The hits of the 90s return with new musical

PROMINENT Australian theatrical director and producer Neil Gooding was taking a shower at his Northmead home when the idea for a new musical occurred to him.

Local performer Nadia Farran from Baulkham Hills (pictured 2nd person on far right of photo with hoodie) is all set for her performance in Popstars! The 90’s Musical opening on Thursday 24th September.

PROMINENT Australian theatrical director and producer Neil Gooding was taking a shower at his Northmead home when the idea for a new musical occurred to him.

Bring together two opposing types of music from the 1990s — a serious grunge boy band in the style of Nirvana and a girl band more modelled on the Spice Girls.

Scriptwriter Neil Gooding, from Northmead.

The resulting clash provides plenty of humour in a new musical, Popstars! The 90s Musical, opening at Wentworthville’s Red Gum Theatre this week.

Mr Gooding, 39, a resident of Northmead for the past eight years, was only 23 when he found huge success writing the musical Back To The 80s, now the highest licenced Australian musical.

Since then he’s been involved in multiple award-winning productions, both here and overseas, but still works to encourage the development of Australian scripts.

“It’s a hugely risky area,” he said. “There’s not much in the way of support mechanisms, it’s much easier to bring in the Jersey Boys, where they have already workshopped it and taken it off Broadway.

“But it’s slowly changing.”

He said he had been musing with the idea of doing something about 1990s music for a while, but hadn’t quite found the way into a story.

“I thought about the type of music from that era, and it really was the time of highly manufactured boy and girl groups,” Mr Gooding said. “But of course there was also the whole grunge thing happening, so when I teamed up with Nick, we had a lot of fun writing the script and workshopping it.”

Baulkham Hills actor Nadia Farran.

Set in a high school in the 1990s, the play follows a talent agent who offers stardom to the winners of a battle of the bands competition.

Ex couple Shannon and Mark put their high school dramas aside for a boy band versus girl band showdown.

“Popstars is meant to be something that sends audiences out there by singing all the songs they probably already know and clapping along and having fun,” Mr Gooding said.

Some of the hit songs from the decade include Hit Me Baby One Time, Let’s Get Loud, and Genie in a Bottle. The cast also includes Baulkham Hills actor Nadia Farran.

Presented by the Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society, the show will play at Wentworthville’s Red Gum Theatre from September 24-27. Tickets are $30 for adults, book online at hmds.org.au or ring 0497 051 798.