Feature: SUDDENLY: A Short New Musical

While the majority of Melbournians, myself included, spent a large portion of 2020 stuck at home pondering the meaning of life, Jordie Race-Coldrey (director, composer, lyricist and co-writer) and Dean Gild (creative producer and co-writer) created a musical made specifically for screen! SUDDENLY: A Short New Musical features a fantastic contemporary pop rock musical theatre score by Race-Coldrey and explores a stretched relationship between a mother (Lindsay) and daughter (Max). Lindsay and Max are left to ponder their relationship when the train they are travelling on experiences a sudden engine failure, leaving mother and daughter separated in different carriages. SUDDENLY: A Short New Musical was released onto YouTube last week with the soundtrack also able to be streamed on all digital music platforms.

As this short musical is only 30 minutes, it does mean that the story is unable to develop a strong narrative, but instead loosely acts as a framework for Race-Coldrey's five excellent songs, similar to how the musical concept albums from the '70's and 80's worked for the songs of Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and Evita. The principal cast is made up of Kara Sims as Max, Katie Weston as Lindsay and Conor Putland as Harry, who are supported by an energetic ensemble. A true highlight in Suddenly is Putland and Sim's sublime vocals in "Falling", these two young singers are certainly ones to watch. Choreography by Mia Brown and arrangement and orchestrations by Ned Wright-Smith are strong. Alex Campbell's cinematographer is simply stunning.

To learn more about Suddenly I caught up with Jordie Race-Coldrey (director, composer, lyricist and co-writer) and Dean Gild (creative producer and co-writer). To say that Race-Coldrey and Gild exude passion and enthusiasm is an understatement. I can't help but feel, as I catch up with them over zoom, that they are destined to become Australian leaders in merging film, music and theatre together. In response to my questions about the origins of his entertainment enterprise, DHB Theatrical, Gild modestly states that "It was very much that I wanted to use it as a platform to elevate people like Jordie who were just starting in the industry" While DHB Theatrical at the moment is very much a grass-roots initiative, under Gild's initiative and leadership I am sure it will have an exciting future!

On my questioning about how Suddenly was conceived, Gild discusses how he and Race-Coldrey "started with a bigger story about a whole community and one event that changes all of their lives, very telling of 2020... but as we were developing, we decided to take two of the characters in this community and really build out their story and they became the mother and daughter characters in Suddenly."

On his fantastic score Race-Coldrey states "We're really excited to see where people take some of the music and give it new life to make it their own." Gild adds "Our big hope for this project was that it could be a springboard for everyone involved because, we just hope we can spotlight and share how amazing they are"

Certainly SUDDENLY: A Short New Musical, which can be viewed on the video link below, features, and exudes a cast and creative team oozing talent. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for them all!

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