Nancye Hayes

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Nancye Hayes
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks 4.jpg
with performer Todd McKenney in Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks
Born
Nancye Lee Hayes

January 1943 (aged 78)[1]
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Other namesNancye Bertles (married name)
Occupation
  • Actress
  • dancer
  • singer
  • director/choreographer
Years active1962–present
Spouse(s)Bob Bertles

Nancye Lee Bertles AM (née Hayes; born January 1943[1]) billed under her maiden name as Nancye Hayes[1] is an Australian actress, dancer, singer and choreographer/director and narrator. She has been a leading figure in Australian musical theatre since the 1960s. Although her roles have been almost exclusively in theatre, she has briefly worked in television in series and mini-series, as a character actress including filling in for an Judy Nunn in the series Home and Away.[1]

Biography[]

Early life[]

Hayes grew up in the New South Wales's Sydney suburb of Manly and was an only child.[2] At the age of seven, she had an operation to remove a growth in her hip joint, and the recovery included strapping her leg with irons. After her father died in a car crash when Hayes was eleven, her mother became a barmaid at the old Pacific Hotel in Manly.[3]

She began dancing lessons at age nine at Hazel and Violet Meldrum's studio. Hazel had been a choreographer for the leading Australian theatrical firm J. C. Williamson's.[4]

Career[]

Hayes at the aged of eighteen, left a job at a Sydney office to join the chorus of an Australian production of My Fair Lady.[5] From 1963 she understudied or played small roles in productions such as the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Hello, Dolly! and The Boys from Syracuse for J. C. Williamson's. She also performed in Kiss Me, Kate, Brigadoon, Annie Get Your Gun and Little Me at the Menzies Theatre Restaurant in Sydney.[6]

In 1967, Hayes received wide notice playing the title role in the original Australian cast of Sweet Charity.

Over the next thirty years, she performed leading roles in Australian casts of many musicals including Fastrada in Pippin (1974), Lily St. Regis in Annie (1978–1979), Roxie Hart in Chicago (1981–1982), Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls (1986–1987), Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd (1987), Liliane La Fleur in Nine (1987–1988) and Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street (1989–1993). She later played supporting roles including Aunt Eller in Oklahoma! (The Production Company, 2005), Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady (Opera Australia, 2008), Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music (Opera Australia, 2009) and Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens (The Production Company, 2011).[7]

Since the 1980s Hayes has also appeared in many Australian-written musicals. These include Songs from Sideshow Alley (Classic Corporation, 1980), Variations (Nimrod Theatre, 1982), Summer Rain (Sydney Theatre Company, 1989), Jonah Jones (State Theatre Company of South Australia, 1991), Eureka! (Essgee, 2004) and Metro Street (STCSA, 2009). She appeared in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television special on Australian musicals Once In A Blue Moon and its soundtrack recording.

Her drama credits for Australia's major theatre companies and commercial producers include Born Yesterday, Danton's Death, Same Time, Next Year, Going Home, Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi, The Glass Menagerie, Steel Magnolias, Stepping Out, and The Importance of Being Earnest. Her cabaret show, Nancye with an E, toured Australia in 1992. In 2006, she performed with Todd McKenney in his first non-musical role in the Ensemble Theatre's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks at the Playhouse Theatre in the Sydney Opera House.[8] It became the theatre's most successful play ever, and the pair re-united ten years later for another season along with in her final directorial role.[9][10]

with Todd McKenny, in Six Dance's in Six Weeks
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks 3.jpg

Screen roles[]

Hayes was a fill-in for Judy Nunn, in the series Home and Away, whilst Nunn was unwell, briefly taking over her character of Ailsa Stewart. Other film and television roles include Elsie Curtin in The Last Bastion and secretary to Minister Rex Connor in The Dismissal. Roles in TV series[1]include Consider Your Verdict, Carson's Law, Rafferty's Rules, G.P., Blue Heelers and House Husbands[11]

Awards and honours[]

Hayes has received "Lifetime Achievement Awards", including the Australian theatre awards (JC Williamson Award), alongside performers Toni Lamond and Jill Perryman, as well as from The Green Room Awards Association and the Sydney Theatre Awards and from Variety Australia.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on 26 January 2014 "for significant service to the performing arts, particularly musical theatre, as an actor, choreographer and director".[12] She had been previously granted a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on 8 June 1981 "for service to the performing arts".[13][14]

The Hayes Theatre in Potts Point, Sydney which has a focus on small-scale musical theatre and cabaret is named after her.[15]

Personal life[]

Hayes is married to jazz saxaphone musician and bandleader Bob Bertles, whom she met when he played in the band of Chicago, in which she starred.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Nancye Hayes interviewed by Bill Stephens (sound recording)".
  2. ^ "Their most memorable Christmas". The Australian Women's Weekly. 31 December 1969. p. 14. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "A Lady Named Nancye". Sydney Morning Herald. 4 June 1989. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. ^ "The Great Tap Dance Revival". The Australian Women's Weekly. 15 July 1981. p. 16. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Taking a gamble on Nancye". Sydney Morning Herald. 15 January 1967. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  6. ^ Nancye Hayes OAM 1943 – Live Performance Australia Hall of Fame http://liveperformance.com.au/halloffame/nancyehayes.html Archived 28 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/1002
  8. ^ Hallett, Bruce (13 February 2006). "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  9. ^ Hook, Chris (3 February 2016). "Ten years later, McKenney and Hayes bring Six Dance Lessons play back for another spin on stage". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  10. ^ Huntsdale, Justin (17 February 2016). "Theatre legends Todd McKenney and Nancye Hayes unite for heart-warming play". ABC News. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  11. ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371165/
  12. ^ https://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=1148908&search_type=quick&showInd=true
  13. ^ https://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=870086&search_type=quick&showInd=true
  14. ^ "The Queen's Birthday Honours Lists Commonwealth". The Canberra Times. 13 June 1981. p. 11. Retrieved 7 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ "Nancye Hayes' favourite things". news.com.au. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
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