Geelong’s Bert LaBonte leaves fans smiling in productions around the world. NOEL MURPHY meets a hidden treasure of the region’s deep talent pool.
FEW performers have stars like Marina Prior or David Campbell singing their praises but it’s all in a day’s work for Geelong actor, singer and comic Bert LaBonte.
LaBonte is one of those rare artists always in work, touch wood. Which all has plenty to do with his reserves of talent, of course, but it’s also result of a certain magnetism, an on-stage charisma, that leaves even colleagues slack-jawed.
Whether singing as Marvin Gaye or Nat King Cole, playing Richmond in Shakespeare’s Richard III, a rapper in the play Spelling Bee, a black American in Clybourne Park – even fronting Geelong eight-piece rock band Madhouse – Labonte is presence personified.
Campbell, a stage mate in Spelling Bee, has a telling take on the 39-year-old’s ability.
“People can’t seem to take their eyes off him when he’s on stage,” Campbell was quoted recently.
For the full story pick up the latest Geelong Coast Magazine – in newsagents now.
