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This ‘An Evening with…’ kind of show was first performed as a cabaret at the Adelaide cabaret festival in 2019. It was then called ‘Uncut’. It has been revised and renamed for this year’s Sydney Festival. Quast then performed the show for the Sydney Festival in 2021 with the show then being called ‘Is This All then?’ from one of the main songs in the musical ‘Candide’. The show is now having a brief season at the Sydney Festival under the title ‘The Road I Took’, one pf the main songs from the Stephen Sondheim musical ‘Follies’.
As in previous show Anne-Maree McDonald provides accompaniment. Her piano during the show was beautiful, as Philip Quast rightly pointed out, ‘It is great to be accompanied by a Rolls Royce!
The show comprised a mixture of songs and anecdotes ‘accumulated’ from his long and illustrious career. His rich tenor voice was highlighted in songs like ‘The Road I Didn’t Take’ from ‘Follies’,’Stars’ from Les Mis,,‘The King’s New Clothes’, ‘I Like Old People’ and the poignant ballad ‘In My Father’s Hands’ that he dedicated to his late father.
There were many anecdotes. Favourite anecdotes included some of his chats with Stephen Sondheim, having performed in a number of his plays. Then there was the chat with the late legendary theatre director Peter Brook (‘The Empty Space’) who asked to talk to hm after the opening night of the National Theatre’s West End production of Sondheim’s ‘Follies’ i in which he starred an said that it was the best production he had seen in a very long time.
There was the time, just after he had heard that his mother had died, when he was playing in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of ‘Waiting For Godot’ and they commiserated with him and and all three wept at the beauty of Samuel Beckett’s words.
The show came to a close with Quast and McDonalod coming to the front of the stage and receiving a standing ovation.
A warm, very convivial night of theatre, Philip Quast ‘Is That All Then’ is playing the Ensemble Theatre again on the 29th March 2023.
