Roof Goats and Friends Face the Music

Last Friday evening I was asked to take photos at rehearsal of The Roof Goats and friends prior to the opening night of their show "Face at the Music" for the Fringe Festival at The Cube Theatre at the Bunbury Entertainment Centre on 7 February 2020. 

What a FABULOUS show and what a privilege. These guys are a very talented bunch that love what they do.  Last year in 2019 I took photos of the Roof Goats at their Fringe Festival show at the Bunbury Entertainment Centre, so I was thrilled to do so again. 

Their show, which was a mixture of styles, kept the audience enthralled and entertained. And was an amazing collaboration between all the singers, musicians, dancers, choreographers, and back up musicians, involved. 

 Mid last year The Roof Goats asked for photographic submissions from the general public, to which they wrote music and lyrics for the show. The results were outstanding. I hope they bring out a cd. 

If I have to pick a favourite, mine would be "Little Swan" written by Michael McIntyre, who was accompanied by his beautiful singer daughter Lydia. Mike is Mauritian and the piece was inspired by an old photo taken of a group of Mauritians on a boat which sailed across the Indian Ocean to Western Australia. Part sung in creole, this wistful song speaks of their longing for their homeland and family. 
You can see the photo in the background here. 

 This piece was followed by a jaunty upbeat not-a-sea-shanty "The Mannie Swan". 

I also really enjoyed "Your Hands" written by Geoff Robinson and Brad Snelling about the bonds between brothers and sisters.

Our Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company Artistic Director Nicole Kostezky again danced to some of the music - "That Girl" written by Nick Maher

and collaborated with dancer and cellist Lesley Ironside for "Shadows and Light" also written by Nick Maher

And no this is not a young guys band....they are right in my era... no wonder I love them!

 Thank you Roof Goats - Peter, Todd, Damian, Nick, Mike, Geoff and Brad. 

In this pic below you can see artists Jeannie Lewis painting a "Live art" during the performance of "Shadows and Light" . The piece was auctioned after the show.  

More photos can be seen on my Facebook page @ Life Images by Jill 

 Thank you so much for stopping by. Have you been to a fabulous concert recently? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

The Roofgoats and friends - Fringe Festival Bunbury 2019

 Have you ever been to a concert in an Art Gallery?

On Saturday evening I went to see the opening night of "The Roofgoats and friends" performance, "12 Brag Faves", at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery as part of the Fringe Festival.  

Describing themselves as a folk-rock live theatre band, who have been performing since 1995, The Roofgoats performed all new material written by Roofgoat members to interpret through words, music and song, twelve pieces of art selected by Art Gallery staff. There was also original poetry by Ben Mason, comedy from Dave Phillips, dance interpretation by Nicole Kostezky, and a sea-shanty sung by The Anchormen.

And what a FABULOUS show it was performed in the chapel gallery of the Art Gallery to a packed audience.

 Before the show we were introduced to the selected artworks through a thoroughly enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek, comic introduction by "Dudley Featherstone". 

Paintings included works by Australian artists Guy Grey-Smith's "Landscape", Arthur Boyd's "Wimmera Landscape", the social-political work "The Lovers" by Julie Dowling, and an early "Bunbury Harbour" scene by Sam Wheeler.  The paintings were projected behind the group during the performance of each piece.

 Supporting The Roofgoats was an expanded group of supporting friends, which included Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) music student Lydia McIntyre, and University of WA (UWA) conservatorium piano student Annabelle Robinson adding their feminine tones to the group. 

A few pics from the show -

Below clockwise from top left - Brad Snelling (the husband of a school teacher friend), Lydia McIntyre (daughter of my dancing friend), Mike McIntyre (Lydia's Dad!), poet Ben Mason, comedian Dave Phillips, and Annabelle Robinson (vocals, trumpet and guitar).

The Anchormen (a group formed in April 2018) sang an original sea-shanty, "Yo Ho Haul Away", written by Damian Maher and inspired by the art work "Bunbury Harbour" (1903) by Sam Wheeler.

And the many faces of my friend and dance teacher, dancer and artistic director of Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company, Nicole Kostezky, as she physically interpreted the music and art works. 

"Surely some physical expression would help showcase these visual artworks?" "I know someone" said Mike and so began Nicole's collaboration with The Roofgoats.  

