Cracked Actors Theatre (CAT) take PRIDE in presenting Noel Anderson’s Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! as part of the 2021 Midsumma Festival at the Cracked Actors Theatre – Power House on the Lake from 22 April.
Set in Kings Cross, Sydney in 1968. The body of a street hustler shot at close range, lies on the carpet. A year earlier, in ‘The Boom Boom Room’, Cha Cha weaves her magic on a small crowd. That night she meets Billy, a brash young boy from Melbourne and falls in love. Then the fairy-tale ends. Local pimp, Louis, has a less romantic idea for the star-crossed lovers…
Featuring one of Australia’s most highly regarded drag performers, Samuel Thompson, Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! is a bittersweet story with more frocks than Priscilla and more plot twists than Sleuth.
“This play captures both the rough ‘n’ ready iconoclastic time in which it is set with the current yearning for an era that entrenched the LGBTIQ community in the mainstream of Australian culture,” said CAT Artistic Director Matthew Richard Walsh.
Selected at Cracked Actors Summer Reading 2020, the script impressed Daniel Abineri (who performed as Frank-N-Furter in over 3000 Rocky Horror Shows across Australia) so much he contributed a song for ‘Cha Cha’ to sing ‘n’ it!
Noel Anderson’s work includes Audrey Hepburn and I Consider Our Assets (Melba Spiegeltent, Melbourne); Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame; and his play on the AIDS epidemic, Dark Victory (Playtime finalist Midsumma Festival 2016). He has directed more than fifty shows, including the 2017 hit Melbourne Fringe season of Love Kills. Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! will be Noel’s first production at Cracked Actors.
Writer & Director: Noel Anderson Featuring: Sebastiano Pitruzzello, Luke Styles, Samuel Thompson Set & Production Design: Sarah Yeung Sound & Lighting Design: Patrick Slee Original Music: Daniel Abineri Assistant Director: Daniel Cook
Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever!
Cracked Actors Theatre – Power House on the Lake, 34 Lakeside Drive, Albert Park
Season: 23 April – 5 May 2021 (preview: 22 April)
Bookings: www.midsumma.org.au
For more information, visit: www.crackedactorstheatre.com for details.
Image: Billy Loves Cha Cha Forever! – artwork by Sarah Yeung