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OzMade Musicals 2009
‘On the Drawing Board’ Submissions

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES>
ONLINE SUBMISSION FORM>


NOW TAKING SUBMISSIONS!


To see the video highlights of
OzMade Musicals 2008
click here >

 

 

 

About OzMade Musicals

Magnormos' OzMade Musicals is an annual gala concert showcasing the best of Australian written musical theatre - past, present and future. 

The night is made up of two segments: On The Drawing Board, which debuts fifteen minute segments of brand new works, and OzMade Flashbacks, showcasing single standout hits from existing Australian musicals.

Works submitted for OzMade's On The Drawing Board will be selected by a national submission panel featuring some of Australia's top Musical Theatre professionals.  SUbmissions must be of unperformed, rehearsal-ready works of musical theatre written by Australians.  If selected, works undergoe intense workshopping with access to Magnormos resources and personnel in preparation for its fifteen minutes under the lights at the OzMad Musicals 2009 concert!


On The Drawing Board Submissions

Please refer to Submission Guidelines for more information and submission requirements.

Writer/s will then need to complete the Online Submission Form to make their submission.


The 2009 Submission panel:

(click on the name to expand biography)

Professor Peter Fitzpatrick

Peter Fitzpatrick is a Professor in the Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies at Monash University, where he has taught Drama since 1976. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of Melbourne Music Theatre. 

As a theatre director, he has staged full public productions of the following plays and musicals: INNER VOICES , LEAR, THE FRONT ROOM BOYS, THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, CLOUD NINE, AWAY, THE PRECIOUS WOMAN, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, MANNING CLARKS 'HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA' - THE MUSICAL, INTO THE WOODS, THE MAN FROM MUKINUPIN, PACIFIC OVERTURES (Australian Premiere, 1998), JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS, THE HIRED MAN (Melbourne Premiere, 1999), MARTIN AND GINA (Melbourne and Cooma, World Premiere, 2000), CHILDREN OF EDEN, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, THE WHITE ROSE (World Premiere, Melbourne and Singapore, 2003) PARIS (World Premiere season, Melbourne and Frankston, 2004), A NEW BRAIN, PARADE (Melbourne Premiere, 2005), RENT, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, and I SING.

As a cinema screenwriter, he has produced two feature-film adaptations of stage plays, HOTEL SORRENTO for which he won an AFI award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and BRILLIANT LIES, and was Script Consultant on the feature VISITORS.

As a novelist, he is the author of the football crime novel DEATH IN THE BACK POCKET, written in collaboration with Barbara Wenzel, and PROMONTORY.

As a biographer, he is the author of the dual biography PIONEER PLAYERS: THE LIVES OF LOUIS AND HILDA ESSON, which was short-listed for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award in 1996 and for four other national awards.  He is currently writing a another dual biography on THE TWO FRANK THRINGS.

He has published widely as a critic and scholar in the field of Australian theatre past and present, including AFTER THE DOLL: AUSTRALIAN DRAMA SINCE 1955 (published in 1979, but still regarded as the major critical study in that area), two other books, WILLIAMSON AND STEPHEN SEWELL: THE PLAYWRIGHT AS REVOLUTIONARY, and more than fifty articles and papers in that field. His current research interests are primarily in Music Theatre (its history, formal conventions, and appropriate methods and languages for its analysis), and Australian Music Theatre in particular.

Stuart Hendricks
Stuart Hendricks is currently the Manager - Music Licensing and Hire Department for Hal Leonard Australia.   Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation is today the world leader in the print music industry.  In 2002 the company commenced operations in their Theatrical Rights Department, and now represents Music Theatre International of New York, The Josef Weinberger Ltd. of London, and Dramatists Play Service Inc of New York in this territory. With the most powerful music theatre catalogue available, they represent such works as RENT, GUYS AND DOLLS, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, WEST SIDE STORY, and composers such as Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and more.

Dr. Peter Wyllie Johnston
Dr. Peter Wyllie Johnston is a composer, writer and performer, who studied the piano from childhood and sang for several years as a boy soprano with the Australian Opera. At the age of twelve he wrote his first composition and, two years later, composed the score for the short Australian film GIRL ON THE BOULEVARD starring Jill Goodall and featuring Norman Kaye. By 1990 he had written numerous songs, including commissioned works and two short pieces for theatre.

