It was just great to see them not on camera, just somewhere different, see them in the flesh.
Yes.
It was very exciting.
When we were there with the cameras we spoke to some of the people coming out after your show on Tuesday night.
Have a look at this.
It was absolutely fantastic and I've got to say that not only am I a fabulous, a great fan of Michael Crawford's,
but the ensemble cast assembled from America and I guess a few from England,
because I'd seen one of them on stage in England, were just sensational in their own right.
And of course he was the cream on the cake. It was great.
It was brilliant. It was really fabulous. I enjoyed every minute of it. I could go and sit back there again.
Everybody was so very, very professional. It was fabulous.
I thought it was a marvellous show. I can see why he's as popular as he is. He's a marvellous artist.
You're terrific. Great.
Fantastic.
Absolutely fantastic. Beautiful music, beautiful artist. Fantastic.
Magic. I was here last night and again tonight. He's the phantom plus.
All right? All right. Did you enjoy yourself?
Yes.
Good. Bye night everyone.
Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
Bye.
Now marvellous was that word that kept bouncing out and it was absolutely marvellous,
but the little lady you saw at the end there, there's a special story to that because she wrote your letter, didn't she?
Yes, she did indeed. I mean this happened to arrive the night that you came
and I was going to show this to you anyway and you told me about a little girl sitting in the audience.
Well, this is the letter that, just part of the letter, saying we are travelling,
we are travelling 200 miles to Sydney from Queenby-Anne three times that week.
Mummy and Daddy must love me a lot to do that for me.
I am sending you the material off the dress I will be wearing on Thursday so that you will know me.
Thank you.
Jenny is just there.
Jenny is 11 and don't be embarrassed Jenny because in fact it's a lovely letter.
I think any parent as you would, you would be proud to get a letter or see that your daughter had written something saying
Mummy and Daddy must love me a lot to do this.
Yes, it's so charming. Whoever I read it to was really touched by it and me more than anyone
because Jenny wrote to me I think about two and a half years ago or three years ago for the first time
when she had heard Phantom and followed some mother's little, well it must have been the fourth repeat
because she is not old enough to have heard that. That was during the war.
Global one.
Yes, global war. But it does mean a lot and the people from all over Australia,
and they don't all know the Phantom, but that music reaches so many and different ages.
So I was very, very touched and always you should spend time in replying to the letters.
We used to get about 150, 160 letters a day when I was doing Phantom in America and London
and we would reply to every single letter without fail.
Can I ask you Jenny, you started at eight so for almost three years as Michael said, but what was the deal?
How come you're going three times?
Because when I was little Mum promised me if he ever came to Australia I could see him three or four times.
Now Mum I guess you figured he wasn't going to come did you?
No, I didn't think he would.
Well he did.
So you've been once and you're going tonight?
Yes, on Saturday.
And the day on Saturday?
I'm going to win the lottery on Sunday so they can pay me the tickets.
Absolutely marvellous.
Now who was your idol when you were Jenny's age? Who was your idol?
Well the very first one was Danny Kay when I was a child, a very small child, I saw him at the London Palladium
and he entertained right across the age groups and that was the kind of entertainer that obviously got through to my heart and soul.
And then when I got a little older, Gene Kelly became my hero.
Again when you look at it he goes through age groups so that the young and the old appreciate what he does and he's a charming man.
And there's a story, I actually met him.
I was asked to go and meet him in San Francisco with the chance of doing the musical Hello Dolly with Barbara Streisand and Walter Mathau.
Which you did?
Which Gene Kelly was going to direct.
They said while you're in San Francisco you're going to meet Gene Kelly.
So I arrived, it was very early in the morning and I'd flown for 13 hours from London and there was a line at the desk
and I went up and they said, oh you have a message Mr Crawford, Gene Kelly called.
And I said, I'm sorry?
They said, Gene Kelly called.
So I said, could you say that again?
So they read it again and then I looked to see on the line if they'd heard it or not.
I said, Gene Kelly called.
For me, that is for me.
Then I ran up to my room, I said, just hang on to it will you?
And I called down, I said, do I have any messages please?
