Oriel Entertainment Group
Oriel Entertainment Group is a production house for Theatre, Television and Cabaret. Established in 2014, Oriel was created by Helpmann Award winning actor Elise McCann to facilitate opportunities for Australian artists and creatives to foster and develop their visions into innovative first class entertainment.
For stage Elise was writer and co-creator in association with Luckiest Productions on Everybody Loves Lucy; lead producer of the Australian revival and national tour of I Am My Own Wife; development producer of new musical Carmen, Live or Dead; and creator, co-writer and producer of the world premiere concert/cabaret Dahlesque which she licenced to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philarmonia for live performance and licenced as an album to ABC Music.
For screen Elise has worked as a producer, dramaturge, content developer, script editor and writers researcher both locally and internationally across both fiction and non fiction inspired content. Elise spent 2019 in New York working under a producer placement at Sarah Jessica Parker’s all female production company Pretty Matches Productions. From April – June 2020 Elise worked with Laura Waters and Princess Pictures developing and adapting both long and short form content.
During May-July 2020 Elise created and produced an online broadcast charity concert, Play It On, raising funds for Australian artists impacted by the Covid-19 entertainment industry shutdowns. PIO featured collaborations from David Campbell, Casey Donovan, Graeham Goble, Kate Miller-Heidke, Tim Minchin, Katie Noonan, Eddie Perfect, Hayden Tee and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
In 2021 Elise was lead producer on the Screen Australia funded online series The Power of the Dream for Chips and Gravy Films.
Elise is currently working in development across two feature films for Award winning and Emmy Nominated producer Dan Wigutow. She received funding from Seaview Productions/Sony for second stage development of her own series Beginners and recently produced the short Rhyme Time starring William McInnes and Emily Havea due for release in 2023.
Current Credits include:
Productions
Rhyme Time
In 2022 Elise produced the indie short film RHYME TIME starring William McInnes and Emily Havea.
Rhyme Time is a funny and moving short that looks at our rapidly changing culture through the eyes of an older librarian. Starring William McInnes, Emily Havea, Jahla Black, Chris Van Ingen, Christina O’Neill and introducing Leo Wilson as Bowen.
Written & Directed by DEAN BRYANT
Produced by ELISE McCANN
Executive Producers DEAN BRYANT & ELISE McCANN
Co-Producer ANDY JOHNSTON
Director of Photography AMY DELLAR
Editor AMELIA FORD
Composer MATHEW FRANK
Production Designer GINNY SALMON
Costume Designer GARTH ERNSTZEN
Post Production CONTI BROS. FILMS
Audio Post Production: MIGHTY SOUND
Rhyme Time is due for release mid 2023.
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The Power of the Dream
Elise recently produced the Screen Australia funded online series THE POWER OF THE DREAM.
The Power of the Dream is an Australian based 6 x 10 minute comedy mockumentary written and created by Alexandra Keddie & Bobbie-Jean Henning, directed by Meg Ham and produced by Elise McCann. Starring Bobbie-Jean Henning, Alexandra Keddie, Christina O’Neill and featuring eight time Olympic medalist Susie O’Neill, The Power of the Dream follows athletically challenged cousin-best-friends Amy and Brooke Bland as they train for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The Power of the Dream released nationally on July 14th 2021.
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PLAY IT ON Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
PLAY IT ON is a music collaboration series produced by Oriel Entertainment presented as an online concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in support of Australian artists who had lost their income as a result of the nationwide shutdown of the live entertainment industry.
Featuring collaborations and performances from
David Campbell • Hailey Collier • Casey Donovan • Graeham Goble • Kate Miller-Heidke • Elise McCann • Tim Minchin • Katie Noonan • Eddie Perfect • Hayden Tee
and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
PLAY IT ON streamed free of charge and viewers were encouraged to donate to the specific PLAY IT ON donation portal where all funds raised were distributed between the Actors and Entertainment benevolent Funds and Trusts in each state, as well as Support Act. These terrific institutions then ‘pay it on’ to individual arts workers nationwide, across all professions who needed support.
Elise and Oriel Entertainment are honoured to have produced this event and have campaigned alongside some of Australia’s most accomplished creatives to inspire and celebrate the remarkable talents in the Australian arts industry and help support their wider community.
