On a beautiful sunny Saturday, we took one of our beautiful residents, Audrey, to her family town of Stockton. We were delighted to take her down memory lane to the town, especially the family Theatre!
Audrey’s day started with a drive around Stockton and past her family home that she shared with her late husband John and where they raised 3 children. We were then taken to her family theatre called Savoy Picture Theatre that she managed with John. They Savoy Picture Theatre opened in 1937 and seated 735 people. It first closed in 1961 and finally closed as a cinema in February 1980.
Audrey and John supported John’s Uncle Garnet H Carroll in bringing many musicals to Australia including Kismet, Salad Days, Bells are Ringing, Free as Air, Once Upon Mattress, Lock up your Daughter’s, The Sound of Music, The King and plus many more shows.
After working up a storm, we stopped to have lunch at Stockton Boatrowers Hotel, Audrey chose the prawn cutlets and said they are the best cutlets she’s ever had! After having a big lunch and a cold drink, it was off to the Civic Theatre in Newcastle.
We finally made it to Civic Theatre and headed backstage to meet all the stars of the show, including the writer and the producer of Mamma Mia. Audrey was super excited and couldn’t wait to meet everyone.
We were welcomed at the stage door with big hugs from everyone and took lots of photo’s together. Audrey was then whisked way to the backstage room and to have chat about Audrey’s days in the Theatre.
Shortly after the meet and greet, we found our seats, got comfortable and waited for the show to start. Audrey couldn’t stop smiling, Audrey loved every minute of the show!