Bran Nue Dae | |
---|---|
![]() Poster of 1993 production in Melbourne | |
Music | Jimmy Chi Kuckles |
Lyrics | Jimmy Chi Kuckles |
Book | Jimmy Chi |
Productions | 1990 Perth 1990–1991 national tour 1993 Melbourne/Perth 2009 Film Adaptation |
Bran Nue Dae is a 1990 musical set in Broome, Western Australia, that tells stories and of issues relating to Indigenous Australians. [1] It was written by Jimmy Chi and his band Kuckles and friends, and was the first Aboriginal Australian musical. The name is a phonetic representation of "Brand New Day".
The musical was originally directed by Andrew Ross and choreographed by Michael Leslie. [2] It premiered at the Octagon Theatre in February–March 1990 as part of the Festival of Perth, and later toured nationally. [3]
The musical won the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards in 1990. The following year the published script and score won the Special Award in the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. [4] Theatre critic Katharine Brisbane wrote in 1999: [5]
Bran Nue Dae in 1989 was a turning point in the short history of Aboriginal writing for the theatre. Twenty years of evolution: in writers, political activists, actors, dancers, singers and song-writers, preceded it.
Gail Mabo performed in the Sydney run of the musical in 1991. [6] A 1991 television documentary Bran Nue Dae tells the story of the creation of the musical. [7] [8]
The musical was revived for an Australian national tour in 2020. [9]
The musical has been turned into a feature film of the same title, directed by Rachel Perkins starring Ernie Dingo, Geoffrey Rush, Jessica Mauboy, Missy Higgins, Deborah Mailman, Magda Szubanski and Dan Sultan. [10] [11] [12] It premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Film. It was theatrically released in Australia on 14 January 2010. It debuted with $2.5 million in its first week, solidifying it as a box office hit. It went on to gross over $7 million, making it one of the most successful Australian films of all time. [13]
Deborah Jane Mailman is an Australian television and film actress, and singer. Mailman is known for her characters: Kelly Lewis on the Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us, Cherie Butterfield in the Australian comedy-drama series Offspring, Lorraine in the Australian drama series Redfern Now and Aunt Linda in the Australian dystopian science fiction series Cleverman. Mailman is currently portraying the lead role of Alexandra "Alex" Irving on the Australian political drama series Total Control.
James Ronald Chi was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical Bran Nue Dae which was adapted for film in 2009.
The Pigram Brothers are a seven-piece Indigenous Australian band from the pearling town of Broome, Western Australia, formed in 1996.
Reginald Cribb is an Australian playwright and actor.
Scrap Metal were a band from Broome, Western Australia who played rock music with elements of country and reggae. The members had Aboriginal, Irish, Filipino, French, Chinese, Scottish, Indonesian and Japanese heritage.
Rachel Perkins is an Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She directed the films Radiance (1998), One Night the Moon (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2010), and Jasper Jones (2017). Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman from Central Australia, who was raised in Canberra by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and his wife Eileen.
Maroochy Barambah is an Australian Aboriginal mezzo-soprano singer. She is a song-woman, law-woman and elder of the Turrbal people.
Kuckles was an Aboriginal Australian band in the early 1980s.
Corrugation Road is an Australian musical set in a mental hospital, about an Aboriginal schizophrenic patient. It was written by Jimmy Chi, his band Kuckles and friends, the creators of Bran Nue Dae. It is based on Chi's own experiences at Perth's Graylands Hospital.
Stephen "Baamba" Albert was an Indigenous Australian actor and singer. He starred in the musicals Bran Nue Dae and Corrugation Road.
Bran Nue Dae is a 2009 Australian musical comedy-drama film directed by Rachel Perkins and written by Perkins and Reg Cribb. A feature film adaptation of the 1990 stage musical Bran Nue Dae by Jimmy Chi, the film tells the story of the coming of age of an Aboriginal Australian teenager on a road trip in the late 1960s.
Phillip "Rocky" McKenzie is an Aboriginal Australian actor from Broome, Western Australia. He played Willie in the film version of Bran Nue Dae. In 2010, he won a Deadly Award for Male Actor of the Year.
Tony Briggs is an Aboriginal Australian actor, playwright, screenwriter, and producer. He also is a former track and field athlete. He is best known for creating the stage play The Sapphires, which tells the true story of an Aboriginal singing girl group who toured Vietnam during the war.
Magabala Books is an Indigenous publishing house based in Broome, Western Australia.
Ningali Josie Lawford, also known as Ningali Lawford-Wolf and Josie Ningali Lawford, was an Aboriginal Australian actress known for her roles in the films Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Bran Nue Dae (2009), and Last Cab to Darwin (2015), for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Trevor Jamieson is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actor, playwright, dancer, singer and didgeridoo player.
Stephen Pigram is an Australian musician, songwriter and member of the Yawuru people.
Michael Leslie is an Indigenous Australian dancer and choreographer.
Gail Mabo is an Australian visual artist who has had her work exhibited across Australia. She is the daughter of land rights campaigner Eddie Mabo and educator and activist Bonita Mabo. She was formerly a dancer and choreographer.
Ngaire Pigram is an Australian actress. For her performance in the second series of Mystery Road she was nominated for the 2020 AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama. Other screen performances include Sweet As, Firebite and Mad Bastards. Stage performances include multiple runs of Sapphires, Bran Nue Dae and Cut the Sky.