this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Musical Theatre

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For lovers, performers and creators of musical theatre (or theater). Broadway, off-Broadway, the West End, other parts of the US and UK, and musicals around the world and on film/TV. Discussion encouraged. Welcome post: https://tinyurl.com/kbinMusicals See all/older posts here: https://kbin.social/m/Musicals

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Australian musicals - an overview and recent developments (kbin.social)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by Prouvaire@kbin.social to c/Musicals@kbin.social
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While Australia punches well above its weight when it comes to performers, there have been comparatively few locally written and developed shows that have become successful. This may be changing. Over the past 18 months (since the start of 2022) there have been at least thirteen Australian musicals that been either produced (including presentations of public development showcase readings) or announced.

Not all of these will become successful (realistically, only a few - or fewer - will), but the amount of work in development reaching point where it can be presented to the public (either in showcase or full form) is encouraging.

Australian musicals that have had a showing since 2022 include:

  • Moulin Rouge
  • Midnight - the Cinderella Musical
  • Bananaland
  • Bloom
  • The Dismissal
  • Driftwood
  • Rabbits on a Red Planet
  • The Lucky Country
  • Metropolis
  • Show People
  • Mount Hopeless
  • Work of Art
  • Dubbo Championship Wrestling
  • The Deb
  • Songs of the Unseen
  • Wonderfully Terrible Things
  • Roller Coaster
  • Forgetting Tim Minchin
  • The Hero Leaves One Tooth
  • The Marvellous Elephant Man
  • Villainy
  • My Brilliant Career

If you know of more, please chime in.

More details in the posts below.

Note: this post is about musicals written (or otherwise created by) Australians. It is not about international musicals produced in Australia, such as Australian productions of Hamilton, Wicked, Mamma Mia, Into the Woods, The Great Comet etc.

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[–] Prouvaire@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

Another new Australian musical has come to light: Bananaland by Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall, who collaborated on the hit musical Muriel's Wedding.

[–] Prouvaire@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Some more Australian musicals (or at least musical-adjacent shows) have come to light, including:

  • Roller Coaster - a music theatre piece about roller skating developed by Queensland-based group Everybody Now!, with songs by Luke McDonald and others. Roller Coaster just concluded a short run at the Gold Coast Bleach Festival, and follows in the footsteps (wheeltracks?) of other roller-skating musicals such as Starlight Express, Xanadu and The Little Mermaid
  • Forgetting Tim Minchin - a play with songs by, surprise, not Tim Minchin, but rather book writer / composer / lyricist Jules Orcullo. Forgetting Tim Minchin just finished a run at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre as part of the independent 25A program
  • The Hero Leaves One Tooth - a play by Erica J. Brennan with original songs by composer/lyricist Jake Nielsen. Presented by independent theatre company Ratcatch The Hero Leaves One Tooth also recnetly finished a run at Sydney's Kings Cross Theatre (which is no longer located in Kings Cross, but rather on Broadway... but not that Broadway).
  • Wonderfully Terrible Things a noir cabaret / circus act created and produced by Christine Ibrahim (aka Alysia Rose and Mesuline Wilde) - which recently finished a run at Sydney's 5 Eliza (in Newtown), and which will return in September as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival.
  • The Marvellous Elephant Man - a musical based on the lie of Joseph Merrick written and composed by Marc Lucchesi, Sarah Nandagopan and Jayan Nandagopan. But no relation, one assumes, to Elephant! from this movie
[–] Prouvaire@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

Villainy - a new Australian musical by Craig Christie premieres in Melbourne on 2 November.

[–] Prouvaire@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

My Brilliant Career by Mathew Frank, Dean Bryant and Sheridan Harbridge will be part of Melbourne Theatre Company's 2024 season.