'Meet Edna: She’s 14, chronically awkward, and everyone thinks she’s a serial liar. But none of this will matter when her REAL life starts. With Harry. There’s just one problem, Harry is in True Connection - the world’s biggest boyband.
'When True Connection announce a tour stop in Edna’s city, she realises that this is her one chance to meet Harry and convince him of their destiny. But just how far is she prepared to go in the name of love? Edna takes her obsession to unforeseen heights in this thrilling and hilarious musical comedy about first love, fan culture, and the danger of underestimating teenage girls.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Co-produced by the Belvoir St Theatre, Brisbane Festival (including Queensland Theatre Company), and Australian Theatre for Young People. Presented at Bille Brown Theatre, 7 September to 5 October 2019, and at Belvoir Street Theatre, 12 October to 10 November 2019.
Director: Paige Rattray.
Vocal Arranger/Music Director: Alice Chance.
Music Producer/Sound Design: David Muratore.
Dramaturg: Jonathan Ware.
Cast includes Yve Blake.
Revived at Belvoir Street Theatre (Seymour Centre) as a co-production with Queensland Theatre and Brisbane Festival, in association with Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), 30 January - 20 February 2021.
Director: Paige Rattray.
Original Musical Director / Vocal Arranger: Alice Chance.
Music Producer / Sound Designer: David Muratore.
Dramaturg: Jonathan Ware.
Musical Director / Vocal Arranger: Zara Stanton.
Set, Video Content and Costume Designer: David Fleischer.
Video Content Design and Production: Justin Harrison.
Lighting Designer: Emma Valente.
Choreographer: Leonard Mickelo.
Sound Designer: Michael Waters.
Associate Director: Carissa Licciardello.
Cast includes Aydan, Chika Ikogwe, Shubshri Kandiah, Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, and Karis Oka.
The 2021 revival also performed as part of Adelaide Festival, 27 February - 14 March 2021, Ridley Centre, Adelaide Showground.
The 2021 revival also presented by Merrigong Theatre Company (as a Belvoir et. al production) at IMB Theatre, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC), 18 -21 March 2021.
'The successful musical about pop culture makes a triumphant return to Sydney.'
'A sassy musical that looks into the heart of being a boyband music fan.'
'When the Hungarian virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt began receiving public displays of adoration from predominantly female fans during his concerts in the 1840s, the writer Heinrich Heine described the "Lisztomania" that followed him as the "spiritualistic sickness of our time".' (Introduction)
'Fangirls. Book, music and lyrics by Yve Blake. Queensland Theatre, Belvoir and Brisbane Festival co-production in association with the Australian Theatre for Young People. Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane. September 12 We’ve all been there, suffering the acute monomania that is teenage obsession with a pop idol.' (Introduction)
'Comedy often succeeds where tragedy fails. Fangirls, the pop musical which premiered on Thursday night in Brisbane, is not the first drama to explore our fascination with the wild, uncontrollable power of young female passion and girls’ infatuation with their boy-loves. Yet its catchy tunes, witty dialogue, and hilarious, occasionally absurdist, comic scenes set it apart.' (Introduction)
'Fangirls. Book, music and lyrics by Yve Blake. Queensland Theatre, Belvoir and Brisbane Festival co-production in association with the Australian Theatre for Young People. Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane. September 12 We’ve all been there, suffering the acute monomania that is teenage obsession with a pop idol.' (Introduction)
'The successful musical about pop culture makes a triumphant return to Sydney.'
'A sassy musical that looks into the heart of being a boyband music fan.'
'When the Hungarian virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt began receiving public displays of adoration from predominantly female fans during his concerts in the 1840s, the writer Heinrich Heine described the "Lisztomania" that followed him as the "spiritualistic sickness of our time".' (Introduction)