In the 1990s he published more than 200 articles as music writer for The Melburnian magazine, the Sunday Age, Opera Australasia and Soundscapes. Some years later he began to write the music and lyrics for his first musical, MOSES - THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM, which was later workshopped in London and in East Hampton, New York and produced in a concert of excerpts from the score at Kaufmann Concert Hall in Manhattan. In 2004 MOSES was produced in a sell-out production at the Ford Theatre, Geelong Performing Arts Centre.

During the 1990s he developed a secondary career as a pianist performing in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Honolulu, Washington DC, London and New York. In 2000 his cabaret OF THINGS AUSTRALIAN was produced for two seasons at the famous Firebird cabaret in New York. In 2002 he returned to Australia to take up the position of Guest Musical Director of the Barossa International Festival of Music and, in 2005, he performed FEWSTER AND KING, his tribute show to the two great pioneers of the Australian musical at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He has recently written the script for the concert performance of SCENES FROM COLLIT'S INN to be produced in Melbourne by Jonathan Harvey and the Victorian Concert Orchestra on 25 March.

Peter studied music at the Victorian College of the Arts and the Canberra School of Music. He graduated in arts and law (University of Melbourne) and was awarded first class honours for his Master of Laws thesis at the Australian National University (1988). He is about to complete his PhD at the University of Melbourne entitled, Who’s Playing Our Song? The Development of the Australian Musical 1900-2000, an analysis of more than two hundred original Australian musicals.

In 19 April 2007 Peter will present Australian musicals 1900-2000 at the Victorian Arts Centre as part of their Spotlight series and, on 18 June, as part of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival he will present FROM GAWLER TO THE GAIETY: A TRIBUTE TO KENNETH DUFFIELD (another pioneer of the Australian musical) at the Lyrics Piano Bar, Adelaide Festival Centre.
Aaron Joyner
Aaron Joyner is a director, producer, musical director, performer and writer and one of the leading advocates for Australian-written music theatre.

His training includes a Bachelor of Performing Arts at Monash University, A Certificate in Small Business Management at RMIT, an Associate Diploma of Arts - Small Companies and Community Theatre at NMIT, and the St. Martins Be Your Best Scholarship Program.

In 2000 he founded the digital hub for the Australian musical - Australian Musicals.com, and in 2002 he founded Magnormos, which amongst other things, specialises in producing Australian musicals and rarely seen international works.

Through Magnormos he has directed and produced many world and Australian premieres, including the Enright/King masterpiece MARY BRYANT, Kander & Ebb's FLORA THE RED MENACE, Pratt Prize finalist THE BEAUTY SPOT, Mel Brook's first Broadway collaboration ARCHY & MEHITABEL, the Pinne/Battye Australian classic A BUNCH OF RATBAGS, and Stephen Sondheims' first musical: SATURDAY NIGHT.  As the first production for Magnormos he directed/produced/musically directed and performed in the Broadway hit WORKING, adapting it for an Australian audience in collaboration with the original director and writer Stephen Schwartz.  In 2006 he directed the world premiere of SILLY SEASON for Monash University.

As a writer he has had three of his original musicals performed, including the award-winning NORAA which was staged under the auspices of Monash University, and his involvement in the ABC Young Composers program at age 16 resulted in one of his works being performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
David King
David King is a graduate of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium. He worked professionally for 30 years as a Music Theatre Director/Accompanist/Composer. As a musical director he has worked on some seventy productions including long running seasons of GUYS AND DOLLS, CATS, FORTY SECOND STREET, and SHOWBOAT. As an accompanist he has worked with a wide range of Australian performers including Judi Connelli, Geraldine Turner and Nancye Hayes.  As a composer he has written incidental music for numerous plays including six productions for Bell Shakespeare Company.

David had a long association with the late Nick Enright with whom he has written three musical plays all of which have been produced at the institution where he is now Head of Music Theatre at WAAPA.  David has been in this position for seven years and as Head of the Music Theatre Department supervises the auditioning of 500 students each year across Australia and is ultimately responsible for the extensive singing, dance and acting training that comprises the course.
Ellie Nielsen
Ellie Nielsen has been involved in the performing and creative arts since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts, drama school, in the early 1980s.  She has worked variously as a performer, dramaturg and writer.  Her dramaturgy experience includes; seven years work at the Playbox Theatre Company in Melbourne (working with the company’s Literary Editor, Malcolm Robertson), freelance script assessment for other theatre companies and individuals and twice participating on the judging panel for the Wal Cherry ‘Play of the Year’ Award.  Although Ellie is now concentrating on her own writing – she is currently completing a Master’s degree in Creative Media at RMIT – she continues her dramaturgy work as a freelance.  Through this work she hopes to contribute to the development and fostering of new Australian theatre.
Tony Sheldon
Tony Sheldon is currently playing Bernadette in PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT--THE MUSICAL at Sydney's Lyric Theatre. He won the 2005 Helpmann Award, the Sydney Critics Award, the Mo Award and the Glugs Award for his performance as Roger de Bris in THE PRODUCERS. He was also nominated for a Helpmann and a Green Room Award for his work in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK in 2003. He recently wrote, directed and appeared in THE TIMES OF MY LIFE at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival with his mother, Toni Lamond.

