KATTAYA

An enduring mystery gaining legendary status in the choir’s history is the operetta Kattaya – The Cunning One, written for the Australian Boys Choir by Australian composer, Eric Austin Phillips. Based on a Sri Lankan folk tale, the production and performance forged strong memories in the minds of all involved, even if the actual story did not.

Chorister Chris Burgess remarked, “I have no idea what it was about, to tell you the truth. I remember the green costumes. I have no idea what they were meant to represent, possibly dragons or trees, scales of green … but the story eludes me.” Even Eric Phillips recently commented, “I remember nothing about the story”.

Theatrical Director, Brian Hogan, recalled, “the story was well suited for the boys, to relate dramatically and to rehearse the acting, using improvisation as a basis in rehearsal. The staging was quite avant garde for the time, including the audience from beginning to end”. The gorgeous costumes were simple, yet exotic and “many a long hour was spent in their design and construction by John Watts and the parents”.

“It was a huge advantage to have a work composed specifically for their voices,” he said, “with a musical line that combined simplicity appropriate to the narrative and memorable melodies, which the audience could recall with ease. All were left with a 'tune' in their ears.”

Unfortunately Kattaya is now a legend that cannot be repeated. The music is lost. The score cannot be found in the extensive, well organised choir music library. Even the composer does not have a copy. How a work like this could disappear is a mystery. The most likely explanation is that the music was handwritten, not printed, and never collected into a single folio.

Musical Director of the operetta, Bruce Macrae commented, “Eric wrote very much on the run, and I remember actually waiting at the beginning of one Saturday morning rehearsal - at the Kooyong Road Choir House - for him to turn up with manuscript copies (‘roneoed’, I think) of the next song, or bits of them, in the sequence so we could learn it. I recall at the end returning the 'score', and thinking, 'I'm glad that will be kept so it can be done again - it's worth it'. How ironic!”

Bruce has kindly gifted to the choir manuscript copies of a couple of the songs and some production notes, but the full score remains elusive. Performed only once, at the Melbourne Town Hall on October 10, 1970, and described as “a truly memorable and ground breaking production,” we continue to hope that one day we might find the rest of Kattaya – The Cunning One and perform it once again.