Seven years. That is how long it takes to bring a forgotten woman back to life.
Forgotten in the way Australia does to its most brilliant women. Her name on two of the country’s most prestigious literary awards. Her debut novel on every school reading list. And the actual story of her life, forty years of poverty, defiance, war and relentless creative pursuit, quietly left on a shelf.
Who Was Stella Miles Franklin and Why Does Her Story Matter?
Photo: Ben Fon.
She wrote My Brilliant Career at sixteen. Then kept going.
That second sentence is the one Australia forgot. Literary icon Stella Miles Franklin’s extraordinary life story has until now been overshadowed by attention on her debut novel My Brilliant Career and the literary awards that carry her name, the Miles Franklin Award and The Stella Prize.
She was an 1890s bush girl from the Snowy Mountains who chose creative freedom over everything the world told her to want. Family. Security. Belonging. She lived through poverty, entrenched sexism, personal loss and the upheaval of two world wars and she kept writing through all of it. Novels. Plays. Thousands of personal letters and diary entries.
Stella also broke the limitations placed on women of her time, setting foot for female writers to claim the right to publish their own voices. That contribution to Australian literature is the foundation everything else was built on.
The Woman Who Spent Seven Years Bringing Miles Franklin Back to Life
Monique diMattina, the woman who spent seven years bringing to life the lesser-known story of Miles Franklin, wrote the book, composed the music and wrote every lyric.
That kind of singular devotion mirrors something specific about Stella herself. Much like the kind of creative commitment we have seen bring remarkable Australian stories to life, from intimate black box productions at Chapel off Chapel through to sweeping theatrical spectacles like The Great Gatsby Jazz Ballet Odyssey, STELLA represents something rarer still. An original vision held by one person for nearly a decade.
diMattina described her subject this way:
“Stella has been a juicy companion over the seven years I’ve spent creating this musical. She is witty, courageous, loveable and edgy.”
That is not the language of a writer who kept her distance. That is someone who genuinely lived alongside her subject.
Her hope for this production is that audiences encounter Miles Franklin with fresh eyes. A woman of profound complexity and courage, seen whole and fully, beyond the prize that carries her name.
The through line between these two women is impossible to ignore. Stella chose her creative life over everything easier. So did the woman who spent seven years writing her back into existence.
How STELLA Was Built on the Philosophy of Creative Constraint
Five performers. They never leave the stage. Seven live musicians accompany the action in full view of the audience. Multiple character and costume changes across a forty-year life journey, all happening in front of you, in real time.
A deliberate artistic choice that mirrors Stella’s own creative ethos. She made extraordinary work with limited resources. The production does not just tell you that. It shows you what it feels like to watch someone do exactly that, night after night, with nothing to hide behind.
Director Julia Robertson put it plainly: “Together, this ensemble will embody the epic sweep of a forty-year journey, bringing scale, versatility and emotional truth to every note of diMattina’s sophisticated score.”
Photo: Ben Fon.
The Score of STELLA Spans Every Genre Stella Refused to Be Contained By
The score of STELLA moves from Australian and Irish folk and bush ballads through to salsa, neo-classical, pop, punk rock and classic musical theatre.
The musical fingerprint of a woman who spent forty years refusing to be one thing. Every genre shift is a chapter. Every tonal change is a decade. Score as biography.
When conversations unfold naturally through song, sometimes with raw urgency, the score pulls you into different emotional registers entirely. There are moments that feel gentle and intimate. Then moments that hit like a wave. Seven live musicians on stage make the whole thing feel less like a polished production and more like something being created in the room with you.
Photo: Ben Fon.
Inside the World of STELLA: Cast, Stage, Lighting and Costume
The Performers
Photo: Ben Fon.
Geraldine Hakewill leads the production. Known to Australian audiences from Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Wakefield and Wanted, she brings a precision and intelligence to everything she does that makes her exactly right for a woman as layered as Stella.
Johanna Allen arrives with Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music and Sweeney Todd behind her. Shubshri Kandiah brings Cinderella, Aladdin, Fangirls and Beauty and the Beast. Joe Kosky’s physical and comic precision comes from Play That Goes Wrong, School of Rock and Kinky Boots. Kaya Byrne rounds out the five with Come From Away, A Christmas Carol and Groundhog Day The Musical.
