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'Muriel Heslop is back! In this highly-anticipated world premiere, the iconic Australian film is set to become an equally iconic laugh-out-loud musical.
'Stuck in a dead-end life in Porpoise Spit, Muriel dreams of the perfect wedding – the white dress, the church, the attention. Unfortunately, there’s one thing missing. A groom. Following her dreams to Sydney, Muriel ends up with everything she ever wanted – a man, a fortune and a million Twitter followers. That’s when things start to go really wrong.
'The film’s original writer-director PJ Hogan has updated his screenplay into a dazzling new stage show, bringing the story into the present but keeping all the irreverence and naughtiness of the film along with its dark edge.' (Production summary)
Additional Awards:
Nominations:
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Christie Whelan Brown), Helpmann Awards, 2018.
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Madeleine Jones), Helpmann Awards, 2018.
Best Female Actor in a Musical (Natalie Abbott), Helpmann Awards, 2019.
Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Pippa Grandison), Helpmann Awards, 2019.
Wins:
Best Costume Design (Gabriela Tylesova), Helpmann Awards, 2018.
Best Sound Design (Michael Waters), Helpmann Awards, 2018.
Best Music Direction (Isaac Hayward), Helpmann Awards, 2018.
Best Choreography (Andrew Hallsworth), Helpmann Awards, 2018.
A Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures production. World premiere at Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay, Sydney: 6 November - 30 December 2017.
Director: Simon Phillips.
Set & Costume Designer: Gabriela Tylesova.
Music & lyrics: Kate Miller-Heidke & Keir Nuttall. With songs by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson originally written for ABBA.
I’m With Muriel : Applying a Persona-Centred Songwriting Technique to the Creation of a New Australian Musical
Brisbane
:
2021
26506838
2021
single work
thesis
'This thesis aims to contribute a new approach to songwriting centred on the notion of persona. While issues of persona are often treated in relation to performance (sometimes in the context of image or stage act), it is a concept that has not been explored explicitly in a songwriting technique. My applied model of persona-centred songwriting draws upon Auslander’s (2004b) notion of musical persona, focused on performance, and extends that to the process of songwriting. This investigation was driven by a desire to resolve the tension between authenticity discourses prevalent in popular music, centred around notions of individual self-expression, and the commercial reality of sustaining a career as a songwriter, centred around notions of finance and income. I show that using the concept of persona to frame the songwriting process allows the songwriter to write music that feels expressive while still meeting practical commercial considerations. In the thesis, I treat persona as a process arising from performance, from interactions between performers, songs, and audiences. I argue that songwriting is better understood as a process of performance than solely as an expressive act, at least in commercial contexts. The thesis is therefore situated in the terrain between performance and creativity studies, particularly those exploring Csikszentmihalyi’s (2014b) theories of creativity. My applied model is informed by theory that asserts social acts are performance-centred, that creativity is a social act, and therefore that songwriting is an act of performance.
'The thesis is methodologically qualitative, combining action research, participant observation, and Schön’s (1983) model of reflective practice. I apply, and thereby test, the persona-centred songwriting technique in the professional field by creating new work for an Australian musical theatre show, Muriel’s Wedding the Musical. This PhD is a practice-based study, 70% of which consists of the creative works for Muriel’s Wedding the Musical, and 7 the remaining 30% being the exegetical component. The persona-centred songwriting method demonstrated here will be of benefit to songwriters who might apply it to improve the volume of their creative output and, where required, cultivate a critical approach and practical strategies that address binary oppositions between commercial and artistic discourses.'
Source: Abstract.
'With the transformation of Muriel’s Wedding for the stage, some of the film’s winsome ugly-duckling charm has been lost, and along with it the story’s emotional reality.' (Article summary)
'Investing money in musicals is risky business, but the caravan king behind a new tour of the stage musical Muriel's Wedding isn't just out to make cash.' (Article summary)
'Muriel's Wedding The Musical scored big in Sunday night's Helpmann Awards ceremony "Act 1" at Sydney's Capitol Theatre — the first of two ceremonies, and the first time Live Performance Australia has split its annual awards event.' (Introduction)
'The Sydney Theatre Company will bring one of Australia's best-loved movies to the stage, with a musical version of Muriel's Wedding headlining its 2017 season.'
'The film's original writer and director, P.J. Hogan, will update his story of the downtrodden dreamer from Porpoise Spit into the social media era, while maintaining Muriel's obsession with ABBA and a white wedding. ...'
Muriel Heslop occupies a precious position in Australian cultural life. She is, perhaps, our most-loved dag. The creative team that has transformed her story into a musical have produced a deeply satisfying night at the theatre. Any moment of translation carries with it the possibility of disappointment and betrayal. But the Sydney Theatre Company’s Muriel’s Wedding: the Musical makes us fall in love with this story all over again.
'For 20 years people had been telling PJ Hogan that Muriel’s Wedding could work as a musical.His 1994 debut feature told the story of dumpy, dreamy twenty-something Muriel Heslop, who retreated from her disappointing life and verbally abusive family by blasting ABBA songs and fantasising about fame. The film, a gloriously sly satire of small-town Australia, transcended its idiosyncratic setting and sense of humour to become a surprise international hit, scoring then-unknown Toni Collette a Golden Globe nomination, and kickstarting Hollywood careers for both her and Hogan.' (Introduction)
'With the transformation of Muriel’s Wedding for the stage, some of the film’s winsome ugly-duckling charm has been lost, and along with it the story’s emotional reality.' (Article summary)
'Yearning to escape her unhappy life in Porpoise Spit, Muriel Heslop made it as far as Sydney in the 1994 movie Muriel's Wedding.'
'But the bright lights of Broadway may beckon the downtrodden dreamer when the Australian film is transformed into a musical, according to Kate Miller-Heidke. ...'
'In the all-singing, all-dancing stage musical update, this narrative and its implicit social commentary is almost unrecognisable. Gone is the bolshy ending; instead, a character who barely had four minutes of air time in the film – Brice, literally the first person Muriel kissed – returns to declare his love and drive both her and Rhonda to “happily ever after” on a bicycle trailer. While in the film, Muriel walked away from her faux-relationship with the hunky visa-chasing South African swimmer David after their first copulation; in the musical, her husband is a closeted Russian who realises the truth about his sexuality only after sleeping with Muriel. Crucially, where Muriel desperately sought marriage as proof of being “somebody”, she now not only desires marriage but, as importantly, Insta-fame. In conflating such disparate desires, Hogan not only identifies himself as belonging to the techno-panic generation, he also calls into question the very thing that endeared feminists to the film: its criticism of marriage as the pinnacle of female achievement.' (Introduction)
'On Monday night I attended a performance of the Australian Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty where the audience gasped in wonder as the curtains parted on the final act: three massive chandeliers were lit then raised above a cream and gold confection of a set which put Versailles to shame. On Thursday night, I was at Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical where the sets and costumes are bright and garish, adding a satiric commentary of their own to the show’s cheerfully vulgar view of contemporary Australia. Gabriela Tylesova designed the sets and costumes for both productions – from Aurora’s wedding to Muriel’s wedding – with equal flair. The talent has gathered around Muriel’s Wedding.' (Introduction)
