A Birthday Celebration
A lovely experience celebrating Amy's 31st birthday.
Amy and I spent a lovely couple of hours having High Tea at the Lyrebird Restaurant at QPAC and "A Conversation with Patricia Routledge". Known by her other names as Hyacinth Buchet or Hetty Wainthropp.
She is 85 years old and is on a tour of Australia doing a show with the famous Australian pianist Piers Lane The show is called 'Admission One Shilling' and is the extraordinary story of Dame Myra Hess and her famous wartime National Gallery concerts. The admission was one shilling.
 |
| A close up. |
 |
| They did look lovely, tasted pretty good as well. |
 |
| Mother and daughter on a day out. |
It was fascinating to listen to her talk. We really only know her for Hyacinth and Hetty but she has done amazing things. She won a Tony Award on Broadway in 1967 for appearing in Darling of the Day, a musical that only ran for seven weeks and was not a success. What was amazing was the gentleman sitting in the checked shirt in this photo saw her on Broadway in that show.
 |
Her biography lists many roles including To Sir With Love with Sidney Poitier and Lulu. I don't remember her she may have been the principal. It is a long time since I have seen that movie. |
 |
She was so beautifully spoken, her memory was quite unbelievable and she was all class. A joy to listen to. She spoke of her elocution lessons at school, I can remember those, Patricia definitely benefited much more than I. She says the world just loved her Hyacinth character and that the whole world felt sorry for Richard. I remember the outfits she has on in these photos. She was also toured Australia as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Ernest, I think in 1999, I wish I had seen that one. Not sure if it came to Brisbane. |
 |
| A lovely day, with a lovely lady. Admission One Shilling .  |
I am off to the Saturday matinee later on today (I just noticed it is after midnight) of Admission One Shilling.
I have a special connection to Piers Lane, when he was a child he lived with his parents at Dorrington (Ashgrove now) and his mother taught me piano. His parents were both pianists, he taught at the old Conservatorium in Brisbane. I remember the house as well, we played on an upright piano in the sleepout and there was a grand piano in the loungeroom as you walked in the front door. A very modest house.
I remember Piers as a toddler, I used to push him on his swing while my older sister had her piano lesson. Memories.
Patricia at 85 years of age started the tour at Hobart on May 2nd and finishes in Perth on May 31, twenty shows in all.
What a wonderful life she has led.
Another story from The Mint Green Cruiser
www.mintgreencruiser.blogspot.com
Thank you for your comments on my blog
What a wonderful way to celebrate Amy's birthday! It was lovely to read about the show...and yes, what an amazing career Patricia has had. I loved reading about your memories of Mrs Lane and the young Piers :-). So many local children were taught piano by Mrs Lane! Piers is a good friend of the music teacher we had at Newmarket SS when my children went there.
ReplyDelete