Elvis is back in the building, or at least on stage in Melbourne, and Ballarat's Matt Henderson is in charge of making sure theatre-goers see the best show possible.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The theatre veteran is both the company manager and stage manager of Elvis: A Musical Revolution - a brand new 'bio-musical' celebrating the life and music of Elvis Presley that had its Australian premiere in Sydney in August.
It's a long way from the Ballarat teen who swapped football for performing on stage, then enrolled in a teaching degree before deciding a life in the theatre would be more his scene.
"I started performing doing shows on stage at probably 15 or 16 and thought I'm good at this but not great and maybe I should look at other roles in the arts ... so I moved into more production management and stage management and when I was 16 I joined the committee of management of BLOC," he said.
After a few months studying teaching at ACU in Ballarat, Mr Henderson swapped to the-then University of Ballarat performing arts course where he returned earlier this year to teach third-year performing arts students.
Before he even graduated Mr Henderson was poached to join the original tour of The Boy from Oz starring Todd McKenney.
Like his time in the performing arts course, Mr Henderson's time at BLOC has also come full circle as he recently re-joined the BLOC committee of management more than 30 years after his first stint, though has maintained his ties to BLOC over the years.
As company and stage manager of Elvis, Mr Henderson's role is vast - coordinating everything that happens on the stage and managing the company in the background, responsible for everything from human relations, payroll and employment to travel, accommodation and liaising across publicity and marketing.
"The main responsibility for me is making sure the show we presented on opening night is exactly what audiences see if they come to one of our new Thursday matinees or Saturday afternoon or any night - maintaining the integrity of the show to make sure audiences get top-tier entertainment," he said.
After a highly successful premiere season in Sydney and now in Melbourne, it has just been announced that Elvis will embark on a national tour that will keep Mr Henderson busy until August or September next year.
He is no stranger to long-running shows, having worked for many years for British theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh on his productions in Australia, and for Disney productions as a company manager and stage manager for 20 years until he finished with them last year.
Mr Henderson said after 20 years of Disney, one of the "delicious" aspects of Elvis is the all-Australian creative team.
READ MORE:
"At Disney there was so much international input - shows like Aladdin and The Lion King are so grand and lovely, but with Elvis the most delicious thing is it's an Australian team, there's no accents in the theatre.
"To have the key creative and driving forces all-Australian is incredibly rare."
Going freelance after such a long time of employment is the next stage of Mr Henderson's career.
"I'm not afraid to try something new as I get older. I'm happy to jump on board any project I find interesting or I'm passionate about."
Sign-up for The Courier's news alerts direct to your inbox. Select Breaking News Alerts in My Newsletters & Alerts in your account preference centre.
