Piano Man
Celebrating the music of Billy Joel
Program
Billyture
Rock ‘n Roll Medley
Phil Burton, Alinta Chidzey, Jess Hitchcock & Josh Piterman
Vienna
Josh Piterman
My Life
Jess Hitchcock
Just the Way You Are
Alinta Chidzey
Turn the Lights Back On
Phil Burton
She’s Always a Woman/She’s Got a Way
Phil Burton & Josh Piterman
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)
Jess Hitchcock
Honesty
Phil Burton
All About Soul
Josh Piterman
New York State of Mind
Alinta Chidzey
– INTERVAL –
And So It Goes
Jess Hitchcock
Movin’ Out
Josh Piterman
The Longest Time/Tell Her About It
Phil Burton & Alinta Chidzey
Goodnight Saigon
Phil Burton, Alinta Chidzey, Jess Hitchcock & Josh Piterman
This Is the Time
Jess Hitchcock
A Matter of Trust
Phil Burton
You’re Only Human (Second Wind)
Alinta Chidzey
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Phil Burton, Alinta Chidzey, Jess Hitchcock & Josh Piterman
Piano Man
Phil Burton, Alinta Chidzey, Jess Hitchcock & Josh Piterman
All songs arranged for orchestra by Nicholas Buc
Program Note
He says, “Son, can you play me a memory?”
Press play on Billy Joel’s greatest hits and the memories come flooding back. There’s a song to signpost every part of your life. And every emotion. Asserting your independence (My Life). Striving to make it (Movin’ Out). Falling in lust (Only The Good Die Young). Falling in love (Just The Way You Are). Falling out of love (A Matter of Trust). Struggling to make a living (Pressure). Making mistakes (You’re Only Human).
And he also documented the entire Cold War era in We Didn’t Start The Fire.
Billy Joel has been a part of our lives for five decades, and he acknowledges the key role that Australia has played in his story.
The stats are impressive: Billy has had 12 Top 10 albums in Australia, including four chart-toppers – 52nd Street, Storm Front, River of Dreams and Souvenir: The Ultimate Collection. Plus 17 Top 40 singles, including two chart-toppers (Uptown Girl and The River of Dreams).
When I interviewed Billy for the release of his Greatest Hits Volume III, we spoke about how grateful he was to the Australian staff of Sony, many of whom had become close friends.
“Australia actually picked up on my music even before it became popular in the States,” Billy pointed out.
“We all go way back. As I said, I was probably more well known in Australia before I became that well known in the States.
“So,” he laughed, “it’s your fault.”
Despite his success, Billy’s relationship with Australia has had a few rocky moments. Ian “Molly” Meldrum recalls that the American star’s first Countdown appearance, in 1976, did not go well.
“In fact, it was a disaster,” Molly smiles. “He didn’t want to be there. And I guess my first question didn’t help.”
Molly stumbled his way through a 99-word opening question, highlighting the rave reviews that Billy’s Australian concerts had been getting. Billy’s response? Just two words: “All right.”
The producers cut to a clip … and then Billy started talking. Molly yelled at Countdown’s floor manager, Ted Emery. “He’s talking! For God’s sake, come back to us!”
Molly laughs when recounting the story. “Fortunately, my interviews with Billy got better over the years.”
After another episode of Countdown, Billy had a short-lived feud with one of the nicest blokes in Australian music.
When Mental As Anything’s Greedy Smith was hosting Countdown in 1981, he back announced Sometimes A Fantasy by saying, “Well, that was Billy Joel, for better or for worse.” Later in the show, when Molly quizzed him about his indifference to the American artist, Greedy replied, “I haven’t heard any of his records, but he was a boxer who wasn’t very successful … Is he a good singer?”
Unbeknownst to Greedy, Billy was touring Australia and watching Countdown. And the next day, live on radio, he snapped: “Failed boxer? I’ll go a few rounds with him.”
The Mentals manager told the press: “Greedy will go a few rounds with Billy – a few rounds of sandwiches.”
