It's common knowledge that you have to be good at multi-tasking to entertain children.
But the Wiggles, who made their matinee debut at the Opera House on their You Make Me Feel Like Dancing UK tour, can do just about everything.
Parents enjoye
d an hour of calm
yesterday as their children watched the Australian five-piece act sing, dance, and play instruments – all while
interacting with the crowd of
awe-stricken infants at the foot of the stage.
Jeff, Murray, Sam, Antony and Phillip, who formed as students at a university in Sydney, entertain more than 750,000 fans every year, have sold 30m DVDs and CDs.
And they were joined by nine friends, the Wiggly Dancers, who must hold the world record for most costume changes ever in one performance.
With brows gleaming with sweat, the five joined in with the gymnastics
routines, ballet numbers with Dorothy the Dinosaur, and even an energetic drumming march – all with huge smiles on their faces.
If the children yesterday afternoon are as actively receptive to songs such as Wild Western number Old Dan Tucker and Follow the Leader when they watch The Wiggles on TV, they just might disprove the rule that TV breeds obesity.
What's more, every hard-working member of the show was clearly trained to be able to step into someone else's shoes at any moment.
When Antony, the blue Wiggle,
discovered at the beginning he had lost his voice, he simply laughed and
proceeded to complete his speeches in a falsetto voice, passing the odd song onto one of his dancing friends.
Helen Steel
