Clancy of the Outback Takes the Stage: A True Blue Musical Adventure
Former Mildura local Earl Marrows and collaborator Dylan Marshall are bringing children's books to life on stage.
Bringing Outback Characters to Stage
Original article by: ALLAN MURPHY | 19 Jan 2025
Credit: Sunraysia Daily
A former Mildura man has joined forces with Mildura-based author Phil Kettle [in collaboration with Dylan Marshall and Bob Andersen] to bring [this series of] children's books to life.
Earl Marrows attended school in Mildura before he moved to Melbourne and then New York University on a scholarship.
He is now back Down Under working on a true Aussie musical based on one of the books co-written by Kettle and Anderson titled Clancy of the Outback.
Marrows has a wealth of original musical pieces to his credit including television, film and stage and while his latest project is a shorter hour-long work, there is no less enthusiasm in pulling the production together.
An avid reader of Kettle's children's books growing up in Mildura, Marrows said the pair met up only a couple of months back when the collaboration was first mooted.
"I have been a fan of his for a long time; I'd read his books when I was a kid and so that was a massive part of my childhood growing up," Marrows said.
"When I got the chance to meet him I was a little star-struck and then we started talking about the possibility of collaborating together, so he sent me the Clancy of the Outback book and I immediately felt that the characters had to be on stage.
"I told a collaborator of mine, Dylan Marshall, that I had this opportunity, so we just started writing together and it has been a really great process.
"We write songs and send them to Phil and he'll tell us what he likes and what he doesn't, and we go back and forth and back and forth, and it's been really exciting."
Marrows, the grandson of renowned World War II hero Dudley Marrows, said the pair were hoping to start public performances in the second half of this year.
"What's really exciting about this is that it's so uniquely Australian and more than being Australian it's about country Australia which is where I grew up and am passionate about," he said.
"It's coming together in a way that is much better than I could have imagined and the response that we have got from people has been much more positive than I could have hoped for.
"Every time we have got an opportunity to play it for people the response is just massive and that's what's really exciting and that has been really heartening because people really want to see it happen."
Marrows said the show will have a small cast of four actors which will allow them to take it Australia-wide.
"We want to take it into rural schools and show kids that musical theatre doesn't have to be this thing that is really far away from them and that it can reflect their own lives," he said.
Marrows said the production would tell the story of city boy Clancy who is unwillingly moved to the middle of nowhere and the journey of him coming to terms with himself.
"We've had so much fun doing this – it just feels natural and it feels easy and it feels right," Marrows said.
He said Mildura would "absolutely" be on the touring schedule when the production was stage-ready.
Listen to the Radio Interview [Download MP3] (5 mins length) on ABC’s Australia All Over with Scott Lamond