Play It On premiered online on Thursday 9 July at 7.00pm via the Sydney Symphony website and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Facebook page and the Oriel Entertainment Facebook page. Rewatch PLAY IT ON on the Oriel Entertainment Youtube HERE or Facebook page HERE.
Heart Sounds Concert - Healthcare Workers & Artists Celebrate International Nurses Day 2020
HEART SOUNDS is an online concert co-produced by Elise McCann of Oriel Entertainment and Alex Rathgeber that premiered on Tuesday 12th May 2020 to celebrate nurses, midwives and the extended healthcare workforce on International Nurses Day.
HEART SOUNDS brings together a collection of Australia’s most luminous artists of stage, screen and music, with insights from frontline healthcare workers.
Hosted by the sensational Virginia Gay, HEART SOUNDS features performances direct from the homes of David Campbell, Eddie Perfect, Rebecca Gibney, Geraldine Hakewill, Lucy Durack, Joel Jackson, Ainsley Melham, Callum Francis, Okenyo Valentino, Gorgi Coghlan, Hayden Tee, Jemma Rix, Maggie McKenna, Bert LaBonte, Robert Tripolino, Yve Blake, Jordan Pollard, Zahra Newman, Madeleine Jones, Gillian Cosgriff, Clare Chihambakwe, Manali Datar, Kuda Mapeza, Jessica Vickers, Cle Morgan, Fem Belling, Alex Rathgeber and Elise McCann.
Rewatch HEART SOUNDS on the Heart Sounds Facebook page HERE
#IND2020 #heartsounds4healthcare @heartsoundsconcert
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Dahlesque
Elise wrote, produced and performed in the world premiere concert/cabaret Dahlesque which was commissioned by the 2017 Adelaide Cabaret Festival and premiered in June 2017 featuring music from adaptations of Roald Dahl stories all played with a 9 piece orchestra. Dahlesque was then presented in collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2018. It was re-orchestrated for a 40 piece orchestra ahead of its Melbourne premiere at the Malthouse Theatre and received critical acclaim. In May 2019 Dahlesque premiered in New Zealand for a series of concerts with the Auckland Philarmonic Orchestra. It will next be presented by QPAC in a Brisbane season featuring the incredible Camerata Chamber Orchestra in 2022.
Dahlesque was released as an album of music with ABC Music/Universal Music in June 2017 and is available here.
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Carmen, Live or Dead
In April of 2017 Oriel produced and developed the original new work Carmen, Live or Dead, written by New York writer Craig Harwood for one of Australia’s most diverse and exciting theatre and cabaret actors – Natalie Gamsu. Carmen, Live or Dead is the fascinating and extraordinary story of Carmen Frida Leon Davidovich, The fictional Love Child of Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky. Carmen, Live or Dead is a fascinating, edgy and entertaining story of identity and survival directed by Shaun Rennie with original music composed by iOTA.
Carmen, Live or Dead underwent a two week development and a 6 show performance run at The Butterfly Club in Melbourne throughout April 2017 after which it underwent a second stage development in New York. It had its official world premiere production in Sydney at the Hayes Theatre in April/May 2018, after which it transferred to the prestigious Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June 2018. For more information visit carmenliveordead.com
I Am My Own Wife
Oriel Group’s first independent venture was the critically acclaimed one man play I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright, directed by Shaun Rennie and starring theatre and television star Ben Gerrard. I Am My Own Wife ran a sell out season at the Old Fitz Theatre in Sydney in November/December of 2015 through which Ben was nominated in the 2015 Sydney Theatre Awards for Most Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play for his performance as Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf. I Am My Own Wife opened in Melbourne in January 2017 at fortyfivedownstairs theatre as a Premier Production in the 2017 Midsumma Festival, receiving unanimous critical acclaim and box office success. Following which it toured to Brisbane as part of the MELT Festival opening at the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre in April 2017 for a strictly limited sell out season. IAMOW later completed a return Brisbane season at the QUT Gardens Theatre in October 2018.
For more information visit www.iammyownwife.com.au
Everybody Loves Lucy
Elise was co-creator in association with Luckiest Productions on Everybody Loves Lucy which premiered in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in 2014. Written by McCann and co-writer Richard Carroll, Everybody Loves Lucy subsequently went on to perform an 8 week national tour in 2015 around the major cities of Australia, followed by a 3 month regional tour in 2017.
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