Kenn Brodziak OBE 1913-1999

In 1968 Brodziak and Harry M. Miller transformed a forgotten hall in Exhibition Street to become the Playbox, the home for the Melbourne season of their production of the controversial play The Boys in the Band. Brodziak’s involvement with musical theatre included productions, usually with other managements, of Godspell; Canterbury Tales and Charlie Girl, which starred Anna Neagle, Derek Nimmo and John Farnham; No, No, Nanette; Two Gentlemen of Verona; Pippin, again with Farnham; and The Magic Show.

The 1970s brought Sid James in The Mating Season and Derek Nimmo in Why Not Stay For Breakfast? Concert attractions included Carol Charming, Rod McKuen, Bette Davis, Hinge and Bracket, and Ronnie Corbett.

In 1976, on the demise of the illustrious J.C. Williamson organisation, Kenn Brodziak became managing director of J.C. Williamson Productions Ltd, which aimed to continue the JCW tradition. Its debut – the world premiere of More Canterbury Tales – was a major disappointment, but its successor, the locally created The 20’s and All That Jazz, starring John Diedrich, Caroline Gillmer and John O’May, did much better. Next came A Chorus Line, the plays Boeing Boeing and Funny Peculiar, the Melbourne seasons of Patrick White’s Big Toys and Side by Side by Sondheim.

The cavalcade continued with Dracula, directed by Robert Helpmann and starring John Waters, the musical Annie with Jill Perryman, Hayes Gordon and Nancye Hayes, Liv Ullmann in Cocteau’s The Human Voice, Deathtrap, The Two Ronnies, Peter Allen in Up In One, and Derek Nimmo again, this time in Shut Your Eyes and Think of England.

From 1969 until 1973 Kenn Brodziak was vice president and then president of what today is known as Live Performance Australia. Another of his contributions was the training his office gave to a new generation of theatre professionals. Among the distinguished Brodziak alumni are Sue Nattrass, Malcolm Cooke, Robert Ginn, Shane Hewitt and Ashley Gordon.

In 1980, at the age of 67, Kenn Brodziak announced his retirement, but it was, at best, a Clayton’s affair. He stayed on as chairman of J.C. Williamson Productions until the company was sold in 1984, he continued to invest in shows, he offered advice whenever it was sought of him, and he continued his 13-year service on the board of the Melbourne Theatre Company – ironic, in view of the disdain in which he held most subsidised performing arts.

His remarkable contribution to entertainment was honoured in 1978 when he was awarded the OBE. In 1998 he and fellow entrepreneur Edna Edgley were the recipients of the in inaugural LPA James Cassius Awards, honouring their outstanding contributions to live entertainment in Australia.

Kenneth L. Brodziak died in Melbourne on 3 June 1999. A major collection of his personal memorabilia and his business records, including detailed documentation of the Beatles’ 1964 tour, are preserved in the Performing Arts Collection at the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne. A major biography by Raymond Stanley remains unpublished.

Frank Van Straten, 2007