And I kept calling down to get this message saying, Gene Kelly called.
And I've got this framed, I've got this framed still at home.
And then he was going to meet me at 10 o'clock that morning and I had two and a half hours to kill before I saw him.
Met him and so I had a bath and I shaved and washed my hair and thought, what am I going to wear?
And then there was still two hours to go so I had another bath and I shaved again and I washed my hair again.
I mean, after the third bath I was envisaging this bald man with no skin left on his face, opening the door to Gene Kelly.
Anyway, I got to start changing clothes and see what I'd look best in, whether I'd wear a collar and tie or things.
And I was in the most absurd outfit.
I ended up in a pair of striped pants and a check shirt and an odd jacket.
And then the door went.
So at the end of the two and a half hours I opened the door and there is Gene Kelly standing there.
And I said, oh wow.
And he shot past me, just took one very worried look at me and then shot past me into the sitting room of this bath suite they'd put me in.
And he said, now, he said, I want to know, can you sing?
I said, well, I've got jet lag at the moment.
He said, can you dance?
I said, well, I've done a bit in the bath.
And he looked at me.
There was not a digit.
And I thought, boy, this is going well.
I'm in with a chance now.
And with that he said, listen, let's not talk small talk.
So he jumped up on the coffee table because it was a carpeted floor.
And he said, see if you can do this.
And he went into a routine that looks straight out of singing in the rain.
And he finished.
He said, can you do that?
I said, well, not as well as you.
I said, you, great.
I said, I really said, come on, get up here.
So I stood up on this coffee table, went into this routine.
And I was going da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
And he looked.
He said, well, let me tell you, he said, what we're looking for is an attractive idiot.
Now, my wife, she thinks you're attractive.
And I think you're an idiot.
Well, it's very attractive.
You've actually got the job.
So let's get a break with a clip from Hello Dolly with this man.
You've got a clip.
Take the someone whose arms you're in.
Hold on to her tight and spin.
One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three.
Look, I'm dancing.
Turn around and turn around, try floating through the air.
Can't you be a little more aesthetic?
Don't you think my dancing has some polish and a flair?
The word I think I'd use is athletic.
Well, my heart is about to burst.
My head is about to pop.
And now that I'm dancing, who cares if I ever stop?
That's what.
So, everybody, I, Cornelius Hattl, sport.
I'm dancing.
The series premieres tonight, 8.30.
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That works all right.
That'll do me fine.
But how much is it?
Let's see now.
Shall we say four pounds?
Four pounds?
Do you really mean it, Mr. Duff?
I do.
Oh.
Thank you very much, Mr. Duff.
All right.
One, two, three, four.
Thank you.
Why, it's even better than Bill Taylor's.
Go on, try it.
Ha, ha, ha.
You look, you'll never do it that way, but hold it properly, you see, Jim.
Hold it firmly with the left hand around these valve stems.
That's the first thing you've got to learn.
Little finger on the duke.
Thumb there, and that leaves the three fingers free.
Go on, have a bash.
In there.
That's right, thumb down there.
Now, you've got it firmly.
Don't get too tight, just control of it.
Go on.
Ha, ha, ha.
Oh, my God.
Now, how old do you think you were then?
I was, er, I must have been 14.
OK, was it a film called A Shop Scene?
No. No? No.
Maybe it wasn't me.
Ha, ha, ha.
Oh, that's a good one.
No, it was called Blow Your Own Trumpet.
Oh, was it? Yeah.
All right, there you go. The shop scene from Blow Your Own.
Late night in hotels.
Did you actually play the cornet?
No, I mean, I tried to learn, but it was something I couldn't achieve,
as that was the best I did there.
But I had my first screen kiss in that,
which was with a dog.
This is it. You've got it.
My pants come down while I'm playing.
And this... Oh, you're going to see it.
And this is the first...
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Oh, my God.
What is that?
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
What have I done to deserve this?
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
What the hell?
It's like this is your life, isn't it?
This is... Yes.
Yes, this is your life in the worst way.
Ha, ha, ha.
So you don't play the cornet?
No, who cares? I don't know.
Is there anyone in the audience who plays the cornet?
