City Comes Alive To The Sound Of Musicals
The Age
Saturday January 14, 2006
IT WOULD seem the stories surrounding the death - or, at least, the decline in popularity - of musicals in Australia have been greatly exaggerated. A wigged-up, capacity audience greeted Thursday night's world premiere of Dusty - the Original Pop Diva with standing ovations at the Arts Centre's State Theatre.
It was a rare success with an audience now used to appraising any new show based on whether it has a "direct from Broadway" tag. Plenty of shows without the Broadway stamp of approval - The Full Monty, The Witches of Eastwick, even our own story, Eureka - have failed. But success is not exclusive to Disney (The Lion King) or Mel Brooks (The Producers). Although Dusty is the story of British pop queen Dusty Springfield, the musical was brewed locally, by a team headed by John-Michael Howson. Perhaps it was the chance to hear so many of Dusty's hits - sung impressively by Tamsin Carroll - that has drawn the baby boomers in their droves, as it was with Mamma Mia! and the songs of ABBA. Even before Dusty opened, its box-office takings in Melbourne and Sydney (where it travels after March 12) were close to $3 million.Defying the Eureka failure, the multi-award-winning hit of the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Keating!, showed that Australian stories can translate successfully to the musical format. This show is preparing for a return Melbourne season from Wednesday night. And on the same night, the Melbourne Theatre Company gives the Australian premiere of another musical, The 26th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Yes, the latter is direct from Broadway, the former direct from Northcote. But it's all music to the ears of many.
© 2006 The Age