Speaker 1: Hot Potato, Hot potato.
Speaker 2: Hut potato, hot potato, Hut potato, hot potato, potato, potato,
Speaker 2: potato potato.
Speaker 3: Everyone under six and their parents knows that song. And
Speaker 3: of course, former Yellow Wiggle Greg Page, who was the
Speaker 3: original lead singer and a founding member of the children's
Speaker 3: band Wiggles from nineteen ninety one to two thousand and
Speaker 3: six and again in twenty twelve, and he's currently playing
Speaker 3: FDR in the Australian production of the legendary musical Annie
Speaker 3: and I got Greg on the line. Hello Greg, Oh,
Speaker 3: Reverend Bill, how are you good? Mate? Thanks? Now you've
Speaker 3: just come off stage after two shows today. It must
Speaker 3: be pretty grueling.
Speaker 1: Oh look, it's not too bad compared to I mean,
Speaker 1: we do eight performances a week with Annie. Sometimes with
Speaker 1: the Wiggles we used to do up to twenty one
Speaker 1: performances a week, So like comparison, this is a breeze. Now.
Speaker 3: Did you ever guess back in ninety ninety one that
Speaker 3: the Wiggles would morph into a worldwide phenomenon.
Speaker 1: No, we had no idea, And I guess that's the
Speaker 1: beauty of life. You never know what's around the corner
Speaker 1: waiting for you. And if you take opportunities, and I
Speaker 1: guess the opportunity that we saw was just the opportunity
Speaker 1: to create good quality children's entertainment. And it was really
Speaker 1: Anthony Field. The Blue Wiggle was his dream to do this,
Speaker 1: and you know we we just did it because we
Speaker 1: had a passion for it. It wasn't about global domination
Speaker 1: or becoming big or successful. I think the greatest success
Speaker 1: you can have in life is if you go to
Speaker 1: work every day and do something you'd love. That's success.
Speaker 1: Everything else's cream on top.
Speaker 3: Because a lot of us remember the Australian band The
Speaker 3: Cockroaches that served us the foundation for the Wiggles, didn't.
Speaker 1: The Yeah, I kind of did it. So Anthony and
Speaker 1: Jeffrey in the Wiggles, sorry in the Cockroaches. And I
Speaker 1: was a fan of the Cockroaches growing up listening to
Speaker 1: their music and I had to do work experience in
Speaker 1: year ten at school, I said I wanted to do
Speaker 1: work experience with the Cockroaches as a roadie as a
Speaker 1: sound engineer, and that's when I really first met Anthony
Speaker 1: and jeff and I stayed in touch with them. I
Speaker 1: ended up doing early childhood teaching at university with Anthony,
Speaker 1: and that's where the genesis of the Wiggles came from,
Speaker 1: that connection to early childhood education and of course music.
Speaker 3: So you must have been difficult for you to pass
Speaker 3: the Alabatton in twenty twelve.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, I've done it before in two thousand and
Speaker 1: six when I was unwell and I had to leave
Speaker 1: the group back in two thousand and six, and the
Speaker 1: guys asked me back in twenty twelve because the current
Speaker 1: Yellow Wiggle at that time, Sam was leaving the group
Speaker 1: and they needed somebody to fill in for that year.
Speaker 1: And as it turned out, not that I knew it
Speaker 1: at the time, because I was only back for a
Speaker 1: few months, but Murray and Jeff decided to make twenty
Speaker 1: twelve their final year with the Wiggles as well, So
Speaker 1: it ended up working out well, and I was back
Speaker 1: that year because then could actually have a whole year
Speaker 1: of shows as the the original group of Wiggles saying
Speaker 1: farewell for three of us at the same time.
Speaker 3: Now I didn't know this, but you amassed the fourth
Speaker 3: largest collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia in the world. What's
Speaker 3: satinal about?
Speaker 1: Well, Look, I visited Graceland back in nineteen ninety nine
Speaker 1: when the Wiggles were on tour in the US, and
Speaker 1: I felt just a strong connection to Elvis's story. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was a very spiritual person and he questioned life,
Speaker 1: and he questioned why he was chosen to be the
Speaker 1: superstar that he was, but he had a lot of
Speaker 1: personal struggles as well, and I thought, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot more to this legend than people realized. And
Speaker 1: I found it very deep, and I started collecting things
Speaker 1: that he had owned, so shirts, books, documents, cars, his
Speaker 1: marriage certificate, furniture from his homes and I set up
Speaker 1: a museum in Parks where they have the annual Elvis
Speaker 1: Festival every year. So museum has been there, it's called
Speaker 1: the King's Castle. It's been there since two thousand and age.
