This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Tori Bullard: Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Stage Door Podcast.

[0:04] Eliza Gunther: Today we're talking to a very special guest, but before we get started with that, we're gonna go to our news bulletin.

[0:14] Tori Bullard: The In the Heights film has been postponed till summer 2021.

[0:19] Eliza Gunther: The big screen adaptation of Lynn Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning Broadway musical is now slated to hit theatres June 18, 2021, due to theatre closures caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

[0:32] Tori Bullard: Which, of course, is understandable, but it's still so heartbreaking to the theatre community, especially with the state of the theatre world at the moment.

[0:40] Eliza Gunther: This is the last week for the National Theatre at Home, and they're going out with a bang with William Shakespeare's romantic comedy, The Twelfth Night.

[0:49] Tori Bullard: And last but not least, we now have a Facebook page.

[0:52] Eliza Gunther: You can check us out over on Facebook at Stage Door Podcast.

[0:56] Tori Bullard: So come by, say hi, and give us a like.

[0:59] Eliza Gunther: But that's it for the bulletin this week. Back over to you, Libby.

[1:02] Tori Bullard: Today we have another guest for you, our favourite bite-sized performer, Elizabeth Evans.

[1:07] Eliza Gunther: Liz is the creator of the one-woman cabaret, the Mini Marilyn.

[1:12] Tori Bullard: She was also the director of the Australian premiere production of Glory Days in 2014 and is a member of the professional tap company Girls on Tap, which travelled to New York City to perform as part of the Rave Theatre Festival in 2019.

[1:27] Eliza Gunther: Recently, myself and Tori performed alongside Liz in Reprise Theatre Company's inaugural show, Tales of Favot, which is how we met this absolute pocket rocket of a performer.

[1:38] Tori Bullard: Please welcome to the mic, Liz.

[1:41] Elizabeth Evans: Woo! Hi guys, or gals, I should say.

[1:44] Eliza Gunther: Hi.

[1:45] Tori Bullard: Hi, thank you so much for coming on with us today.

[1:48] Elizabeth Evans: Oh, thank you for having me. I'm very excited and nervous.

[1:51] Tori Bullard: All the feelings.

[1:52] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, you have nothing to be nervous about, it's fine.

[1:55] Tori Bullard: So we're gonna be asking you a couple of questions today, just about your performance experience and a little bit about the shows you've been in and the way you've created your own cabaret.

[2:07] Eliza Gunther: So I guess we wanted to start off by asking how you got into your music theatre journey.

[2:12] Tori Bullard: And we did notice that you did GFO's Annie, which is incredible. Was this a turning point to turn it into a career?

[2:19] Elizabeth Evans: I guess I had a pretty similar experience to a lot of theatre kids. My mum is a retired music teacher, so we always had musicals playing in the house.

[2:28] Elizabeth Evans: Cats and Lamies were like the big two that were always playing.

[2:33] Tori Bullard: Yeah, so iconic.

[2:35] Elizabeth Evans: And so from a really young age, I was doing singing lessons and dance lessons and speech and drama, and then that very quickly led to a Steadford's and competitions.

[2:45] Eliza Gunther: Of course.

[2:47] Elizabeth Evans: I think as a kid though, I was never the most talented in the room, and I would never get the first places as a kid, but I think I was the one that always wanted to keep doing it and keep going.

[2:57] Elizabeth Evans: Mum and dad would get to the point where they would say, oh no, I think maybe you've got too much on your plate as a nine-year-old.

[3:04] Elizabeth Evans: But I was the one that was like, no, no, no, I we can fit this in, we can fit this extra competition into like my schedule, it's fine.

[3:11] Elizabeth Evans: So I was definitely the one that was like, I have to do more. Like I was just really hungry for it.

[3:16] Elizabeth Evans: And then when I was 10, that's when I did Annie.

[3:20] Elizabeth Evans: And I remember so I remember the audition process so clearly compared to the actual season.

[3:27] Elizabeth Evans: And once we started rehearsing and once we started performing.

