''The Republic of Myopia'' is an Australian musical with book and lyrics by

Jonathan Biggins Jonathan Martin Biggins (born 14 September 1960) is an Australian actor, singer, writer, director and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage and television as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programmes. He was born in Newcast ...

Drew Forsythe Drew Forsythe (born 23 August 1949) is an Australian actor, singer, writer, and comedian. He has appeared on film, stage, and television, as well as in satirical sketch comedy television programs. Early life Born in Sydney, New South Wales, F ...

and Phillip Scott and music by Phillip Scott. The comedic musical is set in 1904 in the fictional central European republic of Myopia. The Myopians are an old-fashioned, peaceful and happy people ruled by a benevolent President, until an American envoy visits to make things 'better'. Sydney Theatre Company premiered the musical to open the Sydney Theatre, performed in repertory with Katherine Thomson's play ''Harbour'' (which shared the same cast). It was directed by Biggins with choreography by Ross Coleman. The cast included Peter Carroll,

Tamsin Carroll Tamsin Georgina Carroll (born 13 February 1979) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her performances in musical theatre in Australia and the United Kingdom. Personal life Carroll was born and raised in Sydney. Her parents are Au ...

Simon Gleeson Simon Gleeson (born 13 January 1977) is an Australian actor and singer who is best known for playing Jean Valjean in the 2014 Australian revival and in the 2016/17 cast of the West End production of ''Les Misérables''. He performed in Noël Co ...

, Drew Forsythe, Mitchell Butel,

Genevieve Lemon Genevieve Lemon (born 21 April 1958) is an Australian actress and singer who has appeared in a number of Australian television series and international film, including a frequent collaboration with Jane Campion for Academy Award-winning ''The P ...

Helen Dallimore Helen Dallimore (born 31 October 1971) is an Australian actress, known for originating the role of Glinda in the West End production of ''Wicked''. Early life Dallimore grew up in Oxford, England and Sydney, Australia. She trained at the Nat ...

, William Zappa,

Melissa Jaffer Melissa Jaffer (born 1 December 1936) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her stage and television roles, but has also appeared in many films. Career Jaffer started her career in theatre productions in the mid 1950s has made many ...

and Christopher Pitman. The production received three nominations at the 2004 Helpmann Awards, for Best Music Direction (Phillip Scott), Best Male Actor in a Musical (Peter Carroll) and Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Mitchell Butel). The musical received the

AWGIE Award for Music Theatre The AWGIE Award for Music Theatre is awarded by the Australian Writers Guild at the annual AWGIE Awards for Australian performance writing. The award is for the script/text, lyrics or book of works written for the theatre in which music plays an ...

in 2005. An original cast recording was released.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Republic of Myopia, The Australian musicals 2004 musicals Original musicals