Vidya Makan on Hamilton, Joshua Creamer on the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, and Alinta McGrady on Eat Slay Zombie
Hello my wonderful and ever-supportive Streets of Your Towners!
Well what a year it’s been—I feel like the books I have beside the bed to be read haven’t changed much since the beginning of the year, and to be honest, perhaps even the year before that. So much for taking things slower after Covid, right?
Well it’s time to rightly wind down after all that frenetic pace of the year that was. This Wandering Journo has some fantastic audio treats in store for you—three podcasts just in this newsletter alone! And as a special Christmas thank you to all of you who have kept my creativity afloat in some of my darkest times, this newsletter will be closely followed by four all-new inspiring podcast yarns from my overseas travels to hopefully take you travelling in your mind, soaking up the accents and stories of lands far far away. Perfect listening for when you need accompaniment on the great Aussie Christmas road trip—or perhaps an escape from the Christmas party extravaganza. Put the headphones on and go to the theatre in your mind, and listen to some extraordinary people.
But firstly—to take you to Vidya Makan!
Vidya Makan, from Catherine Parr to Eliza Hamilton
Those of you who have followed the meanderings of The Wandering Journo for a while will know this name. Those of you who are musical theatre aficionados will also be familiar with Vidya’s name! She has featured on Streets of Your Town twice before—see links to her previous interviews with me below. Here on Streets of Your Town, we’ve been lucky enough to watch Vidya Makan’s singing and writing prowess be recognised over a few short years.
It’s not often that we get to watch a musical star on the rise. A performer whose passion and talent has enabled them to rise from tentative beginnings to go on to star in one of the world’s most beloved musicals.
We first met her in the pivotal role of Catherine Parr in the juggernaut production of Six, then as the creator, writer and performer in her musical The Lucky Country at Hayes Theatre in Sydney, and now we catch up with her again in one of the most competitive and sought after roles around the world—as Eliza Hamilton in Hamilton.
Vidya tells me on this episode of Streets of Your Town podcast how even after 111 performances as Eliza in Hamilton, sometimes the dream still doesn’t seem real.
“It’s been incredible. I’m playing one of the most chased after roles in the canon of musical theatre in one of the biggest shows, if not the biggest show in the world,” Vidya says.
“I’m still speechless every time I do an interview and I’ve done, I think, 111 shows by now, you’d think I’d be used to it, but every time I do an interview and they’re like, we’re talking with Eliza Hamilton, I go, ‘oh, that’s me’. It’s still surprising to me and it’s still, I feel like I’m just living a dream every day.”
She’s thrilled at how much musical theatre has evolved in a relatively short time to include more people of colour like herself, when only a decade or so ago she wondered if she could have a future in the industry at all.
“It’s still kind of unbelievable. I think what is especially so cool about Eliza is that I’m just playing a woman on stage and I don’t have to be anything bigger or smaller than I guess what I am,” she says.
“This is such a human part. The amazing thing about Catherine Parr is you are playing this superstar, this pop star, this kind of ultra human on the stage. But for someone like me who looks the way that I do, getting to play heartbreak and joy and everything in between (in Eliza) is like a dream come true. And I think it’s a real testament to how the industry is growing and changing.”
And for those who can’t get to Sydney for this run on Hamilton before the Australian production finishes for good on January 25, make sure you watch ABC TV on December 20 at 730pm or the digital broadcast on iview, of Vidya’s part in ‘A Very Musical Christmas’, recorded in Sydney and with all proceeds going to mental health charity Beyond Blue.
Vidya says her greatest joy when performing is watching her fellow performers shine.
“There’s nothing to describe what it feels like to sing ‘Helpless’ and sing those notes and feel free or sing ‘Burn’. I mean, I love burning those letters. I have to have a bit too much fun.
“I’m really proud of the way that I’ve crafted my Eliza and I love her. So to do it every night is just a joy. Sometimes I have moments where I come off stage and I just think, ‘I just love this so much’.
“But to be honest with you, for me, I’m in awe of this production and in awe of this cast. The dancers are the best in the world. My other cast-mates are the best in the world at what they do. I actually think that one of my favourite things in this show, one of my favourite moments is the moments where I get to be off stage or where I get to switch off a little bit and just watch. I’ve done over a hundred shows now, and it’s still not boring. I still am in awe.
“I think that’s my favourite part is looking around and seeing the sheer talent that is around me and that I get to be a part of that is pretty phenomenal.”
As Vidya says on her website, it turns out dreams do come true.
“I don’t have words for it. It’s like I had a dream and now I’m living that dream and it’s nothing that I could have even imagined.
“When I often talk to kids about what is your advice for getting into this industry, the thing that I always say is make sure that you love the doing of it. Because a lot of people, I think, fall in love with the idea of it, but something that I have definitely realised is more than any of it, I love doing this job. It doesn’t mean that it’s not hard. It doesn’t mean that I don’t get anxious and nervous, which I definitely do, and that’s its own beast. But within that, I love what we do, so, so much.
