Any Moment

Being the first musical to be developed by the Australian Musical Theatre Festival (2019), this profit-share pilot production has been created to showcase local musical theatre talent, most notably graduates from the Griffith Conservatorium Musical Theatre program in Brisbane. Creator Bradley McCaw began writing what was initially conceived as a song cycle in 2018, gradually expanding the work through the addition of new material and a series of try-outs across various venues, including a recording of selected original songs.

As he states in the program, mounting a musical is a risky and costly business but at least this production provides a platform for him to showcase his remarkable talent at writing contemporary musical theatre material with a strong lean to the alternative. No doubt inspired by the work of such off-Broadway composers as Jason Robert Brown and the like, the score reveals sophisticated, clever, witty and often subtle writing - despite the occasional toilet joke or two - both lyric and music-wise including demanding vocal-lines, harmonies, riffs and a fully-loaded solo musical accompanist. And this is where the production really shows its merits.

Set on New Year’s Eve, the show unfolds as a series of musical vignettes, with each performer reflecting on the “little things” in life - those moments that inspire, disappoint, or simply exist somewhere in between. Frequently laced with humour, particularly of the self-aware variety favoured by a younger generation, the work draws inspiration from John Lennon’s observation that “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans,” and develops its themes from there.

Teaching such musically complex material to a cast of ten would have been no easy task. Each performer appeared well chosen for both the subject matter and the overall presentation, with several ensemble numbers proving particularly uplifting. Among the many highlights were Connor Chadwick’s hilarious rendition of 'Top Shelf’ and Lulu Miskin’s 'Next Time', a beautifully crafted song that was understandably reprised at the opening of Act Two. The list goes on ….

But perhaps who was really in the spotlight and non-stop performer throughout was Musical Director and 'orchestra-in-one' pianist William Martineau. This was a remarkable musical achievement, played with gusto, soul and rhythmic accuracy. There's some musically rousing material to learn in the score and this is a pianist who knows his art and an artist who was more than able to capture the spirit of the show.

When you state the word 'musical' it generally conjures up visions of catchy tunes, colourful costumes, dancing, sets, lighting, a theatre orchestra, a story and so on. In that sense, this production lacks various components traditionally associated with the form. Though there are a myriad of fringe, off-Broadway-like, intimate shows around, I saw this production as more of a showcase of local talent, a series of theatrical vignettes, but indeed an expose of musical compositional talent. 

Nevertheless, it sows the seed for a good script (book) writer to consider collaborating with such an intriguing composer of theatrical song and head for the heights despite the hurdles of getting a show to work, let alone mounted, in a more commercial setting.

Brian Adamson