Derek Rowe – writer, lyricist, and composer of The Audition – has spent the best part of a decade developing and refining this new Australian musical. But after all that effort, where do you go with a brand-new show? In cities like Sydney or Melbourne, venues are expensive, competition is fierce and too often, new work vanishes without a trace.
Which is why Tasmania – Australia’s own Off-Broadway – may be the perfect launch pad. John X Presents, the island’s energetic commercial producer, offered The Audition a rare and valuable opportunity: a four-performance try-out, off the big island.
Set mostly in an audition room, the show follows Teresa (Samantha James-Radford), an aspiring star whose career has been blighted by injury. She is auditioning for Forever, a vehicle created for Tony Award-winner Eliza Taylor (Claire Dawson). Eliza herself is conducting the audition. Voices blend and sparks fly as these two driven women meet, converge, and collide.
The producers have assembled a top-tier team to give this new show the best possible start. The cast of five strong singer-actors was uniformly excellent and esteemed theatre director Robert Jarman was at the helm.
Rowe, the show’s creator, is a witty, syllable-packing lyricist with a gift for toe-tapping, memorable tunes. He’s a sharp crafter of plot, and he writes a great – great! – one-liner.
The Audition: emotionally true drama
But his greatest strength lies elsewhere: for all the gags, all the tongue-twisting lyrics and exuberant songs, the drama rings emotionally true. His keenly observed characters are lovable yet flawed and the world they inhabit was rendered with humour, melancholy and a depth that felt personal and intimate. Unlike so many fantastical musicals, the world of The Audition felt lived-in.
If the writing has a limitation, it’s only that this reviewer wanted more of what it already did so well. The drama moved in exactly the right direction – toward material that was rich, resonant and emotionally revealing – but it could afford to linger longer in this uncomfortable territory. I would have welcomed fuller exploration of the performer’s anxiety and of how a performer’s sense of identity can rest so precariously on the approval of others. More please, Mr. Rowe!
Director Robert Jarman has approached this two-act, two-hour, twenty-two-song musical like a play. Rather than relying on the songs to jolly the audience along, he leaned into the emotional depths of Rowe’s drama while ensuring the comedic potential was fully realised. With characteristic panache, Jarman has created an intelligent show that moved fluidly between moods, was rich in invention and delights with theatrical surprises along the way.
The Audition: theatrical suprises
The cast delivered evenly pitched performances: each had a moment to shine and together they form a tight ensemble. There was real chemistry between the two leading women – the diva and the aspirant – each hedging, testing, provoking, and enthralling the other. Claire Dawson stormed the stage as the now fiery, now tender Eliza, while Samantha James-Radford brought warmth and fragility to Teresa. Both sang thrillingly.
John Xintavelonis and Colin Dean had a shamelessly good time as theatrical producers and Paul Levett was endearing as the pianist who offers more than just musical support.
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The production used backing tracks (recorded by the multi-talented writer/composer), which were serviceable, but didn’t offer the flexibility that live accompaniment would have provided. Amplification for the performers would also have helped.
A very funny, hugely tuneful, and thoroughly entertaining show – one that deserved a wider audience beyond its island try-out.
The Audition was performed at Peacock Theatre in Hobart from 25-27 July 2025.
