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| The young Peter. Photo: Olivia Wenholz |
The Boy from Oz. Music and lyrics by Peter Allen. Book by Nick Enright. Original production by Ben Cannon and Robert Fox. Directed by Kristy Griffin. Free-Rain Theatre. The Q Theatre. 1-20 October 2024.
The Boy from Oz is a rags to riches showbiz story that glitters with the showbiz songs of the legendary Peter Allen. Whether you were a fan or not there is no escaping those songs and the fairytale trajectory that took him from Tenterfield to the stages of the world. But the show does not ignore the underlying tragedies and tensions of Allen’s life. And we can probably thank an unsentimental Nick Enright script for the success of that.
He was gay when that was not openly discussed. His father’s post war suicide was balanced out by his glowingly supportive mother and his own drive. He was taken up by Judy Garland, married her daughter Liza Minelli, won an Oscar for the theme song to the film Arthur and was dead in his 40s of AIDS.
That’s a lot to fit into a musical but I reckon The Boy from Oz just about manages it, even if it leaves everyone, audience and performers, gasping for breath at the end. Kristy Griffin’s exuberant production with Callum Tollhurst-Close as musical director and Ian McLean, driving a small but expert pit orchestra, sets the right pace.
The set’s a little basic and there’s an occasional worry about the chances of a performer landing in the orchestra pit but the energy of the show makes the audience forget all this.
Jared Newell leads a hard working and exuberant cast as Peter Allen in true larrikin fashion.
Meaghan Stewart has the power and fragility of his mentor Judy Garland, while Stephanie Bailey is sharp and bright as Liza Minelli. Lachlan Elderton is touching as Peter’s later partner Greg Connell, Dick Goldberg among various roles notably and wistfully suggests George Woolnough, Allen’s grandfather and the Tenterfield saddler of the song and Janie Lawson is warmly powerful as Marian Woolnough, Peter’s mother.
The razzamatazz of the piece is counterpointed by Newell’s laconic and humorous first person narration and by the more serious moments in the story. And it is very hard to go past the pull of I Still Call Australia Home as a siren song to be sung when on foreign shores. Free-Rain’s production certainly reminds us of the power that Peter Allen’s songs continue to have.
