Evie May is an Australian musical by Hugo Chiarella and Naomi Livingston. Set in 1966 on the evening of the last ever Tivoli performance in Sydney, the show follows veteran variety star Evie May as she recalls the events that lead her from obscurity in regional Western Australia to the bright lights of the Australian variety circuit - and the many sacrifices made to get there.
Synopsis
1966. The evening of the last ever Tivoli performance in Sydney. Veteran variety star Evie May recalls the events that lead her from obscurity in regional Western Australia to the bright lights of the Australian variety circuit - and the many sacrifices made to get there. Forced to run away from home at a young age, Evie has spent her life trying to escape the pain of her past. As the final curtain comes down on the Tivoli - and everything that has come to define her - Evie struggles to find her place in a world that no longer values the very thing she has spent her life pursuing. Evie May offers a compelling take on memory, motherhood, and the fascinating characters populating Australia’s rich theatrical history.
Productions
Chiarella and Livingston began collaborating on the show while they were touring in the Australian cast of Les Miserables. In 2016, the show was picked up for development by New Musicals Australia and secured a season at the Hayes Theatre in Sydney in 2018 with the support of the Australia Council for the Arts. The original Australian production of Evie May opened at the Hayes Theatre on the 12th of October 2018. The show was directed by Kate Champion, with musical direction and orchestration by Steven Kreamer, musical supervision by Max Lambert, design by Anna Gardiner, lighting design by Sian James-Holland and sound design by Nate Edmondson.
In her review for Stage Noise, critic, Diana Simmonds wrote of the show, "Evie May is rude, funny, sad and humane in its portrayal of lives and times now gone; yet when it comes to women’s place in the world, there’s much that’s familiar. And in a musical setting, with sharp, smart lyrics, the poignancy and politics are heightened and vividly coloured. This is a remarkable addition to Australian musical theatre". Judith Greenaway wrote for ArtsHub, "Evie May ends in a bareness of space, an echo chamber of those limited choices that empowered a modern movement. This is an entertaining, crafted, timely and relevant work." In his review for Stage Whispers, Peter Gotting wrote, "When the lights go up on this new Australian musical, there’s a sense of maturity - Sydney’s Hayes Theatre is now producing premieres of variety and accomplishment rarely seen in this country before."
Recording
In 2019 a live cast recording of the show was released featuring the original cast. The recording was made with the support of and .
