High hopes for Kalgoorlie Gold, the musical
Anzac Day, three Las Vegas showgirls and a tightrope walker over the Super Pit are the subject matter of the musical Kalgoorlie Gold.
Penned by Victorian James McKenna, the musical is only a few months away from completion with the final score being worked on.
McKenna said Kalgoorlie Gold was about the goings on in the Goldfields capital on a post-World War II Anzac Day.
“It’s about an everyday family in Kalgoorlie, everyday people and they’re looking forward to Anzac Day because there’s going to be an event taking place late that afternoon, ” he said.
“That event is going to be a French immigrant who lives in Kalgoorlie, a miner, he’s going to walk across a section of the Super Pit on a tightrope.”
The antics and goings on of side characters, including three show girls from Las Vegas are also a principal part of the production.
Kalgoorlie Gold is McKenna’s first attempt at a musical, which he considers a tribute to a city he and his wife fell in love with.
“It’s been my way of celebrating Kalgoorlie because we just fell in love with the place and found it so extraordinary,” he said.
“It’s such an interesting place that the average Australian doesn’t know about.”
The McKennas’ love affair with Kalgoorlie-Boulder originated 30 years ago.
“When we first got married we lived in Perth…we went to Kalgoorlie for a long weekend and fell in love with the place, ” he said.
A family connection with the city has only made the bond stronger.
“It was coincidental that my son, as he grew up, he started to explore the field of where he wanted to work and he’s now a mine worker over there and his family are over there, ” McKenna said.
“We have been going over to Kalgoorlie at least once a year when the grand-daughters’ birthdays come up.”
When the musical score is completed Kalgoorlie Gold will be produced and performed locally by the Goldfields Reparatory Club.
In the long term McKenna wants the play to not only go beyond the Goldfields to the rest of Australia, but even further afield.
“I’ve got big hopes for the play, who knows where it can go, ” he said.
