Australia is proving to have a knack for producing superb musical theatre composers from the most unlikely of sources: first, comedian Tim Minchin with his global smash-hit adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book, Matilda, and now Kiwi rocker Tim Finn of Crowded House fame, and his thoroughly assured debut musical, Ladies in Black.

This co-commission by QTC and MTC is a retelling of Madeleine St John’s charming comedy of manners set in a 1950’s Sydney department store. This tale of model gowns and growing up isn’t so much a coming of age narrative as it is a coming of the age, exploring a pivotal era in Australia’s story when values and attitudes were changing and the fabric of our society was beginning its paradigm shift towards our modern multi-cultural community.

The cast of Ladies in Black

Bright young school-leaver Lisa is a symbol of this society in flux; intelligent, driven, but raised in a working-class, salt-of-the-earth suburban family who have barely ventured north of the harbour let alone experienced anything of this brave, new post-war world. She stands at a crossroads in her life, torn between...