Peter Stannard (1931-2018)
Composer
I first met Peter Standard when I interviewed him for my Masters in Musical Theatre in 2005. By that time I knew more about Australian Musicals than is acceptable in a heterosexual. At the time I was researching Peter’s extraordinary success with Lola Montez, for which he composed the original score (lyrics by Peter Benjamin and book by Alan Burke). Based on a true story, it follows proto-femme fatale Lola Montez and her outrageous (for the time) performances in the goldfields of Ballarat in 1854. Indeed, ‘Saturday Girl’, the hit song from the musical, out-sold Elvis on the local charts. Moreover, ‘Saturday Girl’ has been recorded by more artists than any other song from an Australian musical. This is extraordinary when you consider Montez hit the boards over fifty years ago.
I found Peter to be an affable fellow. We both liked a drink. He was generous with his time and it was a fun afternoon. Fortuitously for my research, at the time he had a new musical (book by Frank Hatherley) at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney. So it was opportune to bookend to his career arc for my exegesis. The new musical was about Rose Shaw, the bohemian florist, and Sydney icon who for 40 years sold flowers in Martin Place. Rosie was famous around town for singing arias while working at her stall. A true eccentric and lover of the arts, in the evenings, she attended first nights, opera, ballet, and symphony concerts in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce. It also underscored the bohemian aesthetic of Sydney’s Kings Cross. A rich and fascinating character, Rosie was prime fodder for any writer of musicals. I thought it was a pocket masterpiece. But while Geraldine Turner and Rodney Dobson were dazzling in the leads, like almost all original Australian musicals these days, it flopped at the box office.
Jump to 2018. Riverside Theatre has a revival of Lola Montez, reimagined for a local audience for one night only. Sadly, Peter never lives to see it. He dies shortly before it opens. I manage to track down the director, Stephen Helper, in The Big Apple, to canvas him about his experience with this seminal musical and particularly his thoughts on working with Peter.
‘We collaborated on the revival for a full production. He had long seen some ways to make the show better and together, over many months, we did. I treasured the experience of working with him. He was so personable. So lively. In no way bitter that his show was lost for 50 years. Indeed, I asked him to compose a new song for the score. And he did, a beautiful haunting ballad in which Lola so poignantly sings "Perhaps this is my final curtain". After a sustained effort to raise money and/or build a partnership with a state theatre company, we decided to present a professional, fully-staged (thank you Paul Mercurio!) gala concert for the show's 60th anniversary in 2018 with the help of Parramatta Riverside. Peter had a couple of falls however, his health declined and it was heartbreaking that he died about a month or so before the concert. His spirit was there though. We had a great house of 650 people and a standing ovation. Lola has an incredibly good score and Peter Benjamin crafted fantastic lyrics of Hammerstein standard in the Australian vernacular. It is brilliant and partly why it was a success in the ‘50s - and there was joy and pride in it being created by Australians telling a true story about Australia. These days, there seems to be less of a broad support for our culture - or in this case, our heritage. The real money continues to go to overseas imports and non-Australian revivals. Peter and his collaborators' legacies continue to be unappreciated but we keep working to rectify that. Lola Montez is truly the great Australian musical.’
I end our Skype call contemplating the future of original Australian musicals. Indeed, I note amateur musical societies almost never produce any new work by an Australian composer outside the very occasional Australian jukebox musical. Worthy as jukebox musicals are, a true musical uses its songs to progress the narrative. That’s what makes it a musical. In these jukebox musicals, tired Top40 hits are sledgehammered into flimsy bio-plots so we all feel cozy in the fluffy slippers of nostalgia. If only these amateur musical societies at least once, say, in five years, staged an original Australian musical that tells our own stories in the musical theatre medium, we might unearth the next Lola Montez.
