Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical (Hayes) ★★★★½

Book, Music & Lyrics by Steven Kramer. World Premiere. Hayes Theatre Company. 17 Oct – 22 Nov 2025.

After strong word of mouth from workshops and readings, Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical has galloped onto the stage — and it lives up to the hype. Steven Kramer delivers a remarkable trifecta: great music, sharp lyrics, and an outrageously bonkers book to match. This show has an abnormally big heart and an even bigger funny bone.

Harry Telford (Justin Smith), a horse trainer on his last legs, convinces businessman David Davis (Nat Jobe) to take a punt on a horse he’s found in New Zealand. It has a promising bloodline — a descendant of winners. But when the sweet little Phar Lap (Joel Granger) arrives with a thick Kiwi accent, he has no competitive drive — he’d rather be doing dressage. Unimpressed, Harry has to find a way to turn this zero into a national hero to save his own hide.

Plot-wise, it sounds simple enough, but Phar Lap shines in the storytelling finesse Kramer and director Sheridan Harbridge bring to proceedings. The book is a cavalcade of jokes — from Phar Lap’s training partners being named One-One and Two-Two (“One-One won one and Two-Two won one too”) to the hyper-fast commentary on capitalism from the Race Caller (Manon Gunderson-Briggs — her performance is the glue that holds the show together). Kramer has made sure the script is tight and jam-packed. Yet it’s not just jokes and tunes — he grounds us in the historical events of the time, showing how Phar Lap’s underdog success became an inspiration for a nation suffering through the Great Depression (but, you know, he’s made it funny).

Beyond the writing, the performances match the show’s wild energy. Each character is transformed into a hilarious, larger-than-life caricature thanks to impeccable casting and clear direction. Phar Lap’s older half-brother Nightmarch (Lincoln Elliott) is a braggadocious Kiwi bro, while Shay Debney is a scene-stealer as jockey Jim Pike — a leather daddy ready to ride Phar Lap all night long. Amy Hack shines as both the mysteriously accented Madame X and in a small but memorable turn as a “horse girl” fan. But it’s all anchored by Joel Granger’s wide-eyed, innocent Phar Lap. His cheerful, do-good demeanour is infectious, with Granger bringing a childlike Thomas the Tank Engine energy to the role. Even Phar Lap’s darker or stranger moments (like his oddly sexual bonding with Jim Pike, or his growing addiction to sugar cubes) have a gleeful silliness to them.

Kramer’s score is as sharp as his script. Long established as a go-to musical director, he brings skill and depth of musical knowledge to a score that’s high-energy, smart, and littered with gags — a mash-up of Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Great Gatsby (both Baz Luhrmann’s film soundtrack and the current Broadway show), and the tone of Operation: Mincemeat. There’s palpable passion running through this music — give me a cast recording ASAP, please.

That same inventiveness carries through every element of the production. Mason Browne’s costumes instantly impress, transforming actors into upright horses with long-eared jockey caps and braids — so simple but effective. Ellen Simpson’s choreography plays with all the hallmarks of the era in refreshing ways. Hailey Hunt’s set is surprisingly layered (the stage border referencing Eadweard Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion is a lovely touch), giving room for Trent Suidgeest’s lighting to inject energy and variety into the space. Similarly, Liam Roche’s sound design elegantly brings the racetrack to life.

There are minor quibbles — like the use of recorded taps for the dancing — but these come down to production cost and are easy to forgive in an indie theatre space. The book occasionally drives its punchlines home a little too hard (it’s okay — we all got the “big heart” reference the first time), yet that’s personal preference. For a premiere production, this show is in outstanding form.

Making successful independent theatre is hard. Making successful independent musical theatre is almost impossible. For every Zombie! The Musical, there’s… well, I won’t name them all, but history is littered with the corpses of unimpressive musicals that should never be seen again. It doesn’t just take talent and songwriting — it takes development and producing skill to bring a show like this to the stage. Thankfully, Hayes have done it again, birthing another new Australian musical that feels completely race-ready. The story may be local, but the themes and humour have universal appeal. All Phar Lap needs now is a few more investors and a big enough stage to really stretch its legs and show everyone what it can do.