Stage in the blood

Berwick musical director Neil Goodwin has been involved in the business for 35 years and has not looked back.
He started singing in the Melbourne Metropolitan Boys Choir when he was just seven years old and a passion was born.
His first role in a musical was as the lead character in Oliver.
He then went on to star in two Charlie Brown productions You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
Growing up in Glen Waverley before moving to Cardinia when he was 15, he then went on to feature in a number of productions at his school, Kooweerup Secondary College.
Theatre was only beginning to thrive at the school when Neil started, and he starred in the school’s second ever musical production.
His passion for directing started when he began choreographing and assisting direction in a number of shows at the Kooweerup school.
Mr Goodwin became involved with local theatre group Westernport Theatre Company and directed his first show with them at 18 called Half a Sixpence.
He started up the Limelight Theatre Company in 1990.
“I recognised the need for a theatre group in the City of Casey,” he said.
“Back in those days there were no other groups. BATS didn’t even exist.”
The company is now breaking records by being the first nonprofessional theatre group in Australia to present Blood Brothers, a moving musical written by Willy Russell, who also wrote Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita, about twin brothers separated at birth, one raised in privilege and the other in poverty.
The theatre company’s most recent musical production will be performed over three weeks in Cranbourne next month.
Mr Goodwin has previously won many awards for plays he has been involved in, including a Guild Judge’s Award for Best Production Design for The Boyfriend, and seven musical theatre Guild awards for Westside Story.
He also directed a production of Chicago before it became famous in Australia.
More recently, he has been heavily involved in community theatre, offering his services in the South Gippsland area for minimal fees.
“I have been getting involved in groups with community grants who didn’t have access to professional directors,” he said.
He has assisted groups in Wilson’s Promontory and Warragul put on shows of Fiddler on the Roof, The Wizard of Oz, Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables in 2000.
“The funding is more of an honorarium. You’re not paid on an hourly rate. It’s based on what their funding allows.”
Mr Goodwin said he juggles anything from four to six productions a year.
He has lived in Berwick for the past 20 years and in between directing used to show Arabian horses and lived on small properties or leased land in the area for the horses.
He said his most recent show, Blood Brothers, had a significant impact on him.
His parents separated when he was just five years old. At that time it was customary to stay with the father so the courts awarded custody to his dad.
He lived with his five brothers and two sisters, of which he was second eldest, and developed a parental role with his younger siblings.
He said his life was changed the first time he saw Blood Brothers.
“I saw it on stage in Melbourne. For me it was a measure of every other performance I had seen up until that time.
“It really affected me. It was not just that I had seen a good show but I had been involved in it.
“I know where I was taken on that night and I have never felt the same watching another show since then.”
It was this affect from watching the show that led him on his pursuit to one day direct the production himself.
“I’ve flown to London three times specifically to see it,” he said.
He said trying to mimic those feelings and bring the show to life had been very difficult.
He said the most critical thing to get right was the casting.
“We kept reholding auditions to get the right people. Everything has been measured to recreate those memories,” he said.
“It’s such a powerful story. Even the actors feel it. It’s very draining but we know it’s going to be worth it.”
He said the preparation and rehearsal had been a roller coaster ride of emotions from the sadder points of the play to the highs when it was all coming together.
“Everyone can relate to some part of the story with their own lives.
“For me the significant part was my mum leaving me at age five.
“In the story, this mum had to give away her child. She feels forced to do it, she knows she didn’t have a choice.
“I think of my mum and that really triggers me. I find that really challenging.”
He said he had decided to show the musical in Cranbourne to boost theatre in the area.
He said the Cranbourne Community Theatre was underutilised, with not one musical theatre company running out of the facility.
“We’re hoping we’ll be able to make it our home.”
Mr Goodwin said he would love to return to acting in musical theatre one day but said there weren’t many roles for people in their 40s.
He said he would continue to direct various productions and look at returning to acting when he was older and more in demand.
“I plan to stick at directing a bit longer.”
He has already signed on to direct The Producers in October and the Limelight Theatre Company will present another show in August.
Blood Brothers runs from 2 to 17 March with a matinee on Sunday, 11 March. Tickets cost $32.50.
To book tickets call 0400 430 049.