28 August 2002
27aug02 HOME-GROWN musical theatre is a rare bird in
Australia but Kris Stewart is not about to give up on it. The
expat-Adelaide director is so interested in aiding its development
he is moving to see how it is done in New York. The idea is to give writers and directors a chance to develop new
product, and to give the shows a life, even if they don't make it to
the mecca of Broadway.
Stewart will step into the position of producing director, a role
that will involve him in putting together creative teams to bring
new musicals to the stage.
He was offered the job after two trips to New York on Australian
fellowships.
The fellowships gave him introductions to such artists as Stephen
Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz, and companies such as the Brooklyn
Academy of Music, the Public Theatre and the National Musical
Theatre Network.
After working with such companies as State Theatre and State
Opera in Adelaide, Stewart left for Melbourne in the 1990s. He
worked with Melbourne Theatre Company as an assistant director, and
with musicals producer Kevin Jacobsen, mostly on big imported shows.
During his time with Jacobsen, Stewart read a number of proposals
for new Australian musicals.
Due to the enormous expense involved in developing a musical from
scratch, most had no hope of reaching production, he says. Still,
one � Dean Bryant and Matthew Frank's Prodigal Son � caught
his eye.
After leaving Jacobsen, Stewart worked with Bryant and Frank to
develop Prodigal Son, and he eventually co-produced and
directed the show in Melbourne.
It was a success.
The show received a number of Green Room Awards and is returning
for two sell-out seasons under a commercial producer. As well,
Stewart arranged meetings for Bryant and Frank in New York.
Prodigal Son was eventually picked up by the off-Broadway
York Theatre and, earlier this year, became the first Australian
musical produced in New York.
It received a "great response and great reviews", Stewart says.
"There was a lot of interest in new Australian musicals in New York
at the end of last year," he says. "I think, from an American
perspective, it felt like an untapped resource � they knew a lot
about Australian directors and actors, and they thought there must
be a lot of writers and composers."
Stewart has a three-year visa to live and work in New York.
He hopes the position with National Musical Theatre Network will
open up other opportunities. "Musical theatre in Australia is still
so completely import-based, there's so few opportunities to work on
our own productions and our own shows," he says.
"I have done my share of restaging and it's interesting but it's
so unrewarding."
Stewart believes new structures need to emerge in Australia to
nurture home-grown musicals.
"I'm sure companies like State Theatre would have a great
interest in new Australian musicals but they don't have the
resources to develop them," he says.
"We have the presenters and the producers but not the mechanisms
to develop the works, which they definitely have in the US.
"My long-term goal is to develop more projects like
Prodigal, and find companies and audiences for them here, but
also provide opportunities for US producers to see them. That's what
I'd love to come home and do." STORIES IN THIS SECTION  Director on a mission to foster musical
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