REVIEW: MILLERS POINT SONGBOOK Sets History To Music To Capture The Spirit Of A Community

Friday 24th May 2024, 7pm, Garrison Church Millers Point

Joanna Weinberg (Director, composer, lyricist) delivers an intriguing song cycle celebrating the rich history of Millers Point in MILLERS POINT SONGBOOK.  Presented in conjunction with community choir “Choir Rocks”, professional performers and a band led by Michelle Goldman (Musical Director, Piano, Keys), this work is entertaining, enlightening and engaging.

MILLERS POINT SONGBOOK focuses on the historic region on the waters edge at the northern end of Sydney’s CBD, going back to 1833 when the area was given its name after the three wooden mills that once stood on the land.  With many of the early residents having ancestral ties to England and much of the commerce related shipping due to the proximity to the harbor, Weinberg has drawn on traditional folk songs and sea shanties along with a generous influence from musical theatre melodies.  Some numbers take a serious tone, from the particularly captivating spoken word poetry of The Hungry Mile recited by Rob Johnson, and James Hart’s transition from narrator to Ted Brady On a Soapbox During The Maritime Strike.  Others are light and reminiscent of English pub singalongs and sailing ship shanties like Captain Grimes’ Recruiting Song, also lead by Johnson, and The Shanty of Drunk Nursey delivered by Chris Murphy.  A few are whimsically absurd like the singing sheep in The Australian Merino (Rob Johnson and Annerose De Jong), and The Rats of Millers Point (Rob Johnson, Megan Walshe and Eliane Morel).

With the work centered on the music, staging and costuming is inline with a community production scale though Gav Barbey does deliver some creative ways to express the old world fashions in a ‘deconstructed’ expression of crinoline and bustled skirts.  The choice to stage the work rather than keep it to a simple song cycle also engages lighting which at times proved a challenge on the night reviewed as did the body mics

For anyone with even a passing interest in the history of Sydney and the Rocks region, MILLERS POINT SONGBOOK is an interesting vehicle to learn more about the previous inhabitants of the area.  There are some stand out voices and dramatizations from Rob Johnson and Megan Walshe and Annerose de Jong and James Hart’s role as Narrator exudes a wonderful passion and interest in the stories he introduces. While this season is short, hopefully some of Weinberg’s creations from this song cycle will be picked up for a wider exposure.

https://events.humanitix.com/the-millers-point-songbook  

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