12:00a.m. 31st August 2008

Shout! actors Dale Pengelly and Rowena Wallace. Photo: Cade Mooney/177796

Are you a wild one?

If you are then all your dreams will come true when the life and times of the original wild one come alive on stage in the smash-hit, all-Australian musical Shout! The Legend of the Wild One.

With a stellar cast of local performers and a soundtrack that will make you wanna shout, the story of Johnny O’Keefe bursts onto the stage from Wednesday night for the first ever Coast foray into pro-am theatre.

Pro-am draws its name from combining some professional performers with amateur performers and the producers of Shout! have gone all out for their first attempt at this style.

Celebrated theatre performer Dale Pengelly takes on the challenging role of O’Keefe and said he is excited about giving something back to the community.

“It’s a community thing, it’s to give to our community and our people,” he said.

“To be a part of that is absolutely essential. It’s my community it’s where I live.

“It’s a bit of a risk we are moving into and it’s just nice for me to be a part of it so people can learn from me and so I can learn from people. It’s a two-way thing.”

Joining Dale on stage in the role of his mother is gold Logie award-winning actress Rowena Wallace who has recently moved to the Coast and is taking to the stage for the first time at a local level and despite her wealth of experience she is thrilled to be working with Dale and the cast of Shout!

“I had heard of Dale,” she said. “He is just gorgeous and just wonderful to work with, he is a million laughs.

“But he has the ability to be present and be there when he needs to be. He’s an amazing performer. I’m full of admiration for him.

“And the kids are wonderful, I am really enjoying it.”

After moving to the Sunshine Coast to escape the cold weather in Melbourne, Rowena continues a busy professional career as a performer but has taken time out of her career to take on this role.

“I knew the people involved and I heard all the talk about it and I thought ‘what fun, I could do that’ so I put my hand up and they said ‘oh well why not, play his mum’,” Rowena said.

“I just love the show, I love the music.”

And it is the music in this production that is what makes the show such a sensation, from Purple People Eater to She’s My Baby, the hit’s that made Johnny O’Keefe a legend provide a backing to the storyline of his rise to fame and his eventual disintegration.

“It’s more like a rock concert than a musical,” Rowena said. “It relies heavily on all Johnny O’Keefe’s music, but I think it’s going to be fabulous, I really do”

Shout! has already been produced in Australia three times professionally, first in a national theatre tour, then an arena production in the touring tent and earlier this year in Melbourne and Sydney with Home and Away actor Tim Campbell in the lead role. And night after night in all of these productions the seats were filled with screaming crowds.

Dale has previously starred in two major Australian theatrical pieces understudying Todd McKenney in the original production of the Boy From Oz and starring in the original tour of Hot Shoe Shuffle and he said that Australians love hearing their stories told.

“It’s an Australian story and we are starved for that here, so when one comes up we embrace it,” he said.

“By the same token, it’s got to be done well, it’s got to be done properly and that hasn’t been always the case with Australian content.”

But we are assured that this production of Shout! is going to be done well with a dedicated team behind it, all passionate about ensuring the show is a success.

Tickets are selling fast and if the last few major productions are anything to go by, then the season will sell out in no time. So get in quick to buy your tickets or you may miss out on Shout!

WHAT: Shout! The Legend Of The Wild One

WHERE: The Events Centre, Caloundra

WHEN: From Wednesday, September 3

INFO: 5491 4240 or www.etixdirect.com.au