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On This Page... |
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 ere's a short
'history' of Maverick Musicals & Plays from their first musical ('Man of
Steel'), through the present and our projections for the future. |
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useful guides
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Maverick Musicals & Plays Past
In 1978, Maverick Musicals & Plays grew out of the very real need for
specifically written, large cast shows for Australian teenagers.
Simon Denver (then
seventeen) and Ian Dorricott, a high school
music teacher, wrote a send-up of everybody's favourite super hero - Superman.
They wrote "Man
of Steel" in 1976 for a large group of teenagers looking for a script to
showcase. (The Middle Stagers; the youth theatre group of La Boite Theatre,
Brisbane, Australia.).
Simon wrote the script in the first place because the group was
having trouble finding material for a group of 60 and more teenagers that
wasn't:
They were looking for some fun!
The Middle Stagers put on this first Simon Denver/Ian Dorricott
offering to great acclaim, with high school teachers lurking in the auditorium
seeking the rights to perform this script with their own students at their
schools. Photo-copies were handed round; at this point, Simon and Ian were
advised to seek out a publisher...and if only Simon and Ian knew what they were
starting...they went on to become the "Rodgers and Hammerstein of the High
School Hall" in Australia and New Zealand, writing thirteen more top selling
musicals together.
To this date, Man of Steel
is still Australia's top selling musical, with the Denver/Dorricott duo becoming
one of Australia's most successful musical writing teams. The Maverick Musical &
Plays
motto became DRAMA IS FUN - and it was!
Maverick Musicals & Plays Present
Seeing the demand, Simon, his sister Gail and mother Jo (also a
writer) formed the small publishing business, concentrating on writing,
producing and then distributing quality, large cast shows with music for
Australian teenagers.
Later, the business became a company, with Gail Denver as owner.
As editor, Gail sought out and commissioned musicals relevant for young people
from other writers (the Denver/Dorricott team continuing all the while) and
today Maverick Musicals & Plays has more than 60 musicals and plays in print, with their
titles selling and being performed throughout Australia, the UK, New Zealand,
Asia, the USA and Canada.
There are now more than thirty writers and
composers earning royalties from their works with Maverick.
Over the years, has expanded the range of titles to include
plays and musicals for adult amateur groups and these seem to be in just as much
demand.
At last count, about 75% of Australian high schools are
performing shows yearly; and about 50% of New Zealand high schools also shop
with Maverick Musicals & Plays. The musical scripts all come with music that :
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Is playable by the average teenage musician (to give everyone
the same opportunity to participate) and
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Has the appeal of the music that today's kids want to play!
Because Maverick Musicals & Plays gets actively involved in the
production stage, by the time it reaches the advertising stage, the editorial
staff is completely confident of their product and can easily assist even a new
director of a group with their new show.
Maverick Musicals & Plays Projections
There is now a diverse range of musicals for differing age
groups, starting at primary school, through secondary schools up to amateur
groups and choral societies, including plays now without music. Nothing's
changed - DRAMA IS STILL FUN!
With technology launching publishing houses into the world
market place via the Net, Maverick have enjoyed setting up their website and have
started on a whole new adventure - selling e-mail copies of scripts, sending
music down the telephone line, chatting with directors from all over the world -
this drama bizzo is getting to be even more fun! With more writers and composers
now having access to Maverick Musicals & Plays , the next few years will see a much
bigger selection of titles.
Cheers - and have fun!
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