Ned

Ned
Book by Anna Lyon & Marc McIntyre. Music & Lyrics by Adam Lyon. Plush Duck Productions. Director /Choreographer: Miranda Middleton. Vocal Director: Sarah Levins. Conductor: Hamish Stening. New Theatre, Newtown, NSW. December 18 – 22, 2018.

Forget your Christmas shopping and see this show instead.

This is a great production of a great show. In a criminally short season, Plush Duck Productions give us the NSW premiere of a new musical based on Ned Kelly. How does it compare to Reg Livermore’s Ned Kelly? It doesn’t. The two shows are like chalk and cheese in tone and execution, and each is as good as the other.

This new show fleshes out the role of the women in the lives of the Kelly gang. It looks at notions of not only the impact of authoritarian abuse, but also toxic masculinity and the feminine effect and reaction on that culture. It does so without losing sight of the emotions, character, and storytelling. Even though I knew what was going to happen, it felt like I as seeing events unfold for the first time.

There is not a weak link among the cast. Joshua McElroy (Ned Kelly), Jodie Harris (Ellen ‘Ma’ Kelly), Cypriana Singh (Maggie Kelly), Siobhan Clifford (Kate Kelly), Rowan Brunt (Dan Kelly), Guy Webster (Joe Byrne), Lincoln Elliot (Aaron Sheritt), Martin Eveett (Steve Hart/Young Ned), Marcus Riviera (Superintendent Hare), David Hov (Alexander Fitzpatrick), Courtney Powell (Ann Jones), and Jacqui Greenfield (Mrs Kennedy), all turn in star performances.  Jodie Harris’s Act 2 solo in her prison cell was a highlight among many, as was the Kelly gang’s White Dove song. The Ensemble of Rob Hartley, Erin Bogart, Sinead Cristado, Denzel Bruhn Carmel Rodrigues, and Georgie Rogers are just as good - especially in the big Chorus numbers.

Miranda Middleton’s direction, Sarah Levin’s vocal direction, Peter Rubie’s lighting and Harrison Collins’s sound give maximum impact. And conductor Hamish Stening seems to have invented a new aerobic workout programme with his spirited conducting. Matthew Hourigan’s set is brilliant. Poles dot the stage, at times evoking prison bars, at others evoking trees in the bush. The orchestra’s seating at the back seems to have been incorporated into the design, as the orchestra lights evoke authoritarian eyes watching us from the dark.

Two things that anywhere else may cause criticism but actually were really effective here were the dancing and accents. The cast danced with gusto but not all of them were dancers. Yet to have them dance as trained dancers would have ruined the reality for me – these characters are oppressed rural folk, not ballerinas, and their dancing evoked a “bush dance” colonial feel. Similarly, not everyone had an Irish or British accent. Normally that would bother me. But in this show the mixed accents added variety and colour to the characters. Besides, the cast were so committed to their roles that they could have sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger and it could have worked.

At times the enthusiasm of the cast led to some lines being drowned out in the crowd scenes and some strident singing, but these were too few and far in between. Such things happen when you have a cast that totally throw themselves into a performance and go balls to the wall in their commitment and passion, and I prefer that over anything less.

The vocal arrangements and harmonies stray at times into Jason Robert Brown territory, but on the whole it was refreshing and exciting to hear the original score to an Australian musical that didn’t sound like so many modern Broadway knock offs. The score is filled with a Celtic folk flavor and some beautiful melodies at times appear (how often can you say that about a new score these days?). In writing music for “villains” Fitzpatrick and Hare, the score avoids the temptation of music hall moustache twirlers and gives us something much sinister and apt.

The otherwise excellent programme didn’t have a list of songs. However I understand the pressures of independent companies struggling with deadlines, so perhaps a songs list on the company’s website could help, especially as this is a new work.

In the foyer I overheard audience comparing the show to Les Misérables – I think that’s both unfortunate and unfair but inescapable. The shows are set in the same century (similar costumes) and have similar themes (oppression, injustice). Yes there’s a rousing song in a pub, and a chain gang song but it’s a bit hard to have a musical set in the 1800s and NOT have a rousing pub song or workers’ song. Just ask Oliver! This show more than capably holds its own against those sad French beggars.

Ned Kelly’s legend seems to be having a revival at the moment. There’s a new opera premiering in Perth next year (with gender swapping, cross dressing, and bee keeping), and yet another film in the works. This musical is a worthy inclusion and hopefully this production and cast will get a chance at a longer season.

Beautiful. Passionate. Powerful.

Peter Novakovich

Ned is represented by David Spicer Productions, which also represents the works of the reviewer.

Photographer: Shakira Wilson

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