Tony Tuesday: THE BOY FROM OZ

This week we’re going back to the early noughties to the show that bagged Hugh Jackman a TONY Award. This week’s TONY Tuesday is:

‘Not The Boy Next Door’ from The Boy from Oz at the 2004 TONY Awards ceremony. 

The Boy from Oz is a 1998 jukebox musical based on the life of Australian singer-songwriter Peter Allen. Like most jukebox musicals, The Boy from Oz uses Allen’s songs to tell the story of his life from his rise to fame and marriage to Broadway and screen legend Liza Minelli, to his divorce, confrontation with his bisexuality, relationship with his partner Gregory Conell and eventually his succumbing to AIDS.

The production with a book by Nick Enright, opened on 5 March 1998 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney. The production was directed by Gale Edwards and starred Todd McKenney as Allen, Chrissy Amphlett as Judy Garland and Angela Toohey as Liza Minelli. The production ran for a total of 766 performances over two years, touring to Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. 

The production had its Broadway premiere in 2003. Writer Martin Sherman was brought on board to rewrite the book and make it more accessible for an American audience such as expanding the parts of Garland and Minelli and losing a lot of the Aussie slang and colloquialisms. This incarnation was directed by Philip William McKinley and choreographed by Joey McKneely. The cast included Hugh Jackman (in his Broadway debut) as Peter Allen, Isabel Keating as Garland, Stephanie J. Block (in her Broadway debut) as Liza Minelli, Beth Fowler as Marion Woolnough and Jarrod Emick as Greg Connell. The musical recouped its entire investment during the run and ended on 12 September 2004 when Jackman’s contract came to an end. The show received mixed reviews as well as particularly scathing on from the New York Times, however, the production sold well, and Jackman’s performance was unanimously praised. The musical was nominated for four 2004 TONY Awards, winning ‘Best Actor in a Musical’ for Jackman.

In 2006, Hugh Jackman, alongside Amphelett and Toohey from the original Australian production, reprised their roles for an Australian arena tour which was directed by Kenny Ortega. They toured for a month, and even had a 25-piece orchestra. In 2010, Todd McKenny returned to the role in a Melbourne based revival and in 2018, another Melbourne revival saw MT star Caroline O’Connor take on the role of Judy Garland in another revival. The most recent Australian production was in Perth of this year at the Crown Theatre, which was one of the only large-scale producing houses still mounting shows at the time. The production was directed and choreographed by Drew Anthony with Ethan Jones as Allen, Lucy Williamson as Judy Garland, Elethea Sartorelli as Liza Minelli, Casey Edwards as Marion Woolnough and Peter Cummins as Greg Connell. 

2013 saw the first international and Spanish language production of the show in Peru starring Marco Zunino as Allen, Erika Villalobos as Liza Minelli and Elena Romero as Judy Garland. 

Besties, The Boy from Oz is a joyous riot. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I suggest you do! 

Cast album available on streaming services. 

FACTS:

Music: Peter Allen
Lyrics: Peter Allen
Book: Nick Enright and Martin Sherman 
Theatre: The Imperial Theatre
Run: 16 September 2003 – 12 September 2004 (32 previews and 365 performances)

TONYS:

(NOMINATED) Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical – Nick Enright and Martin Sherman, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical – Beth Fowler, Isabel Keating. 

(WON) Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical – Hugh Jackman