Speaker 1: I think it was the first set it up there.
Speaker 1: So the collection a loan to the council out there.
Speaker 1: So if people are ever passing through the central West
Speaker 1: of New South Wales, if they're going through Parks, calling
Speaker 1: to the King's Castle, it's at the information center there
Speaker 1: and see if you feel a connection to the story
Speaker 1: of the king as well, and you're an im yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So I got an order of Australia back in twenty ten.
Speaker 1: Actually it was, and I mean that's one of the
Speaker 1: biggest honors I think I've received. You know, we've received
Speaker 1: a whole lot of ARIA awards, a whole lot of
Speaker 1: other accolades. But for me, that am says a lot
Speaker 1: because it's not just awarded by peers. Whereas you know,
Speaker 1: music awards are generally awarded by peers, this is awarded
Speaker 1: by people in the community who recognize your service to
Speaker 1: the country in various ways. So to have that award
Speaker 1: and order bestowed upon me and the other members of
Speaker 1: the Wiggles was a huge honor indeed, and a big thrill.
Speaker 3: And you were really lucky, won't you because you had
Speaker 3: a heart attack in January twenty twenty and you're only
Speaker 3: one in twenty survive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Look, it's a terrible statistic that there's
Speaker 1: more than thirty two thousand cardiac arrests every year in
Speaker 1: Australia and only one in twenty survived. Five percent survived
Speaker 1: to go home to their family. So I do count
Speaker 1: my blessing.
Speaker 3: What's the lesson from that.
Speaker 1: Well, look, the lesson is that bystanders really need to
Speaker 1: understand that when somebody is not responding, they need to
Speaker 1: call triple zero straight away, and if they're not breathing
Speaker 1: normally or at all, you start CPR and you use
Speaker 1: an AED as soon as possible, because you know, we
Speaker 1: can look after our hearts as much as we can,
Speaker 1: but sometimes you just don't know what's going onside it.
Speaker 1: And you know, for me, yes, I had heart disease,
Speaker 1: but I didn't know that. So you know, you can
Speaker 1: think you're healthy, you can get all the tests done
Speaker 1: and not be aware that there's actually something inside that
Speaker 1: could kill you instantly. But for the grace of God,
Speaker 1: there were people around me who knew how to do CPR.
Speaker 1: I knew how to access an AED and deliver that
Speaker 1: shock to save my life.
Speaker 3: So you're an advocate for all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Now, absolutely. Yeah. Look, I started a charity called Heart
Speaker 1: of the Nation back in twenty twenty, just a few
Speaker 1: months after I had the cardiac arrest. So for the
Speaker 1: past five years I've been out there advocating for people
Speaker 1: to learn how to do CPR, but also to know
Speaker 1: that if you have to do it, you don't need
Speaker 1: to be qualified or certified to have a go to
Speaker 1: try and save somebody's life because any attempt at resuscitation
Speaker 1: has been no attempt. And now we're actually merging with
Speaker 1: the Heart Foundation. My little charity Heart of the Nation
Speaker 1: is becoming a part of the National Heart Foundation, which
Speaker 1: is a huge honor.
Speaker 3: Now, come on, we get onto Andy, how'd you get
Speaker 3: involved in that?
Speaker 1: Well, look, it really came about another blessing, Riven Bill.
Speaker 1: I had wanted to do musicals for some time, and
Speaker 1: I never knew how to get into them. And late
Speaker 1: last year I received the call from the producers of
Speaker 1: Annie asking me if I'd like to be in a musical.
Speaker 1: And at that point I didn't know what the musical was.
Speaker 1: But when they told me what it was, and when
Speaker 1: they told me who else was in it, I thought
Speaker 1: it's an opportunity too good to turn down. I just
Speaker 1: had to say yes and give it a go and
Speaker 1: see if I'm any good at it. And hopefully the
Speaker 1: people that have been along so far think that I'm
Speaker 1: okay and I do a good job. But there is
Speaker 1: a lot of competition on stage for great voices, in
Speaker 1: great talent.
Speaker 3: I got to say, you've got an all star cast.
Speaker 3: Tell us who some of them?
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, certainly do The biggest star on stage is
Speaker 1: Anthony Warlow. I mean, this guy is a legend of
Speaker 1: musical theater, not only here in Australia, but he's performed
Speaker 1: on Broadway. He actually did Annie on Broadway back in
Speaker 1: twenty twelve, so I'm enjoying learning a lot from him.
Speaker 1: But we also had a Kris act playing Miss Hannigan.
