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It’s February and David Atkins stands atop a small stage in the foyer of Sydney’s Lyric Theatre addressing a sea of “group bookers” who’ve descended upon the media launch of Hot Shoe Shuffle.

The rapport he has with this audience is palpable. You can tell this boy from Oz has firmly cemented his place in the theatrical hearts of this captive crowd.

But then, way before Atkins (now an OAM – awarded in 2003 for services to the entertainment industry) or his company, David Atkins Enterprises (DAE) was known for producing high profile live events, this audience had already defined him as one of Australia’s leading musical theatre artists. Certainly at this event you could see that their love of him hasn’t waned in the 15 years since he’s performed.

After a hiatus that many might have presumed marked the end of his performing career, Atkins is returning to the stage, taking the role of Max in Hot Shoe Shuffle.

“I always loved the project: the execution of it. The amount of fun and real joy I experienced.”

He continues: “Also, the collaboration with the performers, the technical team and the rehearsal experience, was the best of any show! There is also a joy that came out of the investment in (realising) my own material too!”

Atkins created Hot Shoe Shuffle with Max Lambert in 1992. It had its original genesis from a one page synopsis which was submitted to The Hills Centre in Sydney and became a new production just 10 weeks later.

He does admit, though, that when discussions first surfaced about restaging the show to celebrate its 20-year anniversary, it hadn’t been his intention to be in it. 

He adds, with a wry smile, “We had done some market research investigating the viability of the show and – I came up respectfully in the survey! Then the idea developed more traction when the tour came down to just the three cities.”

Atkins will still fulfill obligations as executive producer on DAE productions while in the show. “I am on a plane all the time. It doesn’t stop!”

He is looking forward to playing the role. He adds, “The biggest thing was putting the tap shoes back on. I hadn’t worn them since Singing In The Rain in 2001.”

He also confesses to putting in some specific training as fitness preparation for the show but qualifies, “by comparison with what the boys have to dance in the show, my role is a walk in the park.”

It’s quite ironic in view of the confidence he exuded at the launch of the show that Atkins confesses to being “not a naturally confident performer”.

“I really suffer from nerves – especially from about 3pm on the day of a performance. I have to do everything in the right order, or I freak out!”

There’s no sign of the nerves on stage at the launch. Perhaps it’s because of this rationale of his: “There’s that weird thing – the tenuous link between you and the audience: sometimes it’s a highway and sometimes it’s a piece of dental floss!”

It seems what I observed at the launch was Atkins metaphorically strutting along the dividing line of a multi-laned freeway!

Atkins is openly proud of and excited about Hot Shoe Shuffle, and cites it among his career highlights – such as the show’s opening night in 1992, then its West End premiere.

They sit right up there with his achievements as an event producer for spectacles like the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics in 2000 – which he calls his “baptism – but amazing because it was a hometown show” – or the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2006 – which was “more fulfilling because by then I was better at it. We did things in that show that are part of my Top 10 moments!”

What is the difference in producing a theatre show like Hot Shoe Shuffle, Hairspray or Singing in the Rain compared to an internationally live event like the Olympic Games?

“Working on a event is a pleasant relief,” he jokes. “They give you a budget and you put the event on and spend it! In theatre you have a budget, and you spend it putting the show on – but then have (the added pressure) to make the money back!”

Of course he might be downplaying how much work either takes to realise – just slightly!

This new production of Hot Shoe Shuffle – which also stars Bobby Fox as Spring and Jaz Flowers as April – moves from Brisbane to Sydney on July 6, then on to Melbourne from August 10. A return season to London is also touted for 2014. Morgan Junor-Larwood, Rob Mallett, Mitchell Hicks, Alexander Kermond, Max Patterson and Mason Schaube are the Tap Brothers.

This article was first published in the June-July 2013 issue of Dance Australia magazine.

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