PREVIOUS PAGE,BOTTOM LEFTAND LEFTTorben Brookman“It's not like many vocational jobs where you work nineto five, and when the office closes you go home and havea separate life and do different things. In the theatre,everything sort of merges and blends.”“There was a production called The Music ofAndrew Lloyd Webber, which was a concert seriesof Andrew’s great shows, which we put on atthe Great Hall of the People of Beijing, whichwas and remains the Assembly Hall for theCommunist Party of China,” said Torben.“It was in late September 2001 and we'd justloaded in and started rehearsals for the show, thenwith three hours’ notice, we had to start loadingeverything out because the Party had called anemergency meeting the following day to discussChina's official position on the September 11attacks,” he said.In November 2004, while still working for TheReally Useful Group, Torben married his partnerRichelle. Immediately after, the couple left forShanghai as the company managers for the Asiantour of The Phantom of the Opera.The experience of touring Asia is what ultimatelyled to the pair starting their own productioncompany with a couple of friends. They sawenormous, untapped potential to grow the Asianmarkets, China in particular.“While we’ve done a number of things inAustralia and other territories, there’s always beena long-term focus on developing China and keepingthose relationships throughout Asia,” he said.The growth of the market in China also enabledGWB Entertainment to take on more shows,provide work opportunities for South Australianartists, crew members and musicians, and developyoung, local talent for the world stage.“Our business is really an interesting combinationof different elements of the industry that we hopeadd up to more than the sum of their parts, andprovide real potential to develop work here thathasn't really existed before, not within the musicaltheatre genre,” said Torben.ALUMNI MAGAZINE - SUMMER 202031
It seems that your browser's pop-up blocker has prevented us from opening a new window/tab. Please click the button below to open the link manually.
