Musical Theatre / Waltzing The Wilarra. At The Q, Queanbeyan, until August 16. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

When premiered as part of the Perth International Arts Festival in February 2011, Waltzing the Wilarra was hailed a landmark production.

An original Australian musical play, written and composed by David Milroy, the first act of Waltzing the Wilarra is set in a mix-race dance club in post-World War II Perth, at a time when curfews and the fear of being arrested for consorting were always present.

The action centres around the relationship between half-sisters Elsa (Lorinda May Merrypor) and Fay (Juliette Coates), who were brought up by kindly indigenous elder Mrs Cray (Lisa Maza).

Elsa, an indigenous child of the stolen generation, is resentful of the attention Mrs Cray lavishes on Fay, who is white. Fay has a crush on Charlie Runaway (Shaka Cook) a young indigenous man who is best friends with Elsa’s husband Jack (Clancy Enchelmaier), a drunken white ex-soldier.

However, Charlie is in love with Elsa and rejects Fay’s advances. Following a brawl at the club, Jack and Charlie are carted off to jail. Later it is revealed that Jack has been killed although, how, remains a mystery.

The second act is set in the same club 40 years later, when the club is now slated for demolition. Elsa, Fay, Charlie join others at the club for a reunion hosted by Athena (Hannah Underwood) which soon descends into recriminations during which dark secrets are revealed.

Whatever charm the original production may have had appears to have evaporated in this production directed with a heavy hand by Brittanie Shipway, who has her cast portray the characters so broadly that it is difficult to engage with any of them.

Without the benefit of a printed program, and with pre-publicity that suggested that the show was a three-hander about characters Charlie, Elsa and Fay, most of the audience were surprised to discover that this production involved a relatively large cast of eight  actors and two musicians.

The hardworking cast struggled to bring life to a set of stock characters in a show that attempts to address complicated racial issues by clothing them in a warm glow of nostalgia.

In addition to the artists already named, Jalen Sutcliffe played Mr Mack, and Leonard Mickelo played Old Toss, Sandy Barr and a detective.

There are 16 original songs featured in the show, mostly to provide atmosphere rather than advance the storyline, but no information is available about the two musicians who provide the accompaniment, or the creatives responsible for the setting, costumes, choreography, lighting or sound.