Real life couple happy to work together on Saturday Night Fever

You would think being in the same stage production as your partner would mean you get to spend heaps of time together. But that hasn’t really been the case for Melanie Hawkins and Bobby Fox — despite both of them being cast in Saturday Night Fever.

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You would think that being in the same stage production as your partner would mean you get to spend heaps of time together. But that hasn’t necessarily been the case for Melanie Hawkins and Bobby Fox — despite both of them being cast in Saturday Night Fever.

Hawkins plays the lead role of Stephanie, while Fox is one of four lead vocalists — meaning they have little interaction on stage.

But it does at least mean that both of the Melbourne-based performers can be in the same state at the same time throughout the whole run of production.

Melanie Hawkins and her real life partner Bobby Fox are both starring in Saturday Night Fever. Picture: Tim Hunter

“We have one really lovely moment together where Bobby is doing lead vocals on More Than A Woman while I dance, which is really nice — but that’s about it,” Hawkins tells BW Magazine.

When asked how he feels seeing his girlfriend of three years cosying up with another male lead on stage, Fox is quick to joke: “It’s awesome, it’s great!”

He promptly adds: “It’s not like they’re gyrating on stage or anything, they’re dancing so it’s fine.

“The funny thing is, I have no idea what her day’s been like and we get in the car at the end of the day and she downloads what’s happened during the day to me, knowing I wasn’t there and won’t get bored by it. And in that way we can be there for each other. But otherwise, we’re like ships passing in the night.”

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For Hawkins, who has a long stage resume including roles in Singing In The Rain, Oklahoma!, Strictly Ballroom and most recently The Boy From Oz, this is her first lead role.

Fox, on the other hand, has become synonymous with Frankie Valli, a role he has performed about 850 times in the Australian production of Jersey Boys.

Saturday Night Fever is not the first time they have shared the stage — recently working together on the musical Oklahoma!

Like most work romances, Hawkins and Fox started out as friends who would often see each other at industry social functions or gigs.

The Saturday Night Fever cast at rehearsal ahead of the musical’s debut. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

They have the ease of a couple who clearly support each other — Fox says he was more excited than Hawkins when she landed the female lead in Saturday Night Fever, and Hawkins says she knew that Fox would nail the part as lead vocalist.

And it’s clear they share a similar sense of humour. Chatting about the costuming for the 1970s production, Fox jokes he gets to wear a tonne of brown, olive, mustard and orange, while Hawkins glows in lots of sparkles.

The production, they both agree, is a true adaptation of the film, which starred John Travolta as the troubled disco dancer Tony Manero. But it has been revitalised with a script that works for both the stage and for 2019 audiences.

“They’ve rewritten the script and they’ve readapted it from the original movie,” Fox says.

“It’s the exact same story but they’ve readapted it so it flows better for stage.

It really cuts to the rawness of the movie as well as delivering the natural excitement of what the show can be live. And (musical director David) Skelton has readapted the music so it’s more 2019. It’s still disco at its core but has a fresh approach to it.

“Actually, it’s the ’70s on crack thanks to all the stage technology we have available now. But at the end of the day it’s number after number, I think there’s something like nine production numbers in act one alone. It’s just a big party night out.”

* Saturday Night Fever, Sydney Lyric Theatre from March 27

Originally published as Real life couple happy to work together on Saturday Night Fever