I first met Peter Standard when I interviewed him for my Masters in Musical Theatre in 2005. By that time I knew more about Australian Musicals than is acceptable in a heterosexual. At the time I was researching Peter’s extraordinary success with Lola Montez, for which he composed the original score (lyrics by Peter Benjamin and book by Alan Burke). Based on a true story, it follows proto-femme fatale Lola Montez and her outrageous (for the time) performances in the goldfields of Ballarat in 1854. Indeed, ‘Saturday Girl’, the hit song from the musical, out-sold Elvis on the local charts. Moreover, ‘Saturday Girl’ has been recorded by more artists than any other song from an Australian musical. This is extraordinary when you consider Montez hit the boards over fifty years ago.
I found Peter to be an affable fellow. We both liked a drink. He was generous with his time and it was a fun afternoon. Fortuitously for my research, at the time he had a new musical (book by Frank Hatherley) at the Independent Theatre in North Sydney. So it was opportune to bookend to his career arc for my exegesis. The new musical was about Rose Shaw, the bohemian florist, and Sydney icon who for 40 years sold flowers in Martin Place. Rosie was famous around town for singing arias while working at her stall. A true eccentric and lover of the arts, in the evenings, she attended first nights, opera, ballet, and symphony concerts in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce. It also underscored the bohemian aesthetic of Sydney’s Kings Cross. A rich and fascinating character, Rosie was prime fodder for any writer of musicals. I thought it was a pocket masterpiece. But while Geraldine Turner and Rodney Dobson were dazzling in the leads, like almost all original Australian musicals these days, it flopped at the box office.
Jump to 2018. Riverside Theatre has a revival of Lola Montez, reimagined for a local audience for one night only. Sadly, Peter never lives to see it. He dies shortly before it opens. I manage to track down the director, Stephen Helper, in The Big Apple, to canvas him about his experience with this seminal musical and particularly his thoughts on working with Peter.
‘We collaborated on the revival for a full production. He had long seen some ways to make the show better and together, over many months, we did. I treasured the experience of working with him. He was so personable. So lively. In no way bitter that his show was lost for 50 years. Indeed, I asked him to compose a new song for the score. And he did, a beautiful haunting ballad in which Lola so poignantly sings "Perhaps this is my final curtain". After a sustained effort to raise money and/or build a partnership with a state theatre company, we decided to present a professional, fully-staged (thank you Paul Mercurio!) gala concert for the show's 60th anniversary in 2018 with the help of Parramatta Riverside. Peter had a couple of falls however, his health declined and it was heartbreaking that he died about a month or so before the concert. His spirit was there though. We had a great house of 650 people and a standing ovation. Lola has an incredibly good score and Peter Benjamin crafted fantastic lyrics of Hammerstein standard in the Australian vernacular. It is brilliant and partly why it was a success in the ‘50s - and there was joy and pride in it being created by Australians telling a true story about Australia. These days, there seems to be less of a broad support for our culture - or in this case, our heritage. The real money continues to go to overseas imports and non-Australian revivals. Peter and his collaborators' legacies continue to be unappreciated but we keep working to rectify that. Lola Montez is truly the great Australian musical.’
I end our Skype call contemplating the future of original Australian musicals. Indeed, I note amateur musical societies almost never produce any new work by an Australian composer outside the very occasional Australian jukebox musical. Worthy as jukebox musicals are, a true musical uses its songs to progress the narrative. That’s what makes it a musical. In these jukebox musicals, tired Top40 hits are sledgehammered into flimsy bio-plots so we all feel cozy in the fluffy slippers of nostalgia. If only these amateur musical societies at least once, say, in five years, staged an original Australian musical that tells our own stories in the musical theatre medium, we might unearth the next Lola Montez.
Dorian Mode is a professional jazz musician and the author of Café in Venice (Penguin) and Mozart Maulers (Penguin). He’s written for The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and leading magazines. He has won three ABC Music Awards (incl Best Theatrical Score) and his plays have been published here and in the UK and recently translated into Dutch and French. His first musical comedy Dishlickers, about the greyhound-racing ban, is available at Origin Theatrical.