Martin and Gina is a musical about the experience of migrants coming to work on the Snowy Mountains Scheme after World War 2. The show was produced at Monash University’s Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies, under the direction of Peter Fitzpatrick, and nominated later that year for a Green Room Award for best original Score and Lyrics.
Janice contributed her usual share of witty lyrics, as did another valued collaborator, stand up comic and script writer John Herouvim, and both had an energetic grasp of the idea which really pushed things along. Tony again assisted with ideas and solid support.
I tried hard to make the music attractive to sing and easy to remember, and especially enjoyed the opportunity to write some rousing choruses, such as To Build Our Dreams and The Light on The Hill. To me, Martin and Gina’s themes of compassion, loss and renewal, and its mood of good humour, shine through more clearly than ever, and its characters, their personalities and the decisions they have to make, are very real. The subsequent recording gained a warm response from Australian, British and American reviewers.
If you’d like to read the script, which Peter and I later revised for a cast of 7, let me know.