[3:30] Elizabeth Evans: I just remember I did I did so many bad no-no things auditioning.

[3:36] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, I wore a stretched denim skirt with leggings.

[3:41] Eliza Gunther: Oh my god.

[3:42] Elizabeth Evans: Why? Why?

[3:43] Elizabeth Evans: And we and the first thing we did was a dance call why would you do that no but I wore a really bright orange top and I was like that'll make the panel remember me but it must have it must have made some kind of impression because I remember it was quite a while from the last day of callbacks like it was like a three-day audition callback process in Brisbane and then it was about three to four weeks before I got the phone call and I remember mum took the call told me I was so excited so happy and the first thing I did was I called my dance teacher and then we had to say we had to like beg and like tell her you can't tell anyone yet because they were really specific on don't say anything until we do an official because of release like official press announcement but then but then it made it so much sweeter when we were able to tell everyone yeah but yeah it was a it was a really fun hard working process and I think that I think the big turnaround for me and I don't know whether this is a positive or a negative because I sometimes tell people and they're like um I got to know really quickly at a young age at 10 what a professional performer's life and work ethic would need to be like to sustain a career.

[5:06] Tori Bullard: And you got to work with Anthony Wallow what was that like?

[5:06] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, he was lovely I uh I just remember when uh he would come in it was business.

[5:18] Elizabeth Evans: Like it was showtime.

[5:18] Elizabeth Evans: You had to you had to be on your best behaviour.

[5:21] Elizabeth Evans: You couldn't muck around and joke around when when Mr. Wallow walked in to do a scene or to do something with the kids.

[5:28] Elizabeth Evans: It was like it was on time.

[5:31] Elizabeth Evans: And I think that that would teach you so early in life about like the rehearsal process.

[5:37] Elizabeth Evans: And while it's like fine, and it's something that I've I think we've both found, Libby and I, or probably all of us, that there are times when you're like, okay, like this is okay.

[5:46] Elizabeth Evans: It's fine to like have fun and joke around.

[5:48] Elizabeth Evans: There's times it's like, okay, stop, we gotta get stuff done now.

[5:50] Tori Bullard: Yeah, and I um that feeling and mentality, having that as a kid, that's probably the the biggest thing that stuck with me.

[6:00] Elizabeth Evans: And I don't know if you guys noticed when we were rehearsing Tales of Favot.

[6:04] Elizabeth Evans: I was always one of the first people that was like, okay, guys, let's do this scene, let's do this number, let's get it done.

[6:10] Elizabeth Evans: We can joke afterwards, and I'm like that with everything, whether it's rehearsing my own stuff or girls on tap or any project I'm doing, I'm like, do the work first, and then we can have fun later.

[6:23] Elizabeth Evans: And I think Annie was the I don't want to say trigger, but I guess yeah, maybe the the the trigger of that, like the the start of the sentence for what's to come.

[6:32] Elizabeth Evans: I think it's just something that you really need to know that it's like okay to have like the fun and the jokes, but you do need to know when it's time to be like, okay, cool, let's get down to business.

[6:41] Eliza Gunther: Absolutely, and look, I think on the opposite side of the spectrum, I sometimes wonder um was performing in a professional musical at the age of 10 and having such high expectations put on me at that age, was that a healthy thing?

[6:57] Elizabeth Evans: I don't know. Would I recommend my children doing it? I don't know.

[7:02] Eliza Gunther: Yeah, um, but at the same time, it was the best, it was the best fun, and I'm uh still it's been one of the best performing experiences I probably will ever have.

[7:12] Tori Bullard: So I wanted to ask, what was the experience and the process like taking Girls on Tap to perform as part of the Rave Theatre Festival in New York City?

[7:23] Elizabeth Evans: Like, what was that festival itself?

[7:27] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, so Rave Theatre Festival is it was its first year last year.

[7:34] Elizabeth Evans: Basically, to kind of put it into the best perspective for Australian audiences, I would say it's um a fringe festival, uh, but very I would say very niche.

