Fangirls (musical)
Fangirls is a musical with book, music and lyrics by Yve Blake. It concerns 14-year-old Edna, a diehard fan of the biggest boy band in the world, True Connection, and its lead singer Harry. It was inspired by interviews with hundreds of teenage fangirls.[1][2][3]
Productions
Fangirls premiered at the Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane for Queensland Theatre from 7 September to 5 October 2019, and was performed in Sydney at the Belvoir St Theatre from 12 October to 10 November 2019.[4]
The original production was directed by Paige Rattray, with a cast including Yve Blake, Aydan, Kimberley Hodgson, Chika Ikogwe, Ayesha Madon, James Majoos and Sharon Millerchip.
Reception
The musical was highly acclaimed, described by Limelight as "a brilliant, sparkling new Australian musical about young women coming into their power that will have you swapping stories of first concerts and first crushes, and humming the tunes all the way home".[5] The Sydney Morning Herald described the show as "loud and funny and raw, with a powerful message delivered with sass and joy".[6]
Fangirls was awarded Best Production of a Mainstage Musical at the Sydney Theatre Awards in January 2020, and was nominated for Best Original Score of a Mainstage Production.[7][8] It was named Best Musical or Cabaret at the Queensland Matilda Awards in February 2020, as well as nominations for Best Mainstage Production and three other categories.[9]
References
- Story, Hannah (3 September 2019). "How Writer Yve Blake Turned Directioners Into The Subjects Of Theatre With A Capital A T". The Music. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
- Wong, Yen-Rong (2019-09-23). "'The best pop concert you've never been to': new musical about teen fangirls is a Brisbane festival hit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
- Show, Kim Jirik for RN's The Stage (2019-10-16). "New Australian musical celebrates the young women who take their boy-band love to extremes". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
- "Fangirls: a new Australian musical". Radio National. 2019-08-23. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
- Lawrence, Elise. "Fangirls (Queensland Theatre, Belvoir, Brisbane Festival, in association with ATYP)". Limelight. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
- Cunningham, Harriet (2019-10-17). "All the squeals and feels". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-01-18.
- "2019 Sydney Theatre Awards announced". Limelight. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
- "The nominations for the Sydney Theatre Awards 2019 have been announced". Time Out Sydney. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
- Dombay, Virag. "Nominees Announced For 2019 Matilda Awards". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2020-01-18.