Ned Kelly (musical)

''Ned Kelly'' (sometimes titled ''Ned Kelly: The Electric Music Show'') is an Australian musical with book and lyrics by Reg Livermore and music by Patrick Flynn. It tells the story of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly with an eclectic score combining rock opera, vaudeville and burlesque. The original Australian production played in Adelaide and Sydney in 1977 and 1978.

Development and concept album

Livermore began writing ''Ned Kelly'' in 1972 when touring as a performer with the musical '' Hair'' in Perth and Adelaide. Livermore and Flynn had previously collaborated on the musical '' Lasseter'' which was produced in Sydney in 1971 by the Old Tote Theatre Company at the Parade Theatre.

In the manner of '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', a concept album of the musical was made ''prior'' to a stage production. The concept album, released in mid-1974, featured various members of the Australian cast of ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', including Jon English as Ned Kelly, Trevor White and John Paul Young as gang members, and Livermore as Sergeant Hare. Janice Slater sang the role of Ma Kelly.

Creation of the album involved some disharmony between ''Ned Kellys collaborators, with Bob Ellis brought in by producer Clyde Packer and Flynn to revise existing lyrics and write lyrics for new songs (he is credited on the album as additional lyrics).

;Side A
# "What Else Is New?"
# "Put 'Em Down"
# "Lullaby"
# "Rob a Bank "
# "Never Going Home"

;Side B
# "Better Watch Yerself"
# "Dark Walk Home"
# "Queen Victoria's Fuzz"
# "If I Was King"
# "Die Like a Kelly"
# "Band Together"
# "Finale"

Charts

Critical Reception

The ''Sun Herald'' called it "alternately tragic, high camp, pathetic and funny." ''The Age'' called it highly derivative" but also "highly effective and plausible."

Productions

In 1974, it was announced that Robert Helpmann would direct a production in 1975 to feature Livermore, Jon English and Jeannie Lewis, produced by Packer in partnership with J.C. Williamson's. "We're dealing with something that will be as big as ''Hair''," said Clyde Packer. This production did not eventuate and rights lapsed.

1977 Adelaide Production

In mid-1977, the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust started planning for the first production of ''Ned Kelly'', to open in Adelaide. Livermore was director and designer, with Keith Bain the choreographer and Michael Carlos musical director. "It's not really a rock opera," said Livermore, "but it's got rock opera in it. The music will run a gamut of styles. The whole thing will be a spectacular show. I'm not reducing it to folkky trivia like that Tony Richardson film."

The cast included Nick Turbin as Ned Kelly, Geraldine Turner as Ma Kelly, Doug Parkinson as Joe Byrne and Arthur Dignam as Superintendent Hare.

''Ned Kelly'' opened 30 December 1977 at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. It was produced by the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, Eric Dare, the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and SAS Channel 10. The musical was capitalised at $250,000 with weekly running costs of $40,000 to $50,000. The production was visually striking, with design features including a full drop curtain containing over 600 hurricane lamps and Kelly's iconic armour represented by a costume of shiny black plastic with geometric bullet holes. There were 31 numbers.

Critical reception was negative. The major Adelaide newspaper, the Adelaide Advertiser, in its review referred to the show as "an artistic disaster – a hideous monument to bad taste and theatrical excess". "I believe in the show," said Livermore. Audiences were still more than sixty percent capacity. ''The Age'' reviewed the Adelade production saying "there was plenty in the non-stop two-hour show to grab the eye and ear."

The production transferred to Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney on 4 February 1978, where critical reception was substantially more positive. After two months, the production closed in Sydney. An expected Melbourne season at the Palais Theatre from early April 1978 did not occur.

Revivial

The only professional revival has been a production by the New Moon Theatre Company, directed by Terence O'Connell, that toured the Queensland regional cities of Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton in January and February 1982.

Recordings

Original cast member Geraldine Turner performed the ballad "Die Like a Kelly" in a 1994 ABC television special on Australian musicals ('' Once in a Blue Moon'') and this song is featured on its soundtrack.

References

External links

*
''Ned Kelly''
at David Spicer Productions (performance rights)
"Die Like a Kelly" from ''Ned Kelly'' performed by Geraldine Turner
on YouTube

{{Ned Kelly

1977 musicals
Australian musicals
Biographical musicals
Biographical plays about criminals
Cultural depictions of Ned Kelly
Musicals set in Australia
Musicals set in the 19th century