Review: NAILS: THE MUSICAL In Concert Is A Fabulous New Queer Musical

Thursday 25th June 2026, 7pm, Eternity Playhouse Darlinghurst NSW

NAILS: THE MUSICAL In Concert is a fabulous new Australian work that combines women’s sport with heartwarming queer coming of age stories that reinforce that life isn’t always simple.  With book and lyrics by Laura McDonald and Sophie Davis with music, music supervision and orchestrations by Harry Collins, the staged concert introduction to a work that has previously been through development presentations is hopefully indications that the work will be given a full staged musical treatment in the near future.

NAILS: THE MUSICAL is set in the elite Norths Netball Institute and centres on the “Numbats”, a team of women in their 20’s for which netball is their whole lives, with no ‘fall back’ plan, the players are all hoping to get scouted by a major league team.  When their star player, “Miss Centre” (Gracie Rowland) suffers a career ending injury, the key position up for grabs, ambition and competitiveness becomes even more cutthroat but while Maddision (Chelsea Dawson) believes that she’s next in line for the position, the ordered little world of the Numbats is disrupted when two new players, Crofty (Kala Gare) and Delilah (Néad Cristaudo) and new team physio Casey (Lincoln Elliott) from the Inner West cross the Bridge and join the team.  While Maddison, Bec (Natalie Abbott), and Allegra (Madeleine Wighton) present at the stereotypical netball player of cis, het, white girls with perfect hair, colour coordinated accessories, and neatly trimmed nails, happy to wear the uniform ‘skort’ that looks feminine while maintaining dignity, though potentially not very comfortable, the newcomers favour sport over spectacle.  The lesbian “Crofty” and non-binary Delilah don’t fit the “girly girl” image and attitude of the OG Numbats but if it means that they may get spotted by a talent scout, they’ll fall in line with Coach Judith’s (Laura Murphy) demands, or at least try to.  Layered over the integration of new players to the team and the underlying competition for the Centre bib, are the hormones of young adults discovering that who they’ve believed they are can actually evolve and develop with age and experience and the challenges associated with accepting those changes.

Given that the work is presented as a staged concert, the stage of Eternity Playhouse has been made more intimate by reducing the depth of the stage by placing the Steven Kramer’s (conductor, piano) band onstage.  Production designers Chris Davis and Isobel Clare Sanby have dressed the stage with a netball hoop of fairy lights hanging over the stage and simple props of a strategy board and benches and stylised weightlifting bars that allow the space to shift between practice courts, change rooms, along with places where the teammates relax and socialise.  The costume design reinforces the difference between the OG Numbats and the newcomers, even when Delilah and Crofty have been issued their new uniforms. 

Given the concert presentation and what feels like a degree of final development stage, the work is delivered with the performers ‘on book’ and while all the scenes are delivered with varying degrees of dramatization and choreography (Manali Datar – Director, Ryan Gonzalez-Choreographer), the focus is on the music.  McDonald, Davis and Collins have created a fabulously fun score.  The lyrics are clever and detailed though for the concert staging, not as clear as ideal, but hopefully this work is picked up for a full scale production where these elements can be refined.

NAILS: THE MUSICAL is a wonderful new Australian work that deserves to be picked up for a full production treatment.  It puts Australian women’s stories centre stage with heart and humour and artfully explores the complexity of growing up and realising that the sometimes we need to realign our relationship to the expectations that may have been imposed either by society, social groups and even ourselves.  The characterisation of netball players in NAILS: THE MUSICAL is relatable and recognisable even for those that didn’t play the sport and the queer exploration is neatly balanced to be as much about the personal growth and self-awareness as the connected identity and sexuality themes. 

Nails The Musical: In Concert | Qtopia Sydney

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