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He plays upbeat candelabra Lumiere in blockbuster musical Beauty and the Beast – but it wasn’t long ago Rohan Browne was “mourning” the end of his life on stage.
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He plays the upbeat, can-do candelabra, Lumiere, in Beauty and the Beast.
But five years ago, Melbourne performer Rohan Browne quietly extinguished his career as an actor, singer and dancer, and retreated into retirement.
His decision to walk away came after a series of setbacks, near-misses and cancelled shows.
“I was only auditioning for roles I wanted,” Browne says. “I’d get close, then I wouldn’t get them. I thought the universe was telling me, ‘Well, this might be it.’
”I created other work, other avenues to make money, then our son came along. Honestly, I was loving being a dad and spending time with him.”
It was 2021. Browne and his wife, Christie Whelan Browne, welcomed their first child, Duke.
And while Browne dived headfirst into baby bliss, he figured his life on the stage was over.
By then, Browne’s long list of credits included blockbuster shows The Boy From Oz, Grease, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chicago, West Side Story, The Producers and Singin’ In The Rain.
“There was a mourning period after I walked away,” Browne says. “I disconnected with the arts, and I didn’t go out to see shows. I had to remove myself from it because it was a little painful.”
However, slowly but surely, he returned to the theatre, mainly to support friends and family. Christie is also an actor.
“I realised art will always be part of my life, even if I’m on the sidelines,” Browne says.
In 2022, he stepped out of the shadows and back into the audition room for Beauty and the Beast, the Disney spectacular that made him fall in love with musicals and set his sights on a career in theatre.
Browne was 15, and studying dance at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary
School (VCASS) when the 1995 production of Beauty and the Beast, starring Michael Cormick, Rachael Beck, Bert Newton and an up-and-coming Hugh Jackman, played in Melbourne.
Based on the hit 1991 animated movie, Beauty and the Beast tells the story of a cold and arrogant prince who is turned into a fearsome monster by an enchantress’s spell.
The only way for the Beast to become human again is if he learns to love, and be loved in return.
His servants are trapped by the spell, too, and face the grim prospect of becoming inanimate objects forever. Lumiere, a candelabra, his girlfriend, Babette, a feather duster, Cogsworth, a clock, Mrs Potts, a teapot, her son, Chip, a cup, and Madame, a wardrobe.
Enter Belle, a young woman and independent spirit who might break the curse hanging over this unhappy household.
But, as with most Disney romances, it’s complicated. Once a magical rose loses all its petals, the Beast, and his home helpers, are doomed indefinitely.
Browne saw the 1995 production of this slightly dark fairytale six times.
“It was an onslaught of magic and theatricality and, yeah, it was incredible,” he says, brightly.
The starstruck teenager also hung around the stage door enough times to be invited into the inner-sanctum.
“I was in the bar – having a soda water, of course – and Hugh Jackman is there. I was so dumbfounded they were even talking to this 15-year-old kid. That was a touchstone moment for me. I knew I wanted to perform.”
However, months later, Browne got a sobering lesson about preparedness when he auditioned for an ensemble role in Beauty and the Beast after the show announced a cast refresh. “I wasn’t having vocal lessons, so I didn’t have a song,” Browne says.
“I figured they’d do dance auditions first, the sing after. I planned to sing Happy Birthday because I’d heard that’s what you do.”
But Browne’s birthday bubble burst when the audition panel asked for a song first.
“I thought if I danced first, I might impress you enough to get through,” Browne told them.
Their reply: “Thank you. You can leave.”
“What a lesson,” Browne continues. “Always be prepared, always have a song.”
Rohan Browne, now 45, grew up in Seaford, a bayside suburb near Frankston. It was a normal 1980s childhood: school, basketball, footy, cricket, Scouts – oh, and ballet. His sister, a year older, began ballet lessons aged five.
“It was similar to the I Can Do That story in A Chorus Line,” Browne says.
That story, lyrically, says: “I’m watchin’ Sis go pitter-pat. Said ‘I can do that, I can do that. Knew every step, right off the bat, said ‘I can do that, I can do that.’”
“I used to watch my sister train, then I’d show her how to do it better,” Browne says, laughing.
The ballet teacher, a Royal Ballet alumni, pulled Browne’s mother aside and told her: “Your son has a natural gift. He could be really good at this.”
Browne adds: “I jumped at the chance. I got bullied at Scouts, and at school, about ballet, but I chose to not conform, and not give in. I stuck with it.
“I did all the sporty things. But dance was not the done thing in the 1980s, early 1990s, especially in Seaford. It was hard.
“There was a lot of bullying, but my mates always stood up for me.”
Browne says his ballet training, from age four to 18, shaped his hard work ethic.
