Butel dives into South Pacific
He is an award-winning actor who is the two-time recipient of a prestigious Helpmann Award and has a list of hit productions on his theatre resume with companies from Opera Australia to Bell Shakespeare.
But rather than finding this acclaim by playing the strapping leading men, Mitchell Butel's secret is tackling what he calls the "freaks and geeks" of musical theatre. The Sydney-based star has exercised his comedic muscle in Avenue Q, Orpheus in the Underworld and The Mikado, and will follow this penchant for the underdog when he takes over the role of Seabee Luther Billis in the Perth season of South Pacific.
Butel said the character, previously played by TV star Eddie Perfect and Gyton Grantley in seasons
over east, felt like the perfect fit.
"I think Luther is a beautifully written role," Butel, who also voiced the Play School theme song, said.
"Yes, he is the funny guy and he wears coconuts on his chest but he is an American everyman trying to make his way with all that rat cunning, trying to elevate himself.
"Often the leading men roles are a little bit boring for me because they just come on and sing a love song."
Butel joins WA-raised Gold Logie winner Lisa McCune, opera star Teddy Tahu Rhodes and pop singer Christine Anu in Rogers and Hammerstein's Tony-winning musical about two contrasting romances on a South Pacific island in World War II.
The production, based on director Bartlett Sher's 2008 revival at the US Lincoln Centre Theatre, is in its second season after a successful run on the east coast but has only now made the jump over to WA.
Butel said while the 64-year-old musical is full of nostalgic songs like Some Enchanted Evening, its key themes of racism and bigotry still had the power to shock the audience.
"I heard people gasping the other night when Nellie (McCune) freaks out about Emile's (Tahu Rhodes) kids and the dead wife," he said. "People were shocked when she refers to 'those little black eyes'. They are like, what? Lisa McCune is being a racist?
"Nellie is a beautiful woman but she is struggling with her own conditioning and her own traditions. It's pretty powerful."
The seasoned actor is still pinching himself that he was lucky enough to land a place on the cast for the Perth season. "Just being able to rock up and listen to the orchestra play that beautiful music, and I get paid for it? I mean, that's ridiculous," Butel laughed.
South Pacific is playing at Crown Perth from November 10-December 6.
