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Interview: Amelia Gilday (Coming Out on Broadway)

Gens just moved to Sydney and finds herself swept up in her outgoing cousin Jack's performance club. When Gen discover's the club meets and performs at The Jewellery Box, a LGBT+ bar, she suddenly finds herself confronting her identity and her already strained relationship with her dad Harry.

Join Gen, Mel, Jack, Jules, and Angus as they go on a journey of self actualisation, love, and discovering the importance of the family we choose.

Rosie spoke with Director Amelia Gilday about this work-in-development and why you should be seeing this work. Read the full interview below:

Amelia Gilday


Coming Out on Broadway is a new Australian musical described as a celebration of self love. What was it about this story that attracted you as a Director? Why did you want to bring this story to the 2019 Sydney Fringe Festival?

I co-wrote the script with Alex Fenner, we both like to be as hands on as possible when writing new work so me directing and Alex stage managing the work-in-progress season seemed like a no brainer. It’s really helped us to learn more about the characters and definitely given us plenty of ideas for the direction we’d like to take the show in. We chose to do a work-in-progress season at Sydney Fringe because we’ve tried new work in the Emerging Artist Sharehouse before and have always found it’s a friendly place to try something new.


This run of Coming Out on Broadway has been labelled a work-in-progress season. How has the work developed so far since its creation and where do you hope to see it develop to?


We started talking about the show in March this year and then spent quite a bit of time developing the characters and story before putting pen to paper. Our rehearsal process has also been a bit of a workshop which has been a wonderful way for us to make discoveries about the show as we go along. At the moment the show is 1 act with plans to develop it into a 2 act musical with more characters and songs after its fringe run.


What do you hope to achieve with Coming Out on Broadway, and why should audiences come see this show?


The end goal would be to create a musical that accessibly gives audiences a look into the lives of a group of young LGBT+ people living in Sydney. We really wanted to create something queer focused that had a happy ending, of course not everything is perfect for our characters but we want audiences to leave feeling hopeful about change and for the future.

Why is it important to foster new Australian works, particularly in the musical theatre scene?

There are always new voices and stories that need to be heard. There is so much diversity in Australia that needs to be celebrated and theatre gives us a unique opportunity to be able to engage with different stories in a live and immediate way. It’s important we continue to foster this form of knowledge exchange so we can understand each other more deeply.


RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS:


Favourite production you have ever seen?

Wicked or The Lion King.


You’re getting on a plane tomorrow and you can go anywhere in the world, where do you go?

Somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m not ready for the heat to come back!


Dream show to direct?

If we’re talking musicals at the moment it’d have to be Beautiful: The Carole King Musical or Priscilla.


Plays, musicals or operas?

Musicals.


A hobby you have beyond the theatre?

Footgolf, if you haven’t tried it I’d definitely recommend.


What’s next for you after this show?

I’m producing ‘Two Quarters Full’ by Iley Jones, which is a 1-act play premiering at Flight Path Theatre from November 5-10th.

Coming Out on Broadway is currently running at the Erskineville Town Hall until September 28th. You can get your tickets here.

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