Platform Papers 42: The Time is Ripe for the Great Australian Musical

If Australians love musicals so much, why are there so few big works telling our own stories with our own music? In this provocative new Platform Paper, theatre designer, director and scholar John Senczuk dismisses each excuse and proposes a national development program to sustain new work right through to commercial readiness. Senczuk points out that despite large audiences this special fusion of music, theatre and dance remains largely unsupported and makes a case for a significant state-initiated commercial enterprise-a studio hub-to build musicals destined for touring Australia and overseas markets. He calls it the Perth Solution.