21 April 2017
Join a hand-picked collection of nocturnal singers, joke-makers and storytellers at our next Griffin UP LATE – a post-show jam of music and chortles.
Stick around (or rock up) for 9.30pm on Friday 21 April, as following Declan Greene’s outrageous The Homosexuals or ‘Faggots’ we’ll be keeping the lights on and making some (very entertaining) noise until late (well, 10.30pm, so pretty early actually, but you get it).
The line-up welcomes comedian Jordan Raskopoulos (Axis of Awesome), divine cabaret artiste Mama Alto, musical theatre legend Simon Burke and talky talker Phil Spencer (Story Club). We also have a very special appearance from Daniel Edmonds, Musical Director to Simon Burke.
Friday 21 April, 9.30pm – 10.30pm
Jordan Raskopoulos
Jordan Raskopoulos is a comedian, musician and digital content creator. She is best known as the lead singer of The Axis of Awesome, a world renowned musical comedy group and YouTube Juggernaut. She’s the host of This is About, on ABC Radio National and is also the Creative Director of Press Start Productions and is currently producing Insert Coin, an ongoing web series about video games.
Simon Burke
Simon has appeared in over 130 stage productions in Australia and the UK, including or Griffin Theatre Company: October, Satango; for Belvoir St Theatre: Snugglepot & Cuddlepie; for Black Swan State Theatre Company: Clinton The Musical; for Ensemble Theatre: They’re Playing our Song; for Kookaburra Theatre Company: Company; for Harvest Rain Theatre Co: Hairspray; for IMG: Chicago The Musical; for Melbourne Theatre Company: Take Me Out; for Sydney Theatre Company: A Little Night Music, Mr Kolpert, Mrs Warren’s Profession, She Stoops To Conquer, The Wharf Revue, Up For Grabs; and for Performing Lines’ national tour of Three Furies. In London’s West End he has starred as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, as Raoul in Phantom of the Opera, in A Little Night Music opposite Dame Judi Dench and in the European premieres of the Australian classics Holding the Man and When the Rain Stops Falling. Simon’s television credits include: Deep Water, Hustle, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Rake, South Pacific. For 25 years Simon was one of ABC TV’s Play School’s best-loved presenters. At age 13, Simon starred in Fred Schepisi’s feature film The Devil’s Playground, winning the AACTA Award for Best Actor, the youngest-ever recipient of this honour. He went on to reprise this role 40 years later in mini-series Devil’s Playground for which he was also Executive Producer. In 2015 Simon received the AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) for his service to the performing arts as an actor, singer and producer.
Mama Alto
Mama Alto is a jazz singer and cabaret artiste. Her past festival credits include: Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Fringe, American Songbook Festival, Castlemaine State Festival, Darwin Festival, Fringe World Perth, Havana International Theatre Festival, Marysville Jazz & Blues Weekend, Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Midsumma, and Stonnington Jazz Festival. Mama has performed at venues such as: Arts Centre Melbourne, Bendigo Art Gallery (Bendigo), Bruno’s Art Gallery (Marysville), Brisbane Powerhouse (Brisbane), The Butterfly Club, Chapel off Chapel, The Copa Room at the Havana Riviera (Havana, Cuba), Entrecôte, Hares & Hyenas, La Boheme (Adelaide), The Melba Spiegeltent, Melbourne Recital Centre, MPavillion, National Gallery of Victoria, RMIT Design Hub and Sofitel Melbourne on Collins. She was the recipient of the 2014 Weekly Award for Best Cabaret at Adelaide Fringe, the 2016 Outstanding Access Award at Melbourne Fringe, and a 2015 Nominee for GLOBE LGBTI Artist of the Year. Mama has worked with Brook Andrew, Phillip Adams BalletLab, is a proud alumni of Monash Uni Student Theatre, and a company member of Finucane & Smith, with whom she was amongst the cast who received the Best International Production Award at the CHAMACO Awards, Cuba.
Phil Spencer
Phil is a writer & performer. Originally from the UK, he grew up in semi-rural South Oxfordshire (the rough bit) and spent many years living and working in the city of Glasgow (the posh bit). He now lives in Sydney where he makes comedy, theatre and stories for radio. Phil is the 2017 Studio Artist at Griffin. He was the recipient of Peggy Ramsey Foundation Award for Writers and has been shortlisted for the Philip Parsons Playwright Award not once, not twice, but thrice (but still hasn’t won it – he’s pretty sure it’s rigged). Phil has performed in lounge rooms across Sydney, arts festivals across Australia and in shitty rooms above pubs the world over. His most recent show credits include: Hooting & Howling (NSW Tour, Lorne Arts Festival, Sydney Theatre Company Rough Draft) Glorious Pomegranate (Sydney Fringe), All Lost in the Supermarket (Sydney Writers Festival), Destroyer of Worlds by Caleb Lewis (Adelaide Fringe), You And Whose Army? (UK tour).
“Spencer’s charm and winning on-stage charisma is simply delightful” – ✮✮✮✮ The Brag
“Phil Spencer, the Dave Allen of modern storytelling, sans the scotch and half finger” – ABC 702
Daniel Edmonds – Accompanist/Musical Director to Simon Burke
Daniel Edmonds most recently was the Musical Director of Dream Lover, a brand new musical about the life of Bobby Darin. It is his third world premiere musical in a row. He was the Musical Director of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical and King Kong: Live on Stage, which was a collaboration with an international creative team including artists Sarah McLachlan, Massive Attack, Guy Garvey and The Avalanches. Daniel’s other theatrical credits include Hairspray The Musical, Fame and Chicago. Daniel recently composed a brand new score and was sound designer for La Boite’s production of The Wind in the Willows.
Daniel is also the Australian Musical Director of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical which will premiere in Sydney in 2017, and Musical Supervisor on the Hayes Theatre’s upcoming production of Only Heaven Knows.
Daniel is the personal Musical Director to the international Australian artists Simon Burke and Caroline O’Connor. In 2010, he made debuts in London’s West End and in New York, working as Caroline’s Musical Director and Arranger. He co-produced and was Musical Director for Simon Burke’s debut album Something About Always, as well as the subsequent concert of the same name at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He and Simon collaborated on the title song for the feature film Super Awesome by Guy Edmonds and Matt Zeremes.
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