 |
| Norma Robertson at the School of Arts Cafe in 1989 |
NORMA ROBERTSON – 21st March 1941 – 8th
January 2025 - Musical Director and Accompanist Extraordinaire.
Friends gathered at the Canberra Repertory Theatre recently
to celebrate and reminisce about the life of one of their most admired and respected
members, Norma Robertson, who died earlier in the month.
A life member of Canberra Repertory, Norma was best known to
the wider community as the brilliant pianist and Musical Director for Canberra
Repertory’s Old Time Music Halls.
For 26 years she and fellow pianist, Andrew Kay delighted
audiences with their unique skills as duo-pianists.
What set Norma apart from most other musical directors was
her ability to play by ear, transpose any song instantly, often mid-song if
necessary, and her inexhaustible good humour during rehearsals.
I learned this during my very first production, “Stairway to
the Stars”, a revue I directed for the Griffith Amateur Musical Revue Company
in 1958 and for which Norma - then a 16-year-old schoolgirl who had passed all
her AMEB examinations - was my Musical Director.
She would be my musical director for five of my shows, until she won a
scholarship to the Wagga Teacher’s College in 1961.
After graduating she married director Ross McGregor and they
settled in Gundagai where in addition to Ross directing a series of theatrical
productions, they produced four children.
In 1973 Ross McGregor was appointed artistic
director of Canberra Repertory and in 1974 Norma McGregor, as she had become,
was teamed with local dentist, Andrew Kay, to provide the musical direction for
the inaugural Old Time Music Hall.
By 1976, having established my family in
Queanbeyan, I directed a revue, Up Tempo, for Tempo Theatre, my first
production in Canberra and the Kay/McGregor duo became my musical directors.
In 1986, my wife Pat, son Tim, and I purchased
the School of Arts Café in Queanbeyan, which soon became the
longest-established full-time cabaret venue in Australia.
Norma was now Norma Robertson, having married
Graham Robertson in 1980, and agreed to be accompanist for a season at the café
with American lounge singer, Connie Strait, whose talent for being able to sing
just about any song from the Great American Songbook, was a perfect match for
Norma’s ability to play just as many of them.
 |
| A poster on the School of Arts Cafe wall featuring a review of Connie and Norma's show. |
After Connie returned to America in 1987,
Norma, by now raising eight children (as the result of blending her four with
Graham’s four) continued as accompanist whenever she could.
She resolutely refused to perform a solo in
any of the shows, preferring to provide a safe and supportive ambiance for the
artist she was accompanying.
But she did appear in group shows, including
numerous editions of the annual Bull N Bush Christmas Parties, where she could
hold her own as an entertainer with the best of them.
 |
| The cast of the 1992 Bull & Bush Christmas Party Alan Cope - Graham Robertson - Kirsty McGregor - Norma Robertson - Rosemary Hyde |
In their 1989 show, I Love a Piano, she and
Kay showcased their duo-piano skills, with polished narration, as she did when
accompanying Jon Finlayson and Jon Stephens for their 1998 Flanagan and Allen
show, Underneath the Arches.
Nothing if not a perfectionist, Norma
Page-McGregor-Robertson, didn’t abide fools gladly, but neither was she
dictatorial. Rather, she was a wise and knowledgeable mentor, whose counsel was
sought and respected by every artist with whom she worked.
BILL STEPHENS
Photos by Robert Roach.
An edited edition of this article first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 27.01.25