For the Sydney Theatre Company, Tony has starred in PRIVATE LIVES, INTO THE WOODS, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, COMPANY, THE SISTERS ROSENWEIG, ONCE IN A LIFETIME, Nick Enright's MONGRELS, THE VENETIAN TWINS, three seasons of THE WHARF REVUE and FALSETTOS (Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical). He earned critical raves playing John Barrymore in I HATE HAMLET opposite Guy Pearce (Melbourne Theatre Company) and Cameron Daddo (Marian St. Theatre), and as Aunt Augusta in the national tour of TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT for Gary Penny Productions.

His appearances in NOISES OFF (Ensemble Theatre) and A POOR STUDENT (Marian Street) won him the Norman Kessell Memorial Award as Best Actor of 2001. For his portrayal of Arnold Beckoff in the record breaking run of TORCH SONG TRILOGY, Tony won the Green Room and Variety Club Heart Awards as Best Actor of 1984. Other musical appearances include FAME - THE MUSICAL, OLIVER!, DAMES AT SEA, HAMLET ON ICE, THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD, THE FANTASTICKS, MACK AND MABEL - IN CONCERT, CANDIDE, I LOVE MY WIFE and A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM.

Since beginning his career as a child performer on Graham Kennedy's "In Melbourne Tonight", Tony has performed for all of Australia's major theatre companies in productions of MYTH, PROPAGANDA AND DISASTER IN NAZI GERMANY AND CONTEMPORARY AMERICA (Griffin Theatre), WILD HONEY (SATC), DEATHTRAP (QTC), THE FLOATING WORLD, EQUUS, THE GLASS MENAGERIE (HVTC), DAYLIGHT SAVING (MTC), THE CASSIDY ALBUM (Adelaide Festival), TWELFTH NIGHT, HENRY IV, A COMEDY OF ERRORS, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE CHOIR, the original production of A HARD GOD and INNER VOICES, for which he won the National Theatre Award as Best Actor of 1977, all at the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney.

Tony's extensive writing credits include DANCIN' MAN and DYNAMITE! for David Atkins, HOLLYWOOD BIZARRE and MADONNA AND CHILD for Toni Lamond, NANCYE WITH AN E for Nancye Hayes, A LIFE ON EARTH for Peter Cousens, LEMON TART for Genevieve Lemon, RED HOT AND RHONDA starring Rhonda Burchmore, THE CAT, THE RAT AND ME for Sheila Bradley, THE THREE DIVAS with Judi Connelli, Suzanne Johnston and Jennifer McGregor, BROADWAY BABES with Jane Rutter and Angela Toohey, YOU AND THE NIGHT AND THE HOUSEWINE, GERALDINE TURNER SINGS, THE WINDOWS PROJECT, WHEREFORE ART THOU, CABARET? with Maria Mercedes, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT for Derek Metzger, I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF starring Lena Cruz, and several of the much-loved Tilbury pub revues. He also writes and lectures extensively on Australian musical theatre history.

He directed the acclaimed concert version of Sondheim's FOLLIES for the Melbourne International Arts Festival as well as productions of JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL... and PAL JOEY (WAAPA), SHE LOVES ME (Newtown Theatre), THE MOURNING AFTER (Playbox), JINGLE BELROSE (Glen St. Theatre), THE FLOOR OF HEAVEN (STC), THE WAY WE WERE (Sydney Opera House), DREAM KITCHEN (Universal Theatre) and AFTER-PLAY (Marian St. Theatre).

 

Submissions close at 5:00pm on the 1st of May 2009


OzMade Musicals 2009

OzMade Musicals 2009 will be held in Melbourne at a yet to be determined date.  Further production information will be available shortly.

The most recent OzMade Musicals, OzMade Musicals 2008 was held on November 17th 2008 at the Athenaeum theatre, Melbourne.  Three new works were debuted 'On The Drawing Board', and four works were presented as 'OzMade Flashbacks'.

For more information visit www.magnormos.com/ozmade.html

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