“I’d be on the train at 6.30am, get to Flinders St at 7.30, walk to school, warm up, start ballet at 8.30, finish at 5.30, get back on the train, get home at 7, have dinner, do my homework, and start all over again,” he says. “Ballet is very disciplined. It’s about putting in the work and getting yourself prepared to be on stage. It’s really put me in great stead to have career longevity. And my body has looked after me.”
Browne’s strength work and conditioning has been invaluable for the demands of playing Lumiere, Two-and-a-half hours each performance, eight shows a week.
While the character is a beacon of hope in a seemingly dark tale, physically, the role is anything but light work. Lumiere’s hands are flame-on-demand candles, which requires
Browne to wear apparatuses which weigh 4kg on each arm. His gold costume, with four layers underneath, weighs 6kg.
“I can’t talk about the apparatus itself, but I have been given clearance to say they’re very heavy,” Browne says, smiling.
“As well as lugging my own body around the stage, I’m a candle enchanted caricature carrying an extra 14kg.
“I have to stay fit, do all my due diligence of eating well, and warming up well, and going to the gym to support what I do.”
He groans at the memory of performing in cruel humidity in Queensland.
“It was insane,” Browne says. “Because I don’t have hands, my poor dresser had the worst job ever. I’d sweat buckets, wait to get off stage, and she’d have to mop me down, feed me drinks, and scratch my itchy nose.”
Browne has physio every week after the matinee show on Wednesdays to deal with a recurring injury.
“I started the show with a torn shoulder – two tears in my labrum on the right shoulder – then my left shoulder started to play up a couple of months ago,” he says.
“I’m a beast of the stage, pardon the pun. I push myself to do the job to the highest standard every night.”
Beauty and the Beast is epic Disney, a sumptuous grand scale musical with dazzling stage magic, special effects and illusions.
That said, technology does not quieten the show’s ever-beating heart, led by the undeniable chemistry of Belle, played by Shubshri Kandiah, and the Beast (Brendan Xavier). The enchanted objects, with scene-stealing turns from Browne and Cogsworth (Gareth Jacobs), also dial up the emotions as the clock ticks on their cursed conundrum.
The absolute showstopper is Be Our Guest, an 11-minute kaleidoscopic tour de force of opulent choreography, elaborate costumes, swirling plates, tap dance, erupting pyro, ruffled feathers, crazed cutlery … it’s everything AND the kitchen sink.
“When you join the industry, there’s so much attention put on people who are on stage,” Browne says.
“But we have so many departments – technical crew, stage teams, lights, props, sets, costumes, wigs, make up … You take one cog out of the machine and it won’t move. I just think it’s a privilege to be part of this show.”
Rohan Browne is backstage at Beauty and the Beast in Brisbane.
By the time this feature runs, the show will have been packed into 18 shipping containers, and moved to his hometown, Melbourne.
But in Brisbane, and Sydney before that, his dressing room mirror was decorated with reminders from home: Duke’s drawings from kindergarten, family photos and various messages and affirmations.
“I’m missing so many key events with our son … moments where he’s learning to do certain things, and making new friends,” Browne says.
“Duke loves performing. It’s kinda been normalised for him. He’s seen his mum on Dancing With The Stars, and Carols By Candlelight. He’s seen me on stage and TV as well. He thinks that’s what every parent does,” he chuckles.
Browne credits Christie for raising their son, as a solo parent, while he’s on tour.
“Christie and I have always been jobbing actors, and we’ve made compromises to support each other. She has always been my greatest fan and champion, and I for her,” he says.
“But sometimes this career means time apart and sacrifices.
“I’m currently living away from my family, and that would not be my choice. But you sacrifice things for your kids.
“Christie is doing the heavy lifting, and she’s doing an incredible job. Our son asks every day, ‘Where’s Dad?’ ‘What’s going on?’
“There’s huge sacrifices you have to make; I didn’t realise how big they were, until I was living it.”
Last year marked Browne’s 30th year as a performer. He was admitted to VCASS, and starred in his first show there, in 1993.
“It’s weird, blink and you miss it,” Browne says. “Ask any young kid, ‘What’s old?’ – and they’ll say, ‘25’. But I’m sitting here at 45, and I’ve still got more to do.
“Thirty years feels like a long time, but it also feels like a short time. I guess that’s the beauty of doing what you love. Time just flies.”
There is a letter, stuck to Browne’s dressing room mirror, from Christie and Duke.
It reads: “You are my hero. One of my first memories of life will be you performing Be Our Guest, and the joy that brings me. We miss you so much, but we are so happy you’re living your dream.”
Browne’s eyes well up. “He’s very proud of his dad,” he says, his voice shaking.
“And they’re right – I’m living my dream.”
Beauty and the Beast will play at Her Majesty’s Theatre from June 27. beautyandthebeastmusical.com.au
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