By Tania Martin
STEPHEN Brodie is putting the final touches on his frustrated servant routine as he gets ready to take centre stage in the Melbourne Opera Company’s hilarious production of The Barber of Seville.
The Mt Dandenong veteran opera singer said his part was both ‘crazy and zany’.
“It’s a really fun part,” he said.
The 49-year-old will play Fiorello, a servant to the count played by Phillip Calcagno, whose job is to hire musicians to help the count serenade his current lady love.
“But unfortunately he hires the most bumbling band of musicians there ever was,”Mr Brodie said.
“It turns out well in the end but there is a whole pile of stupidity … they don’t know how to play well, they start off too loud when it’s supposed to be soft and loving.”
Mr Brodie is no stranger to this particular opera, having played a smaller role in the Melbourne Opera’s previous production of the Barber of Seville.
He is excited about taking on a bigger part in the opera.
Mr Brodie has a long list of productions under his belt, including Phantom of the Opera.
He first started singing at school back in his hometown, New Zealand as a child.
But it wasn’t until he was 17 years old that he realised he had the talent to make a career out of his passion.
“A music teacher told me I should have singing lessons and my mother was a singer, so I went to her teacher first,” Mr Brodie said.
After finishing secondary school, he travelled across the Tasman to undertake a diploma of music and graduate diploma of opera at the Queensland Conservatorium.
Mr Brodie then spent a year working in a cafe waiting for his big break, which came in the form of the Phantom of the Opera.
He spent six years touring with the production before taking a break from the music scene.
“I gave up singing for a while – I just needed a break and starting acting at the Victorian College of Arts which started helping my voice,” he said.
“So I got back into singing and joined a local choir in Upwey.”
Mr Brodie said a number of the choir members were part of the Melbourne Opera Company and he decided to audition.
“I have been doing bits and pieces with them ever since,” he said.
Mr Brodie moved to Mt Dandenong in 1998 after finishing up with the Phantom of the Opera.
“We have been in Melbourne for about six months and we looked up here and fell in love,” he said.
Mr Brodie will take centre stage tomorrow (Wednesday) when for opening night at the Athenaeum Theatre, 188 Collins Street,Melbourne.
The opera will run until 21 March, before touring regional Victoria and Canberra.
He said the hardest part was juggling a full-time job as a performing arts primary school teacher, his family and his love of opera.
But says it was worth it.
