Composer and Educator
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James Long Composer and Educator |
Biography
| JAMES LONG has had wide experience as a director, stage manager, composer and musical director. He was musical director for Mackellar Theatre Company's Jesus Christ Superstar, The Fantastiks and Jack And The Beanstalk and for THE Theatre Company's The Mikado which he also arranged. He also MD'd Santa Meets The Bushrangers at the Zenith Theatre for which production he composed - with Melvyn Morrow as lyricist - The Ballad Of The Christmas Rain. Student productions he has directed and MD'd include The Pirates of Penzance, Ruddigore, Iolanthe, HMS Pfnafore, The Mikado, Blondel, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Wiz, L'fl Abner and Sgt Pepper@ Lonely Heartclub Band. In 1991, with Melvyn Morrow as librettist, he composed the musical, Inigo Audio Video Disco, commissioned by the Jesuit Schools of Australia. In 1992, the songwriting partnership produced the winning entry, Sydney Symphony, in the Song For Sydney Competition. They also wrote Sydney - Back To The Future, a mini-musical celebrating the first elections held in Australia. This was performed for the Sydney Sequicentenary Celebrations at the Sydney Town Hall, directed by the composer. James wrote with Melvyn A Vision For Australia, to commemorate the life of Mary MacKillop and her beatification by Pope John Paul II in January 1995. James and Melvyn created Golden Summers, the musical exhibition, and James directed the 1995 student workshop of the piece. The two collaborated on the musical, Mad Louisa Lawson, which starred Jennifer Leslie and played at the Stables Theatre in 1995. This developed in the schools musical I'm Not Henry Lawson Mother. |
This page was last revised on 04/12/98
© Alexander de Clare, Sydney 1998