When the musical Ned Kelly opened in Adelaide at the end of 1977, it was an audacious undertaking for Reg Livermore, who not only wrote the book and lyrics, but also designed and directed the production.

The composer, Patrick Flynn – with whom Livermore had worked on Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar – had relocated to the US, so Livermore was left without the show’s musical anchor. Undaunted, he threw blood, sweat and tears into the production, but the reviews were not kind. Following a four-week run in Adelaide, Ned Kelly closed after a curtailed Sydney season and didn’t make it to Melbourne.

Ethan Jones and the cast of Ned Kelly: The Musical, Victorian Opera. Photo © Jeff Busby

Livermore was devastated, but he never lost faith in the show. Over the next 48 years, he returned to it now and again, hoping that it would return to the stage when the time was right. His belief has paid off. Thanks to the vision and support of Victorian Opera’s Artistic Director Stuart Maunder, Ned Kelly: The Musical has been revived in a terrific, reworked production that deserves to be widely seen.

From the opening moments, Ned Kelly feels refreshingly original, exuberantly theatrical and distinctly Australian.

Traversing the final two years of Ned Kelly’s turbulent life – including the imprisonment of his mother, the police murders at Stringybark Creek, the bank robberies, Ned’s capture at Glenrowan and his hanging in Old Melbourne Gaol – it explores the legendary story and what it says about our culture.

Folk hero or criminal outlaw? The musical canvases both, but leans towards sympathy for Ned. Though the show doesn’t dig deeply psychologically, it uses robust theatricality, satire, comedy and social commentary, along with some moving scenes, to explore why Australians took Ned Kelly to their heart, why he remains an Aussie icon, and what that says about our national identity.

Maunder, who directs the VO production, worked with Livermore to restructure aspects of the book, and suggested the inclusion of several extracts from Ned Kelly’s famous polemic, The Jilderie Letter. Passionately delivered by Ethan Jones (who plays Ned), this helps inject a stronger sense of Ned’s personality and the Robin Hood-like beliefs (and bitter anger) that motivated him.

Luke London, Liam Head, Ethan Jones and Darcy Wain in Ned Kelly: The Musical. Photo © Casey Horsfield

Meanwhile, the show’s Musical Supervisor and conductor, Simon Holt, worked to bolster the music. There was no complete original score for him to consult, but the 1974 concept album existed, while Livermore supplied some recordings and a few handwritten pages by Flynn from his archive.

Holt wrote some additional music and orchestrated the score, paying respect to the original music while infusing it with a new energy. He’s done a fine job, with the Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra bringing it all to vibrant life.

Musically, Ned Kelly is an eclectic piece straddling 70s rock, music theatre, rock opera, operetta, vaudeville and folk. It’s an “unruly collision” as Maunder puts it in his program notes, but it works, delineating character and introducing plenty of changing dynamics.

There are some fabulous numbers, including the catchy Gonna Rob a Bank sung by the Kelly gang, Ned’s poignant If I Were a King and the fierce Die Like a Kelly, which Ned’s mother sings to Ned as he faces execution – each of them unforgettable.

Maunder directs the production with deft assurance on a simple but effective set by Harry Gill (who also designed the costumes), dramatically lit by Gavan Swift.

Ethan Jones holds impressive sway in the title role, capturing Ned’s charisma, swagger and anger. He is well supported by the other three members of the Kelly Gang – Luke London as Ned’s younger brother Dan, Liam Head as Joe Byrne and Darcy Wain as Steve Hart.

Their songs are the most upbeat and exuberant in the show, portraying them as knockabout larrikin lads from the wrong side of the track, with bouncy, putting-on-a-show-like choreography to match (by Nicole Melloy), which sets them apart from the oppressive society surrounding them.

Reg Livermore and Douglas Kelly in Ned Kelly: The Musical for Victorian Opera. Photo © Jeff Busby

Maria Mercedes is an emotional powerhouse as Ma Kelly, delivering the heartbreaking Die Like a Kelly as a blast of tough, raw love.

Among the rest of the strong cast, Rohan Campbell evokes the quandary of Aaron Sherritt – a Judas-like figure coerced by Superintendent Hare to betray the Kelly Gang – while Robert Grubb nails Hare’s self-confident, manipulative power, urging the police to be “avenging angels” not “toy soldiers” at the start of the show.

Livermore gives a cameo appearance as Mr Tarleton, the bank manager who was taking a bath when the Kelly Gang robbed the Bank of New South Wales. Sporting a dressing gown made of banknotes, he brings his own distinctive brilliance to the comic song.

The storytelling could perhaps be clarified a little at times for those who don’t know the details of the titular outlaw’s life, but overall Ned Kelly is a cleverly conceived show, given a fresh lease of life in this triumphant revival. Let’s hope it gets to tour.

For more information on Victorian Opera, visit victorianopera.com.au