It’s only taken 42 years but Dick Whittington’s space rock opera, A Journey Into Time, is now on the launch pad and preparing for lift-off at The J next month.
And the show has an all-Noosa cast with the exception of lead singers Dylan Curnow, a professional who hails from northern NSW and female lead Madison Levi, formerly from Doonan but now Gympie.
Two local not-for-profit charities, Katie Rose Cottage Hospice and The Salvation Army – Noosaville, will receive the total ticket receipts. Dick and his wife Gillian are meeting all the costs in putting it on.
“Gillian is a volunteer at both charities. They are both good causes and we are keen to support them 100 per cent,” the Canadian and now Noosa resident told Noosa Today.
He added that local MP Sandy Bolton was patron of the event and would “say a few words of welcome”.
In all, there are 24 original songs, written by Dick, which lean heavily on ’60s and ’70s music by groups like Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens and Leonard Cohen.
“I started writing it on November 23, 1981, and finished it 10 days later. It’s been gathering dust in a drawer all these years,” Whittington, 69, told Noosa Today.
“I was a mining engineer in British Columbia, Canada at the time. I picked up my 12-string guitar and just started composing. I had no ambitions at the time to have it performed, but every year I would make a New Year’s resolution to do something with it. 18 months ago, my daughter challenged me to put it on stage.”
He describes it as one man’s journey into space, time and within himself, and how he chronicles his journey in song, from being launched on a Saturn V rocket, travelling across the solar system to the planet Uranus and beyond. He has to overcome issues that affect him physically and mentally.
“I’ve put together the Deep Space Adventurer 1 Band and they are fantastic musos with this incredible talent. It’s just wonderful working with them. Several well-known, local musos will be on stage including Dave Barrie (acoustic guitar), Josh Pricey Price (lead guitar), Nick Rivers (electric guitar), Brian Grose (bass guitar), Geoff Gill (drums), Stan May (saxophone and flute) and The Cooran Community Choir with Linda Perham and back-up vocalists Amanda and Morgan” he said.
Katie Rose Cottage Hospice head of fundraising Leigh McCready said, “As a primarily community-funded hospice, we rely on word of mouth and the generosity of our supporters, like Gill and Dick, to support our ongoing nursing expenses and ensure our guests have best in class end-of-life care.
“We’ll also be running a raffle at the event and look forward to meeting everyone who will be attending and thanking them personally for their support.”
The Salvation Army’s Captain Matt Gluyas had this to say,” Gillian and Dick are great supporters of Salvos and we are absolutely thrilled and grateful.
“At this point, we are in quite a crisis in our community. We see the need around homelessness and families really doing it tough financially. These funds are going to be a huge support.
“Journey Into Time,” The J, Noosa Junction, Thursday Aug 10 at 7.30 pm. Tickets $39. Available at thej.com.au or 5329 6560
