It’s taken six years to get hopeless dreamer Muriel ready for her big day, namely bringing the stage adaptation of the 1994 award-winning and hugely popular Australian film Muriel’s Wedding to the UK.
The film’s writer, P J Hogan, adapted his screenplay for the book of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical which opened in Australia in 2017 and toured there in 2019. It was then that Curve initiated discussions about bringing the show to the UK, and this dream is now reality as Curve are co-producers of the first staging of Muriel’s Wedding The Musical outside Australia.
Poor old Muriel (Megan Ellis) doesn’t have much fun in her life as it seems the entire population of Porpoise Spit, her Aussie backwater hometown, make it their mission to remind her how useless she is, particularly her father, crooked Mayor Bill Heslop (Darren Day), idle siblings Perry, Malcolm and Joanie (Jacob Warner, Joseph Peacock and Lena Pattie Jones) and appalling “friends” who shun and bully her. Her beleaguered mother Betty (Laura Medforth) is too frazzled trying to manage her family to give her much attention.
No wonder then that Muriel escapes into a fantasy world, finding solace in telling lies as she pursues her dream of getting married, egged on by her imaginary friends, none other than ABBA.
Muriel bumps into an old schoolfriend, Rhonda (Annabel Marlow), and admires how she stands up for herself and says what she thinks. When Muriel’s lies have gone too far, she runs away to Sydney, hooks back up with Rhonda and together they have a blast. Muriel at last feels accepted, but inevitably, reality forces its way back into her life and Muriel faces several tests of character as she learns the value of friendship.
Comedy and camp are set very high in this show, aided by some gorgeous costumes (Gabriela Tylesova), which often coordinate with the neon lighting around Matt Kinley’s clever set. Screens slide on and off stage, efficiently depicting Muriel’s changing world, and the revolving stage is also put to great use.
Hogan has brought things bang up-to-date in his adaptation through the incorporation of social media’s influence on our lives (depicted well with Andrzej Goulding’s video design), which underlines the show’s themes around acceptance (or otherwise).
There are some great one-liners and a lot of fun poked at the idiosyncrasies of Aussie culture. This is not at the expense of darker emotions and experiences, however, and director Simon Phillips and the excellent cast do a great job of balancing the tragic and the comic.
Megan Ellis is perfect as Muriel, charmingly befuddled and relatable, and we understand why she feels the need to lie. We root for her from the start as she takes some not always well-advised decisions in her life and share in her moments of pure joy. Annabel Marlow brings fun and common sense to Rhonda, and her scenes with Ellis are heartwarming. Ethan Pascal Peters as Muriel’s boyfriend Brice is also charm personified.
ABBA (namely Jasmine Hackett as Agnetha, Bronte Alice-Tadman as Frida, Aaron Tsindos as Benny and Jamie Doncaster as Björn) are nicely mischievous and confirm the well-known fact often repeated throughout the musical: life is better once you’ve listened to an ABBA song. A daunting prospect perhaps for composers and lyricists Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall to compete with the majesty of “Dancing Queen”, for example, however, their songs throughout are enjoyable, if not particularly memorable, and drive the action forward.
There don't appear to be any firm plans for this production to tour as yet. However, if you can get to see this show, my advice is don’t take things too seriously and join lovable Muriel in her wild ride to self-discovery.