Up in the air over Dumped!

LOOKING at the lighter side of being dumped from a personal relationship is the theme of Dumped! The Musical, which opens at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne this week.

Amanda Levy stars with Emma Powell and Mandi Lodge as the latest arrivals of Dumpees’ Anonymous, where they are led on the road to recovery through humour in anecdotes and songs by group facilitator Harmony (played by Jennifer Vuletic).

“It is a real crowd pleaser,” said Levy. “This is broad comedy with high energy and lots of singing and audience interaction.

“It follows the experiences of three women who have been dumped. One is a housewife who was dumped after 35 years of marriage; another is a woman in her late 30s who was dumped before she had time to have a baby, and my character is a corporate stockbroker – and we are all attending group therapy.

“The audience is involved in all these experiences.”

The musical burst onto the scene in Brisbane in early 2010 – with a different cast – and was revised for the Adelaide season held three months ago.

Levy, who performed in Adelaide and will continue with the musical’s Australian tour, said an exciting part of the show was helping to create her stage character.

“I have had input into some of her lines and the structure of the songs, so it really feels as if it is my character.”

Levy was seen on the Melbourne stage last year in Becky Shaw, which was produced by her husband Tobias Benn.

With a touch of mischievousness, Levy likes to include a cartwheel in every show that she works on, although she admits this is not always possible.

“I’ve managed to put it into Dumped!,” she said with a laugh, adding that her role is quite physical.

Powell, the show’s creator, explained that Dumped! The Musical appeals to men and women.

“This show is for anyone who’s ever been dumped, dumped someone, is paranoid about getting dumped, or is working up the courage to dump someone.”

Dumped!’s director Terence O’Connell and choreographer Alana Scanlan recently completed work on the Production Company’s musical Kismet.

Levy and Tobias have a production company, Perform! Educational Musicals, which has been creating shows for primary school students for more than 15 years.

“It gives us an opportunity to produce and act in our own shows around Australia and New Zealand,” she said.

When Becky Shaw was being staged, Levy and her husband had to juggle looking after their children, who attended kinder at Mount Scopus Memorial College, but they won’t have the problem this time around with Dumped! The Musical.

Dumped! The Musical is at the Athenaeum Theatre, Collins Street, Melbourne from September 14-25. Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au.

REPORT by Danny Gocs

PHOTO: Amanda Levy stars in Dumped! The Musical.