This is a vibrant, impassioned celebration of the life of one of Australia’s great fictional characters, Sybylla Melvyn from Miles Franklin’s classic novel MY BRILLIANT CAREER.
The story is set in colonial rural New South Wales in 1890. Traditional, rigid social values dominated: Men were the breadwinners, the women were the home makers. No shades of grey. Young woman Sybylla grows up on a farm property which his father is struggling to maintain. Sybylla has her eye on how she wants to live her future. She doesn’t want to live the standard trajectory. Sybylla has a dream of being a great writer. And she doesn’t see marriage as being part of her journey. Why does she need to be with a man, and be dependent on him?! The family are aghast and try everything to get Sybylla to see common sense. She needs to see reality.
Sybylla has a terrible battle to keep her dreams alive with her family. Then there is another big battle that she has to take on. She meets Harry a young, wealthy, charismatic landowner. There is a strong chemistry between them, and Sybylla falls in love. How can she counternance this, when she is determined to lead a solitary life as a writer?
Watching how Sybylla tackles her battles makes for compelling viewing. Famously, Gillian Armstrong turned Franklin’s novel in to a classic 1979 movie starring Judy Davis, just out of NIDA, in her break-out role. Now the story has been transformed in to a musical, directed by Anne Louise Sarks, and it works well. Mainly, I think, because the big feelings/thoughts that the characters have, are expressed powerfully through the songs.
Louise-Sarks creative team – the main credits being set and costume designer Marg Howell, lighting director Matt Scott, choreographer Amy Campbell and sound designer Joy Weng – and Music Director Victoria Falconer and orchestrator and vocal arranger James Simpson – have created a very supportive world for the actors to weave their magic in.
And this, the cast do. The performances are great. Many in the talented cast, in fact all apart from the lead, play multiple roles, and join together in a high energy ensemble.
In the lead role, Kala Gare is exceptional. Her Sybylla is tough, smart, passionate and her vocals are great. Her best songs were; LIFE AS WE KNOW IT depicting how much Sybylla wants more from her life than the usual. Then there’s the great song that speaks for itself, IN THE WRONG KEY, feeling like she just doesn’t fit in in the society she lives in.
Then when she falls for Harry, and gives a great rendition of MATES AND A LITTLE BIT MORE, (before the phrase friends with benefit came along), which she sings with Harry. which she sings with her romantic interest, Harry, played by Raj Labade.
Labade’s Harry is wealthy, handsome, charismatic Harry, and there is a great chemistry between him and Gare. Labade’s best moment is when he sings WAIT WITH YOU, pleading with Sybylla to be his wife.
Christine O’Neill plays Sybylla’s very pragmatic mother and her conservative Aunt Helen, who both try to curb S’s rebellious spirit.O’Neill also plays Mrs M’Swat, the mother of the children who Sybylla becomes the governess for.
Drew Livingstone is her father, a failed farmer with a drinking problem. Sybylla sees the decline of her parent’s marriage which puts her off marriage even more.
Ana Mitsikas plays her strict and demanding grandmother. There is room for her to move there. Mitsikas also played Rose Jane.
As Cameron, Frank Hawden is a many more akin to Sybylla in spirit, in that he is more intellectual than Harry.
Melanie Bird played the chirpy, good natured Gertie as well as playing Blanche, and Lincoln Elliott who played Jimmy, Horace and Elliott.
Verdict. This is a captivating show with the positive, feel good, affirming vibe ‘singing’ from the beginning. My only reservation is that the show feels a bit too full on, too much colour, too much driving music. It’s a bit overwhelming. Perhaps it could have been pulled back a little and worked just as well?!
The musical MY BRILLIANT CAREER, a stage adaptation of Miles Franklin 1902 novel, a Melbourne Theatre Company production brought to Sydney by the Sydney Theatre Company, with book by Sheridan Harbridge and Dean Bryant and music by Matthew Frank with lyrics by Dean Bryant, is playing the Roslyn Packer theatre until the 3rd May 2026.
Production photography by Pia Johnson
