South Pacific opens in Perth on Sunday night and stepping into the role of sailor Luthur Billis is acclaimed actor Mitchel Butel.
The two time Helpman award winner, who has previously been praised for his work in ‘Avenue Q’, ‘Angels in America’ and many other shows is excited to be joining the popular musical.
Hows it going for getting ready for stepping into the role?
I’ve been rehearsing with the associate director and a couple of people, but I’ve rehearsed with the full cast today after being backstage with them, I can’t wait. It’s such a great role, the words are down, the moves are down, so I’m ready to just do it with other people now.
How do they do that when you’re coming into an existing production?
Its interesting because everybody else kind of knows it already, so you have to come up to speed pretty quickly, get all the words down and get all the moves down – you can still bring your own bravado to it, but its like a little cog that’s going into a machine that’s already working beautifully.
What is it you look for in a role?
Good writing, I always say “if it aint on the page, it aint on the stage” – when the writing is good, that’s when you fly! This is a real good example of that good writing that I look for!
What do you make of Luther Billis ?
I think hes such an interesting chap. He has these big dreams about being a real go-getter and a mover and a shaker, but hes very limited. He’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He kind of puts his foot in his mouth, hes in love with Nellie, but he fucks that up continually, so there’s a lot of comedy in that. Someone who dreams big but doesn’t quite have the tools to get there, I’d say that if ‘Death of Salesman’ was a musical he would be Willy Lowman. He’s a lovable loser with a lot of heart.
As Billis you also get to sing that massive song ‘There is Nothing like a Dame’
Yeah the way that number is stage is goose-bump inducing! I have to remind myself not to stop and watch!
South Pacific opens at the Crown Theatre on November 10 for a strictly limited engagement through to December 6
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