Australian Musical Theatre: Never Been Better?

Australian Musical Theatre: Never Been Better? is the first sustained scholarly analysis of the Australian musical in the twenty-first century. In the past, the Australian musical has been much maligned: plagued by the sceptre of ’The Great Australian Musical’ and dogged by recurring concerns about the content and quality of the genre. In this book, Mara Davis Johnson assesses these concerns and argues that they are unfounded.

Through detailed analysis of six musicals, she showcases the breadth and diversity of contemporary Australian musical theatre productions. The book demonstrates how these performances stage a repertory of tropes, characters, places, stories, fixations, and myths that produce a national imaginary for Australia. Methodologically, the book takes a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach that honours the hybrid nature of the musical and its broad cultural appeal.

This makes for an accessible, wide-ranging discussion that will appeal to scholars in diverse fields. The book will be an essential resource for scholars and students of musical theatre, theatre and performance studies, and Australian cultural studies and history.

Mara Davis Johnson is Lecturer in Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is a musician, composer, vocal coach and dramaturg whose research centres on musical theatre in all its forms.