Despite a few bumps along the way, Billy has enjoyed an enduring love affair with his Australian fans, playing 119 shows here, having toured Australia 11 times.
“Australian audiences are great,” the New Yorker says. “They are familiar with the more obscure stuff, too, which is wonderful – they know the album tracks.”
Billy also briefly dated Aussie supermodel Elle Macpherson. She inspired the songs And So It Goes, This Night and This Is The Time, and was one of the inspirations for Uptown Girl.
Something you might not know about Billy Joel – he’s a great cook. His Australian concert promoter Michael Chugg reveals: “Whenever Billy was staying in an apartment or villa rather than a hotel, he would invite a bunch of people from the entourage, including myself, and cook up a storm.”
Of course, our relationship with Billy Joel started when we first heard Piano Man. The song entered the Australian Top 40 in February 1976. But at the time, we didn’t know it was a true story.
“They were all real people, and that was an actual gig I had in 1972,” Billy explains.
Trying to escape a bad recording contract, Billy relocated to Los Angeles, where he got a gig playing at a piano bar under the name of Bill Martin (Billy’s full name is William Martin Joel).
The song gave Billy his nickname, though he did the piano gig at the Executive Room on Wilshire Boulevard for only six months. “Before that, I’d always played in rock ’n’ roll bands,” he notes.
The staff and patrons included a bartender named John, a guy named Davy who was in the navy, and a real estate broker who was trying to write the Great American Novel. And the waitress practising politics? That was Billy’s first wife, Elizabeth, who was working as a waitress at that cocktail bar.
(Fun fact: Elizabeth Joel was the American manager of Australian band The Sports, who gave Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group their first Top 50 hit in the US with Who Listens To The Radio.)
Looking back on his Piano Man days, Billy says: “It wasn’t a lot of fun for me, but the free drinks helped.”
Five decades on, a Billy Joel best-of is a treasure trove of memories – and a history of popular music. His catalogue plays like an old-style radio station, where they played anything and everything.
“I never repeated myself,” Billy points out. “I’ve always changed from album to album.”
Though he sang, “Your mementos will turn to dust, but that’s the price you pay/ For every year is a souvenir that slowly fades away”, Billy Joel’s songs will last forever.
Rock, pop, soul, gospel, jazz, doo-wop and classical. Billy Joel has done it all. And when he ventured into rap with We Didn’t Start The Fire, he joked that he thought about releasing the song under the name of “Plain White Rapper”.
Whatever the genre, it’s still rock ’n’ roll to me. And unforgettable songs that will make you “forget about life for a while”.
– Jeff Jenkins
Music journalist Jeff Jenkins is the author of several books, including 50 Years of Rock in Australia, and is the co-author of Ian “Molly” Meldrum’s memoirs, The Never, Um, Ever Ending Story and Ah Well, Nobody’s Perfect.
Artists
Vanessa Scammell | Conductor
Vanessa Scammell enjoys a diverse portfolio of work as a conductor of ballet, musical theatre, concert repertoire and opera.
Vanessa Scammell’s most recent engagements include 5 performances of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the Sydney Symphony, a double bill (The Dream/Marguerite and Armand) for The Australian Ballet, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 for the Melbourne Symphony and a concert version of Singin’ in the Rain. In 2021/2022, she conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and West Australian Symphony Orchestras in programmes such as Vera Blue, The Bamboos, Birds of Tokyo, An Evening with Anthony Warlow, Love Actually, To Barbra With Love and Opera in the Outback (for Opera Queensland). In 2024, she conducts all the major symphony orchestras in a variety of works.
Phil Burton | Vocalist
Phil Burton is one of Australia’s most adored and respected entertainers. The multi-talented singer, arranger, live performer and media personality has been a substantial presence in the entertainment industry both in Australia and internationally for over three decades.