This gentleman's name down here, his name is Peter Beddow.
And Peter, in fact,
he's the man who played the cornet in that film
way back when, when you were 14.
You played it for me?
Here's the man who... You made those sounds then?
I hope you've improved.
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Dear, oh dear.
You better get in the band, will you?
So you're obviously a professional musician.
Did you then come to live in Australia?
No, I'm not a professional musician.
I do it for enjoyment.
I'm playing a brass band, actually.
And so when did you come to Australia?
1968.
Now you mentioned another connection.
The little girl that was there playing my sister...
Gillian Harrison.
...is called Gillian Harrison.
And last week in Brisbane, I had this note saying,
I don't suppose you'll remember me from 37 years ago,
but I was working with you and signed Gillian, your little sister,
and then sent me a photo of the two of us.
And that was her.
Look at her, bless her heart.
And she came to see me in Brisbane doing the concerts.
It was wonderful to see her.
She's just as pretty now as she was then.
Alright, lots of surprises then.
I don't have the rest of the script, but last week when you were here,
we gave you a gold album
for Michael Crawford Performs Andrew Lloyd Webber,
which he didn't know about at all.
Well, now we're going to give you a platinum album.
This is Where It's Gone Australia.
So here we are.
Thank you. Look at the size of it.
So normally it takes other artists months and months and months
to achieve that if they ever achieve it,
but you've managed to do that in just over a week or so in Australia.
Well, it's no small thanks to the Midday Show, I think.
After last week, the reaction was extraordinary.
So thank you very, very much, everyone out there.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Moving right along.
Next time you come back, what happens after platinum?
Is there a triple platinum or something?
Alright.
Can I ask you about that? Hello, Dolly.
When you move with people like Barbra Streisand,
was it harder to do the film than to do a stage play, for example?
A stage show?
In a way, you have to find the emotion all of a sudden.
When we're singing songs, if we're doing a production like Phantom,
you begin at the beginning, you go through the centre of the story,
and you finish, there's the climax of the story.
And in film, you pick it up anywhere.
I mean, there's a beautiful love scene in there
where I sing a song called It Only Takes a Moment,
which is a lovely sentiment that you actually meet someone,
you look them in the eyes, and you know there's some connection between you,
you know there's a wonderful feeling, and the song was called
It Only Takes a Moment for your eyes to meet and then your heart knows in a moment you may...
So that had to be spontaneous, and we were doing it from midnight
until 6am in the morning, we shot this with Gene Kelly standing behind the camera,
and you do it from every possible angle, because it's a $20 million movie,
and in those days that was the largest musical ever made.
So you sing and you sing and you sing, all the tracks are done before you,
so you're actually singing with a track, you can mime, but it's best to sing with the track.
And I sang it and I sang it and I sang it, and in every take, it moved me, it made me cry.
And at the end of a long, long night shooting, we did one master take and I finished,
and the tears were running down my face, and I looked over to see if Gene liked it,
and there were tears just running down his face, and he came over and he just hugged me,
he said, you little mudder.
And that man, he was a hero, a real life hero, that you meet someone and you admire someone,
and when you meet them in real life, he never ever failed me, he never let me down,
he never let anyone down when we were working together.
He was a true Irish gent and always had such love for his work.
Part of the reason I asked that is a lovely story.
When I saw you the other night, I was conscious, we were about five rows from the front,
and I was conscious when you sang a song when you go to show in a moment,
of how quiet the theatre was, and I heard a lady cough once behind me,
and I could see you clearly, and I thought, I wonder whether he hears that up there,
and then I thought, well no, he's so deeply involved in the emotion of the song,
he doesn't hear it.
So when I spoke to you afterwards, I said, did you hear the cough?
Yes, it was like a cannon shot.
This is one lovely thing about the concert, you have a 40-piece orchestra,
90% of which is Australian and 85% of which are ladies, so it's a great tour.
And then the rest, you have a big group backstage plus all our singers, 12 singers,
who are wonderful, wonderful, very carefully chosen, very special people, very special singers,
and then you have this audience of 2,000, 2,500 people.
