Ben Apfelbaum

MURIEL’S WEDDING THE MUSICAL ON TRACK TO OPEN SOON

P.J.Hogan, the writer and director of the original film Muriel’s Wedding and the writer of the book to the musical, said that he was delighted when he cast the then relatively unknown Toni Collette in the role of Muriel Heslop.

His delight was replicated when Maggie McKenna was cast as Muriel in MURIEL’S WEDDING THE MUSICAL Unlike in the film, the cast actually sing rather than mime. Music and lyrics have been provided by Keir Nuttal and Kate Miller-Heidke as well as songs by Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Stig Andersson (originally written for Abba). The  songwriting husband and wife team worked on the score for two years and are anxiously waiting to see how their hard work will be received.

Also prominent in the cast are Madeleine Jones as Rhonda, Muriel’s best friend, Gary Sweet as Muriel’s Dad, Bill ‘the Battler Heslop’, Justine Clarke as Muriel’s Mum, Betty, and Helen Dallimore as the beauty consultant, Deidre Chambers.

Director Simon Phillips said at the Media Call that he has been delighted with the progress of rehearsals.

The world premiere production of MURIEL’S WEDDING THE WEDDING starts previewing at the Roslyn Packer Theatre from Monday November 6 with opening night Saturday 18th November. The production  runs until Friday 27th January. Running time is expected to be 2 hours and 30 minutes with one twenty minute interval.

http://www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Photos by Ben Apfelbaum. Featured photo- Madeleine Jones and Maggie McKenna. 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.