Phil is a co-founder and member of one of the world’s fi nest pop vocal groups – Human Nature. The group’s distinctive harmonies, catchy tunes and stellar live shows have won fans all over the globe cementing them as one of Australia’s finest exports. Human Nature’s illustrious and ongoing 35-year career has seen them release 13 studio albums which have yielded 27 platinum awards, 19 top 40 singles, five top 10 worldwide hits, and album sales in excess of 2.5 million in Australia alone. They were honoured in 2019 with induction into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall Of Fame, and in the same year were each awarded a medal of the Order of Australia for services to charity, entertainment and the arts.
Phil returned home to Australia in late 2020 following an 11-year, 2500-show residency at the Imperial Palace and Venetian casinos in Las Vegas. He continues to perform as a member of Human Nature at all Australian shows on their schedule.
Phil is now regularly in demand across all facets of the Australian media and entertainment landscape, from shifts at radio stations such as KIIS FM and 2GB, to TV shows (including his incredible winning performance on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ 2023), as well as live event hosting, musical direction and arrangement, musical theatre performances, and of course his own incredibly popular ‘Sweet Soul Music’ solo shows. This August and September he will be on the road as the host/featured vocalist for the iconic BURN THE FLOOR show on their 25th anniversary Australian tour.
Alinta Chidzey | Vocalist
Alinta is one of Australia’s most captivating leading ladies. A multi-award winner, she originated the role of Satine in Moulin Rouge! for Australia’s national tour, played the famed role of Velma Kelly in Chicago and sassy Anita in West Side Story, which saw her nominated for a Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Award.
An accomplished singer, songwriter and recording artist, Alinta frequently performs at events and concerts across the country including Melbourne Fashion Week, the Australian Open, State of Origin and the NRL Grand Final, to name a few.
She performed alongside Hugh Jackman in his Broadway to Oz tour and played Petra for the Victorian Opera season of A Little Night Music. Other notable stage roles include Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, Kathy Selden in Singin’ In the Rain, and Svetlana in Chess, for which she received a Green Room Award for Best Female Artist in a Supporting Role.
Screen credits include Wentworth, Winners & Losers, U.S. telemovie The Frontier, The Dr Blake Mysteries and Neighbours. Other stage credits include the Australasian Tour of Mamma Mia!; Mickey in Leader of the Pack, for which she received yet another Green Room Award; Dusty: The Original Pop Diva; Demeter in Cats; Mary Poppins; the Netherlands season of Dirty Dancing; a tour of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alice in the play Closer.
Jess Hitchcock | Vocalist
Jess Hitchcock is an Indigenous singer-songwriter who has stirred the Australian music and performing arts scene as a genre-defying force. Her powerful voice and knack for storytelling has seen her shine across pop, country, folk, opera and music theatre, sharing the stage and studio with some of Australia’s favourites.
One of Jess’s most notable collaborations is with legendary Australian singer-songwriter, Paul Kelly. Together they performed and recorded Paul’s song Everyday My Mother’s Voice earning standing ovations across the nation. Jess has also collaborated with Archie Roach, Tina Arena and Kate Miller-Heidke.
Jess’s original material is equal parts dramatic as it is playful, always showcasing her vocal prowess. Her much anticipated album Unbreakable was released mid 2023 and reached #4 in the AIR charts. The first single I Don’t Have the Heart was described by The Music as “an arena sized pop ballad”.
When Jess is not on stage with her own band or joining forces with Australian music legends, she lends her mezzo-soprano vocals to select performing arts companies. Most recently, Jess starred in West Australian Opera’s Wundig wer Wilura, in Noongar language.
Born with heritage from the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea, Jess’s artistic diversity and adroitness are seldom seen in someone as young as her. The way she navigates her creative path is a rare find and nothing short of inspirational.
Josh Piterman | Vocalist & Associate Producer
Josh Piterman is a singer, actor, podcaster and speaker and the first Australian to play both the roles of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables and The Phantom in the brilliant original production of The Phantom of the Opera on London’s West End.