“So yeah, it really is a joy, even when I’m crying on stage eight times a week.”
The Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry
The last few months particularly have been a whirlwind in The Wandering Journo household. I was lucky enough to be chosen as the Principal Media Officer for the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, an important juncture in Queensland’s history to ensure that the state’s full history could be recorded.
Sadly the inquiry did not last long. Soon after being voted in at the state election in October, the new LNP government in Queensland repealed the act which the inquiry was based on, and it is no more.
To say it’s been a tsunami of emotions for me in that short period would actually be an understatement. It also explains I hope in a small way why I haven’t had as many episodes of Streets of Your Town podcast as I would’ve like this year, something I’m hoping to make up for with my burst of creativity to accompany your Christmas celebrations, wherever in the world you may be.
The Chair of the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry Joshua Creamer was actually someone I had wanted to feature on Streets of Your Town for years, so that you my beloved Wandering Journo community could meet him and hear of his incredible work.
I did get to interview him soon after I began working for the Inquiry and it became a podcast on Streets of Your Town.
Much as the inquiry has sadly run its course for now, I do hope that one day its important work can be completed. For now, you too can listen to Joshua Creamer’s interview with me, and hear about what Queensland’s first Aboriginal barrister has achieved for social justice around the country. And perhaps also get a glimpse now, looking back, at what could have been.
I’ve written about him for national media outlets such as The New Daily and in my work reporting for National Indigenous Radio Service. He’s worked on some of the most challenging human rights class actions across Australia.
Joshua Creamer is a proud Waanyi and Kalkadoon man, who still sees himself as the boy from Mt Isa.
He tells us how significant this Inquiry is for Queensland and Australia, and what a privilege it was for him to lead this once in a generation investigation to give Indigenous people a voice in Queensland’s history.
As he tells me in this episode:
“I grew up in Mount Isa. I still feel like an Aboriginal boy in Mount Isa—sometimes you’ve got to pinch me to think about the things I get to enjoy, the success I’ve had in my career and the people I’ve got to meet,” Joshua says.
“But I’ll always, I guess wherever I go, I always have that little young boy from Mount Isa in me and a really important part of my connection.
“Obviously my work is focused largely on the Indigenous areas of law and trying to improve outcomes for the mob.
“I realised working on those historical cases, particularly the stolen wages cases in Queensland, Northern Territory, WA and the Stolen Generations case in the Northern Territory, that I’d come back, I’d be up in the Territory for a couple of weeks or out in the Kimberleys, these places that people don’t know exist.
“I’d come back to Brisbane and it was actually like I was living in two worlds, to tell you the truth.
“I’d come back to this great inner city, suburban life in Brisbane, and I’d go out to my clients who live in sheds or live under tarps who don’t have running hot water.
“But in talking to them, they’ve worked. They worked as stockmen, they worked as domestics. Their families worked for three or four generations. And it was always like, how can these two worlds exist at the same time?”
Eat Slay Zombie
And as a lighter yet no less fascinating end to this newsletter chapter in the life of The Wandering Journo, here’s our last podcast link for you to enjoy.
If you thought that a play about post-apocalyptic zombies couldn’t be compatible with meaningful and hilarious social commentary and analysis of colonial occupation, then you haven’t heard of the radical new production Eat Slay Zombie.
Emerging First Nations playwright Alinta McGrady tells us on this episode of Streets of Your Town how she took her idea born in Covid lockdown and created this fast-paced action packed show that has had its run in one of Brisbane’s most prestigious theatres.
This is just the start for this talented Aboriginal woman who has been storytelling in various forms her entire life.
Eat Slay Zombie shines a spotlight on modern Blak and queer experiences through a horror/comedy lens, with a fresh take on the hero narrative that places historically marginalised characters at the forefront of a dangerous world.
Will our Blak women heroes survive this nightmare, and navigate a world that is actively trying to kill them? Let’s sit down for a chat with Alinta to get some insight into her creative process.
My favourite part of this hilarious play, was how the characters in this post-apocalyptic nightmare can only communicate through TikTok.
“TikTok is such a huge thing, and I think with social media, there’s a love and hate, I guess. I have a love and hate for it. I can see that the effects that it has on people, and also when we’re talking about intellectual property, creatives putting their stuff out there and it being kind of ripped off or taken, and how do we navigate that?,” Alinta says in Streets of Your Town.
“Also how it can cancel people and other people take advantage of it.
“But also, I also see that there is good in it, in the sense that, well, we look at what’s happening over the oceans with colonial occupation and genocide. It’s being captured and we’re watching it happen, and we’re able to see it, do something about it and protest and show our solidarity. Whereas in the past, that wasn’t a possibility. So there is good in it. There is activism that’s happening on socials, and that’s great.”