Brisbane group performs musical after just 24 hours rehearsal to raise money for Actors Benevolent Fund

Australia’s only 24 Hour Musical Project returns for its fifth year in 2021. This April, the Project will bring together a bunch of talented (and possibly slightly crazy) theatremakers to learn, rehearse and perform an all-singing, all-dancing musical in just one day. Profits and fundraising benefit the Actors’ and Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund QLD. 

Participants know they have been cast but have no idea what role or even what musical they will perform until it is announced at 6pm on Saturday 10 April. The Project goes into rehearsal that very minute and the show must go on at 6pm Sunday 11 April. The Project is 24 hours of absolute madness, exhilaration, exhaustion and fun. 

In 2020, The Project was ready-to-roll and held auditions on the last weekend before Brisbane was sent into its first lockdown. The team felt, despite the uncertainty in the air that weekend, the auditions lifted the spirits of everyone involved. The production, like so many others, was postponed; but we are pleased to announce that show will be going ahead later in the year (October 2021). 

 

2019’s production of an all-adult The Sound of Music marked a high point for the project and this year promises to be just as exciting. Hayley Sage, cast as one of the Von Trapp children, says she loved the chaos of the process, especially knowing it was for a good cause. 

“Being part of The 24 Hour Musical Project was an absolute rollercoaster,” she says.

I loved the thrill of not knowing what was going to happen next, and most of all I loved performing at the end of the 24 hours. It was exhausting but it was also so so rewarding, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

True to her word, Sage did audition again and has been cast in the April 2021 Project. 

Producer of the Project, Miranda Selwood, says this project is the first of its kind in Australia. “The idea had been stirring in my mind for years before we finally took on the challenge. 

This Project is sustained by the people who are crazy enough to give it a try and especially by those who keep coming back. It’s all about community; our community. We spend one weekend working together toward a common goal and we create something amazing.

It takes more than just actors to make a production as ambitious as this work, and the call out is also open for musicians, crew, and support staff. 

A project this huge can’t happen without help, so the team is also on the lookout for sponsorships from local businesses in the form of goods and services in exchange for advertising opportunities and cross promotion. 

“This event consistently sells out, so the opportunity to have your business seen by a large engaged audience has been a big draw for sponsors in the past,” says Selwood. 

We proved it works and now we set new challenges each year as the Project grows bigger and better. Numbers of auditionees have more than tripled since our first year and we do our best to include as many people as we can in the Project. We are quickly outgrowing our venue and I look forward to the day we move into QPAC with the biggest production ever produced in only 24 hours! To have the Project in the state’s premier venue, with the support of a 1000-strong audience would be an exciting achievement, and undeniable proof of the strength and unity of our local creative community here in Queensland.

Venue: Dron Auditorium – St Peters Lutheran College
Address: 66 Harts Rd, Indooroopilly QLD 4068
Announcement 6pm Saturday 10 April
Performance 6pm Sunday 11 April
Tickets: $36 www.24hmp.com