Well-Behaved Women (Belvoir) ★★★½

Music & Lyrics by Carmel Dean. Additional lyrics by Miriam Laube. Belvoir. 28 Sep – 3 Nov, 2024.

Aussie songwriter Carmel Dean’s song-cycle Well-Behaved Women brings the bangers to Belvoir. Dean pokes fun at the patriarchy and heaps praise on some key stories of female rebels, iconoclasts, champions and quiet achievers throughout time.

The cast of four, Stefanie Caccamo, Zahra Newman, Elenoa Rokobaro and Ursula Yovich take turns playing women from the biblical Eve to Grace Tame, via Cleopatra, Harriet Tubman, Frida Kahlo and more. On the night I went, Ursula Yovich was subbed out for Sarah Murr “the hardest working woman in musicals”™ – who proves yet again she can belt like Boudicca at the drop of a hat. Dear casting agents and producers – just give her a lead role already!

While Dean has composed tunes for the well-known women of history, there are some interesting smaller tales that enliven the evening, like Janet Armstrong, wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, singing about holding down the fort at home while her husband is off in space, or Australian swimmers Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie defying local authorities to swim, and win medals, in the Olympics in Stockholm. 

Dean keeps things varied by playing with genres. There is some traditional musical theatre, rock, R&B, country and more, though often the evening settles into a similar mid-tempo for serious numbers. It’s when the tunes hit the comedy that things really click. As Virgina Wollfe (Caccamo) sings about a fictional Shakespeare’s Sister it’s playfulness elevates (even if the tune itself seems a bit too reminiscent of Sondheim’s “The Story of Lucy & Jessie”). Caccamo again nails her number as Mary Magdalene complaining about being the only woman at the Last Supper. Newman works the room singing as Julia Gillard pointing out the hypocrisy of press coverage. 

Director Blazey Best, bringing this production over from a short run at Hayes in 2021, gives it a shiny-floored gala-style presentation (all sparkles and reflections) under the design direction of Grace Deacon. Video screens deliver key quotes and information as required. It’s a simple and elegant vision.

But this is a song cycle, and as such struggles to have any momentum as it moves from song to song. Wisely, the creative team has dropped some numbers to keep the show at a short, sharp 70 minutes. By the time we hit the group anthem “We Rise”, we’ve been entertained and educated without ever being bored. This is just a quick primer on just a few notable women through history, a great showcase for four fantastic performers, and for the songwriting talents of Carmel Dean herself.