ANNOUNCING A NEW NZ MUSICAL - GALLIPOLI WRITTEN BY HOLLY MYER
Announcing a new NZ Musical – Gallipoli written by Holly Meyer.  In brief, the show follows the story of the people involved and affected by the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. Not only does the show focus on the soldiers and their terrible experiences at Anzac Cove, but also all the mothers, lovers and sisters who have lost their loved ones to the war. The musical manages to capture many of the tragic aspects of the war, and the grief of Juliana and Elaine when they lose Jake to the war (Elaine’s You Stare At Me; Juliana’s What Did You Do To Us, Child?). The soldiers are all excited about the ‘Great Adventure’ at the beginning of the play, but the belief of an adventure are soon put to rest when they finally land on the beach on that fateful day. The main themes of the show deal with courage, love and, inevitably, death. The musical is very long with thirty-nine main numbers (22 in Act One and 17 in Act Two), and has many opportunities for the cast from the leads to the chorus. The main leads include Juliana (the mother of Jake and Elaine, wife of Wayne); Elaine (a war nurse-sister of Jake, daughter of Juliana), Mary (lover of Jake, daughter of Melissa), and Melissa (Mary’s mother). There is much tragedy, yet the show manages to have a few more uplifting moments, such as Oh Dunedin So Fair late in Act Two. The show ends with the company in a memorial garden a whole year after the landings at Gallipoli, assuring the audience and themselves they will always remember the men who fought and died at Gallipoli.   If any society/school is interested in the production, go to http://www.musical.org.nz/other_members/gallipoli.htm   or make contact direct with Holly meyho913@student.otago.ac.nz to discuss it further.  Holly is our newest associate member and is keen to get her show out there in the musical theatre community