Zombie! The Musical has taken a bite out of the competition, winning the Critics' Choice Award for Best Musical of 2024 in Time Out Sydney’s inaugural Arts & Culture Awards.
This brand-new Australian show from the big brains of musical theatre prodigy Laura Murphy – who is behind the book, music and lyrics – was brought to gruesome life for its world premiere by Hayes Theatre Company (the beating heart of Aussie musical theatre in Kings Cross) in March 2024.
It's the camp zombie horror comedy musical that fans had been waiting for, and it certainly didn't disappoint on that front. Furthermore, Zombie! is also a love letter to '90s Sydney, to the magic of musicals, and to all theatre – from dusty community theatres to the mainstage. However, with a knowing wink, Murphy also comes for blood with a feminist critique of the industry (as well as society at large) and the ways that it can fail us – women in particular – that could just get you worked up enough to rip someone's head off.
Murphy (The Lovers, The Dismissal) brings the leading ladies together in their pursuit of something more – meatier parts for women in musicals, for example, especially women who aren’t young or thin. Those stabs are precisely aimed in songs like ‘Not A Monster’ and ‘Meaty Part’.
The premiere of Zombie! is a fine example of the Hayes punching well above its weight. Darren Yap's direction lovingly brought the comedic vision to life, and audiences were in safe hands with the top notch cast – featuring Monique Sallé (also nominated for Best Performance in a Musical for The Dismissal), the incomparable Natalie Abbott, the illustrious Tamsin Carroll, and Ryan Gonzalez (who is currently starring in In The Heights at the Sydney Opera House).
With the original songs Murphy penned for The Lovers (her pop-fuelled adaptation of the Bard's classic for Bell Shakespeare) dropping soon as a cast album, we're quietly excited for what could be in store for Zombie!
In our reviewer’s words: “Zombie! The Musical is filled with talent, laughs, and plenty of blood and gore. It has all the right ingredients for an extravagant night out at the theatre.”