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"It's just a beautiful story, very spiritual, and the music is marvellous. It's a lush score, more an opera than it is a musical."
One of Australia's most talented and versatile artists, Philip Quast, was describing The Secret Garden, which will have its Australian premiere at the Lyric Theatre QPAC on July 26. He will play the role of Dr Neville Craven, uncle of the young girl Mary Lennox.
"It was while I was working with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London that John Frost approached me about appearing in the production of The Secret Garden, that he was mounting in collaboration with the Queensland Performing Arts Trust and Lyric Opera of Queensland. I read the libretto quickly, and was a bit undecided. Then I met Susan Schulman who directed the Broadway success, and who will be coming to Australia, and I was most impressed. To add to that, I heard some of the wonderfully lyrical music, and discovered that my 'old friends' Anthony Warlow and Marina Prior would be performing. I had to say yes."
Born in Tamworth, Quast grew up on a farm.
"Growing up in the country is a bit like being on the stage - he says - You're in your own little world. I can't remember wanting to be an actor. It just seemed to happen. Probably the person who influenced me was the English director Colin George who lectured in drama at the Armidale University when I was a student there."
A graduate of NIDA, Quast has had a distinguished career in film, TV, drama and musicals.
"As a child we all sang. We had a pianola. I didn't ever study music formally. Practice would have been regarded as a waste of time, when work had to be done on the farm."
Quast first went to London in 1989 to play Javert in the West End production of Les Misérables. This was a role he made his own in the Australian and New Zealand productions.
"I'll always remember Les Mis. It was something very special in my life."
© Queensland Newspapers