The Visual World of STELLA
Photo: Ben Fon.
The stage design at its core reflects the life of a creative being as a celebration of process, foregrounding the act of making, unmaking and rebuilding. The stage mechanics and musicians were exposed to the audience intentionally, inviting us to witness the constructing and deconstructing in real time. This created a dynamic tension between the domestic and the poetic, where humble everyday objects sat alongside heroic landscapes. In the background, an ever-shifting scene of mountains moved from day to night and back again.
There were moments where the environment felt less defined amid the constant transformation of props and scenery. With only five actors carrying the entire world of the play, that ambition alone deserves recognition.
Light as Storyteller in STELLA
The lighting did the work of a camera lens. It isolated a hero moment, portrayed the distant conversation through mail between Stella and her father, painted a horrific scene of war, blood, bombs and guns, and cleverly concealed the actors in the background as they changed their costumes.
The Art of Costuming in STELLA
Photo: Ben Fon.
45 characters. 5 actors. One stage.
The costuming carries enormous storytelling responsibility and delivers completely. Stella’s family shifted roles rapidly and seamlessly, even mid-scene, revealing a level of coordination that is quietly extraordinary. What struck us most was how Stella’s own costumes marked the passage of time. Her face unchanged, her spirit unchanged, but her silhouette told you exactly what decade you were in and what life had asked of her since the last one.
The Conversation STELLA Opens
Stella Miles Franklin believed in making extraordinary art with whatever she had, no excess, no waiting for perfect conditions, just the work, pursued relentlessly.
Monique diMattina, the woman who spent seven years bringing to life the lesser-known story of Miles Franklin, heard that and built the entire production around it.
Five performers who never leave the stage. Seven musicians visible throughout. A forty-year life told through costume changes and sheer commitment. The form is not a creative limitation. It is a deliberate echo of the woman at the centre of the story.
diMattina spent seven years with Stella’s words, her letters, her novels, her diary entries. That kind of intimacy shows. Every creative decision in this production traces back to something Stella herself believed. That art made with intention, courage and limited resources is not lesser art. It is the most honest kind.
STELLA: A New Australian Musical is for the creative souls doubting their passions and lost in the direction they are going, who would find the means to their creative path again. It took Stella time, patience, even her own family to build a legacy that Australian literature admires. But one thing never changed. She wanted to do big things.
Photo: Ben Fon.
“We left the Alexander Theatre carrying a deep acknowledgment for creatives devoted to art. STELLA is a reminder of the people who make Australian art and literature as rich as it is today.” — Cherry Vuong
See STELLA in Melbourne: Everything Before You Go
Where: Alexander Theatre, The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, Monash University, Clayton Campus, 48 Exhibition Walk, Clayton 3800.
When: Friday 12 June to Saturday 20 June 2026.
Price: Tickets $40 to $85. Book at stellathemusical.com
Photo: Ben Fon.
FAQs
Who is in the cast of STELLA the musical?
Five exceptional Australian performers. Geraldine Hakewill leads, alongside Johanna Allen, Shubshri Kandiah, Joe Kosky and Kaya Byrne. All five never leave the stage. Book at stellathemusical.com.
What songs are in STELLA the musical?
An entirely original score by Monique diMattina spanning Australian and Irish folk, bush ballads, salsa, neo-classical, pop, punk rock and classic musical theatre. Seven live musicians perform on stage throughout.
Who was Stella Miles Franklin?
An 1890s bush girl from the Snowy Mountains who pursued a creative life through poverty, sexism, personal loss and two world wars. Her extraordinary story has until now been overshadowed by her debut novel My Brilliant Career and the literary awards that carry her name. STELLA brings her full life to the stage for the first time.
Where is the Alexander Theatre?
The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, Monash University Clayton Campus, 48 Exhibition Walk, Clayton 3800. Full accessibility information at mpac.monash.edu/accessibility.
Disclaimer:Glamorazzi representatives Cherry Vuong & Dustin Vu attended the opening night of STELLA: A New Australian Musical on Saturday 13 June 2026 at Alexander Theatre as guests of TS Publicity. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.
