Celebrating one of Australia’s most loved groups, Georgy Girl - the Seekers Musical tells the remarkable story of legendary pop group The Seekers, the first Australian band to achieve international success. Georgy Girl - the Seekers Musical follows the story of Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley, from their folk and jazz beginnings in Melbourne to their meteoric rise to world pop stardom in the ‘60s, to today. This brand new musical is produced by Richard East, an originating producer of Mamma Mia!, and Dennis Smith, producer of Dusty – The Original Pop Diva, who are thrilled to be bringing this new production to Melbourne for its world premiere.
Starring as Judith Durham, lead singer of The Seekers, Pippa Grandison has performed extensively in film, television, theatre and musical theatre throughout Australia and overseas, with highlights including The Graduate alongside Jerry Hall, Mary Poppins and playing the role of Elphaba in the Sydney season of the smash hit Wicked.
Phillip Lowe joins the cast as Keith Potger, the band’s 6 and 12-string guitarist. Appearing in the original Australian production of Crazy For You, Phillip has gone on to star in Show Boat, Cabaret, The Producers, Dusty, Mary Poppins, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and is soon to appear in the Hayes Theatre production of High Society.
Mike McLeish, best known for his portrayal of Paul Keating in the hugely successful production of Keating! The Musical, will play 6-string guitarist, Bruce Woodley. Mike has also appeared in Eddie Perfect’s Shane Warne: The Musical, Chunky Move’s Two Faced Bastard and recently performed at the Hayes Theatre in the revival of Nick Enright and Max Lambert’s Miracle City.
Playing Athol Guy, The Seekers’ double bass player, Glaston Toft appeared in Shout! and My Fair Lady, and received rave reviews for his performance in Jersey Boys as Four Seasons member Nick Massi, playing the role for more than four years and 1300 performances.
Acclaimed actors also joining the cast include Ian Stenlake as The Seekers’ tour manager John Ashby and Adam Murphy as narrator Ron Edgeworth. Ian Stenlake is one of the most sought after and popular performers in Australian film, television and theatre, starring in the Nine Network’s Sea Patrol and Stingers. Adam’s extensive musical stage credits include the recent role of Jake Houseman in the national tour of Dirty Dancing.
Georgy Girl - the Seekers Musical, features all their hit songs including The Carnival is Over, I’ll Never Find
Another You, Morningtown Ride, A World of Our Own, I am Australian and of course, the Oscar-nominated Georgy Girl. These classic songs have been enjoyed by generations of music lovers around the world, and particularly by Australians, for whom The Seekers are part of their musical DNA.
The popular quartet was the first Australian act to achieve major chart success in the UK and US, and they became the first group ever to reach number one on the UK charts with their first three singles, I’ll Never Find Another You, A World of Our Own, and The Carnival is Over, which outsold The Beatles and The Rolling
Stones. Influential UK music magazine New Musical Express voted The Seekers 1965’s ‘Best New Group’ and the following year, Georgy Girl became the first number one song for an Australian group in America.
In 1967, The Seekers made a triumphant return to their hometown, drawing a record-breaking crowd of more than 200,000 people to Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl. In 1968, the group members were named joint “Australians of the Year” for 1967 – the only group to be honoured with this award, and were each awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
In July 1968, Judith announced she was leaving The Seekers to pursue a solo career and the group disbanded. The Seekers’ Greatest Hits album was released and spent 17 weeks at number one in Australia, and six weeks on top of the UK charts (remaining in the UK Top 40 for 125 weeks).
Georgy Girl – the Seekers Musical spans the decades from selling millions of records and topping the charts around the world, breaking up in 1968 and eventually reuniting in 1993, when they reformed for their ‘25 Year Silver Jubilee Reunion Celebration’ tour, and to a sold-out UK tour last year for their 50th anniversary
‘Golden Jubilee’ tour (including two capacity concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall) - and as of today, almost 14 million YouTube views of their classic I’ll Never Find Another You footage from 1968.
Written by Patrick Edgeworth with script consultant Graham Simpson, Georgy Girl - the Seekers Musical tells the incredible story of one of the country’s true national treasures. A band whose modest beginnings at a café in South Yarra took them to the concert stages of the world. It’s a journey full of laughter, a few tears, but most of all, featuring the magnificent songs we all know and love.
And so the carnival continues with Georgy Girl - the Seekers Musical having its world premiere in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Tuesday December 22. This strictly limited season of 14 weeks is followed by a 9-week season at The State Theatre in Sydney, opening April 2 2016.
Georgy Girl - the Seekers Musical is directed by Gary Young with musical supervision by Stephen Amos.
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MESSAGE FROM THE SEEKERS
“We are absolutely delighted that the story and the music of the Seekers is being brought to the stage as a musical. The idea of a musical based on the story of our group was first raised over four years ago by someone very familiar to us - Patrick Edgeworth, the talented scriptwriter is Judith’s brother in-law, and knows our story well. He consulted with GrahamSimpson, who has been part of our team for many years, and wrote Judith’s life story in his best-selling book ‘The Judith Durham Story - Colours of My Life’.
“In August 2014, Richard East and Dennis Smith asked us to be part of an invited industry audience at a workshop presentation of the musical. The response from the audience was amazing - a standing ovation. It was everything we could have wanted and more.
“We hope you will share and continue to enjoy our journey, as our story comes to life as a brand new Australian musical.”
- Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger & Bruce Woodley, The Seekers – August 2015
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