So when you sing and create a mood, like in music of the night, you can hear the silence,
you hear nothing, absolutely nothing, and the very last song I sang the other night was an encore,
it was a plaintive little love song called Tell Me on a Sunday,
and I started to sing and there was silence and I get to the end,
and just as I'm hitting the last, I hear this woman cough and it banged out in my head,
because your computer's going like crazy anyway thinking you're moved,
but any intrusion from the sound that you're used to, it just blasts, a shot in the place,
and it did that night, so no, there's no way it missed my attention.
It wasn't very loud by the way.
And I thought everyone would hear it, but you heard it.
In fact, we're going to show it. You may hear it, you may hear it, but much better is the song.
For all the fans who couldn't get to see Michael perform, here is a world exclusive,
Mr Michael Crawford performing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tell Me on a Sunday.
Don't write a letter when you want to leave.
Don't call me at 3 a.m. from a friend's apartment.
I'd like to choose how I hear the news.
Take me to a park that's covered with trees.
Tell me on a Sunday, please.
Let me down easy, no big song dance.
No long faces, no long looks, no deep conversation.
I know the way we should spend that day.
Take me to a zoo that's got chimpanzees.
Tell me on a Sunday, please.
Don't want to know who's to blame, there's no point knowing.
Don't want to fight day and night, bad enough you're going.
Don't leave in silence with no word at all.
Don't get mad and slam the door, that's no way to end this.
I know I want you to say goodbye.
Find a circus room with a flying trapeze.
Tell me on a Sunday, please.
Don't want to fight day and night, bad enough you're going.
Don't leave in silence with no word at all.
Don't get mad and slam the door, that's no way to end this.
I know I want you to say goodbye.
Don't run a hindrance or a prey.
Don't call me as they call your play.
Take my burden of all the pain.
Take me to a park that's covered with trees.
Tell me on a Sunday, please.
Don't get mad and slam the door, that's no way to end this.
I know I want you to say goodbye.
Don't get mad and slam the door, that's no way to end this.
I know I want you to say goodbye.
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Rambo. The Terminator.
Finnegan. LaGuardia Gambini.
What kind of law do you practice?
Well, up until now, personal injury.
I think we should meet with the public defender.
The prosecution's case is circumstantial.
Fran. Joe Pesci.
In the funniest comedy of the year.
I'm enjoying myself so far.
My cousin Vinnie.
From the inside, we all...
Well, not every kid gets to meet the Queen, but as a young girl, Dawn Lorraine Fraser thought it was just all a part of growing up.
The difference was that she grew up as the daughter of Australia's favourite daughter.
Would you please welcome our Dawnie and her daughter, Dawn Lorraine.
I love your time. Nice to meet you.
Now listen, let's bring Michael up to date.
I'm sure he knows who Dawn is, but Dawn is one of our national treasures.
She won four gold and four silver medals in not one, not two, but three Olympic Games.
She has always been a fantastic ambassador for sport.
But you're no stranger to the tension of international sport yourself, are you?
Have a look at this.
This is your responsibility for this one. Have a look at this.
The judges confirmed their excellence with an unparalleled set of marks.
Nine perfect sixes.
They were just wonderful. To see all those sixes up there, I don't think any of us can believe it.
Just last week it seemed like just like a year to us all.
Now you didn't actually skate there. That was totally skating.
Had a moment for a moment.
I was on the left there.
But you choreographed it?
Yeah, I wasn't skating. I was there getting my hair cut.
Oh boy, that haircut. Yes, I helped choreograph it.
This is one of your in-between periods, was it?
Well, no. To Oval and Dean, Jane and Christopher had come to see Barnum.
And therefore they were interested in doing this circus routine for the World Championships in Helsinki.
And I helped them put the music together and to put a lot of movement in all those somersaults and things like that.
It was a very, very exciting time.
So I know exactly the tension and the wonderment of being around when a gold medal has been won.
But to win as many as you have, Dawn, I remember you so clearly.
Because all our swimmers were in armbands, you know, those floaties.
So you had to win something, you know.
Well, that's very true. And also they kept on putting the breaststrokes in with the freestyler, so we got a fair deal.
