Marcia Hines says she’s excited to return to Adelaide with the disco-driven, hedonistic Fringe show Velvet Rewired
Celebrating 50 years in Australia this year, Marcia Hines tells Roy Eccleston she’s excited to return to Adelaide with a disco-driven, hedonistic Fringe show, Velvet Rewired.
SA Weekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA Weekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
1 You’ve been here 50 years in 2020. Did you ever want to return to the US?
I arrived here when I was 16, fresh from school in Boston, Massachusetts, and thought that I was flying to Austria, not Australia. When I realised where I was, I had expected to see kangaroos in the streets of Sydney and was surprised at the cosmopolitan nature of the city. There are no comparisons between the US and Australia that make sense unless you’ve travelled to America and seen the poverty, the racial problems and the domination of big business. I love living in Australia. I’ve never wanted to return to the US to live since I got here. My friends, my family, my world is centred around this wonderful country.
2 Maybe just a little homesick?
The things I miss most are make-up suitable for black women and old fashioned black humour! I sometimes miss church and the gospel music that I grew up with. And there are days when I feel a bit bi coastal when I remember my early life and old friends in Boston.
3 Who were your inspirations?
I first started singing in the local church in Boston with my mother and my Godmother Florence. I was six years old and it’s where I learnt to sing. It never occurred to me that I would do anything else with my life other than sing. I never saw it as a career, it was just the thing I loved the most. My real heroes were all black women singers, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan. I even confess a secret admiration for the vocal talents of Barbra Streisand!
4 How was Woodstock?
It was all a bit of a blur. I was just about to turn 16 and I travelled there with some girlfriends. I remember the Jimmy Hendrix closing set being amazing, and Sly and the Family Stone. The rest of it was about mud, rain, toilets, food and survival.
5 You came to Sydney so young for Hair. How did you cope with the nudity?
I didn’t know it until I was in Sydney for the first two months and on stage, but I was pregnant when I arrived here and Deni was born six months after I touched down. I performed up until the day of her birth and was back on stage two weeks later. I was young, completely absorbed by being in the cast. It was my first musical and my first experience of real theatre. People taking off their clothes around me on stage just seemed to be a part of director Jim Sharman’s instructions and we were all happy to do it. I was a very innocent girl at that stage of my life.
6 And soon you were a mum …
My beloved mother Esme, or Ma as we called her, was a very special and strong woman who raised my brother and me, and who moved to Australia to provide me with support as I raised Deni and toured with my band. She was a wonderful woman that I still miss to this day and who provided me with the values that I hope I’ve passed on to Deni. I’m extremely proud of Deni and her journey and her career. She’s married to a loving partner and continues to work regularly. It can’t have been easy for her being regularly referred to as Marcia Hines’s daughter.
7 Did you find racism in Australia?
I have never felt anything but love and affection from Australians. Since the day I first arrived I have found racism to not be an issue for me. I don’t expect that to be shared by every black person who lives in this country but compared to what I had lived through in America, I feel that I have been accepted and provided with a home that is so much more than I was used to. I have always worked and had a reasonable profile, but I have not ever felt anything but friendship and warmth from the people of Australia. I’m an Aussie these days!
8
How has your choice of material changed?
The early hits were mainly ballads. I do enjoy up-tempo material so, over the years, I have embraced a lot of music that I find infectious and enjoyable to sing and involve an audience. Thus the discotheque themes that are in Velvet Rewired and that I regularly use on my concert tours. I will always continue to look for new songs and new material. If you want to stay relevant and interesting, you can’t just live off the old songs, you’ve got to find new ones!
9 How important was Countdown?
Countdown was an extraordinary help to all of the artists who appeared on the show during its time on the ABC. There is no question that performing on Countdown gave you national exposure that no commercial channel could provide. It was also a Saturday afternoon recording at the ABC in Rippon Lea in Melbourne where you spent time with your contemporaries and built friendships that have lasted to this day. Countdown was the key to selling our music and tickets to our shows. I was lucky to be a part of that world.
10 What was your favourite stage role?
This is a very hard question. I guess it’s Jesus Christ Superstar! I was the first black woman to ever play the part of Mary Magdalene and I was surrounded by some of Australia’s greatest talents on that stage. Jon English, John Paul Young, Trevor White, Air Supply, Stevie Wright, Reg Livermore, Chrissy Amphlett! We were a family and we were part of a time in theatre where rock musicals became a phenomenon. There have been many wonderful shows since – Jerry’s Girls, Big River, Saturday Day Night Fever, and Shrek The Musical.
11 Now you’re a Fringe favourite
I have been to Adelaide many times, both privately and to perform. I first came to the Fringe in 2015 to be a part of the first production of Velvet. I feel a strong sense of relationship with both the show and how successful it has been at the Fringe. Adelaide showed us that this new, invented, original production was good enough to continue with and thus I have travelled the world regularly to perform in Velvet, but always it started for us at the Adelaide Fringe.
12 Mad Adelaide summer
We come back to the Fringe. It’s a unique, energetic, contemporary environment where audiences enjoy what we do and in return we love performing for them. There is something about Adelaide in February and March that constantly calls you back! I guess it’s the people, the quality of the other shows that you visit while you’re here, and the joy that is delivered from a good show in front of a caring audience.
13 Any 2020 surprises?
I’d like a break after the Fringe but then I’ll get bored and I know that my next challenge is to record a new album. You never know what’s around the corner!
Velvet Rewired, Gluttony, Rymill Park,
from February 14, velvetrewired.com.au
or adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix