Araluen Arts Centre: 
Waltzing the Wilarra
Written and Composed by David Milroy
Directed by Brittanie Shipway
Produced by the producers of national tours of ‘The Sapphires’ and ‘The Sunshine Club’ comes a very special and entertaining night in the theatre.
Performed by a stellar cast including Lorinda May Merrypor (Juliet in ‘& Juliet’), Shaka Cook (‘Hamilton’) and Lisa Maza (‘Stingers’) and backed by a live band.
Against a backdrop of curfews, and the fear of arrest, white and black manage to form their own club where they can forget their worries and experience rare happy times, and with a little luck... romance.
Forty years on, as the club faces demolition, our characters meet once again to stage a musical reunion and protest in an attempt to save their old stomping ground.
Dark secrets and ghosts that have lingered for more than half a century are revealed, and we discover that reconciliation is more than saying sorry.
“…a highly evocative musical tale of love, jealousy, friendship and family. It is a beautiful, heartfelt production about love and loss.”
Australian Stage
Gallery
Written and Composed by: David Milroy
Directed by: Brittanie Shipway
Produced by: The producers of national tours of ‘The Sapphires’ and ‘The Sunshine Club’ comes a very special and entertaining night in the theatre.
Performed by: A stellar cast including Lorinda May Merrypor (Juliet in ‘& Juliet’), Shaka Cook (‘Hamilton’) and Lisa Maza (‘Stingers’) and backed by a live band.
Photography by: Matthew Chen
Producer
Australia’s Premier Theatre Touring Company HIT Productions has toured Australia since 1999 across 124 tours. Waltzing the Wilarra will be HIT’s third First Nations musical production. In recent years, the company has produced and toured the phenomenally successful The Sapphires (2019–2020 & 2022) which performed to over 50,000pax Australia wide and Wesley Enoch’s The Sunshine Club 2023 – 2024.
Synopsis
Charlie, Elsa and Fay take you on a musical journey back to 1940s post-war Perth. Against a backdrop of curfews, and the fear of arrest for consorting, White and Black manage to form their own club. For a night they can forget their worries and experience rare happy times singing, dancing, listening to music, and with a little luck... romance. Forty years on, as the club faces demolition, our three characters meet once again to stage a musical reunion and protest in an attempt to save their old stomping ground. As the trio reflects upon loves lost and found, old arguments and alliances re-surface. Dark secrets and ghosts that have lingered for more than half a century are revealed, and we discover that reconciliation is more than saying sorry.
Performers
Includes 8 Principal Cast (including 6 First Nations performers ) plus live band pooling from some of Australia’s most talented multi-instrumentalists. Stars Rockhampton born Lorinda May Merrypor who played Juliet in the blockbuster musical & Juliet for 18months. Also performer luminaries from the musical Hamilton.
Original Production
Yirra Yaakin’s production of David Milroy’s Waltzing the Wilarra had its World Premiere at the Perth International Arts Festival on February 3rd 2011 at the Subiaco Arts Centre. At the 2011 Helpmann Awards it received threenominations - Best Direction of a Play (Wesley Enoch), Best Actress in a Play (Ursula Yovich) and Best Original Score (David Milroy) Musical numbers include:
• Little Birdy
• I’ve Got Eyes
• Shin Stew
• Criminal Love
• Wheatbelt Boogie
• Smoke & Mirrors
• Desert Rats
Dates
Times
7.30pm
Duration
2 hours and 50 minutes
Interval
20 mins
Prices
Adult
$60.00
Concession
$55.00
Araluen Member
$54.00
Student
$55.00
Genre
Location
Extra information
Online ticketing is available up until one hour prior to the performance.
For ticket purchases after this time, please visit the Araluen Box Office or call us on (08) 8951 1122.
Accessibility
Rating
Suitable for ages 16+
Warning
Haze
Booking Fee
For this event, a one-off service fee of $2.50 per transaction applies on all purchases online. All ticket prices include GST.