Now, Dawn, I mentioned the fact that you...did you actually meet the Queen or did you just meet Prince Charles?
No, I met the Queen at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games, but Prince Charles was the one I remember.
Like he was the first royal party I ever met.
You really got to know him, did you?
Yes. Good friend.
He stopped and talked to you?
He stopped and talked to me for the longest out of all the guests that were introduced to him.
And the protocol was trying to move him on and he kept staying there talking to me and I was so excited.
But it was coming up to the day and Mum took me out to buy me a dress and it was like a fairy tale.
Because, you know, I went to the...we met the manager of this dress shop and he bought girls out that were dressed in dresses and I could pick.
And what I wanted to pick wasn't what Mum wanted to pick.
Like I was ready to please this prince.
But Mum just said no and we picked this dress and I just didn't like it and then we had to go and pick the shoes.
And in those days these shoes were so expensive, I'll never forget.
Mum kept saying, no, let them wear those shoes, they're really expensive.
Mainly because I couldn't afford them.
And I didn't like them at all and Mum picked them and I thought, well, I'll wear them because it'll keep Mum happy.
And we went and I met the prince and he was just the most charming man.
He was lovely.
But you didn't have your sexy gear on, you had the one that Mum had got for you.
No, I had the little ten year old look like.
You've been thwarted.
It could have been Princess Dawn now.
You know, I'm in to fear with that.
Well done, Dawn.
Another gold medal for you.
That was one I could have done without.
That sounds like an official one.
I presume Michael met the Queen?
Yes, well, I got the OBE a couple of, three or four years back and that was the only time I really met her.
I remember about getting dressed to go and see her.
You had to wear tails, it was a morning suit as they call it.
And my daughters, you were allowed two guests, so I took my daughters with me.
And I'm not a very sort of outward person about things, I'm quite not too flamboyant.
So I booked this car and it was a Mercedes to take me to the palace with the girls and myself.
And it came eight o'clock in the morning, I was already dressed.
I had four baths and shaved five times.
Again.
Again, I'm very clean.
I feel he was interested.
And so I was ready to go to the Buckingham Palace and suddenly the driver calls me and said,
Michael, we've had a bit of a problem.
I've crushed the murk.
He said, so I borrowed a car from a friend.
I said, but you've got a car, you've got a car.
I said, we've got a car to get to the Buckingham Palace.
He said, yeah, don't worry, mate, I've got a car.
So the next thing he draws up at my, I've got a, I live in a place called Wapping in London on the river.
And it's a great place, but they're not used to large cars.
And up drew this yellow Rolls Royce.
And I, I could, well, I was so cross with this driver that he got that.
I traveled and I was shouting at him from the floor.
I was on the floor in the back of the car saying, how, Reg, how could you do this to me?
I'm on the car going to Buckingham Palace.
We picked my daughters up who thought it was the most wonderful thing they'd ever seen.
They got in the back and we're driving through the gates of Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen in a yellow Rolls Royce.
With you on the floor. With me on the floor.
And as I turn around to see them, once again, I'm so stupidly sentimental.
I turn around and all, all four of us, even the driver, he'd never driven in the gates before.
Like God, we didn't hit him. And we were all crying.
Everyone had tears just streaming down their faces at the sort of idea that we were actually going to Buckingham Palace.
And you were going to, like Frank Spencer, I was going to meet the Queen.
Oh, good.
Well, going away, I mean, the idea of meeting the Queen or Prince Charles,
was that just par for the course for you being the daughter of this famous mum?
Did you take it for granted?
I was excited, but that was it. I'd met...
Lots of famous people.
Yeah, I'd met a lot of famous people. So it wasn't as if I was meeting someone different or...
And they were normal to me, though, I suppose, because mum was so normal and to other people she wasn't normal.
I take it because you mean she was so famous and so good at what she did, so extraordinary.
Abnormal at sport.
What about the kids at school? Did the kids treat you differently at school?
Mum always went under Mrs Ware, my father's name, and so it was...
Everyone would call her Mrs Ware, but when mum came to school, she knew...they knew who she was.
No, the swimwear.
Yes. Well, I say...
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
I say beware.
