on DVD through The Dusty Springfield Bulletin). I was over the moon because I would be my job to boom her songs. I was disappointed to find on the day that she was going to mime all her songs, so my only role was booming her interview with the host, Brian Henderson.
She was very sweet and shy and I do remember she was as blind as a bat. She came into the studio and saw what she thought was a line-up of dancers. She asked the director, "What number are all those dancers in?" To which he replied, "They aren't dancers. That's a picket fence. It's part of the set!"
I've known Tamsin since she was three. Her father is one of our top actors, Peter Carroll (he played Peron in Evita for Hal Prince). She used to play in the park with my son when he was the same age. Then she attended music lessons with the same teacher where she excelled in voice, violin and piano. Her first big role was a Johnny O'Keefe's German wife in Shout! when she was 22.
She then played Nancy in Oliver! for Cameron Mackintosh and Rizzo in Grease with Craig MacLachlan. She just finished playing Isabella in Measure for Measure with Australia's premier Shakespearean company. Dusty will be her breakthrough role with the general public.
Her challenges are Herculean. She has to go from cheeky Lana Sister to a 59-year-old cancer patient in two and a half hours with many stops in between! And sing about twenty-five songs!
What role did Vicki Wickham, Dusty's friend and former manager, play in shaping the final production? What was it like to work with Vicki?
Naturally we needed Vicki's permission to include "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" in our show. And there's no Dusty musical without that song. So we flew to New York with our first draft of the script (then entitled, Songbird).
It was very much a first draft and, frankly, Vicki didn't like it. She didn't think it captured the real Dusty. She gave us detailed notes and we embarked on the first of many re-writes. Although she now confides that she didn't think it was ever going to happen, she was supportive via email and had considerable praise for the workshop video. She and Nona came to Melbourne for the first week of rehearsal where she advised Tamsin and the rest of the cast on Dusty and the era. That visit generated some good publicity. Personally, I have to say I find her extremely charming.
Some fans feel very protective about Dusty - especially when it comes to those difficult years she experienced in the 1970s and 1980s. How did you and the other writers of the show approach this period of her life? How does the show deal with these years and the problems they held for Dusty?
I agree that one could make this era of Dusty's life very gruesome and this would upset audiences as well as fans. However we needed to explore the down times as a contrast to the glittering successes both before and after them. To excise them totally would be dishonest to Dusty and rob the story arc of its journey.
We show the beginnings of Dusty's alcohol dependence in the sixties. Then after [1968's] Memphis [album] we fast-forward to 1979, with Dusty at her lowest ebb. This is dramatised in dance, with a rendition of "Soft Core" [from Dusty's 1982 White Heat album] sung by the Reno character (a composite of many of Dusty's friends and lovers). Following this, Dusty is at "rock bottom" and attends an AA meeting with the words, "Hello. My name is Mary and I'm an alcoholic". From this moment we move back to success [via her collaboration] with the Pet Shop Boys. We make no mention of cutting, or straightjackets, etc. which made [Vicki Wickham and Penny Valentine's book] Dancing with Demons such a painful read.
Finally, can you talk about the music in the show? Given Dusty's long and varied career, how difficult was it to choose a limited number of songs for the show? What's your own personal favorite Dusty song and why?
We listened to every song Dusty recorded. Naturally there were the hit numbers and they HAD to go in to satisfy the audience. Then there were lesser known Dusty records ("Mama's Little Girl", "Who Can I Turn To?", "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today", "Soft Core", and "Goodbye") which help progress the narrative.
My favourite is both a hit AND one which propels the story forward. It is sung as a duet between the dying Dusty and her young self, Mary O'Brien. The song acknowledges the interdependence of these two characters in one person. It is "All I See is You".
For more information about Dusty: The Original Pop Diva, visit www.dustythemusical.com. Here you can view a "video preview" of the show and register for updates and early bird offers. There is also a song list and cast information.
For reviews of Dusty: The Original Pop Diva, visit the Reviews section of Woman of Repute.