‘Muriel’s Wedding The Musical’ is destined to be a global hit. This all-Australian production, based on the book by PJ Hogan, directed by Simon Phillips and with new music from Kate Miller-Heidke & Kier Nuttal, will be a great fit for Broadway or the West End one day. Right now, Melbourne is privileged to host the Australian premiere of the national tour of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical.
While Muriel’s Wedding is set in Australia the story is universal. I am writing this review as someone has not seen the movie and was being introduced to the characters for the first time on opening night. Considering the movie is 25 years old, I would imagine a lot of younger people seeing this show in coming weeks and months will also be hearing the story for the first time. How these characters impact is crucial.
Muriel’s Wedding is the tale of a family of middle class bogans. There is the corrupt politician dad (Bill Heslop), a deceitful, dishonest layabout daughter (Muriel) and her no-hoper brothers and sister. The only decent person in the family is their mother Betty who they all take advantage of.
Muriel’s life revolves around people who reject her. Her friends Tania, Janine and Nicole are total bitches who are outright cruel to Muriel but for some reason Muriel is compelled to be with them and become as good as them.
When the bitches go on a cruise without Muriel, Muriel steals money by taking advantage of her mother’s decent nature. She buys a ticket for the cruise from money set aside for her job and meets a former school-friend Betty who was also bullied by the bitches.
When Muriel returns home and is confronted with the damage she has done to the family, she splits and moves to Sydney with Rhonda. Here her dishonesty continues and she fabricates a life she never had that includes a wedding fantasy.
Are you getting the drift … Muriel is a pretty horrible person as well.
The Sydney part of the story has even more twists and turns. Betty, like mum, is also a decent person who Muriel (now Marial) takes advantage of. She makes continuous lifestyle choices that lead her constantly down the wrong path of life. Tragedy strikes Rhonda, Muriel isn’t around to support her as she is off chasing her own fantasy and winds up in a sham marriage … and on it goes.
Newcomer Natalie Abbott is brilliant making her debut as Muriel and Australian stage star Christie Whelan Browne plays a very convincing bitch as Tania.
The mother Betty Heslop, played by Pippa Grandison, was in the original movie and corrupt politician dad David James as Bill Heslop is a familiar face on Australian television. For most of the cast, this show is the proverbial “big break”.
As with the original movie, Muriel’s Wedding The Musical revolves around the music of Abba and Muriel’s fantasy retreat into Abba songs whenever the world gets too tough. While the overall story is dark, the Abba characters balance the sentiment and carry the audience through the story.
Muriel’s Wedding creator PJ Hogan says he based Muriel on his real-life sister and the father character is based on his real father.
25-years on the storyline needed some tweaking. Muriel is brought into the 21st century as an influencer and the term ‘hashtag’ frequents the script. However, the story remains true to the original book and movie.
To turn Muriel’s Wedding into a musical, Australian musicians Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttal were recruited to compose new music from the ground up. They have done an incredible job articulating the original storyline into song. To do so, director Simon Phillips had to orchestrate a direction in advance for Kate and Keir to base the songs around. The combination of Hogan, Phillips, Miller-Heike and Nuttal layered the foundation for I think what is destined to become an Australian theatre masterpiece.
MELBOURNE SEASON 2019
Her Majesty’s Theatre
Previews from March 12
Opening night March 23
Tickets from www.ticketek.com.au
SYDNEY SEASON 2019
Sydney Lyric Theatre
Previews from June 28
Opening night July 4
Tickets from www.ticketmaster.com.au
The cast includes David James (The Boy From Oz, The Sound of Music) as Bill Heslop, Pippa Grandison (Mary Poppins, We Will Rock You) as Betty Heslop, Jacob Warner ( The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet) as Perry Heslop, Caleb Vines (The Wizard of Oz, How To Train Your Dragon) as Malcolm Heslop and Manon Gunderson-Briggs (Muriel’s Wedding The Musical original Sydney season) as Joanie Heslop. Christie Whelan Browne(Muriel’s Wedding The Musical original Sydney season) will play the role of Tania Degano, Imogen Moore (Oklahoma!, Anything Goes) as Janine Nuttall and Catty Hamilton (MAMMA MIA!) as Cheryl Moochmore. Jaime Hadwen(Muriel’s Wedding The Musical original Sydney season) will play Agnetha Fältskog with Laura Bunting (Wicked, Mary Poppins) playing Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Maxwell Simon (Green Day’s American Idiot, The Boy From Oz) as Björn Ulvaeus and Evan Lever (Anything Goes, La Cage Aux Folles) as Benny Andersson. Chelsea Plumley (Sunset Boulevard, Grease) will play the role of Deidre Chambers, Brice Nobes will be played by Jarrod Griffiths (professional debut) with Stephen Madsen (Muriel’s Wedding The Musical original Sydney season) as Alexander Shkuratov, Dave Eastgate (Doctor Doctor, Open Slather) as Ken Blundell and Kenneth Moraleda (Muriel’s Wedding The Musical original Sydney season) as Charlie Chan. The Muriel’s Wedding The Musical ensemble cast includes Colin Dean, Tom Sharah, Joshua Robson, Kaeng Chan, Noni McCallum, Ashleigh Rubenach, Prue Bell, David Ouch, Jan Di Pietro, Zoe Coppinger, Andrew Seymour and Caitlin Quinn.
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