They used to come every weekend. I'd come home because I went to boarding school.
I'd go back to school and they'd say, who did you meet this weekend?
And if I met someone famous, I'd say, oh, ho, they'd be so excited.
And I'd think, but they're just normal people, though.
But they loved me going back and telling them that I'd met someone exciting and famous.
Your mum always appears to us to have been calm and confident, even when she was on the blocks for a gold medal swim.
Have you ever seen her flustered? Have you ever seen her nervous?
Not really. Like, I know when something's agitating, she's agitated or...
But the election, the first election in 88, she didn't talk to me for two months, so I knew there was something wrong.
That's nervous.
But the day before, I saw her elect the polling booth and she was really nervous.
I saw that nerve then. But, I mean, I only saw her swim in Brisbane a couple of months ago
and that was the first time I'd ever seen her swim, really, in real life.
Unbelievable.
Melbourne.
Melbourne, sorry.
It's all right.
Sorry, mum.
But are you a swimmer? Can you swim?
Now I can. I learned to swim properly when I was 17.
So up until that time, I could swim, but I wouldn't say I would never admit I was mum's daughter.
We are out of time on this, but you must tell us the story about the swimming race when it was mother-daughter swimming race at school.
My first year at St Vincent's College, we used to have mother and daughter races
and everyone said, you have to go in it with your mother, you'll win it.
And I thought, yes, I'll win it. And I was only in fourth grade, like I was 10.
I didn't know, but I was swimming against a 15 and a 16-year-old.
And I thought, well, mum will swim first, so she'll get up the pool first. I'll swim back and we'll win.
But because mum was swimming in the race, they decided the children had to swim first.
Well, I couldn't swim. I couldn't swim.
And I thought, what am I going to do?
And I was in tears and I said, mum, I'm not going in it. That's it.
And she said, Doreen, you said you'll go in it, so we have to go in it.
So I'm swimming up and I got up there and they're all out.
And I'm still in the water.
And by the time they all got out, mum was just doing her lap.
And I got out and mum was doing her lap and my teacher was saying, well, this is Dawn Fraser in action and all this.
And I said, and I was walking down the sideline crying because I thought, she's in the pool by herself.
And now it's all finished.
I was devastated that she had to swim by herself.
Mother and daughter finished last in the whole competition, the world champion.
But it was fun, right? I mean, it was competition and it was fun.
Mother and daughter and that was the last time too.
Never again.
But you're swearing, in fact, at the moment you tell us that she's difficult to live with.
Why is she difficult to live with at the moment? Come on, be honest.
She's swimming in Indianapolis in the Masters, but she's different because she's given up drinking.
Oh, my.
This is your life, Dawn.
You're life, this is your life, this is my life.
We should say she doesn't have a drinking problem.
She's given up because she's training.
I don't have a drinking problem, I didn't tell her that.
I just had a big bet with the Australian Olympic team that's going away to Barcelona during the trials.
And the bet is that if they don't drink, and I think it's very important that the young people
that are representing our country don't drink, that Fraser's not allowed to drink until after the Olympic Games.
So I'm on a big bet with quite a few of our swimmers.
My honey says you've got to win.
And I'm going to win. Lovely to meet you. As always, the very best of luck with the competition.
Please take care.
APPLAUSE
Next on A Current Affair, Australia's latest rich list, exposing today's high flyers and those down and out.
I have a theory. Once you see someone supposedly...
...stands on his own, when this next lady sings, it's very different. Have a look.
MUSIC
Cheers, all you cheers. God bless you all.
Paul Kelly and the wonderful talents of a lady we can never stop talking.
And we wouldn't want to. Would you please welcome back the director, the actress and singer, Carolee Aquillian.
APPLAUSE
I mentioned that that was a clip from Paul Kelly.
How do you...how can you tell the beat? How can you hear the beat?
It takes a lot of practice, really. When I first get the words to a song and the music...
...I have to have a hearing friend sit with me and go through the song with me.
So through that person I can catch the rhythm and I just practice again and again and again.
And you sort of like internalise the rhythm in there.
But I take it that you can't hear any of that sound, can you?
