A list of Paul’s WORKS, past and in development (or at least the ones he’s allowed to talk about!)
ROUND THE TWIST THE MUSICAL
Paul is currently developing the musical adaptation of the iconic children’s TV show Round The Twist. Round The Twist was produced by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, premiered on the BBC and has aired in over 70 countries over 30 years, including on the Disney Channel in Europe and Fox Kids in the US. The musical adaptation is produced by Garry McQuinn’s RGM Productions (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show) and directed by Simon Phillips (Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies).
OKUNI
Paul is developing a new musical on the life of Izumo no Okuni with playrwright and screenwriter Naomi Iizuka (HBO’s Tokyo Vice, AMC’s The Terror) and director Lisa Portes. They received the inaugural Vanguard Arts Project at Olney Theatre Center, Maryland, and the prestigious Ground Floor Residency at the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Rep in California to develop the work.
Even though today the Japanese performing artform of Kabuki is performed only by men, it was actually invented by a woman, Okuni, and originally performed by women. Okuni rose from being an anonymous shrine priestess to be the superstar performer of her era, dressing as a man, before being almost entirely erased from history.
RIOT
With playwright and screenwriter Michelle Law (Single Asian Female, Homecoming Queens) Paul has been commissioned by Opera Queensland and La Boite Theatre to write the opera Riot. Riot tells a fictional love story of a Chinese-Australian man and a white woman against the background of a true race riot in Brisbane in 1888. When racial tensions reach an all-time high on Election Day, rioters take to the streets, destroying Chinese owned stores and leading to a court case that will change the course of Australia’s history.
BLACK BOX
Paul is developing a one-man musical based on the life of David Warren, the inventor of the “Black Box” flight recorder. David’s father died in a plane crash when he was eight and it was his love of music that sparked the invention. Inspired by David’s invention, the musical has only one live actor playing David and all the other characters are recorded voices, with the world built through sound.
THE GREAT EMU WAR
With Cal Silberstein, Paul is writing the musical-comedy The Great Emu War, telling the true story of when the Australian government sent the army with machine guns to wage war on emus in Western Australia… what they did not count on was the emus fighting back. Think of it as like Cats, but with emus… and a plot.
The Guardian - “By Joh it could be Trump! It’s campy, glorious fun. The show was greeted with a standing ovation at The Powerhouse.” Joh for P.M. was written with Stephen Carleton and commissioned by JUTE Theatre Company and the Brisbane Powerhouse. It premiered in the 2017 Queensland Music Festival in Brisbane and Cairns, starring Lano and Woodley’s Colin Lane as Joh. It sold out its season and was nominated for five Matilda Awards including Best Musical and the Lord Mayor’s Award for Best New Australian Work.
CLINTON THE MUSICAL - What if there were two Bill Clintons?
NY Times Critic’s Pick - “Unimpeachably Amusing! Smartly silly, hilariously impudent and sneakily compassionate.” Clinton has been performed Off-Broadway, in London, Edinburgh and had its Australian premiere in 2016 at Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia. It received a New York Times Critics’ Pick, nominations for Best Musical from the Off-Broadway Alliance and Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won Best Production in the Performing Arts WA Awards and Best Off-Broadway Cast Album in the Broadway World Awards. Off-Broadway was led by Tony-nominated director Dan Knechtges, and featured Tony Award-nominee Kerry Butler and Emmy Winner Judy Gold.