Decolonising Musical Theatre on Australian Stages

Over the last several decades there has been a push for ‘the Great Australian Musical’, but what does that even mean? Australia produces many fine musicals, particularly of the bricolage, jukebox, or bio-musical variety, many of which do well internationally. We also produce great performers and songwriters whose work is well known and respected (such as Tim Minchin who has had great international success and Baz Luhrmann whose decadent films of the 80’s and 90’s have been translated to stage in recent years.). However, none of these are considered to fit bill. Indeed, Peter J Casey would have us throw out the phrase entirely and focus on doing more shows and supporting the ones that have already been written. Perhaps one of the many problems facing Australian musicals is the white, colonial focus (in keeping with the racist history of musical theatre as an art form).

In this paper I will consider original Australian musicals which focus on or incorporate Indigenous Australian stories and characters and the importance of decolonising musical theatre and telling stories which reflect our history and storytelling potential, instead of attempting to mimic the success of Broadway and West End shows in a fruitless search for ‘the Great Australian Musical’. I will focus primarily on Bran Nue Dae and Panawathi Girl, considering the background of each show, the impact they have had on audiences and their place in furthering Australian stories told on Australian stages.