My first orange glaze-'hamming it up for Christmas'
Very merry returns for one and all this Christmas time and a brilliant new year!
With love, Ian

September 26.-29 :

Ian shooted the next scenes for Sonnigsburg in Melbourne.

for more info's:

https://www.facebook.com/sonnigsburg?fref=ts

For Details: click on the picture:

August 19th 2014:

The Leading Men

Great event were the headline act for the Australian Institute of Company Directors Gold medal award.

Reference: Lovegrove Entertainment

August 1. - 4. :

Ian shooting his first scenes for Sonnigsburg in Melbourne.

for more info's:

https://www.facebook.com/sonnigsburg?fref=ts

July 12th 2014:

The Leading Men

Another great show tonight for The Leading Men at Canberra's Hyatt helping to raise funds for Lifeline.

Reference: Lovegrove Entertainment

http://www.musiktraeume.info/information/ozeanien/ian-stenlake/

Ian, thank you for having time to do this interview .Your career and any other things about you are on our homepage so we will concentrate on of the present.

In Europe you are known as Commander Mike Flynn from the series Sea Patrol. Only a few people know, that you are a wonderful singer and musical actor, too.

In Europe you could only buy the Martin King Project and you could find some videos of the Leading Men on the homepage of Lovegrove Entertainment and our homepage.

I stay in Australia for 8 weeks and I have the big luck to see you performing in musicals and concerts.

Ian, for a short time, you play Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls in Brisbane. I saw this show and I’m experienced that the rehearsals during only 2 and a half weeks and then its gives only 6 shows in 4 days. Is this not very exhausting time and how do you manage this?

Yes, (laugh) very good question and it is good to meet you and be with you today. It’s a very exhausting time to rehearse a full musical in such a short period of time? And of course to prepare for that – two and a half weeks of rehearsal, I did other work at home over a duration of, maybe three or four or more weeks, so to be ready for day one of the rehearsals, I did a lot of preparation at home: singing through the songs, reading the script every day, particularly using my voice every day so that I develop stamina for my voice to perform twice today, maybe three, four, five days in a row.

Only 2 days later you started the tour with the Morning Melodies Concerts. In Europe we don’t know this kind of concerts. Can you say what’s happening there and what for songs you presented?

Well, the morning Melodies concerts here in Australia, which maybe Germany will think about doing. It’s a great way for performers to get up close and personal with the fans. All the people who like to hear singing that‘s why it is cool to do Morning Melodies. So, in my version, I’ve chosen as my first Concert tour, to basically tell the audience more about my career. Who I am, where I come from, how long I‘ve been acting and what I have done over the last 20 years. So the songs are particularly chosen from performances I have done in the past so maybe in the musicals involving things like  Guys and Dolls, Cabaret, the Musical, They’re playing our song, The Pajama game, and Eureka,(a brand new Australian Musical I did three years ago). So that’s basically the concert: 90 minutes and the songs and stories.

In this concert, you were accompanied on the piano by Andrew Worboys. Is this a new partnership or have you worked together on other concerts?

Yes, I exactly met Andrew at a musical workshop for Truth, Beauty and a Picture of you. Which is a brand new Australian Musical that you will be see, that will be on in Sydney in a few weeks’ time. So, Andrew and I met two years ago when we collaborated to help workshop that new piece of theatre. Andrew is very impressive. He is a very talented musician and a fantastic Musical Director so we were available to once again work together and I’m lucky he is available for three weeks to come on tour with me.

As I said before in Europe we know only the records from the Martin King Project. Do you will planning to record another songs? For example with the songs from the morning melodies concerts? But after the concert today I saw you are having another CD with you.

Yes, I do have another cd, that’s call “Perfect Day“, that was a collaboration with Rachael Beck and we did a very, very small tour in Victoria, of the songs from that CD. I may to do that again one time.

I haven’t decided to record any of this Morning Melodies Concert. I have in the back my mind perhaps next year, sometime I will have another show. But it’s the very beginning stage, I’m still thinking about it and try in to work, out what people may be interested in seeing and maybe a little less personal and more thematic on me or maybe pick a composer or someone and feature the songs a little more, and still have a lot of fun.

Back to the musicals: In May you will play in a new musical called Truth, Beauty and a Picture of you (Ian corrected polite my pronunciation from the word: Truth) on the Hayes Theatre in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Is the rehearsal timetable same short as by Guys and Dolls?

You know what? I think it’s a little longer. (laughing). But it’s still very short. Maybe three weeks rehearsal and then a three week run. So, It‘s a longer process it’s twice the length in time but still quite a short time to produce a brand new musical.

What kind of music could be heard in the musical?

The music comes from a modern Australian band called The Whitlams. And typically Tim Freedman, the lead singer of the group wrote songs. His songs are very personal. Every song tells a story, so it is a lot of ballads but this is really eclectic or different styles and types of music within his own albums. And he has chosen a number of these songs and woven together a story, that dances between fiction and fact and tells a lot of actual things that happened in his life and to The Whitlams. It‘s pieced together by a fictional or fairtaile story about two young lovers.

The first half year from 2014 was extremely busy for you.

The Leading Men on Board from Queen Mary II, Guys and Dolls in Brisbane, the Morning Melodies Tour through Queensland and the Musical in Sydney in May. Do you have plans in the second half year, perhaps in the TV, then we’ll see in Europe?

(Laugh) I always wished that. I’m always looking for TV-work and film work that you guys can see over there, over in Europe, i can’t wait to do something you can all see. You have to be patient as an actor and just wait for the projects to come along and do your best to get new jobs.

I saw you also in Guys and Dolls and in the morning melodies Concert here in Cairns and I’m experience and feel that our job makes you happy. You have various talents, but can you say us, what do you mostly like or love on your jobs?

For my jobs? Ah, that’s a very good question. You know the thing with me and acting is, I find as a job, it is so different and diverse in what you‘re asked to do. At any one time my job can be for a comedy or can be for a drama could be a musical, could be theatre work, could be film work, TV-work, all of them make me feel fantastic. Or I guess I love to work and so I really don’t mind what it is. But I am sure,it’s just outlook on work, I think, before became an actor, you know, I worked in a Bank, and I made sure that I gave my best every day at that too. So, I think it’s perhaps more an outlook on life then just work.

I read, you play guitar. Do you play any other instruments?

(laugh) Yeah, I play guitar a little bit and I play piano a little bit, and I play piano in Truth, Beauty – the next musical and I learned Trumpet as a kid, but I learned also German: Sprechen sie Deutsch? But not much. So, I learned after to say: Ich heisse Ian, wie heisst Du? or: wie geht es Dir? or very very important things like: Die Katze sitzt auf dem Tisch. I speak a little German.

In Switzerland, the foreigner must learn: chochichäschtli (ist means: kitchen cupboard and is a very difficult word in swiss dialect)

Ian try this and in the third attempt, he say this word perfect.

It’s possible for you to give sometime a guest performance in Europe when you became an invitation?

Come to Europe and perform?

Yes

I’m sure, I can find some time to do that, that would be an incredible experience I think. It would be amazing to actually meet people there who watch Sea Patrol and other things, I’m sure that would be wonderful – wunderbar.

Ian, I say thank you Ian for this interview. I wish you a lot of interesting jobs and we following your career interested 16‘000 kilometers away.