Get set for a night of timeless swing music and musical theatre classics with 'The Lounge Suite' at Anywhere Theatre Festival.
The show is, quite simply, a trip down memory lane as performer Dale Pengelly looks back on his life accompanied by his showgirls, The Loungin' Ladies.
We left it up to Dale to write a letter about what to expect.
“'The Lounge Suite' is a funny little show, and I am finding it quite hard to categorise it.
The first inception of the show was in 2003 as a thank you to the people of Gladstone, who in 1979 put on a benefit to raise money for my school fees at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. The benefit raised $1,100 which was a fair chunk of money in the '70s and I always had in my mind that I would like the opportunity to show my appreciation and share all the amazing things I have had a chance to be involved in since 1979.
The first performance of 'The Lounge Suite', though it wasn’t called that at the time, was the beginning of a 12 year long scholarship programme. The programme allowed for a young Gladstone local to win a scholarship to further their creative tertiary studies, whether it be acting, singing or dance.
Having spent some time changing the format, it has now morphed into stories on stage, about people I have worked with, on stage. It is a sort of anecdotal, all singing all dancing storytelling revue. It includes stories about Rhonda Burchmore, David Atkins, Todd McKenney and Donald O’Connor to name a few.
I am excited to be sharing the stage this time around with my Lovely Loungin' Ladies, Jenny Usher and Maureen Bowra who both have an incredible energy and passion for performance. This show features songs from the Ultimate Rat Pack with tunes from Frankie, Deano and Sammy as well as Nat King Cole, Peter Allen and Gene Kelly.
If the audience gets half as much enjoyment and entertainment out of the show as we have putting it together it’s going to be a great time.”
– Dale Pengelly
The first inception of the show was in 2003 as a thank you to the people of Gladstone, who in 1979 put on a benefit to raise money for my school fees at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. The benefit raised $1,100 which was a fair chunk of money in the '70s and I always had in my mind that I would like the opportunity to show my appreciation and share all the amazing things I have had a chance to be involved in since 1979.
The first performance of 'The Lounge Suite', though it wasn’t called that at the time, was the beginning of a 12 year long scholarship programme. The programme allowed for a young Gladstone local to win a scholarship to further their creative tertiary studies, whether it be acting, singing or dance.
Having spent some time changing the format, it has now morphed into stories on stage, about people I have worked with, on stage. It is a sort of anecdotal, all singing all dancing storytelling revue. It includes stories about Rhonda Burchmore, David Atkins, Todd McKenney and Donald O’Connor to name a few.
I am excited to be sharing the stage this time around with my Lovely Loungin' Ladies, Jenny Usher and Maureen Bowra who both have an incredible energy and passion for performance. This show features songs from the Ultimate Rat Pack with tunes from Frankie, Deano and Sammy as well as Nat King Cole, Peter Allen and Gene Kelly.
If the audience gets half as much enjoyment and entertainment out of the show as we have putting it together it’s going to be a great time.”
– Dale Pengelly
