Late, Late at the Malachi

July 18, 2024

Anyone who went to see "Late, Late at Night" at the Malachi Gilmore Hall on Friday, July 12, expecting to see just a collection of Rick Springfield's many hit records could have been disappointed about that, but that isn't what this play is all about. It's an autobiographical story of Rick Springfield's life, punctuated with songs from his history. The play was written by award-winning Australian playwright Kieran Carroll, performed by acclaimed Sydney singer-actor, Jackson Carroll (no relation), and is based on Springfield's 2010 autobiography "Late, Late At Night".

The Malachi Gilmore Hall, late at night.

Autobiographies are often criticised for presenting a sanitised version of a celebrity's life, but nobody could say that about this book and play. It deals with Springfield's long battle with depression, his unsuccessful suicide attempt at the age of 17 (he tried to hang himself but the rope became detached), his reaction to the death of his father, the highs and lows of his acting and musical careers and his determination to keep going.

Some pictures from the night.

Despite the comment in the first paragraph above, nobody could have been disappointed by the show. It was a true representation of the book, and everyone would have gone away with a new appreciation of Rick Springfield's story and his honesty in telling it.

Two audience members were definitely not disappointed. Shelly and Richard Reigh had travelled all the way from Texas to attend every performance of the play. As long time Springfield fans, it was the perfect way to spend a holiday. "We couldn't miss it," Shelly said.

Shelly and Richard came a long way to see Jackson's show.

While Jackson bears a superficial resemblance to Rick Springfield, this would never be enough to carry off a show like this. As well as requiring acting ability it needs a good memory (it's a one-man show lasting two hours), competence on more than one musical instrument and the singing voice to carry it off, and Jackson has all of these qualities. What is surprising about this play is that it isn't something which has been toured extensively with lots of performance and rehearsal time. (It was first performed in April 2022 and there was an international pay-per-view video presentation in May 2024.) In real life Jackson is a high school English teacher. "I can only do this in the school holidays," he said. This makes the effort even more impressive.

The audience, some with rugs.

One thing that was noticed in the audience was the number of people taking advantage of the rugs that had been made specially to keep knees warm at the Malachi in winter. You can see some more about the rug project here.

Johnny and Lucy at the Malachi must be congratulated for bringing yet another excellent show to the residents of Oberon.

You can find out a lot more about Rick Springfield at his web site, and of course at Wikipedia.

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Sorry, the devil made me do it.

See more cartoons from Mark Parisi here.

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