[7:44] Elizabeth Evans: Uh, and it's run by a man called Ken Davenport.

[7:48] Elizabeth Evans: Now he runs an amazing podcast, and I can't recommend this podcast enough.

[7:52] Elizabeth Evans: It's called The Producer's Perspective, and it is incredible, and I would really recommend anyone that likes theatre, wants to work in theatre, or wants to produce their own theatre, listen to this podcast because he's a very well-known producer of Broadway musicals and plays.

[8:11] Elizabeth Evans: Um he basically every week just has one of his friends, and they just talk about uh musicals or anything they've worked on, and just tidbits and advice, but it's it's a lot of things that you wouldn't think of.

[8:24] Elizabeth Evans: And I got onto that podcast when I first started um developing Minnie and her show, and then coincidentally, Girls on Tap is run by the incredible Sally Dashwood, and I can't rave about her enough.

[8:38] Elizabeth Evans: She's a queen, and I'm a cast member of the show, and we'd uh previously performed a season at Glen Street Theatre um in February, so that show was a two act um 90 80 to 90 minute show, and for Rave Theatre Festival, they are really strict on we want 60 minutes, neatly wrapped up in a bow show.

[9:02] Elizabeth Evans: So the process for taking the show over to New York was different because a lot of the time I've been in projects or even with Minnie, where you have to flesh it out and you have to try and add things to make the show longer.

[9:16] Elizabeth Evans: This was the first time where we had to go, right? We've got a two-act show.

[9:19] Elizabeth Evans: How can we consolidate this into a strict 60 minutes?

[9:24] Elizabeth Evans: What are the best bits we can use?

[9:27] Elizabeth Evans: So that was a really fun and interesting process working with Sally as choreographer and creator, and then her husband Tim Dashwood, um, he was our director, and it was really fun um working out how to strip it back and make it a really great, concise 60-minute production.

[9:48] Elizabeth Evans: Um, also with the idea that we were traveling overseas, we can't take sets and lots of props, and so it was as well going, okay.

[9:59] Elizabeth Evans: How can we do that same show that we did at Glen Street, which had beautiful sets and amazing props and immaculate costumes?

[10:07] Elizabeth Evans: How can we take that and take those elements, technical elements as well, and take them over to New York?

[10:13] Elizabeth Evans: So there was lots of really fun problem solving that I felt very privileged to be a part of as well, and I found it to be a really collaborative experience.

[10:21] Elizabeth Evans: I think dance lends itself to that being a bit more collaborative than just um a musical with choreography, like when it's a dance-led piece.

[10:32] Tori Bullard: So yeah, that's incredible.

[10:34] Eliza Gunther: And did you find any differences between like the American scene and American music theatre scene as opposed to the Australian scene here?

[10:42] Elizabeth Evans: Was there lots of differences?

[10:44] Elizabeth Evans: I wouldn't say there were lots of differences.

[10:47] Elizabeth Evans: I would say the biggest difference was that the theatre and performing community in New York, it really has such a sense of camaraderie and family, even more than I think what the Sydney scene does.

[11:10] Tori Bullard: As you do.

[11:11] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, as you do.

[11:12] Elizabeth Evans: And the girl that was serving me was asking what I was doing, and I explained I was there for some shows, and she asked about the shows, and she said she'd heard of Rave Theatre Festival and she was asking about Girls on Tap.

[11:23] Elizabeth Evans: And then she asked what nights we were performing and how many shows we had left, and then she came to see a performance.

[11:29] Tori Bullard: Oh no way.

[11:30] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, just a girl I met at Capezio.

[11:33] Elizabeth Evans: And then we had the same, we had the same experience when we went to take class at Broadway Dance Centre.

[11:38] Eliza Gunther: Oh my gosh, you got to do a Broadway dance centre.

[11:41] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, yeah, it was amazing.

[11:43] Elizabeth Evans: It was amazing.

[11:43] Elizabeth Evans: We did a um a tap class with Shay Sullivan, who's an incredible, incredible um tapper, Broadway legend.

