Ten years ago, Zoe Davidson-Wall had her first taste of professional theatre when she was hand-picked by Baz Luhrmann to play Kylie Hastings in the stage adaption of Strictly Ballroom: The Musical. The musical included original songs written by Australian theatre royalty, Eddie Perfect.
A decade later, Zoe and Eddie reunite for his production Tivoli Lovely, a musical tribute to Australia’s theatrical past. Now in her final year at WAAPA studying a Bachelor of Musical Theatre, Zoe is playing one of the leading roles, Charlotte. She says this production has been with her and her cohort since their first year.
“They said [the university] we have a really exciting announcement and we’re going to have a meeting about it. It got spoiled that somebody cool was coming in to do a project, we had no idea what the end product would be.”
The cohort made their guesses about who the mystery collaborator might be, and while most suspected Eddie Perfect, his arrival still came as a surprise. Adding to the excitement, they were told he would be working with them on a project spanning three years that would become their final show.
“We are so, so lucky, we’re the only cohort that has ever done something like this.”
Zoe and Eddie first worked alongside each other in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom: The Musical in 2015.
Eddie and Tivoli Lovely director Dean Bryant visited the students regularly throughout the development, experimenting with new ideas and concepts each time. Zoe explains that everyone had a chance to play different roles.
“The character I’m playing has changed drastically, which is so cool to see how it started and how it’s now ended up.”
The story of Tivoli Lovely begins with Zoe’s character Charlotte, a Year 10 student, who is reluctant to complete a school project interviewing an elder in her community. When Charlotte meets retired showgirl Kitty, her wild memories come to life.
“It’s her [Charlotte’s] story with Kitty and their development of a sweet intergenerational friendship which you don’t often see on stage. Then we have the wackiness of the story, it is a wild ride.”
Zoe Davidson-Wall
Inspired by Australia’s historic Tivoli circuit, Tivoli Lovely celebrates a golden era of live performance. The original Tivoli shows featured acts from opera and ballet to acrobats, magicians and performing animals (even seals!).
Zoe says the acts represented in Tivoli Lovely are on the “crazy end of the spectrum.”
“We’ve got lots of little features of variety acts to show what the Tiv was actually like. I won’t spoil it but there are a few acts that are really going to shock everybody. It’s an absolute riot when those acts come into the play.”
“Everything we say in the show is based on a fact of what used to happen in the Tivoli. The characters are honestly outlandish. We have stepped it up a little bit to the extreme and dramatised it as much as we can.”
Chloe Taylor, Hanna Bourke, Stephanie Graham. Photo credit: Stephen Heath.
Playing a 15-year-old with little interest in theatre is a stark difference from Zoe’s own personality.
“My whole world revolves around theatre. She has no interest in theatre at all. It’s quite an interesting character to play. The very first thing that Kitty does is tell Charlotte about how beautiful theatre is and I have to sit there being like, I don’t really get that.”
Although her character is theatre-averse, Zoe assures me Charlotte does get her own number in the show, though the dialogue is the most important part of her story.
“I’ve been very lucky to have lots of one-on-one sessions [with Eddie] and guidance from Dean. [The character] is very different from what you’re expecting in a musical, you’re thinking there’s going to be lots of huge production numbers and then I’m standing there doing a huge monologue. It’s something that needs to be crafted. Dean has worked tirelessly with me on that, which is something I’m so grateful for. I will treasure those experiences.”
She has not only worked with Eddie before but also with celebrated choreographer Kelley Abbey, who takes the helm as choreographer for Tivoli Lovely. Zoe gushes about what Kelley has crafted for this show and says working with her has been a highlight, “She has choreographed everything so beautifully for each person. She’s moulding every tiny detail, where your finger might be placed, or the angle of your shoulder, even your eyes.”
WAAPA BA Music Theatre students 3rd Year 2025. Photo Credit Stephen Heath.
As Zoe and I chat, we are two weeks away from the show’s opening and she says changes are still underway, as is normal with new works.
“It’s still constantly changing. Every day we get new rewrites and edits, it feels like the professional real deal. It’s really fun and a bit of a challenge constantly trying to figure out where you’re going, what’s changed and what the new line is. It’s a great learning opportunity that we don’t get very often in musical theatre.”
Zoe is sure there’ll be a future for Tivoli Lovely after its premiere and believes the intergenerational story will resonate with audiences all over Australia. “It is such an original Australian work. We don’t often hear Australian humour on stage. We don’t see really niche references to like cities or things like that and we’ve got all those in there. We need more Australian Theatre, I absolutely think it belongs on a big stage.”
For Zoe, working on this production couldn’t have been more of a full-circle moment, ending her time at WAAPA with the people who were there at the start of her theatrical journey.
Tivoli Lovely is supported by Minderoo Foundation through the Premier Visiting Artist Fund. It’s on from Nov 7-14 at the Heath Ledger Theatre.