Nicole commented: " It was a privilege to dance as part of an amazing show, with such a talented bunch of artists."

Nicole giving a Spanish Flamenco interpretation of the song "She's a Rose" written by Brad Snelling, influenced by the painting "Landscape" by Guy Grey Smith. 

At the end of the night The Roofgoats were given a standing ovation. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of "12 Brag Faves" by The Roofgoats and friends, and lucky for me I had a good seat from which to take photos! :) 

But why Roofgoats? I asked them -
"Alan Payne, our squeezy player, when we were fishing around for a name said " I saw goats on a roof in City beach once and thought 'that would be a good name for a band'". We've tried, but never been able to shake it."

 See more of the Roofgoats on Facebook at - The-Roofgoats
 The Fringe Festival - Bunbury Fringe
 a few more photos from my Facebook album - Jill Harrison on Facebook
and Sol-y-Sombra Spanish Dance Company - Solysombra Dance

The Bunbury Regional Art Gallery is housed in the former Sisters of Mercy Concent and Chapel built in 1897 in Federal Free Medieval style, a blend of Gothic and Southern European architectural characteristics.


Thank you so much for stopping by.  Have you ever been to a music performance in an Art Gallery? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. 

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
Little Things Thursday
Friday Bliss at Floral Passions

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

The Phantom of the Opera is here!

 I felt very privileged a couple of weeks ago to be invited to take photos at a dress rehearsal of the South West Opera Company's  production of Phantom of the Opera, at the Bunbury Entertainment Centre.

The production was amazing and very professionally performed and produced. I have seen The Phantom twice before performed by a professional cast, and I believe that the South West Opera Company's production by predominantly amateur performers, was equal to any I had seen before. I cannot praise it enough. I was in the audience the closing night, but I loved the experience of taking these photos and seeing a little of behind the scenes and having a sneak peak preview of the show. 

I've not done a lot of this type of photography before, so it was a great opportunity.  For those interested in knowing technical details - I didn't use a tripod and I couldn't use a flash, so I used an ISO of 1600 (to increase the camera's sensitivity to light), and an aperture - F stop - of around F5 (to increase the size of the lens opening and hence let in more light). All images taken in RAW and processed in Lightroom where you can smooth out "noise".  It was difficult to get sharp images when the dancers were moving, but easier with the solo singing parts. In all it was a fabulous experience for me.

My sincere thanks go to the South West Opera Company for the opportunity. 
Director - Andy King, Musical Director - Marguerite Monagle,  Design and Costumes - Deb Prentice, Assistant Director/Choreography - Mary-Ellen Sutherland.

Act 1 - 1901 - the auction in the Paris Opera House. 

Act 1 - We are taken back to 1861 -  When The Paris Opera was it its height -  rehearsal for a production of Hannibal.  You can see my Spanish Flamenco teacher, Nicole Kostezky, on point in the centre of the second photo.

 Christine (Nerida Mangano) and Raoul (Ashley Hastie) 

 One of the ballet scenes - Zara Beattle and Josh Donovan

Another of our Sol-y-Sombra Spanish Flamenco principle dancers Susanna Maratea as Madame Giry

The wonderful team of Firmin (Nathan Gardiner) and Andre (Rob Hill) - the new managers of the Paris Opera

 Carlotto (Jeanean Halket) with Andre and Firmin while Madame Giry and Meg (Breanna Cooke) look on

 Andre, Raoul, Firmin, Carlotta and Piangi (Mitch James) read a "note" from The Phantom.

The Phantom (Rob Littlewood) and Christine (Nerida Mangano)

Act 2 - The grand Masquerade Ball

The Phantom suddenly appears at the Masquerade and delivers the score of a new opera that he has written

Christine and the orchestra, conducted by Marguerite Monagle.

 In the final scene, Meg (Breanna Cooke) finds The Phantom's mask.

 Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed these few photos from Phantom of the Opera. Do you enjoy live stage productions? 
I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.  

You might also like - 
 Spanish Flamenco dancing with Sol y Sombra
Ole - Celebration of 25 years of Spanish dance 
South West Multicultural Festival 
Celebrating Diwali Festival of Light 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
Mosaic Monday 

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit and 50 Shades of Age
Little Things Thursday

Life in Reflection

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