With a hearing aid I can pick up some, but I can't rely on my hearing.
I don't have enough hearing to rely on that. I have to rely on memory, knowing what I'm doing.
But with a hearing aid I can pick up some sound, yes.
Maybe actually you're in quite a good position because with us we have to rely on a conductor.
And maybe you can be in charge as the singer, which is unusual.
I'd like to think that, but I have to follow the rhythm.
Unfortunately the rhythm can't change to follow me.
But sometimes in theatre, the deaf players, if we have sign songy...
We will say yes, the music follows the actors, not the actors follow the music.
So sometimes we do it that way.
But do you have anyone giving you a definite beat?
Because it is a very good point this about the rhythm. How do you keep that rhythm?
Like I said, just internalising it, remembering it.
I'm practicing.
I can't begin, because I'm not a singer, I can't begin to imagine. But you, can you imagine singing without hearing?
No, because we do the same song every night for 1300 times.
I've sung Music of the Night 3000 times.
It's still different every single night.
And I internalise, but you've got a built in...
It's something that's built inside you that your instinct is working with.
Maybe, well, I know not all deaf people can do it. It is a skill.
So much as you, not all people can sing like you can, I'm sure.
It's a skill, a talent, something you develop too.
So I guess maybe there is something in me.
That's maybe a frustrated hearing singer maybe.
Becoming a deaf signing singer.
It was so good. I mean that was so brilliant.
The rhythm was so steady and good. It was wonderful.
Thank you. Well, I love music too. I love music.
And I do have my own sense of rhythm.
It's just practice. Like you said, you know the same song.
And I'm sure if I sign that song again, it will be a bit different next time.
But you do know the basics, what has to happen where.
Right.
And go with that.
You mentioned that you could do for us a phantom.
We've done mime with you in the past.
A phantom in the opera. Can you give us a phantom?
Yes. With visible vernacular.
Yes.
That famous word again.
Yeah, VV is something where you describe.
For example, if I describe the phantom, I might say.
So I give the description of the phantom.
Very good, isn't it?
Yes.
That's great.
I don't want you to describe two people dancing, maybe. I just have my hands.
Quickly like that.
It is highly visible.
As an actor for a chicken or a rabbit, Michael, be a chicken or a rabbit.
Why do you describe it with your hands?
Why do you describe it on your face?
Think of what a chicken looks like.
What do you think? I'm brilliant?
Listen.
How would you do it?
How would I do it myself? OK, a chicken, maybe I'd say.
Listen.
Maybe we could get together sometime.
When did you realise you had this talent for acting?
I don't know if I realised it or somebody else realised it.
I think I've been acting most of my life, really.
But when we were young, when I first realised I was really interested in it,
I lived on a dead-end street and everybody used to get together
and have fun, put shows together.
This was in America.
And with that, it was one way for me to communicate with the other kids in the neighbourhood.
When I became deaf and maybe couldn't understand what was going on all the time,
I'd get involved in the acting and all that.
And as I got older, I became more serious about it.
When I was in high school, I started to think, oh, I'd like to be an actor.
But I did think, when I'm deaf, how can I?
Every time you turn on the TV, there's singing and dancing or people talking,
but you don't see deaf actors that much.
And then I saw the National Theatre of the Deaf in America and I realised, oh, yes, it doesn't matter.
A deaf person can do it, a bit different from a hearing person.
I use my face, my body, my hands maybe more than most hearing actors do
rather than training my voice as much.
So I would say when I was in high school was really when I started to think,
yes, I want to pursue this dream.
That's wonderful because so much of acting and performing is remaining the child.
We all have to remain the child.
I mean, to sit here like an idiot and be a chicken at this time of day,
it's really you've got to be something wrong with you.
And so the longer we remain children, the more integrated people,
no matter if you're handicapped or you're not handicapped,
the more the world stays together as one.
And when you were working with your other mates at school,
this helped carry on into your adult life, did it not?
Yes, well deaf people like hearing people.
Some have the talent and some don't.
But I would agree that who can hang on to that sense of fun,
that sense of play like a child can continue to learn to grow,
to try different things.
And give them confidence.
Because you know, actors take risks, yes.
