Marvelous Melbourne Musicals

David Spicer attended the new Australian Musicals One Day In September and My Brilliant Career over two days. He writes that both demonstrate the benefit of long periods of development.

How rare to be able to watch two completely original Australian musicals in one city on a weekend. One is already a hit, and another is a hit in the making.

Coming on the heels of the success of the musical Bloom – which is on in Sydney next year - they show that Melbourne is leading the country in developing distinctive original local musicals for our audiences.

One Day in September was staged as a development try-out in a small space in the Athenaeum Theatre.  The musical was entertaining and gripping. The songs were fresh and engaging.

A stand-out was the extraordinary choreography by Mackenzie Dunn which saw the players swing and shimmy on the field of play with exhilaration.

The central character is rising star Sam Thompson (Keanu Gonzalez) who begins a relationship with star struck Sophie (Lorinda May Merrypor).

Sophie discovers him in a relationship with Jesse (Yashith Fernando) the brother of one of the WAGs . Desperate to keep his personal life private, Sam goes to extreme lengths to avoid his career from being overshadowed by his relationship with a man.

The obvious thing about football is that although it is a bastion of homophobia in parts – there are aspects about it which facilitate male intimacy. All those group hugs, slapping and tackling, then they all get undressed in the shower room – which the creatives cheekily alluded to in some of the opening scenes.

The musical plays on the remarkable fact that no Australian Rules player has yet ever come out. It exposes the pressure on players to keep their sexual orientation secret.

Sam Thompson is player 22 in the Bear’s AFL team on the cusp of football immortality. He explains to his lover that if he did come out – it would be the only thing to define him as a player.

As well as being an intense drama there are lots of moments of humour. There is a delicious character - the commentator (Nick Simpson-Deeks) who sends up the cringingly awful cliches of broadcasters.

As a Sydneysider who doesn’t watch a lot of AFL, I was able to appreciate all the gags even if I was not so familiar with local identities. The only in-joke I needed an explanation for was the tedium of the Brownlow Medal ceremony.

Simpson-Deeks doubles as Thompson’s estranged father. A sub-plot involves a player Nathan (Des Flanagan) reaching the end of his career and the support he receives from his partner Maya (Ashleigh Rubenach).

One Day In September has been in development for five years. The book, music and lyrics are written by Maverick Newman and Kohan van Sambeeck, with contributions by Trudy Dunn and Mackenzie Dunn.

Newman led the four-piece band with orchestrations from Jason Arrow (who had the night off from Hamilton and was in the audience).

The musical began as an idea in 2019 and according to the production notes has gone through many workshops and  a “million re-writes”.

Staging a short development season with an excellent cast, lighting and band but minimal set (save for a few chairs) was a brilliant way to showcase and further develop the musical. This replicates the US try-out model.

Surely the Melbourne Theatre Company or a commercial theatre producer should kick this musical between the posts in 2026 or beyond.

Production images for One Day In September (above) by Andrew Chen, and My Brilliant Career (below) by Pia Johnson..

The next night I caught up with My Brilliant Career, which is already a hit for the MTC and has had its season extended until December 21.

The team of Dean Bryant  and Mathew Frank toiled for years to develop the work, based on Miles Franklin’s seminal fictional memoir about a bright as a button late 19^th century young woman in the country, trapped on a trajectory to domestic drudgery, who wants to be a novelist.