[11:50] Elizabeth Evans: She learned from Gregory Hines, who's an incredible tapper.

[11:54] Elizabeth Evans: Uh he he was incredible.

[11:56] Elizabeth Evans: It definitely does feel different.

[11:58] Elizabeth Evans: Like when I've when I went and did my course at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, it's I was really scared of this, you know, everything being like really like competitive and like and whilst it is competitive and cutthroat, like the pianist for my course was like, oh hey, um, such and such is doing this audition.

[12:19] Elizabeth Evans: I think it'd be great. Why don't you go along? And I'm like, oh, you like me? You want me to go? Oh. Like, you want you want me to okay. Well, yeah, and like same when I went to Laduca. They're just so supportive and they want to support other creators in their industry, which we still do have here, but it feels almost more welcoming.

[12:39] Elizabeth Evans: Definitely, and I think look, I'm guilty of it as well. When you see someone putting on a show or having a show, and you see the Facebook event and you click maybe or you click going and then you don't end up going for whatever reason. I find that that's a lot more prevalent in Sydney, whereas in New York, yeah. I met I met the girl at Capezio and she came to see a show that night. Like, um I mean, and then that lends itself to the argument of well, I guess theatre in New York's a lot more accessible, there's different price points, there's more to choose from. Like, there's that whole cyclical argument that you could have all day.

[13:16] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, there's something going on, like I think I went and saw something every single day or every single night, like there was never a lack of whether it be pro-am or off Broadway or Broadway or independent or new, like there's just so much variety, and like you said, different price points and opportunities, like they eat, breathe, sleep, theatre.

[13:40] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, if if theatre is their thing, that's what that's what they do and see in New York. And I remember we only had we had two nights off when we were there, and both nights we all saw a show.

[13:52] Tori Bullard: So you also featured on Channel 7's All Together Now. What was that experience like? And what what exactly was the show?

[14:02] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, that was awesome. So it was two years ago now. Um really yeah, it was 2018. I can't believe it.

[14:10] Elizabeth Evans: Oh wow, time flies. I know, I feel like I need just it only just said, and I think because it's still on 7 Plus and people can still watch it, they're like, oh that would that only aired yesterday. It didn't, yeah.

[14:22] Elizabeth Evans: Um so I had heard that there was a show that was going to be filming that was using lots of different judges from the performing and arts and entertainment industries. Uh and I thought and I it was funny, I thought about chasing the lead that I heard it from and trying to get a name and but it all kind of seemed too hard.

[14:45] Elizabeth Evans: And I had just finished the Sydney season of my Mini Marilyn show, and I thought, oh, I just I'm just gonna have a rest. Like that seems too hard basket. Don't worry about it, it's fine. And then I was at my day job. Uh I work casually at the Australian National Maritime Museum, and I got a phone call and I answered it, and I thought I thought it was someone pranking me or having a laugh, and it was an executive producer for the show.

[15:16] Elizabeth Evans: And they said, Yeah, and they for Ender Mol Shine, and they said, Um, we've we've found Mini Marilyn on social media, you've popped up. Um, you know, would you like to be involved? And they pitched the show to me, and instantly I and I said to the the man on the phone, oh that's really funny. I was gonna try and find you, and he laughed and he said, Oh, it's meant to be then, and yeah, the rest is history.

[15:42] Tori Bullard: So um that's amazing that they found you and were just instantly kind of because obviously we saw that Brendan Delahay was on it as well.

[15:51] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, and I feel like you both have that similar, whilst you're very different, you both have that effervescent personality. It's just like obviously it's what they wanted on the show. They wanted big fun personality.

[16:05] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, so um Brendan was actually who I heard the uh the lead from about the show. And the funny thing is so Brendan is probably my first friend that I made in Sydney when I moved down to go to AIM.

[16:20] Elizabeth Evans: Oh wow. Um he was the year above me. So when I was in second year at AIM, he no, when I was in first year, he was a second year. Uh so um he yeah, he's a dear dear friend of mine, one of my best friends, probably for life.