Speaker 1: Anthony's wife, Amanda Lee la Verne, is playing Grace Farrell,
Speaker 1: and she's a Broadway performer. She spent twenty years in
Speaker 1: New York performing on Broadway, and so she's bringing what
Speaker 1: she knows about Broadway to Australia, which is really fascinating.
Speaker 1: It really is a great musical. There's so much to
Speaker 1: love about it.
Speaker 3: Are you having much fun playing Fdr?
Speaker 1: Yes? I am. And I got to tell you one
Speaker 1: reason why I took the job was because FDR was
Speaker 1: in a wheelchair. He had polio, and so I get
Speaker 1: to get pushed around on stage in a wheelchair all
Speaker 1: night while everybody else is dancing and singing and cavorting around.
Speaker 1: I just get pushed around and I don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about where I've got to be because somebody's pushing
Speaker 1: the wheelchair For me.
Speaker 3: So what do you put down to Annie's enduring success
Speaker 3: over all these years.
Speaker 1: Look, I think that really is the story of optimism
Speaker 1: and hope. Everybody knows that song The sun will come
Speaker 1: out tomorrow, so you got to hang on till tomorrow.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful song. But message is that tomorrow, nobody
Speaker 1: knows what's going to happen. Tomorrow. It might be raining
Speaker 1: and cloudy today, but tomorrow the sun will come out
Speaker 1: and everything looks different. And I think that's such a
Speaker 1: great message for anybody in life. I mean, we all
Speaker 1: get dealt bad cards from time to time in life,
Speaker 1: and it's how we play those cards. And you know
Speaker 1: whether the sun is shining on us as we play
Speaker 1: those cards in life as to how things might turn out.
Speaker 1: And I think if we allys approach life with optimism,
Speaker 1: then you're always looking at a glass that's half full
Speaker 1: and not half empty.
Speaker 3: Because you guys have got big shoes to fill, haven't
Speaker 3: you got Jill Perriman, Hayes, Gordon Kevin Johnston, Nancy Hayes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, it did. The show started here in Australia
Speaker 1: back and I think it was nineteen seventy nine or
Speaker 1: something like that. With those stars playing those characters, those
Speaker 1: much beloved characters. So yeah, we do have big shoes
Speaker 1: to fill. It's a show that a lot of people know,
Speaker 1: either through the movie Annie that came out in the
Speaker 1: eighties or through seeing it on stage over the many
Speaker 1: years here in Australia. So it's well known and there
Speaker 1: is a lot of pressure to deliver the goods. So
Speaker 1: you have to make sure that I have to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're on the money every night.
Speaker 3: So it's an updated production, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It is, yes, so people might have seen it before,
Speaker 1: but it is updated and and hopefully people come along
Speaker 1: and think that the guy that's playing the president doesn't
Speaker 1: look too old, not outdated.
Speaker 3: Now Annie's coming to Sydney's Capital Theater for a few
Speaker 3: more weeks and where to next?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So we've been here in Sydney for a couple
Speaker 1: of months now, We've got three weeks left so if
Speaker 1: you still want to come along and see this in Sydney,
Speaker 1: will be here until the twenty first of June. Then
Speaker 1: we go to Melbourne. I'm excited about that. So we're
Speaker 1: open in Melbourne at the Princess Theater on the tenth
Speaker 1: of July. And then after that we go to Brisbane
Speaker 1: at the end of the year. So look out for
Speaker 1: Annie at those places, Melbourne and Brisbane because we really
Speaker 1: look forward to coming to these towns bringing this spectacular
Speaker 1: production to everybody there.
Speaker 3: Greg Page is so great to talk to you tonight.
Speaker 3: Continued success, mate, continued success.
Speaker 1: And you two, Reverend Bill, thank you.
Speaker 4: Yes, sun come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that
Speaker 4: sorrow there'll be sun. Just thinking about tomorrow clears away
Speaker 4: the cobwebs and the sorrow till there's none.
Speaker 5: When I'm stuck with the day, the scrap, the lorne,
Speaker 5: I just think up my chick and and see.
Speaker 4: The sun come out tomorrow. So you gotta hang on
Speaker 4: till tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 6: Tomorrow. I love Tomorrow. Be always a day way.
Speaker 4: And I'm stuck with that day that's gray, and Lord,
Speaker 4: I just pick up.
Speaker 6: My cheese and green and set the supermark tomorrow.
Speaker 4: So you've gotta hang on till.
Speaker 2: Come on.
Speaker 6: Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love God, Tomorrow You're always is a day. Tomorrow.
Speaker 6: I love Tomorrow.
Speaker 2: You're always a day.
Speaker 6: Sh