XS Entertainment and Styling You‘s Nikki Parkinson kept the punters entertained, during the lead-up to The Race That Stops a Nation at Tony Kelly‘s il secondo and M1 Function Rooms in Maroochydore.
It’s a gorgeous location by the river and these sorts of special events seem to go ahead with such style and ease, it certainly makes attending anything at all, in any capacity at il secondo, an absolute pleasure!
It was, necessarily, a stylish affair and although some of us had no idea who was running, we knew immediately who was running in wearing the only Manolos in the room!
Speaking of running, we ran a few fun sweeps and decided, by the end of the day, to never, ever offer a Bradbury Sweep again – it just took too long to find the names of the last three horses past the post (though we would have looked funny trying – three of us on iPhones for 10 minutes – technology FAIL)!
Next year…the Bradbury Highlander! That’s right. There can be only one…lucky loser last
On the ivories and VOX was the multi-talented Mr Simon Russell-Baker and on our plates were three delicious courses (served one at a time, obviously) by Tony Kelly Catering, taking care of that eating bit that comes in between the glasses of champagne.
Michael and Gayle won The Kitchen Pantry hampers for Best dressed
Did I mention Tony also has The Kitchen Pantry? AND a new bubba?! He is a busy, busy man!
Amazing Fact #1: This was my first Melbourne Cup Day celebrated outside of a classroom.
Amazing Fact #2: I enjoyed a single glass of champagne (and a full afternoon/evening of teaching).
Amazing Fact #3: Nikki and I are actually Social Media Soul Mates. We totes synched our live updates and uploaded pics almost simultaneously. There is something inspiring and quite disturbing about that.
Hope you had a win! Hope you had fun!
With Melbourne Cup over, the party season truly begins…so we’ll see you at the next one!
Friends Bare all for Coast Theatre
Tags: Acting, Actors, Comments, Director, Entertainment Industry, Erotique, il secondo, Performing Arts, Sunshine Coast, Theatre, Tony Kelly, White House Celebrations
Nathanael Cooper
Sunshine Coast Daily, 10th September 2010
A PURVEYOR of fine food, a peddler of fine events and a theatre company notorious for pushing the envelope as far as it can go.
Photo: Warren Lynam, SCD
It is hardly the first group of people you would think of putting together, but when Tony Kelly from il Secondo, Min Swan from Whitehouse Celebrations and Sam and Xanthe Coward from XS Entertainment came together it was theatre magic.
After a hit season of La Ronde in Noosa and Maroochydore earlier this year, XS Entertainment took the La Ronde concept to a new level and prepared it for the Sydney Fringe Festival.
At the same time, Tony Kelly was having an epiphany of his own.
“I was trying to think of a really good way that we could make use of these function rooms (at the M1 in Maroochydore),” he said.
“I made a call to Min and the first thing that came to mind was Sam and the work he had done with La Ronde.”
The three new amigos got together and discussed the concept of performing La Ronde’s sister show, Erotique, in two special preview performances for the Coast before travelling to Sydney.
“La Ronde was a great success in Noosa and Mooloolaba with sellout seasons and preceding our tour to Sydney next week, the obvious thing when this opportunity came up was to not only have a dress rehearsal, but also offer some performances,” Sam said.
“The concept of having live theatre in Maroochydore next to a high-class venue with a high-class event team was great, and something we really wanted to be involved in.”
Erotique’s risqué nature, exploring sex in a unique way through the use of minimal sets and very minimal clothing, aims to take culture on the Coast to a new level.
“After the preview (on Tuesday night) we were able to finish the show at 9.30 and walk down to il Secondo bar, have a coffee, have a wine and talk to people for a couple of hours,” Sam said.
“It’s such a rare thing to be able to do on the Coast. Most nights after dark it basically comes to a standstill.”
If Erotique is as successful as the new partnership hopes, Coast theatre lovers can look forward to more of the same.
“I would like to stretch it as far as we can,” Tony said.
“All three of us are praying that Maroochydore and the Sunshine Coast grab it with both hands and cherish the fact that we are putting our neck on the line to do it here.
“And if they can embrace it we will give it to them as much as they like.
“If it’s a two-shows-a-week thing then all three of us will love that to death.”
Some tickets are available for tomorrow night’s performance and are available by visiting www.whitehousecelebrations.com.au/erotique or by calling 54441736.