THE SECRET SINGER – SAG HAS A SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW MUSICAL

Kate Mannix and Joanna Weinberg share songs from THE SECRET SINGER. Event images by Hannah-Rayne Creative.

THE SECRET SINGER is in all of us perhaps.  After all, an engineer will tell you that bathrooms really do have better acoustics than the rest of the house.  But only rarely does the secret inside burst into public spaces.  On Sunday I got to meet Jenny.  A woman whose persistence and determination to sing has not just flowered into a choral life but whose story germinated in the fertile mind of her teacher to bud and grow into a new musical for the Australian stage.

Joanna Weinberg has written and will direct THE SECRET SINGER to play at the Eternity Theatre in August and SAG was there to get a sneak peek.  The story begins with a jaded, cynical musician (Not me! insists Weinberg) who is being pestered by a student wanting to learn to sing. Genevieve Lemon and Kate Mannix play teacher and student respectively.  And the work begins with the interior complexity of Emjay who really thought she would be a star by now and to whom teaching holds little appeal.

Sung on this occasion by Weinberg as Lemon was not able to attend, the first song is an adventure in self-talk as Emjay tries to put her day face on.  Rhyme “solo” with “merlot” and you have the picture.  It begins a little lethargically as Emjay forces herself onwards, the song becoming as bright, and as brittle, as the character herself.

In the context of THE SECRET SINGER, Emjay will experience conversion as she deals with a student challenged by even the simplest vocal elements of rhythm and pitching.  Jenny doesn’t want to be a star, she just wants to sing.  7 choirs, 7 days a week is her goal and in her final song as sung for us by Mannix, Jenny does indeed appear to fly with a “voice to sky” and the voice released.

Jenny, seated to have the best view of the piano as her namesake shares through music and song, is animated and excited when Mannix crosses to hug her.  When Weinberg joins them, there is an obvious rapport between the three.  Later Mannix will chat about the intimacy and personal nature of singing.  How the breath is what connects us to the soul and how the sharing of desire and drive bonds a teacher and student.

Jenny and her namesake, sung by Kate Mannix

Jenny has since moved on to a “classical teacher” but it is evident that the instruction went both ways and THE SECRET SINGER has love and transformation at its core.  As we hear the final song of the show it is Emjay who has been educated.  The notes let go rather than held in this final piece as Emjay reflects and shares the change within.

This feels and sounds like a terrifically entertaining show with a fascinating story at its heart, rich with interesting songs and vibrant music.  Written and directed by Joanna Weinberg, starring Genevieve Lemon and Kate Mannix, Musical Direction by Matt Reid THE SECRET SINGER plays at Eternity Theatre [Facebook] 28th Aug – 9th Sep 2018.

The Secret Singer, written and directed by Joanna Weinberg.