[16:34] Elizabeth Evans: And um, yeah, he told me that he had been asked to be on the show, and I was a bit envious, and I was like, oh, that would be something really fun too. Oh, I'm a bit jealous. And then yeah, a week later I got the call as well, and um it was it was so much fun.

[16:50] Elizabeth Evans: It was a very busy, in again, intense time. Um, I learned very quickly how TV is very different to theatre.

[17:00] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, I actually found it a lot more demanding just in terms of filming the show, and because it was like a reality light entertainment program, you had to be on, and I say that in inverted commas, you had to be on the 12 to 14 hours you were there filming.

[17:16] Elizabeth Evans: So, because as well, I was Minnie and she's a whole different energy and personality to what I am in everyday life. It it's um it's a lot of energy that you're investing to stay on and bubbly and alive on it on a TV camera.

[17:31] Tori Bullard: Yeah.

[17:31] Elizabeth Evans: I've definitely found the energy from doing like film and television is it is completely different, and depending on what you're doing, and I feel like that's completely different because it's also live.

[17:41] Elizabeth Evans: It was very tiring time, but I'm glad Tori, you know exactly what I'm talking about that idea of it's it's takes a lot of energy did you get to meet anyone any of the other celebrities that you were like oh my gosh I've seen you for a long time absolutely I've read Rhonda Birchmore's book cover to cover so much that the first copy I bought when I was in year eleven I ruined it from overreading it I think I broke the spine and half the book fell out so I bought another I bought another copy recently after that and then yeah to she's she's one of my real life absolute idols that I look up to so much and to work with her and develop a friendship and she's an amazing woman and I don't know if either of you watched her and I'm a celebrity oh yeah get me out of here she's like but that's that is honestly what she's like she's a gem so just just she's so genuine absolutely when watching her I I'm like oh I can't believe we got to meet her she I would love to meet her.

[18:46] Tori Bullard: She seems like such a beautiful person.

[18:48] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah and amazing other performers like Lara Mulquay Sylvie Palladino Amanda Harrison again all these powerhouse women that I've looked up to for years that you know when you're in high school they're they're killing it and you're going yep I want to I want to be like that one day and um yeah and it's it's that whole thing of meeting your idols and and what do you do?

[19:14] Tori Bullard: Yeah did you freak out or the biggest internal freak out.

[19:18] Elizabeth Evans: Huge.

[19:19] Tori Bullard: And on that topic of all together now, we thought we'd talk a little bit about your character Mini Marilyn.

[19:24] Tori Bullard: So your self-devised cabaret, the Mindy Marilyn, has toured throughout Australia to sold out performances, which is absolutely incredible. How did you come up with the alter ego of Marilyn?

[19:34] Elizabeth Evans: Well, um, so Mini Marilyn is actually a combination of Marilyn Monroe, but also the best pieces of other female performers that I find really inspiring. The show is made up of songs not just by Marilyn, but there's also Kylie, Lady Gaga, Pink, the Spice Girls, um Doris Day.

[19:54] Elizabeth Evans: There's a lot of female performers that I looked up to both as a kid and now as a professional performer. I came up with her originally uh the idea was you both have seen Moulin Rouge, the movie.

[20:07] Tori Bullard: Yes.

[20:07] Elizabeth Evans: So you know, in the movie where Christian and all his crew, just before they go into the Moulin Rouge, they're having their absinthe party, and then the Green Fairy played by Carly Minogue pops up.

[20:21] Elizabeth Evans: That's what that that scene and that idea of this like little up. That's what I originally wanted Mini Marilyn to be. But over time it's developed and gone into different places.

[20:36] Elizabeth Evans: But originally it was I wanted her to be like a because I really love cocktails.

[20:41] Tori Bullard: Yeah.

[20:41] Elizabeth Evans: I love alcohol. I wanted Mini Marilyn to be that same idea of she's actually a cocktail that's come to life.

[20:47] Tori Bullard: I love that.

