Nex' Town

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Nex' Town
Ad for Nex Town.png
Sun Herald 20 Oct 1957
MusicIris Mason
Hal Saunders [1]
LyricsIris Mason
Hal Saunders
Book Kylie Tennant
Maurice Travers
Setting Youanmi, Western Australia
Premiere30 October 1957: Independent Theatre, Sydney Australia

Nex' Town is a 1957 Australian musical by Kylie Tennant and Maurice Travels with music and lyrics by Iris Mason and Hal Saunders. The original production premiered at the Independent Theatre in Sydney, [2] directed by Haydee Seldon and presented by Peter Scriven. [3]

Contents

Background

In January 1957 it was reported Peter Scriven and Alan Burke were working on the book for an Australian musical comedy for the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. [4] In April 1957 Scriven returned to Australia after a six week trip overseas and announced the Trust would produce its first musical comedy soon. [5] In the final event the Trust would present Lola Montez , written by Burke, and Scriven's musical, Nex' Town, debuted at the Independent.

Scriven said he chose to do a show about travelling show people because "they are broad and typical. They are like the Diggers." [6]

He arranged for the show to be put together, financing it himself with a combination of his personal wealth and income from his puppet show The Tintookies . (The budget for the production was between £5,000-£6,000.) [7]

The musical was set in a real town, Youani in Western Australia. It was once a thriving town but by 1957 all that was left was a tin shed. [8]

"It's hard to be Australian without being obviously Australian," said Scriven. "I don't know whether one has it in Nex' Town. Perhaps it's a bit much to hope one has. To get a feeling that this is Australian singing, and Australian dancing, is very difficult." [6]

Premise

SMH 2 Oct 1957 Nex Town Ad.png
SMH 2 Oct 1957

The story of a travelling road show who get stranded in Youanmi, a small Western Australia gold town.

The troupe's baritone knocks out a local and thinks he kills him.

Select Songs

Original Cast

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald called it "probably the best Australian made musical yet staged here" although it felt "the determination to imitate oft-proven American tricks at the cost of any really deep Australian feeling was sometimes a little disheartening" and "it was hard to swallow whole several dreary stretches of dialogue and the long and straggling second act." [10]

The Jewish Times said "The Aussie flavor desperately weaves throughout like the illustrated smell from a freshly cooked pie in animated cartoon." [11]

The Bulletin called it "a delightful musical comedy... musically, the show has been remarkably well served by Iris Mason and Hal Saunders with a string of insistently tuneful ditties... a vigorous and highly entertaining musical, produced with skill and imagination." [12]

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References

  1. ↑ "PERSONAL ITEMS", The Bulletin, 78 (4052), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 9 Oct 1957, nla.obj-697319010, retrieved 23 August 2023– via Trove
  2. ↑ "Women's Letters SYDNEY", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., 78 (4049), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 18 Sep 1957 [1880], ISSN   0007-4039, nla.obj-697291073, retrieved 23 August 2023– via Trove
  3. ↑ Grant, Bruce (12 October 1957). "Another score for the Australian playwright". The Age. p. 19.
  4. ↑ "Sydney's Talking About". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 January 1957. p. 14.
  5. ↑ "Australian Musical for Theatre Trust". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 April 1957. p. 5.
  6. 1 2 "Musical comedy seeks to cause turmoil". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 October 1957. p. 2. (subscription required)
  7. ↑ "Peter Scriven Studio Portrait", ABC Weekly, 19 (41), Sydney, 9 October 1957, retrieved 23 August 2023– via Trove
  8. ↑ "Column 8". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 September 1957. p. 1.
  9. ↑ "Talkabout", ABC Weekly, 19 (48), Sydney, 27 November 1957, retrieved 13 November 2023– via Trove
  10. ↑ Browne, Lindsay (31 October 1957). "Premiere of "Nex' Town"". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 6. (subscription required)
  11. ↑ "Art, Theatre & Music Review NEX' TOWN". The Australian Jewish Times . Vol. 65, no. 20. New South Wales, Australia. 15 November 1957. p. 7. Retrieved 23 August 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Sundry Shows Stage and Music", The Bulletin, 78 (4056), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 6 Nov 1957, retrieved 23 August 2023– via Trove
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