Hero (musical)

Hero is a rock musical with book by Craig McGregor, lyrics by Don Henderson and music by John 'Poli' Palmer. It concerns a pop singer's odyssey in search of stardom with strong undertones of Greek tragedy. The story is about two brothers, loosely based on the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux. The older brother is an ambitious politician, whereas the younger brother is a successful rock star.[1]

Hero
MusicJohn 'Poli' Palmer
LyricsDon Henderson
BookCraig McGregor
Productions1976 Sydney

Development and production

The Australian Opera and its NSW Friends supporter group in 1973 commissioned rock journalist McGregor to write a rock or pop opera about his idea of the modern hero.[2] McGregor was inspired to write the musical after watching The Who perform a concert version of their rock opera Tommy in New York.[3]

Hero opened on 27 May 1976 at the Seymour Centre's York Theatre in Sydney, produced by the Australian Opera. The cast included Barry Leef, Juliet Amiet, Kris McQuade, Ron Barry, Paul Johnstone and Ian Turpie. It was directed by Grahame Bond with choreographer Ross Coleman and musical director Geoff Oakes.[4]

The production had a mixed critical reception.[5] Closing after two weeks, the production lost in the order of $170,000.[6][7]

Recordings

Original cast member Barry Leef recorded "Last Song" and "Three-Minute Hero" from the musical for Festival Records in 1976, released as a single.[8] Demo recordings of two songs were included in the compilation The Songs of Don Henderson, released posthumously in 2009.[9]

References
  1. Bond, Grahame (2011). Jack of All Trades - Mistress of One. NewSouth Publishing. pp. 180–183. ISBN 1742241085.
  2. Blanks, Fred (28 August 1973). "Opera orders new works". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  3. Herbert, Adrian (26 February 1976). "Rocking into opera". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. Scott, Phil (16 May 1976). "Producer's hopes high for new opera". Sun-Herald.
  5. Covell, Roger (28 May 1976). "Rock opera as morality play". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  6. "OPERA 'COULD CLOSE'". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). ACT: National Library of Australia. 27 July 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  7. "Director asks for inquiry into Opera". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 May 1977. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  8. https://www.45cat.com/record/k6416
  9. Dearden, Ian. "Henderson, Donald James (Don) (1937-1991)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
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