His other major theatrical credits include: The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, Australia 2022/23, Tony in the 2010 Australian production of West Side Story, Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger in the 2015/16 Australian season of Cats (a role that won him the Green Room Award for best supporting actor in a Musical), Corny Collins in the UK tour of Hairspray and Gerry Goffin in the 2017/18 Australian tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
Josh has also performed at an array of events, concerts and TV performances including; Performance of a Lifetime with the MSO at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Carols By Candlelight, the Australia Day Live Concert outside the Sydney Opera House, the National Anthem at the MCG Boxing Day Test, The Sydney New Years Test, The Bledisloe Cup and The State of Origin, and he wowed audiences with his performance of Music of the Night at The Australian Open Tennis Finals.
In 2018 his debut self-titled album went to #1 on both the Aria and iTunes Charts (Classical Crossover) in Australia.
Josh is a proud ambassador for the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation, Polished Man and My Room Children’s Cancer Charity.
Josh has worn many masks off and onstage but as a student of life and with a constant growth mindset he has always been fascinated and curious about what’s happening behind the masks we wear both individually and collectively as a society. His #2 charted Self Improvement podcast Behind The Mask invites an array of extraordinary guests to take a deep dive into the spaces that often go unseen.
Mark Sutcliffe | Creative Director
Mark Sutcliffe is a Creative Director and Executive Producer who has spent over 25 years working in the entertainment and performing arts industry and in that time has worked on some of the biggest cultural events in Australia.
Organisations include Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Michael Cassel Group, Opera Australia, Live Nation, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Festival, National Gallery of Australia, Powerhouse Museum, Global Creatures and the Almeida Theatre in London.
Events have ranged from the Edinburgh Military Tattoo to the Paris Opera Ballet, Sydney Festival to Picasso, Vienna Philharmonic to Strictly Ballroom – The Musical.
Through his company Make My Mark he has produced and created To Barbra, With Love, Hopelessly Devoted, What the World Needs Now, Piano Man and Strictly Baz Luhrmann and co-created George Michael: Freedom! and David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed (with Amanda Pelman) – all celebrating icons in music.
Rhythm Section
Jack Earle Keyboard
Sam Leske Guitar
Nick Sinclair Bass
Ben Todd Drumkit
Peter Rubie Lighting Designer
Light Innovations Associate Lighting Designer
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Violins
Cameron Hill** (Acting Concertmaster)
Liam Oborne* (Acting Associate Concertmaster)
Julia Brittain* (Acting Principal 1st Violin)
Lachlan Bramble** (Acting Principal 2nd Violin)
Alexis Milton~ (Acting Associate Principal 2nd Violin)
Erna Berberyan
Minas Berberyan
Gillian Braithwaite
Hilary Bruer
Belinda Gehlert
Danielle Jaquillard
Michael Milton
Ambra Nesa
Julie Newman
Emma Perkins
Alexander Permezel
Alison Rayner
Niki Vasilakis
Violas
David Wicks** (Guest Section Principal)
Lesley Cockram~ (Acting Associate Principal)
Linda Garrett
Anna Hansen
Natalie Maegraith
Rosi McGowran
Cellos
Sharon Grigoryan** (Acting Section Principal)
Andrew Leask~ (Acting Associate Principal)
Sherrilyn Handley
Gemma Phillips
David Sharp
Cameron Waters
Double Basses
David Schilling**
Belinda Kendall-Smith~ (Acting Associate Principal)
Jacky Chang
Gustavo Quintino
Flutes
Kim Falconer**
Piccolo
Julia Grenfell*
Oboe
Joshua Oates**
Clarinet
Dean Newcomb**
Saxophone
Damien Hurn* (Guest Principal)
Horns
Adrian Uren**
Emma Gregan
Trumpets
David Khafagi**
Martin Phillipson~
Gregory Frick
Trombones
Colin Prichard**
Ian Denbigh
Bass Trombone
Amanda Tillett*
Timpani
Sami Butler~
Percussion
Steven Peterka**
** denotes Section Principal
~ denotes Associate Principal
* denotes Principal Player
Piano Man is a Make My Mark Production.
We acknowledge that the land we make music on is the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to Elders past and present and recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that this is of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today. We extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are with us for this performance today.