Picnic at Hanging Rock

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Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock, an Australian modern classic, has a famously ambiguous ending but that has not stopped it being turned into Peter Weir’s acclaimed 1975 film, a 2018 mini-series and at least one choral musical. Now it has been turned into a full-fledged stage musical by Australian librettist Hilary Bell and Australian-American composer Greta Gertler Gold. While the adaptation is skillful, the results now on the stage of Greenwich House Theater do not entirely solve all of the problems inherent in the material.

The story begins on St. Valentine’s Day 1900 at the Appleyard College for young women where strict headmistress Mrs. Appleyard sends her charges on an outing to Hanging Rock known as Ngannelong by the aborigines, warning of various natural dangers like snakes and insects. Sara, the orphan (seeming charity case) is not allowed to go, even though her roommate Miranda, the most popular girl in school, begs for her release. Led by the twenty-something French teacher, simply called Mademoiselle, and the older math teacher Miss McCraw valued for her “masculine mind” the seniors and the juniors drink lemonade, eat a cake shaped like a heart, and snooze in the sun.

However, just before leaving to return on the three-hour trip back to college, Miranda, the introspective and popular girl, Irma, the rich heiress, and Marion, the clever one, ask to take a walk up to the foothills of the rock. Edith, a junior, asks to accompany them. Mademoiselle sees no problem if they are back in one hour when it is time to leave, the three older girls being the most mature in the student body. On their way, they pass Michael, an English lord, who is viewing his family property with Albert, a local tracker, and with just one look he is smitten by the charismatic Miranda. They are followed by Miss McCraw who has grown bored by her new book on Calculus (or finished it) but strangely she leaves her straw hat behind.

Later Edith comes screaming out of the brush although she cannot recollect what scared her. And that is the last time two of the girls and their teacher are seen again. Michael and Albert go searching on their own after the police and the bloodhound and find Irma, the heiress, unconscious and with scratched hands, but no worse for the wear, though Michael is badly bruised in his attempt to go climbing. Unfortunately, Irma has amnesia as to the events of the day and is no help to the police or the trackers. Earlier there were clues that Hanging Rock contains something supernatural: everyone’s watches stopped at exactly 12 PM, Miss McCraw warns of a sonic dead zone between the boulders, and earlier before leaving the college, Miranda warns Sara, her roommate, “I won’t be here much longer” though she could have been referring to her imminent graduation. Even Albert, the tracker, refuses to take Michael up to the top saying it is aboriginal sacred ground and should not be disturbed.

We never do find out what happened but how it affects those left behind: the distraught Mrs. Appleyard who loses many students and worries about the college shutting down, Sara who is told her guardian’s fees have not been paid and she must go without Miranda to protect her, Michael who falls in love with the landscape, Irma whose parents come to take her away, and the other students who resent that Irma and Edith have no recollection of what happened. While the first act is told in a straightforward fashion, the second act has many flashbacks (which may confuse those who do not know the story) to the day at the rock which tempers the inconclusive ending, adding a little more information each time.

However, where the Peter Weir film used magical lighting and the atmosphere of the actual filming at Hanging Rock to recreate a mystical, supernatural feeling, the musical instead adds songs and dialogue. Unfortunately, Bell’s lyrics are either too prosaic or too poetic without creating a magical world, while Gold’s folk-pop score often sounds the same throughout. The busy set by Daniel Zimmerman which attempts to shoehorn the school and its stairway to the second floor, the hanging rock and its environs, and the five-piece orchestra all on the same stage seems rather cluttered along with the forest of trees and foliage in the background. The many-colored costumes by Ásta Bennie Hostetter for the girl students’ dresses vie with the background for our attention and there are often too many hues on stage simultaneously. While Barbara Samuels’ lighting is often exactly right, her plot using red for the picnic seems to make many of the girls look like they have picked up terrible sunburns in a very short time.

Although she has not solved all the problems in the source material, director Portia Kreiger’s staging is clever making great use of the space including having scenes take place off the apron or in the aisles of the theater (though on the downside not all audience members will be able to see them.) While few of the songs are outstanding, Kreiger’s staging of two production numbers in Act Two are breathtaking: “Blood and Scandal” which gives the outsiders’ view of the events after the fact with the entire cast doubling in new roles, and “The Rock” in which all of the characters involved in the disappearance ponder how they will move on. The musical seems to avoid the hints of homosexuality and lesbianism that are found in both the book and the 1975 film.

Mayte Natalio’s choreography at times seems frenzied but this may be intentional to show the breakdown in authority after the disappearance of the students and teacher. Anessa Marie Scoplini’s music direction is excellent though the orchestrations by the composer, Adam Gold and Rob Jost (who also plays bass) at times seem too modern for its 1900 period. Nick Kourtides’ sound design gives a good representation of the animal and bird life around Hanging Rock.

The cast is led by veteran Erin Davie as the stern Mrs. Appleyard who we see begin to fall apart as she watches her world tumble down around her. This is admirably helped by wig designer Rachel White as her elaborate coiffeur begins to become undone. While several of the iconic roles seem to be cast against type (Miranda is no longer a Pre-Raphaelite blonde goddess that all the men and boys instantly fall in love with, etc.), the cast do their utmost to create their roles. Gillian Han’s charismatic Miranda has a lovely voice as signified by her songs “Open My Eyes,” “Force” and “Time and Place.” As the heiress Irma, Tatianna Córdoba has a hauteur that would be envied in Downton Abbey. As the brainy student who never misses a chance to display her knowledge, Kate Louissaint manages to be smart without being obnoxious.

While not as forlorn as one would expect the waif Sara to be, Sarah Walsh does convey her feeling of not belonging. Carly Gendell is fine as the whiney Edith, the slowest student in her class. As the two teachers, Marina Pires’ Mademoiselle is both compassionate and ironic taking Sara’s side and seeing through Mrs. Appleyard, while Kaye Tuckerman’s Miss McCraw is stand-offish and mysterious. Reese Sebastian Diaz is charming as Michael, the visiting young English lord, though he has less to do than in the book or the film version, while Bradley Lewis as the tracker Albert, who is actually indigenous is given little time to make that clear.

The new musical of Picnic at Hanging Rock is as professional a show as you are likely to see in New York. While it does not deal with all of the problems the original source material presents, it does telescope the compelling story for the musical stage. A somewhat larger physical production may be needed to show the bigger glories of this Hilary Bell and Greta Gertler Gold musical. In the meantime, the production at the Greenwich House Theater will keep you immersed in its storytelling.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (through January 17, 2026)

Greenwich House Theater, 27 Barrow Street, at Seventh Avenue South, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.picnicthemusical.com

Running time: two hours and five minutes including one intermission