Clark Gable and Nicholas Hammond. Photography: Earl Carter.

Hollywood wise-cracker for MTC

20 January 2000

West End hit comedy, Moonlight and Magnolias, set behind the scenes in the producer's office of Gone with the Wind, will be presented by Melbourne Theatre Company from 21 February to 28 March 2009 at the Arts Centre, Playhouse. The production is directed by film and opera director Bruce Beresford.

Written by American Ron Hutchinson and loosely based on a real story, Moonlight and Magnolias is a madcap comedy about the troubles that faced the greatest movie in Hollywood history in its early days of shooting. Movie mogul David O. Selznick hires Ben Hecht, the hotshot script doctor of his day, and locks him in a room with big-time director Victor (The Wizard of Oz) Fleming. No one's going anywhere until the script is fixed.
 
"Effervescent – the writing zings with cherishable one-liners." The Times
 
Moonlight and Magnolias stars Stephen Lovatt as Victor Fleming, Nicholas Hammond as Ben Hecht, Patrick Brammall as David O Selznick and Marg Downey as the secretary with the key, Miss Poppenghul. Set/Costume Design is by Shaun Gurton with Lighting Design by Tony Award-winner Nigel Levings.
 
Beresford has directed many operas for the stage – most recently Opera Australia's A Streetcar Named Desire – but Moonlight and Magnolias will mark his first time directing straight theatre, although five of his films (including Don's Party and The Club) were adaptations from plays. Beresford has extensive experience behind the scenes in Hollywood himself and recently wrote about it in his memoir Josh Hartnett Definitely Wants to Do This... True Stories from a Life in the Screen Trade.
 
Beresford is one of Australia's most acclaimed film directors, with a career that spans 30 years. His credits include The Getting of Wisdom (1978), Breaker Morant (1980), Tender Mercies (1983), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), A Good Man in Africa (1994), Paradise Road (1997) and the upcoming Mao's Last Dancer.

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