Laura Murphy, a Sydney-based actor, composer, and playwright, creates a feminist manifesto in the form of a camp musical called Zombie!. The musical combines the fun and deliciousness of the zombie genre with the appeal of musical theatre. Murphy's versatility as a composer shines through in her ability to create songs in various genres.
The zombie apocalypse may not be a likely vehicle for a feminist manifesto — especially one that comes in the form of an unapologetically camp musical . Much less one that has commercial appeal.How? The short answer is Laura Murphy .
Her parents were musical theatre royalty: her mother, Jennifer Murphy, was the lead in the original Australian production of Evita, while her father, Stephen "Spud" Murphy, is a well-known musical arranger and director, for shows including Shout! The Legend of the Wild One, Dusty and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Murphy played Janine Nuttall and was also the understudy for Tania Degano in the original production of Muriel's Wedding the Musical. "That's where I began my love and exploration of musical theatre … I did amateur musicals from when I was a teenager Sydney Youth Musical Theatre Company — we'd do our shows at the Hornsby RSL — Normanhurst United Church Musical Society, Rockdale Musical Society … so I know this world and I love this world," she says.
"I was thinking about the archetypes of ; who gets to be the hero, who gets to be the villain; who's the one that gets bitten and doesn't tell anyone about it," she says.Murphy pitched the idea for Zombie to the Hayes in 2020, during something of a pandemic-fuelled quarter-life crisis.
She wanted other kids to have the same experience and thought the story of the four young lovers would be perfect fodder for a musical.She re-wrote half of it in the first few months of lockdown. There were unexpected benefits to writing it over a decade. "We haven't had all that much experience as a whole industry in making Australian musicals, particularly with original scores. So we're all trying to educate each other … and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes and try again and that's hard.""It's incredibly ambitious and brave and risky … which is why I just completely admire the companies that are doing it.
Zombie Feminist Manifesto Camp Musical Laura Murphy Sydney Musical Theatre Genre Composer
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