ABOUT THE SHOW

Sybylla Melvyn is the smartest, funniest, most outrageous teenager Australia has ever witnessed. Just ask her.

She’s growing up in the 90s – the 1890s, that is – where life doesn’t throw a lot of options at a girl. But life didn’t reckon on Sybylla. Forced to choose between romance and her own genius, her family and a future she defines, she’s decided she’s having it all.

Miles Franklin’s novel My Brilliant Career still pulsates with the wild electric energy that made it such a sensation a century ago, and this new adaptation channels that fire into a high-energy musical. It’s a makeover that transforms one of our most enduring literary figures into a heroine for this very moment, while retaining all the wit and charm that has made this such a timeless work.

A live soundtrack that’s equal parts contemporary pop, folksy bush band and raucous pub rock will translate the untameable spirit of Sybylla into a live theatre experience to blow the ceiling off.

Adapted by music theatre’s most dynamic duo Mathew Frank and Dean Bryant alongside Sheridan Harbridge, with a cast led by Kala Gare (SIX), this world premiere is directed by our own Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks.

Developed by Monash University, Melbourne, as part of the Jeanne Pratt Artist in Residency program, which culminated in a development staging directed by Petra Kalive with dramaturgy by Anna Barnes. Further development funded by City of Stonnington and Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program.

Paul and Wendy Bonnici & Family, Tony and Janine Burgess, Kathleen Canfell, Fitzpatrick Sykes Family Foundation, Jane Hansen AO and Paul Little AO, Larry Kamener and Petra Kamener, The Margaret Lawrence Bequest, Helen Nicolay, Tania Seary and Chris Lynch, Craig Semple, Dr Richard Simmie