The name Hobson is an English one with its origins in Yorkshire. It means ‘son of ‘Hob’, with ‘Hob’ being a variation of Robert and meaning ‘renown’ or ‘bright’.
It would seem the perfect name for David Hobson, a ‘renowned’ and’ bright light’ of opera and now musical theatre. I had the pleasure of chatting to David a little while ago about his present projects.
When I ask David Hobson how often he gets to Tasmania his answer is ‘not enough’. Even though he has been here regularly over the last few years, including a performance with Teddy Tahu Rhodes last year, David bemoans the fact that on the 3 occasions he has been to Tassie since Mona opened he still hasn’t been able to visit the museum most of Australia and indeed the world is talking about. David’s not averse of possibly taking part in a musical venture at MONA.
David has also just debuted, last Saturday in fact, in his first musical theatre role in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ presently playing in Sydney. David is happy with his first foray in musical theatre and tells me the show has been well received.
David’s keen to let his Tassie fans know about the show and encourages them to come and see it once it moves to Melbourne in a few weeks.
This mention of musical theatre prompts me to ask David (who has now trod the boards in both opera and musical theatre) about his thoughts on the ongoing discussion of the merits of opera vs. musical theatre. I spoke earlier this year to the director of a local production of ‘Soul Mates’, the David Williamson play that explores the merits of ‘the critically praised versus ‘the popular’.
David’s explanation is clear and eminently sensible. David explains that opera was the forerunner of musical theatre and so it’s the big brother. Both children of culture tell stories about the human condition but in vastly different ways. For opera, the voice is paramount and the whole body’s energy is honed to produce the best sound possible in the story telling, while musical theatre is where we get the phrase ‘triple threat’, where acting, dance and voice are equally valued and utilised in performance. For musical theatre that exploration of the human condition is more light-hearted and more accessible to a wider audience but is a much more active and more taxing physically on the performer.
It’s a very interesting debate and perhaps David sums it up best when he says he enjoys both and maybe that is what we all should do instead of over analysing the merits of each.
However, today we are not here to talk about opera and musical theatre instead we are to discuss David’s second Celtic album of which he is very proud, (David is of strong Celtic background himself with Scottish, Welsh, English and …. Polish heritage).
Just as opera and musical theatre take us on a journey of discovery of the human condition, so too does the both haunting and joyful songs of the Celts as they narrate the sad aspects as well as celebrate the joyful. It’s been a special project for David with his working on the arrangements to the songs. He would dearly love to tour with the album with the breadth of music covered from 18th Century Robbie Burns to the lesser known Celtic songs of Peter Gabriel and Leonard Cohen.
David is performing in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang plays at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne for ten weeks from 30 January.
David’s album ‘Endless Days’ is out now.
Paula Xiberras
