'Dressing Them Up' - Costume and Set Designer, Roger Kirk

STAGES with Peter Eyers

Roger Kirk is a Tony Award-winning set and costume designer for theatre, film and television. He has designed costumes on world stages for productions that have included The Boy From Oz Arena Production with Hugh Jackman, The King and I, 42 Street, Jesus Christ Superstar and King Kong - the Musical. He began his career in television in Australia, working in the costume department of the Sydney ABC studios where he graduated to design television productions that included The Marcia Hines Show and The Norman Gunston Show. Prior to television he had worked in London's West End for three years managing the props. for stage productions. While working in the costume department at the ABC an opportunity lead to design costumes for the Sydney Theatre Company and their landmark production of Chicago; a production that boasted an entirely Australian creative team in the construction of the seminal Broadway musical. He has designed sets for Elton John's 1986 Australian tour, sets and costumes for the Australian TV version ofGladiators and awards shows such as the AFIs. Roger was the costume designer for the most recent filmed production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and has worked extensively on set and costume design for Opera Australia. Other credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down The Wind in the West End; Silver Rose, Le Corsaire for Munich Opera House, Dusty - The Original Pop Diva, and Shout!. In 1996 Roger received the Tony Award for Best Costume Design for his work on the Broadway production of The King and I. He also received the Drama Desk Award, the Friends of New York Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for the same production. In 2001 the highly acclaimed production of The King and I took centre-stage at London's Palladium Theatre. For Opera Australia Roger has designed costumes for Manon Lescaut, The Gypsy Princess, Pirates of Penzance, My Fair Lady, A Little Night Music, Iolanthe, HMS Pinafore, Trial by Jury, Manon, and Graeme Murphy's production of Aida. Further credits include Sweeney Todd for Victorian Opera, and sell-out shows in Sydney and Melbourne for Hugh Jackman's Broadway to Oz: Hugh Jackman Live in Concert. It is a vast career and Roger shares terrific anecdote and insight in this fascinating episode of STAGES.