If you love a good theatre show and adore Christmas, you're in for a treat this festive season with the brand new show from two of Australia’s leading men this December.
Guaranteed to rekindle your holiday spirit and become Australia’s newest Christmas tradition, Australian actor and singer Rob Mills and Irish-born Aussie Actor Bobby Fox will be bringing their cheer, charm, cheek and Christmas classics, in the world premiere of their brand new show – The Kings of Christmas!
They’ll take to Costa Hall at Deakin University Geelong Waterfront on Sunday, December 18 for a special afternoon show.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
While both have been performing in the best musicals across Australia for the past decade, much like Martin Riggs & Murtaugh and Batman & Robin, dynamic duo Rob Mills (of Australian Idol fame, plus Wicked, Neighbours, Grease) and Bobby Fox (Jersey Boys, Riverdance, Dancing on Dangerous Ground, The Irish Boy) have become a force when together, stealing the show on Channel 9’s, Carols By Candlelight for the past three years.
Inspired by their on-stage chemistry, passion for the stage and sheer love of Christmas, Fox and Mills have curated their very own Christmas show aptly titled ‘The Kings of Christmas’.
“We have done Vision Australia’s Carols By Candlelight on Christmas Eve for the last three years. This year will be our fourth year in a row and each time it’s just gotten better and better, and our chemistry on stage has gotten better and better,” Fox explains.
“Our dynamic and approach to performing is very similar in that we just like to have fun and we really like to be genuine and authentic with the audience and not try to make them feel anything. We just kind of bring them along on where we are at, which is kind of loving what we’re doing.
“So, I was just like, ‘we’ve got to do a show’, and really create something that we can perform every year and keep building and keep changing and trying new things out.”
With plans for the new show established back in March, the duo have been busy behind the scenes over the past nine months curating a dedicated Christmas show to bring to Geelong for one night only, packed with all your favourite Christmas Classics and featuring some of Australia’s finest musicians and dancers, creatively directed by the incredible Yvette Lee.
“It’s more of an upbeat concert,” Mills says. “The thing we love about Christmas is the fun side of it so I think there are maybe two ballads throughout the whole thing, then the rest of it is upbeat with a small band and what are we calling the Rockin’ Rob and Bobettes.”
“We are trying to bring like the family party atmosphere to a Christmas. I think this show is kind of unique in a sense because we’ll have proper showbiz dancers. I’m looking forward to just doing it and kicking a leg.”
“There’s almost a bit of a Vegas Christmas show sort of feel to it,” Fox adds. “With the dancers, the horn section, and the big band swinging arrangements.”
Despite being two of the busiest performers in the nation, plus Mills now adding author to his resume with his new book Putting on a Show, The Kings of Christmas is entirely self-produced, marking the duo’s first foray into the world of show production.
“We’re so used to doing big musicals and production where you just turn up, stand on the marks and get told what to do,” Mills explains.
“This is a big learning curve for us as well, which has been super fun and stressful all at the same time. But I think it’s also bringing us closer together, so Geelong we thought would be a great spot to premiere the show, obviously, they’re still celebrating the win from the grand final.
“So Geelong gets two wins this year,” Fox adds. “They’ve got the Premiership and then The Kings of Christmas, and also because we’ve got a special guest, don’t we?”
Joining Fox and Mills on stage for their world premiere will be the unofficial Mayor of Geelong in Denis Walter, who is renowned in the region for his own Christmas show Carols by the Bay.
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Knowing nothing can slap a smile on your face and put a little holiday warmth in your heart faster than the magic of a live Christmas show, it’s Mills and Fox’s trademark cheer, charm, cheek that we’ve fallen for over the past few years that will set this stage show apart from the rest, with plans now to present this production annually.
“The feedback we’ve gotten from Carols over the last three years has just been, ‘you guys really bringing a great vibe to Carols’. Everyone else is doing very presentational beautiful singing, which is great and they are incredible singers, but we like to be great singers who also bring a fun vibe and bring a bit of a party kind of celebration to it,” Mills explains.
“We’re just having fun and creating something that we can then do forever. I can’t imagine not wanting to do Christmas with Bobs. It’s the best.”
“This show feeds into our careers so beautifully because it’s sort of a combination of everything that we do. You know, with the Christmas stuff and then Christmas being a really busy time of the year anyway as a performer, it’s so good to do something that’s personal,” Fox adds.
“We’re going to actually pour a lot of ourselves into it outside of the music and the song choice. There are going to be moments of talking, connecting with the audience and giving them a little insight into ourselves.
“When you do a Christmas show sometimes it can feel forceful and presentation, but I honestly can’t wait for us to just talk how we normally do to each other and talk to the audience,” Mills adds.
“There’s something that Bobs and I do quite well in being really authentic on stage. We’re not selling you anything; we’re just having a chat. So when we do bring it down to have a serious chat, it always lands because it’s real.”
If you love Christmas, you won’t want to miss this.
The 75-minute show takes place at 3pm on December 18 at Geelong’s Costa Hall. Tickets are still available here, with half-price tickets for under 18s.
