Peter Allen was involved in musical theatre from the 1970s. He appeared in the very short run of the rock opera Soon in 1971 and wrote for the La Mama Theatre Company. Later, he appeared in the UK TV version of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates Of Penzance. He also wrote and starred in his own musical, Legs Diamond, in 1989 but it is the musical of his life, The Boy From Oz, that he is most associated with (despite the fact that it was first performed in Australia six years after his death).
LEGS DIAMOND
Legs Diamond is based loosely (the full title is The Almost Totally Fictitious Musical History Of Legs Diamond) on the life of the the Irish-American gangster "Gentleman Jack" Diamond aka "Legs" Diamond. It was based on the Warner Bros film, The Rise & Fall Of Legs Diamond, with music and lyrics by Peter and a book co-written with Harvey Fierstein. The show opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on 26th December 1988 after 72 previews. The reviews were awful with Peter taking the brunt of the criticism and the show closed after 64 performances.
THE BOY FROM OZ
Written by Nick Enright, The Boy From Oz originally opened at Sydney's Her Majesty's Theatre on 5th March 1998, starring Todd McKenney as Peter. It was hugely successful and ran for 766 performances. A "jukebox musical", it uses Peter's own songs to tell the story of his life from his early years in Tenterfield, NSW, to his untimely death. On 16th October 2003, a Broadway version opened at the Imperial Theatre starring Hugh Jackman as Peter. It too was a hit and ran for the length of Jackman's one year contract. Jackman took the 2004 Tony Award for Best Lead In A Musical and later reprised the role when the musical returned to Australia for an Arena Spectacular in 2006.