My Brilliant Career – Melbourne Theatre Company (VIC)

Based on the novel by Miles Franklin. Book by Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant. Music by Mathew Frank. Lyrics by Dean Bryant. Directed by Anne-Louise Sarks

A star vehicle production led by Kala Gare, this production is a classic in the making and a stunning addition to the Australian musical cannon

Reviewed by Justin Clarke Southbank Theatre, The Sumner Until 18th December Tickets: https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2024/my-brilliant-career/

It's rare as a reviewer that I struggle to find words to encapsulate a production, however, Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of the new Australian musical My Brilliant Career has thrown this challenge toward me with brute force. Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel gets a beautiful and simply stunning makeover that instantly feels worthy of the Australian musical canon and shines a deservedly starring light on Kala Gare.

At just 21 years old, Franklin’s first novel was published just after federation, claiming the phrase “My fellow Australians” throughout. Much like the writers that came before her, Patterson and Lawson, Franklin’s novel captured the essence of life in the Australian bush at a turning point in Australian history for women. The protagonist, Sybylla Melvyn, represents the indoctrinated social attitudes towards women, and the emergence of the women’s movement as they pushed towards enfranchisement at federal level, as well as in their humanity.

My Brilliant Career brings together Australian creatives who are at the top of their game in the entertainment industry. With a book by Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant (who also wrote the show’s lyrics), music by Mathew Frank, and direction by Anne-Louise Sarks, the fingerprints of the creatives amalgamate to create something truly worth seeing.

My Brilliant Career, Melbourne Theatre Company (2024). Images by Pia Johnson

Gare’s Sybylla is on the search for her voice in the world. She is young and just blooming into her young adult existence, but life in 1890’s Australia doesn’t provide a great scope of career possibilities for a young woman outside of wife, nurse and governess. Sybylla’s life is full of hard choices – marriage or intellect, family or future, loyalty or fate? Can a girl truly have it all?

Sarks direction continues the trending choice of a live band onstage, featuring actor/musicians to craft the story and sounds throughout under the watchful eye of Victoria Falconer (who continues to give the most honest Acknowledgement of Country in the business) as musical director. The sounds of My Brilliant Career range from contemporary pop to a lively bush band, soaring ballads, and even pub rock. There are songs that delight in their creativity, songs that produce raucous laughter in their giddiness, and songs that produce tears in their power.

My Brilliant Career is, in short, simply brilliant.

The utilisation of set and costumes by Olivier Award-Winner Marg Howell is inspired. A hay covered floor surrounds the set, whilst a circular hay bale platform sits centre stage upon which the cast and band perform with their wide variety of instruments whilst contemporary chic pokes through European settlement garments. Throughout, flowers cascade from the ceiling, Matt Scott’s lighting design illuminates cool blues and dazzling brightness, contrasting estate homes to depression era farmlands. The essence of the Australian bush seeps from every pore of the stage, aided by the strong cast.

Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward’s flamboyantly English cousin, Frank, delights with humour and exuberant one liners, whilst Drew Livingston’s dry wit balances with exorbitant boisterousness and a knowledge of how to bring scores of laughter in the simplest of lines, “F*ck off, Frank”.

Raj Labade’s Harry brings depth and seduction to the man who wrangles the eye of Sybylla to attention. With an harmonious timbre and light fingers on the guitar, his whip-cracking prowess stuns the audience into applause.

If this were Broadway, [Gare would] be in the running for a Tony.

It’s Sybylla’s interactions with HaNy Lee’s Gertie, Ana Mitsikas' Granie and Christina O’Neill’s dual Mother and Aunt roles that explores the fractured relationships between women of the era. From those who tried their best with the cards dealt to them, or women of high estate playing the game of marriage, there is enough subtext to their relationships with Sybylla for you to feast on.

My Brilliant Career however, is Kala Gare’s show. Harbridge, Bryant, Frank and Sarks have created a star-vehicle role that Gare approaches with the utmost energy, compassion and humanity that resulted in instantaneous standing ovations on opening night. Gare’s Sybylla holds remnants of Shakespeare’s Beatrice, a woman determined to refuse marriage and forge her own path. It’s the youthfulness that Gare brings to Sybylla that exudes the hope from a woman untethered, whose life she refuses to say is predetermined. Gare has instantly plucked a character from our pre-federation country and shown her to be entirely existant in the modern world.

Gare’s vocal prowess is on full display in My Brilliant Career. Softly coordinated riffs add simple intonations to lyrics of femininity and sharp wit, whilst large ballads reach for the skies, filling every inch of space on stage and pulling tears from your eyes in the sheer velocity of her control. If this were Broadway, she’d be in the running for a Tony.

An instant hit that feels like a classic in the making, it is reflective yet entirely vital in our modern world. My Brilliant Career is, in short, simply brilliant.

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CAST

Cameron Bajraktarevic-Hayward  Frank / Cello / Ensemble

Lincoln Elliott  Jimmy / Horace / Ensemble

Victoria Falconer  Ensemble

Kala Gare  Sybylla Melvyn / Piano

Raj Labade  Harry / Peter / Ensemble

Drew Livingston  Father / Jay-Jay / M’Swat / Ensemble

HaNy Lee  Gertie / Blanche / Ensemble

Ana Mitsikas  Grannie / Rose Jane / Ensemble

Christina O’Neill  Mother / Helen / Mrs M’Swat / Ensemble

Jarrad Payne  Ensemble

CREATIVES

Sheridan Harbridge  Book

Dean Bryant  Book and Lyrics

Mathew Frank  Music

Anne-Louise Sarks  Director

Victoria Falconer  Musical Director / Additional Music Arrangements

Amy Campbell  Choreographer

Marg Horwell  Set & Costume Designer

Matt Scott  Lighting Designer

James Simpson  Orchestrator / Vocal Arranger

Joy Weng  Sound Designer

Miranda Middleton  Assistant Director

Drew Livingston  Assistant Musical Director

Savanna Wegman  Assistant Set & Costume Designer