Musical Theatre

It’s not too often that Australian television dishes out new musicals, though recent titles include the Aids crisis-themed In Our Blood and the superb psych ward-set drama Wakefield. But the musical parody genre is an even rarer beast, musicalising unexpected subjects such as the housing crisis – in SBS’s short and zippy comedy Time to Buy: A Musical – and now, in the ABC’s six-part series Australian Epic, a collection of “Australia’s most defining stories”.

Here that rather loose criteria essentially means stories the writers – Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen of the comedy group the Chaser – felt were ripe for satire (albeit of a rather toothless kind; the first couple of episodes in particular play more like musical celebration). Part of the joke is the choice of topics: nobody would seriously suggest that the marriage of Mary Elizabeth Donaldson to Frederik, the Crown Prince of Denmark (the subject of episode two), was one of our most defining moments.

Ditto for the unlikely success of the ice skater Steven Bradbury, who won a gold medal in 2002 after all his competitors fell over (episode one). And double ditto for Melbourne’s ill-fated 120-metre-high ferris wheel (episode four). The remaining episodes cover the furore surrounding the arrival in Australia of Pistol and Boo, Johnny Depp’s dogs (episode three); the conviction of Schapelle Corby (episode five); and, in the only really interesting and dangerous choice, the sad debacle of the Tampa affair, including how the then prime minister, John Howard, exploited it.

Adapting a format that originated in Norway, the series’ central gimmick involves intercutting musical numbers with a standard talking heads documentary. Tune in when interviewees are talking and it’ll look like just another rote TV doco; a minute later there’ll be singing and dancing and all sorts of zaniness.

Australian Epic premieres on Wednesday 8 November at 9pm on the (Australian) ABC.