18 Eden Avenue
The world premiere of 18 Eden Avenue, a new musical from Sally Bodkin-Allen, was held in 2022.
Sally is the SIT Research Manager at SIT and a tutor in the School of Contemporary Music and the School of Business. She has been writing musicals with lyricist Roger Gimblett since they met at university. The storyline for 18 Eden Avenue is based around the lives of three generations of women, who live in a run-down, once grand, house, exploring the connections between the three women and three male characters who are involved in their lives. The songs are written in a variety of musical theatre styles, from comedic numbers, to ballads, duets, and ensembles.
Sally loves working in musical theatre idioms such as duets which have two melodic lines that are introduced separately, but then work together and create a kind of musical surprise for the audience. The song “Someone in the Greenhouse” is an example of this kind of song, with the two teenage characters singing a verse and chorus by themselves, but then the song ends with the verse and chorus being sung simultaneously by the two characters. Another highlight in the show is a song and dance number which had Sally doubting her co-writer's vision. “I remember thinking, what is this weird big tap dance number in this scene!” Sally recalls. “I was sceptical right up until I saw it with an audience, and then I could see how beautifully it worked in the design of the show overall.”
The musical was produced by Invercargill Repertory and directed by Jason Fraser with Sally also fulfilling the role of Vocal Director. It is important to workshop any new creative work of this scope, and so Jason was also involved throughout the workshopping process. Sally and Jason handpicked a group of local performers to be a part of the development of the new work and this influenced the way some of the material was written. Sally notes that she started to write new songs with the selected performers in mind, and could visualise them singing the songs as she composed.
The final song written for the show was the trio for the three women to sing called “Three Strong Women” and was the result of the cast proclaiming a need for it after one of the workshops. Sally explains “They said the show was a song short, and that if the show was about these three generations of women and their bond, then of course there needed to be a song for the three of them to sing.” Roger and Sally agreed, and Sally reflects “You have to be open to receiving criticism. It’s certainly something we’re much better at now in our 50s than we were in our 20s.’’
The season of 18 Eden Avenue sold
out and received standing ovations
at every performance. The show
went on to gain seven nominations
at the Otago Southland Theatre
Awards (OSTAs) and won in two
categories: Best Set and Best Vocal
Direction.