Australian musical. Written by Jeff Underhill.
Done at Union St for the Trust. See Ausstage here. AustLit is here. Other documentation here.
Set in Melbourne's "push" wars of the 1890s, with book and lyrics by Jeff Underhill and music by Bruce George.
Premise
The narrative is peopled with thieves, cut-throats and riff-raff, and the action is presented in several locations, including Angel's Alley, the Thieves Kitchen and Melbourne gaol (both inside and outside). The story concerns the rivalry between two street gangs, one led by Tiddler and the other by Bill Fiddler. When Tiddler dies from influenza rather than in battle his gang is shamed, giving its enemy the upper hand. Matters turn back in their favour, however, when Tiddler's daughter, Maria, arrives on the scene and leads them with great success.
The authors have attempted to capture the quality of the old ballad melodramas by writing it in a mock-serious style.
Production
Peter Pinne wrote a piece on it here.
First seen at Melbourne's New Theatre in 1958, The Ballad of Angel's Alley received a professional premiere in July 1962 at the Russell St Theatre in Melbourne presented by the Union Theatre Repertory Company, featuring Kevin Colson, Mary Hardy, Reg Livermore, Marion Edward and Bob Hornery.
A review is here.
It was also performed by NIDA students at Sydney's Old Tote Theatre in September 1963, and was revived professionally by Melbourne's St Martin's Theatre in April 1973.
Reviewing the 1962 Melbourne production, The Bulletin said it was "a loud, fast and funny musical" and "a brilliant success - at least as good as the average imported musical, and the best thing of local origin we have seen for years".
The script was published by Yackandandah Playscripts in 1989.
Seems to have been admired by ABC. But not filmed. Alas.