[20:48] Elizabeth Evans: So the first show that I did in um Southeast Queensland, the first season, was a lot more of that idea. Like I started the show as myself and then consumed this cocktail that I had made for the audience in Verda Commas, and then all of a sudden I transform on stage into the Mini Marilyn.

[21:07] Tori Bullard: Oh, that's really interesting.

[21:09] Elizabeth Evans: And then the rest of the show, I told stories and spoke about cocktails and spoke about Marilyn and the show's a bit different to that now.

[21:20] Elizabeth Evans: The whole show I am Mini Marilyn and um appear on stage and sing all this different music. And now it's I really prefer the show now. It's at a place where the show really is about celebrating women, celebrating how great female performers are, music written and performed by females, um, and there is that love of cocktails and drinks as well in it.

[21:44] Elizabeth Evans: But it's a lot more pro-life and love, and it's a lot more empowering than what I originally thought it would be. Uh and I didn't originally mean it to be influenced by anything to do with the hashtag Me Too era or what was going on.

[21:58] Elizabeth Evans: But I think now more than ever it's even uh in in a more positive light that um this show is so pro-female. And I um also like coincidentally for the Melbourne season, I had an all-female cast and crew.

[22:14] Tori Bullard: Oh you don't get very often.

[22:16] Elizabeth Evans: No, you don't. I love when women support women, you know, in especially in theatre, having, you know, um directors or music directors, tech people, like lighting, costume, everything if they're all female, that is really rare to find.

[22:30] Elizabeth Evans: Absolutely, and it's and um it's a really positive and empowering experience both on stage and offstage, and I really love that.

[22:39] Tori Bullard: That's amazing.

[22:39] Elizabeth Evans: And uh did you find that you came into any difficulties or roadblocks when you were creating the show?

[22:46] Elizabeth Evans: Um, look, I'll be honest, I think the most difficult part and the biggest roadblock I think anyone would face wh writing their own material, creating their own project, is money. You need money to do things.

[23:00] Elizabeth Evans: Um so for me it was really okay, how am I gonna finance this sensibly? Um I don't want to sell off my life, the universe and everything just to do one season.

[23:15] Elizabeth Evans: Um so it was it was how to how to not cut corners but how to make sensible decisions about the show.

[23:24] Elizabeth Evans: And be business savvy.

[23:25] Elizabeth Evans: Yeah, business savvy with the creative mind, I think is what I definitely went in with.

[23:30] Elizabeth Evans: I mean, now I'm at a point where I would love haha shameless plug. I would love for an investor or a producer to come on board and collaborate, uh and that kind of thing.

[23:42] Elizabeth Evans: But it's really hard. It's it's it's a really hard thing, uh, and I really take my hat off to anyone, big or small, that have their own shows or companies.

[23:52] Elizabeth Evans: Um, I think it's a really hard thing to do and it's one of those areas that I really hope that we all keep supporting each other and um each other's original ideas and works and shows because you know, these these big companies that put on these big national tours, they only employ so many people.

[24:13] Elizabeth Evans: It's that same argument. They only employ so many people, so we all have to find and make work elsewhere, which I know that you both would have both got preached at about. Create your own opportunities. And that's so smart of you to be able to have done that. And it's such an achievement to have worked so hard outside of your own show to put that on. And I think that's really amazing to see that you actually got the funds yourself. You're the one that really pushed and worked hard for it and then has this incredible outcome that has done really well. Like that is a huge achievement. That is awesome.

[24:50] Tori Bullard: Thank you. That's so kind of you.

[24:52] Elizabeth Evans: No, it's just awesome. And we wanted to know a little bit about what was the process for creating your cabaret. Were there many other people involved? Obviously, no producers, but like, you know.

[25:04] Elizabeth Evans: I worked out very quickly that no matter what I did, I wanted Brendan to design it. Because he's incredible. And if you don't follow his Instagram, again, shameless plug Brendan Delahay, he just comes up with the most amazing, visually spectacular photos of even what he's wearing that day to do housework. It's incredible. So I just knew that whatever I did, it had to be designed and costumed by Brendan. I initially went straight for okay, what songs do I want to sing first? And then I base the rest of the show from that. So once I had a good working running song list, which I developed with my amazing musical director Benjamin Keener. So clever, can whip out arrangements of things that I would never dream of, of songs, so he's great.

