The Hayes Theatre, Sydney
October 16, 2018

“This will all be nostalgia one day,” Evie May’s assistant Cole tells her backstage at Sydney’s Tivoli Theatre after the final performance before the venue’s closure in 1966, drawing a chuckle from the opening night audience at the Hayes Theatre. But while this new musical by Naomi Livingston (music and lyrics) and Hugo Chiarella (book and lyrics) looks back at Australia’s Tivoli Circuit – the popular variety entertainment circuit ultimately crushed by the advent of television – it does so with a critical eye.

The world premiere of any new Australian musical is an exciting event, and one fraught with high expectations, but while there is still room for Evie May (which was developed through the New Musicals Australia program) to be further finessed, some great performances, a moving narrative and a distinctive score (mingling period pastiche and contemporary numbers) reveal a show with a lot of potential.

Amanda Harrison in Hayes Theatre Co’s Evie May. Photo © Nik Damianakis

In this production by director (and choreographer) Kate Champion, the story of fictional Tivoli star Evie May’s career is framed by a backstage conversation between Evie (Amanda Harrison), at the end...