Anything goes for Minchin
Stage set for HOTA opening
DON’T be surprised if the Gold Coast becomes the inspiration for one of awardwinning composer Tim Minchin's next masterpieces.
Comedian, actor, composer, songwriter, pianist and director Minchin will christen the Home of the Arts (HOTA) outdoor stage today when he plays his first concert in Australia in two years.
“I’m hugely flattered to be asked to perform here first because it’s a big deal for a city this size to build a venue like this,” he said yesterday.
“I think all cities should invest in their arts. That’s what makes a city vibrant and what turns it from a tourist destination or business venture into a cultural community.”
Minchin won the world over when he penned the original score for the stage musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel Matilda, but he’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. He divided opinion with his damning, profanity-loaded hit Come Home (Cardinal Pell) and outraged conservatives when he rewrote gay icon Peter Allen’s I Still Call Australia Home as I Still Call Australia Homophobic in support of same-sex marriage during the postal vote.
“In England I’m very much known as a comedian and the Matilda guy – and in America,” Minchin said.
“But in Australia – I think it’s actually a lot because of the Pell thing, which I don’t want to get into all the time – I have this amazing amount of 70 year old women coming up and going ‘I just want to say thank you’. The way they say it, it’s like code, because they grew up in a time when no one said any of that. And whether or not you agree with how hard I went on that topic, guys who grew up in that era can’t believe that it’s even a public conversation.”
Mayor Tom Tate was reportedly less than thrilled when he learned Minchin would launch HOTA’s new outdoor stage, the centrepiece of the $37.5 million arts and cultural precinct. He’d been hoping for Pink instead.
“The fact they booked me to open it – because what I do is different, whether or not you like it, it’s slightly different to what normally gets booked for openings of things – I think that shows a really great sense of adventure on behalf of the people who put this together,” Minchin said.
Is there anything he can’t play tonight?
“I’ve heard we have a mayor that would be philosophically in opposition to me. That’s nice though. That’s nice that he’d have it (the show) happily. No one said watch your material, which is quite interesting, but I’m now 42 and I’m not like “I’ll do my stuff..” I’m like ‘what’s the audience, let me try and put something together’,” he said.
Despite his stellar successes, Minchin will always be an outsider on the inside.
“I have lots of songs that were written as a sort of comic response to my failure that I now play but I’m still someone who’s been writing songs for 30 years who’s never had an album and never had a song on the radio,” he said.
“I’m still the outsider.”