[25:55] Eliza Gunther: That's really convenient to have someone that when you're developing the songs to come up with different arrangements so that your cabaret is unique in itself. That's really interesting.

[26:04] Elizabeth Evans: Absolutely. I really wanted a lot of the material to have that postmodern jukebox vintagey sound, that swing big band kind of sound. And I mean the next step now for the show is I want to have like a three, four, five piece band eventually.

[26:22] Tori Bullard: Oh, that'd be amazing.

[26:24] Elizabeth Evans: So that's again something else that I'm working towards for the next incarnation of the show. So once I had a good running song list and music list and have great arrangements that I developed with Ben, it was okay, what do I need now? Yes, I've got room to have two backing dancers. Let's get those, get them in, let's choreograph some routines, let's block the show, let's work out script. And just adding layers to it, with the final step being okay, rehearse, run, perform the show.

[26:58] Eliza Gunther: Now I wanted to ask if you had any advice for those who want to create their own cabaret, like what would your advice to those people be?

[27:05] Elizabeth Evans: Do it. That's my advice. Um, do it, don't be afraid that it's going to be different from what other people are doing. One thing that I got told very quickly was, well, why don't you just do a Marilyn show? Why do you have to, that would be easier? Why don't you just do a Marilyn show and make it autobiographical? Why does it have to be an original character with all different music? Well, that's because I wanted to celebrate a multitude of things. I didn't want to just go on stage in a white dress and a blonde wig and sing all of Marilyn's biggest hits. Yeah, which would have been easy to do, but I didn't want to go down that avenue. I wanted to be original and different. Go with the different and the unusual and the unknown and the original.

It doesn't have to be like everyone else, or like what everyone else is performing and presenting. If you've got an idea that's different and unique, embrace it. The world wants to see new ideas and new stories. We can only tell the same story so many times over before it becomes old.

[28:11] Tori Bullard: What do you think has been one of your favourite memories from touring with Mini Marilyn or touring with Girls on Tap even?

[28:20] Elizabeth Evans: My favourite memory probably would be out of everything other than New York, New York's like six star gold standards. I think for me, for Minnie, it's a different kind of feeling because Mini Marilyn, I feel much more proud knowing that it's my baby, and I've put this up. And I think for me, when we went to Melbourne in January last year, we did a six-night season at the Butterfly Club, and to me, I believe that Melbourne's kind of the hub of cabaret in Australia, other than the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. But to be performing in Melbourne was such a thrill because I knew so many great cabarets have performed there, and it was great exposure, and it was just yeah, a little pinch-me moment knowing that it was the third city, it was the end of like the East Coast kind of tour for Minnie, and like, hey, I did it. This is fantastic.

[29:16] Eliza Gunther: That's incredible. Well, thank you so much for everything that you have enlightened us upon through this interview with you. But before we leave, we really wanted to find out your bedtime story. So, for those of you who are listening in for the first time, we do a bedtime story, which is basically like a funny thing that has happened on stage, it could be a mishap, it could be a showman's, it could be literally anything, a costume malfunction, just something that you know everyone goes to as a performer. There's always some story.

[29:53] Elizabeth Evans: Exactly. I would love to know if you have a bedtime story that you could share with us today.

[29:58] Elizabeth Evans: I do. Oh, I'm ready. If my mum was ready to hear this, she's gonna lull her head off. Alright, so as a kid, actually as a teenager, I was always the kid at my dance school that would have costume malfunctions. So there are so many dance concert DVDs where I lose a hat mid-routine and everyone else is dancing, or a bra strap flies, or a hair piece flies off, and the fact that there's physical evidence of this is terrifying because I feel like one day someone very cruel in my life will just make a big compilation of it all. Anyway, I was always the kid that would have costume malfunctions at a Steadford's or concerts. So this came full circle. I thought going to university and then working professionally, it would never ever happen again because I was a big person now, and that only happens when you're young and silly. No.

