Melbourne Theatre Company’s Bold New Musical: My Brilliant Career
An electrifying new Australian musical has come to the Melbourne Theatre Company stage. Based on the classic novel by Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career is a musical reimagining to captivate a new generation. Performances began at Southbank Theatre on Thursday 7th November, with this highly anticipated production bringing down the curtain on Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2024 season.
Adapted by the talented musical theatre duo Mathew Frank and Dean Bryant, alongside actor Sheridan Harbridge (Prima Facie, Meet Me at Dawn), this is a Melbourne-made musical, developed and written by the creative team over the past five years.
Transforming one of the country’s most enduring literary figures into a musical heroine for this very moment, My Brilliant Career will feature a dynamic cast playing instruments live on stage and a soundtrack that’s equal parts contemporary pop, folksy bush band and raucous pub rock.
Directed by Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director and Co-CEO Anne-Louise Sarks and with set & costume design by Olivier Award-winning Marg Horwell, the production pushes the boundaries of what a musical can be.
“Created in Melbourne by some of Australia’s best musical theatre talent, I’m thrilled to bring this reimagining of a literary classic to Melbourne audiences” says Anne-Louise Sarks, Melbourne Theatre Company’s Artistic Director & Co-CEO “My Brilliant Career is not a book presented on stage but a bold live theatre experience that captures the spirit of a young woman determined to carve her own path in life”.
My Brilliant Career follows Sybylla Melvyn, a young woman finding her voice. Taking audiences on a wild and joyous ride through Sybylla’s imagination, joining her on a journey from an isolated farm in country Australia to the opulence and opportunities of ‘nice society’ and back again. Growing up in the 1890s and forced to choose between romance and her own genius, her family and a future she defines for herself, Sybylla’s decided she’s having it all.
Led by the phenomenal Kala Gare (SIX) with a talented ensemble cast of actor/musicians including Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward, Lincoln Elliott, Victoria Falconer, Raj Labade, Drew Livingstone, HaNy Lee, Ana Mitsikas, Christina O’Neill and Jarrad Payne.
The My Brilliant Career creative team includes Director Anne-Louise Sarks, Musical Director Victoria Falconer, Choreographer Amy Campbell, Set & Costume Designer Marg Horwell, Lighting Designer Matt Scott, Orchestrator / Vocal Arranger James Simpson, Sound Designer Joy Weng, Assistant Director Miranda Middleton, Assistant Set & Costume Designer Savanna Wegman and Assistant Musical Director Drew Livingston.
My Brilliant Career was initially developed by Monash University, Melbourne, as part of the Jeanne Pratt Artist in Residency program, City of Stonnington and then through Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program, with the support of our Playwrights Giving Circle.
My Brilliant Career will be at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner through 18 December. Tickets on sale now via www.mtc.com.au
MTC My Brilliant Career. Kala Gare. Photo by Eugene Hyland.