The STAGES Podcast - VALE Episode - Jacqueline Dark

STAGES with Peter Eyers

Hello. Thanks for checking in to this repeat performance of a STAGES conversation, recorded with the divine Jacqueline Dark in April 2019.
Jacqui's passing is a terrible shock and sadness that we all share. A consummate artist who had so much more to give her audience - across many platforms - Opera, Musical Theatre and Cabaret. Jacqui commanded a stage with an exquisite presence, an extensive skill set and an elegant humanity.
Her stage presence was such because of her love of life and all that she encountered in it. Her generosity of spirit and laughter and kindness touched so many people.
I was fortunate to know Jacqui for several decades, meeting her in community theatre productions in Ballarat. She excelled in the operetta of the Gilbert & Sullivan cannon, featured annually during Ballarat's Begonia Festival. She turned her focus to straight plays too, giving a delicious 'Nora' in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs. And I watched mesmerised at every performance of Godspell, as she delivered a passionate ‘By My Side’. She excelled in theatre restaurant and music hall presented at The Victoria Theatre, Sovereign Hill. Cheeky, dedicated, warm, witty and possessed of the most magnificent voice - Jacqui was destined for far bigger stages. And so she did. And so, she conquered them all.
Condolences to all of Jacqui’s colleagues, family and friends. We have lost a giant talent and a super human being!
The Wizard of Oz remarks to the Tin Man on his departure from Oz ………. “And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others”.
Vale Jacqui Dark.