[30:59] Elizabeth Evans: So when I was, I must have been 22 or 23, I was performing in the Harry McClarey children's musical at the Sydney Opera House, which was so much fun. I played Schnitzel von Crum, the very low tongue, the sausage dog in that show. It was so much fun. That was my first professional gig out of AIM. So it was awesome. And it was children's performing, which I have a real big secret love for. So it was wonderful to do that. Anyway, the first, it's a 70-minute children's show. The first half of the show, my track was just Schnitzel, and I wore a toe-to-head lycra suit, dog suit, and then like a big, I actually can't remember if it was paper mache or fiberglass, I think paper mache, but a big schnitzel dash hound head with enough room to have my headset inside and eyes and eye holes and breathing holes, so it was all very safe and great.

But halfway through the show you start having to do quite a few quick changes because my track for one number I was a grandma, for another number I was a townsperson, but in between those scenes I had to go back to Schnitzel, and so a lot of the time you were having to just put things over the top of the dog suit and just zip up, so that was fine. But there was one particular costume change, which was I had to completely get out of the dog suit and be a bumblebee. I'm fairly sure. Yes, so it was just, there was just a lot of quick costume changes, and there was one day it was during the first week of performances, so our creative team hadn't gone their separate ways and left the resident director in charge, they were still there watching the shows, and one costume change.

Now these were very thick industrial zips, so I still don't know what I did. But one costume change, I was zipping out of my dog suit to get into the townsperson costume, or maybe it was the bumblebee, but I zipped it down, got changed, and then when I went back into Schnitzel, I must have completely, like I must have done too aggressive a zip. And completely pulled the zip off its stitch, and the zip was no more, the zip was gone. So there was this huge hole from my bum to my neck where the zip would be. And so all I had underneath was a leotard body stocking and my underwear. And the stage manager was also helping with our quick changes. And she said, Liz, I can't find the zip. It's not there, it's not attached to the seam, it's not on your suit, you've just got this hole.

And I said, Do we have any safety pins? And I couldn't find any safety pins nearby. And this is like 30-second quick changes we're talking about. So I ended up not going on for that number. And we found for the next number where I had to go on for Schnitzel, we found like Velcro sticky dots that we could quickly stick together and do a real quick like stick, stick, stick it all together for the last number and the curtain calls the schnitzel. But I actually can't, I actually still to this day don't know what they did for the number that I was meant to go on as. And Schnitzel just never appeared. Everyone just had such a laugh because they said with every season they've done this show, there's always one person that has this super duper costume malfunction.

[34:37] Tori Bullard: Oh my god!

[34:39] Elizabeth Evans: Of course. And that night I called both my mum and my old dance teacher, and they laughed. And they said, after all those years, of course, it happened in your professional career as well. But since then, touch wood, nothing, nothing has ever happened, no mini malfunctions. It's all good.

[35:02] Eliza Gunther: That's amazing. Well, thank you so much, Liz, for coming on today. And we hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We'll be back next week with another episode, and we hope to see you then.

[35:12] Elizabeth Evans: Thank you so much, ladies, for having me. And I especially want to say I think what you're doing with this podcast is fantastic. Once again, two females, it's so incredible, and I say keep doing what you're doing, and I think this is awesome. Congratulations. This is such a great idea and a great show. So well done, ladies!

[35:32] Tori Bullard: Thank you so much, Liz. That means the absolute world to us.

[35:36] Eliza Gunther: And once again, thank you so much for chatting to us today. We absolutely loved having you on, and thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge with us. It was amazing.

[35:45] Elizabeth Evans: Thank you so much for tuning in today, guys. This is the end of the episode, but do not fret. We will have a new episode coming out in two weeks' time all about theatre superstitions. But until then, stay happy and healthy. We love you guys so so much. Bye.