Dirty Rotten Scoundrels cast bid farewell to their home away from home
Any person involved in the arts knows just how difficult a touring schedule can be. Moving from state to state, city to city, apartment to apartment without loved ones or family can be incredibly taxing, and living out of a suitcase is not always an ideal situation.
This afternoon, the cast of Sydney’s hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels bid farewell to the Theatre Royal, and many will travel home to their base cities after spending several months in the Mantra Hotel on Kent Street, Sydney. In fact, over half of the cast and crew have made the one bedroom apartments on Kent Street their ‘home away from home’. Mantra are committed to supporting performers and crew in the shows they partner with, and are putting themselves on the map as a major player in the arts and live entertainment industry.
This affiliation with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels allows Mantra to continue a successful series of partnerships with producers across the country. Having worked with GFO, Global Creatures, Louise Withers, George Youakim and more they boast housing the cast and crew on many national tours including Billy Elliot, Hairspray, Cirque Du Soleil, The Mousetrap, Annie, Fame, King Kong, War Horse, Driving Miss Daisy and, of course, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to name a few.
“Mantra is ahead of the game when it comes to long term company accommodation. We set ourselves apart from our competitors by 4 main factors: our location, our space, our flexibility and our brand”, Mantra’s National Sales Manager for Entertainment Beau Keller told AussieTheatre.
“Mantra hotels are conveniently located in every capital city and in regional locations across Australia, with most properties near entertainment and theatre precincts. The space we offer in our apartments allow the cast and crew to unpack, rest and live comfortably in their new home.”
Living away from home in a touring production can be draining, but Keller believes Mantra’s full hotel service offers convenience and lifestyle benefits to cast and crew, allowing them to rest during the day and perform at their peak at night.
“We are flexible with our rates doing our best to adhere to entertainment industry per diems; and our Australian Mantra brand is a strong consistent product where we understand the traveller, their needs, and accommodate our guests with minimum fuss. This brand standard is seen in all properties and we are seeing that theatre partners want to be part of this offering”, he said.
Aside from keeping the cast and crew comfortable, Keller and his team at Mantra Hotels are champions of the arts and appear to have as much passion for the shows they support as their producing partners.
“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has a great story line, full of good laughs with a talented cast and creative team behind it. We feel very proud to collaborate our brand as a partner to such a successful show”, he said
“I was fortunate enough to be introduced to George Youakim (producer of DRS at James Anthony Productions) late last year – he couldn’t say much but at the time but on hearing the show was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, we jumped at the opportunity to become partners based on the success of the movie and George’s previous theatre productions.”
With over 114 hotels in the Mantra management across Australia, it seems that the arts have found a winner with the Mantra Hotels team. To date, they have accommodated tours in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, and Perth and there are plenty more partnerships on the horizon.
“The Mantra brand is strong, and Australians are enjoying entertainment more and more, so we would love the Mantra brand to develop as industry leaders in supporting the Arts”, said Keller.
“We certainly do have a number of pending partnerships for shows coming into the market for 2014, 2015 and even for 2016. These range from theatre productions to arena speculators, to smaller community based performances. Some are new and some are well known classics which have already toured the world circuit.”
If the enthusiasm and passion of Mantra’s National Sales Manager for Entertainment is anything to go by, artists and crew working on shows partnered with Mantra are sure to be in good hands across the country. If you are a loved one of a touring nomad, rest assured they will be well looked after!
