Michael Cassel on cloud nine moments ... and the post-opening blues

It’s been a big start to the year for Michael Cassel.

The theatrical producer moved the mega-hit Hamilton to Brisbane (and brought creator Lin Manuel Miranda to Australia to meet the team and promote the production). He opened the juggernaut Mary Poppins in Melbourne to rave reviews. Then finally, he launched & Juliet – a Broadway darling based on the songs of international hitmaker Max Martin, who was flown in from Sweden for opening night.

Michael Cassel on the excitement of putting on a show: “You’re on this huge adrenaline rush, on cloud nine, and then the next day… that’s when the hard work begins.” Credit: Ben Sklar

Coming down from all that was always going to be fraught.

“I got to the weekend, and I was just sad. Partly it’s exhaustion,” says Cassel, “but there’s something really thrilling about being in the trenches with everybody that you’re collaborating with, and that feeling of putting on a show. That excitement of sharing it with an audience ... You’re on this huge adrenaline rush, on cloud nine, and then the next day it’s sort of all over, and it’s about keeping up with the business of producing and maintaining a show. And that’s when the hard work begins.”

Cassel made these comments while speaking on the latest episode of Good Weekend Talks – a “magazine for your ears” featuring conversations between the best journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and the people captivating Australia right now. And he knows a thing or two about hard work.

Cassel is the kid who went into showbiz straight out of high school, and has since grown into one of the biggest theatre producers in Australia, securing some of the most eagerly awaited shows to come to our shores, all while calling a former prime minister a client.

Hosting this chat with him is Good Weekend editor Katrina Strickland, who leads a discussion about everything from what it will take Cassel to make that leap from good to great by creating his own musicals, to his solution for the theatre shortage in Sydney, to his plan for a new show based on the song catalogue of John Farnham.

Good Weekend Talks offers readers the chance to dive deep into the definitive stories of the day, through weekly conversations with an array of special guests. Listen to more episodes by subscribing to Good Weekend Talks wherever you get your podcasts.

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.