[2] The original production opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre on 16 January 1988, produced by John Timlin with investors including the Hoyts Corporation and Qantas, as part of Australian Bicentenary celebrations.
[4][5] In an effort to continue, the cast agreed to forgo wages, the theatre owner waived the rent and Hoyts provided free publicity.
In Melbourne newspaper The Age, theatre critic Leonard Radic said the musical gave an overall impression of "patchiness and a failure of imagination".
[4] Playwright Jack Hibberd called Radic's review "disrespectful, captious and harsh" and "choked with terrible misjudgements".
[9][10] Orchestrations: Martin Armiger, Sharon Calcraft, Duncan Cameron, Ashley Irwin, David King, Derek Williams.