By Samantha Brimacombe
A whirlwind tour including Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s iconic Arts Centre Playhouse will bring Melinda Schneider to Geelong for an encore performance of Doris: So Much More Than The Girl Next Door.
Schneider, an Australian country music star, and co-writer David Mitchell, of Dusty and Shout! fame, have entwined classic Doris Day songs such as Sentimental Journey, Que Sera, Sera, Everybody Loves a Lover and Secret Love with key aspects and little-known facts of the American entertainer’s journey through Hollywood, four tumultuous marriages and eventual financial strife.
Schneider praised the talent of Day, who turned 90 in April.
“She could sing, dance and act,” Schneider said.
“I thought then she was the best of everything a woman could be and when I grew up I wanted to be just like her.”
Reviews of the show suggest Schneider has maintinaed her stage prowess despite an 18-month break to raise new son Sullivan. They have described the production as “marvellous”, “invigorating” and Schneider “one of this country’s most important artists”.
The promoters said Doris was “a big production performed by a big talent with a literal runway of various Hollywood fashions spanning Doris’s 39 feature films”.
Schneider, who has won six Golden Guitars at Tamworth’s Country Music Awards of Australia, appears on stage with two “fabulous” male singer/dancers and a “swinging” Doris Big Band.
Geelong Performing Arts Centre will host Doris: So Much More Than The Girl Next Door 9 June.
