Wendy Fahey
WENDY FAHEY: Gold Coast Theatre Alliance
WENDY FAHEY is not only a Musician, Performer, Director, Teacher and Entrepreneur but also, owing to a love of dressmaking at school, she became a first-class Costume Designer and Constructor.
As a young person, Wendy was usually cast in the cheerful or funny roles. One light Opera role was The Quaker Girl, directed by John Mirson, who went on to found WAAPA.
She joined the Coffs Harbour Theatre Company where she met her husband a swashbuckling Veterinarian and Artist. They travelled to the Northern Territory where she set up the
Katherine Amateur Theatrical Society – KATS.
All productions were truly community, with all ages welcomed.
Wendy later settled on the Queensland Gold Coast. There she chose, in her words, “To bring Community Musical Theatre to the Southern end of the Gold Coast” and formed Neptune Productions.
One of her early productions was The Pirates of Tweed Heads which she wrote. With so many in the cast, the featured singers had to press their way to the front on the club sized stage, for their contribution to be seen!
Just two more references that point to why Wendy Fahey is worthy of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Two particular under-rated Musicals have been championed – and successfully mounted – by Neptune Productions. Peter Stannard’s collaboration, Lola Montez and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind.
For Lola Montez, Wendy liaised with author, Peter Stannard, and was able to negotiate what songs were in and out and what cuts and/or adaptations could be made.
A model for others, WENDY FAHEY – a remarkable lady of Music Theatre.