WAAPA proudly presents the Australian premiere performance of Renascence, an award-winning musical featuring music by acclaimed alumni Carmel Dean. The show is set to run at Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA, from Friday, March 27, to Wednesday, April 1.
The musical tells the story of the early life of radical Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (known as Vincent) using the artist’s poetry as lyrics. The poem titled ‘Renascence,’ written by Vincent at 19 years old, was the work that propelled her from humble beginnings to a celebrated artistic life.
Charting Vincent’s journey of self-discovery over three acts, the production offers a vivid theatrical exploration of identity, creativity and artistic awakening.
Composer Carmel Dean, WAAPA alumni and music director for If/Then and American Idiot on Broadway, describes Vincent as “an incredible writer, bold thinker and dreamer, who lived 100 years ago and was well ahead of her time.” Dean has previously set Millay’s poetry to music, originally as a song cycle before collaborating with Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie) on Renascence, who envisioned bringing the poems together into a full musical narrative, the musical named Best New Musical at the 2018 Off-Broadway Alliance Awards.
Director Katt Osborne describes the work as “a piece that invited audiences into the poetry of both the everyday and the bigger questions of life itself,” also saying that “hearing Vincent’s work – beautifully sung and set to music by the amazing Carmel Dean – and getting a glimpse into her younger life is a wonderful way to celebrate Vincent’s trailblazing legacy.”