Actors take risks.
They do things like you said a chicken, you know,
it feels like a fool but you do it anyway.
Yes, well we're glad you do.
And all those school children around Australia,
around the world where you go and do your theatre of the deaf
are grateful too.
We thank you again.
Would you please thank Carolyn?
Thank you.
You can live somewhere all your life and not know what's really
going on until someone or something gives you the chance
to take an extra look.
We thank you.
It's a wonderful day for showstoppers,
especially with this man as our guest.
Time again too for Julie Anthony and her showstoppers.
This time a medley of songs from one of the very few musicals
that Andrew Lloyd Webber didn't write.
Would you please welcome Julie Anthony along with Simon Gallaher
to perform Medley of Songs from Les Mis.
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
That I was young and unafraid
That dreams were made in use and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
In my life she has burst like the music of angels
The light of the sun
And my life seems to stop as if something is wrong
Or something has guessed me right
In my life there is someone who touches my life
Waiting here
A heart full of love
A heart full of you
The words are foolish but they're true
Cosette, cosette
All we're dreaming when we're in bed
Who can say
Can touch your house
When did we learn to dream
Not a dream after all
God on high
Hear my prayer
Let him rest, heaven rest
If I die, let me die
Let him leave
Bring him home
On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone
I walk with him till morning
Without him I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes and he has found me
On my own
When I was young
She's beside me
All alone
The dreams were made
I walk with him till morning
When you're still with him
There was no ransom to be made
No soul, soul, no wine unto be stirred
Do you hear the people sing
Say do you hear the distant drums
It is the future that they bring tomorrow comes
Tomorrow comes
Applause
Oh my God, it's six o'clock and his tea isn't ready
My defense disagreed
Did he show any remorse at all for his victims or for their families?
More so for his own daughters
You know he would openly talk to us about how he would put the gloves on
Take the hammer from underneath the seat and stalk these elderly women
But when Simon and I asked him we said well John why on earth would you do this?
I mean these women have been through two world wars, they've been through a depression
And they get to this stage in their lives, I mean what propelled you to do this John?
And he would say oh well this is the grey area, this is what I can't work out
I'm in here for the rest of my life now and then he would psychoanalyze us
He would say would you know, can you help me?
But I think the remorse was more so for his daughters
As far as the victims I think he would just wipe over that and not go into it
And do you believe that neither his daughters nor his wife over the 18 month period had any idea?
I believe that, I mean I spoke to Mike Hagan only two nights ago
The police man in charge
The commander of the task force and he said well look I've watched my own wife
She picks up the washing and she would just tip it all out in one bundle
And it's not as though as if you suspect your husband of something, well I suppose that's when you might become the forensic pathologist
Or whatever and you are looking for pieces of blood or whatever on the clothing
But he said you know, gay glover as far as the police are concerned
They believe that she really didn't have any inkling
I mean who would ever dream of your husband of 20 odd years
As running around knocking old ladies on the head?
Yes, well again I mentioned at the start it is a gripping police tale, the story is a gripping police tale
We so often criticise the police but this is one of the great triumphs isn't it?
Oh yes, well the police came under a lot of fire at the end of the inquiry at the time of the arrest
And during the trial for alleged bungling
For instance they were outside the home where he committed his last murder and tried to commit suicide himself
But that was if the story is told in the book and it is told in the book
It's explained that the police couldn't show their hand, they couldn't go barging into this house
They just didn't have the evidence
But they knew he was the granny killer but they didn't want to blow the case
They suspected
He was the suspect but they did not have one scurric of evidence to connect him to any of the murders
And as you know Ray, being an old journo, you only get one crack at murder in the law courts
So they had to plan the surveillance very, very seriously
And it was a situation where they could not show their hand and that's where the quick track comes into it
Ok, that's the bug they put in his car
Yes, they got permission off his boss, they got a spare key and the police stole his car
And while John Glover was out shopping with his wife, he walks back to the car park
And the police overheard him criticising these dreadful young thugs who would steal his car
And of course, I mean, he's a guy you're talking about who's murdering elderly women
And he was still paying out on these dreadful people for stealing his car