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Aussie band Kitty Litter see themselves as the antipodean answer to Russian dissident group Pussy Riot \u2013 but their careers are stalling.<\/p>\n
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Husband and wife duo Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall have created new musical Bananaland.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jo Duck<\/cite><\/p>\n Fronted by 21-year-old Ruby Semblance, who believes in \u201cart, music and angry choreography\u201d, the quartet spits out original numbers such as Consumerist Pig<\/i> and stages a mock musical trial to crucify British pop entrepreneur Simon Cowell as a Judas destroying the music business.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Kitty Litter attracts few fans, until their song Bananaland <\/i>\u2013 a satire of pork-barrelling and billionaire Clive Palmer\u2019s incursion into federal politics \u2013 is mistaken for a children\u2019s pop song about counting bananas and winds up on kids\u2019 music playlists.<\/p>\n As the band heads north from Dubbo after playing another under-attended concert, families snap up tickets to their next gig, on the NSW-Queensland border. Thanks to their new-found popularity, Kitty Litter face a new dilemma: should they rebrand as a children\u2019s band, junking their adult material?<\/p>\n This is Keir Nuttall and Kate Miller-Heidke\u2019s new comedy musical, Bananaland<\/em>, which is set to premiere in Brisbane next month.<\/p>\n Nuttall and his collaborator and wife Miller-Heidke were watching the Wiggles on television with their young son Ernie a few years ago when inspiration struck.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were wondering what was truly going on behind [the Wiggles\u2019] eyes, and how they got there,\u201d says Miller-Heidke. Becoming a children\u2019s band \u201cdidn\u2019t seem like something that would ever happen to someone deliberately\u201d, she laughs.<\/p>\n Nuttall, director Simon Phillips and Miller-Heidke in Bananaland rehearsals.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jeff Busby<\/cite><\/p>\n Older Wiggles fans might recall the group\u2019s origins as the rock band the Cockroaches. Nuttall points out that the Wiggles even repurposed some old Cockroaches songs: for instance, Hot Tamale<\/i> became Hot Potato. <\/i><\/p>\n Miller-Heidke adds: \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t want to create the impression there\u2019s a direct link between this [musical] and the Wiggles \u2026 something always fascinated us about them, but this is pure fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n The mischief on stage is informed by the couple\u2019s touring experiences, including Miller-Heidke\u2019s successful career and Nuttall\u2019s earlier days playing with his band in dive bars.<\/p>\n At the same time, the pair name-check the real, surreal world of children\u2019s music making in Bananaland<\/i>: \u201cHi-5 is worse than ISIS,\u201d grumbles one character.<\/p>\n During rehearsals, Nuttall and Miller-Heidke discovered that one of their actors, Joe Kalou, who plays Kitty Litter guitarist Seb Kale, had been a member of Hi-5 in its latter years.<\/p>\n \u201cHe actually stayed quiet about it,\u201d Nuttall says, with a laugh. \u201cHe never mentioned it, for some reason.\u201d<\/p>\n The musical involves very physical comedy, and cast members have been adding their own playful choreography. Heading the cast as Ruby is Max McKenna, who played Muriel in the premiere season of P.J. Hogan\u2019s Muriel\u2019s Wedding the Musical<\/i>, for which Miller-Heidke and Nuttall also composed original music.<\/p>\n Max McKenna also starred in Muriel\u2019s Wedding the Musical, for which Nuttall and Miller-Heidke wrote original songs.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Lisa Tomasetti<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our writing comes out of a pop-rock tradition, and Max early on in Muriel<\/i> showed this ability to straddle those two forms,\u201d says Nuttall.<\/p>\n Miller-Heidke says McKenna, who uses they\/them pronouns, \u201chas been a bit of a muse since Muriel\u201d. \u201cI find Max\u2019s voice to have this other-worldly beauty and power and emotion, and also [I admire] their acting chops \u2013 particularly for this role [as Ruby] because there\u2019s a fair bit of clowning. Max is hilarious\u201d.<\/p>\n Simon Phillips, who directed the Muriel <\/i>musical, also directs Bananaland<\/i>.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine this show existing without him,\u201d says Nuttall. \u201cHis belief in it is really the reason that it went ahead. We\u2019ve also done two Shakespeare [plays] with him where Kate and I did the music [Twelfth Night<\/i> and As You Like It<\/i>], and his instinct for how music works with text is incredible. For someone who doesn\u2019t play an instrument or isn\u2019t a conductor, he will get quite granular.\u201d<\/p>\n Nuttall and Miller-Heidke collaborated with Phillips on As You Like It for MTC. (Pictured: Christie Whelan Browne as Rosalind.)<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Jeff Busby<\/cite><\/p>\n Yet the pair say the director, who doubled as a dramaturg on Bananaland<\/i>, was blunt about Nuttall\u2019s script during the development. \u201cIn terms of his storytelling instincts, both of us are still in awe of him,\u201d says Miller-Heidke. \u201cHe\u2019s a ray of sunshine, so charismatic and such a wonderful collaborator.<\/p>\n \u201c[But] he has been brutal: this is Keir\u2019s first script, and he and Simon have had many, many Zoom meetings [over] bottles of red wine, and he\u2019s capable of delivering some really brutal truths.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, in a charming manner,\u201d adds Nuttall, who then impersonates Phillips: \u201cWell, frankly Keir, I mean I just don\u2019t think your craft is good enough.\u201d Nuttall and Heidke-Miller dissolve with laughter.<\/p>\n The pair prefer to compose separately, and Nuttall mostly wrote his script in cafes. Miller-Heidke says the \u201cexpansive, colourful and daring\u201d music falls into three strands: the \u201cbombastic\u201d Kitty Litter songs; their \u201cinane, catchy\u201d songs when they become a kids\u2019 band; and the various solo, duet and ensemble pieces where characters get to sing from the heart.<\/p>\n One song in the latter category is Toby<\/i>, which Miller-Heidke can be seen singing online in a performance captured at Bananaland<\/i>\u2019s official launch in June, possibly inspired by her own experience as a parent. In the musical, the song is sung by Kitty Litter member Karen, desperately missing her five-year-old son while on tour: \u201cToby, now your mamma\u2019s here \/ and for you, she would lay down her life.\u201d<\/p>\n While Bananaland<\/i> will premiere as part of Brisbane Festival, it is understood the musical will tour in the future to other cities including Sydney and Melbourne, with dates and venues yet to be announced.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on the cards,\u201d says Nuttall of a tour, \u201cbut it\u2019s too early for us to \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n Miller-Heidke cuts in: \u201c\u2013 confirm or deny.\u201d<\/p>\n Given Muriel\u2019s Wedding the Musical<\/i> will open in the UK next year, what are the international prospects for Bananaland<\/i>? \u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d says Nuttall, who says their eyes are not on Broadway.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unashamedly Australian,\u201d he says.\u201cEverybody speaks in our vernacular, but it\u2019s no more colloquial than Muriel\u2019s Wedding<\/i>, and I think a lot of the barriers to things being international is really just a [matter of] perception \u2026 A very specific cultural universe often works to a show\u2019s advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n It would be a mistake to dilute the Australianness of the show, adds Miller-Heidke: \u201cWe just want to have fun and make something good.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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