I love it when people just follow their guts and are determined to do what they believe is right rather than playing it safe or doing what people tell them to do. 

One such person is Josh Stewart.

Josh has been talking about writing and putting on his own musical for over a year (or at least since I've known him) and he's been determined to make it work, despite any opposition. He's also set up his own entertainment company Fresh DaDa

Every time I go to a rehearsal for Society Slump Superstars I'm overblown by the talent. Firstly Josh has written an awesome tongue-in-cheek musical and he devised this crazy plot himself. The musical is set in Recession New Zealand and it follows a group of high school students who are trying to survive the biggest social renovation to hit the country. The erratic Prime Minister Potts has decided that to improve the mood of his country (and his lacklustre ratings), he' going to turn real life into a musical...that means when the music plays everyone has to burst into song or face assassination from 'The Men in White'. It's crazy but hilarious and the script is so witty.

The cast are wonderful. They exude energy and enthusiasm as well as vocal, acting and dancing talents. They never show any signs of exhaustion at dance rehearsals and they've learnt the words ridiculously fast. I always leave rehearsals feeling good about life. 

I think this is something that Wellington should be genuinely excited about. Firstly it's a superb piece of composition (and Josh is only 22 which is even more amazing) and it's not your usual run-of-the-mill-let's-fall-in-love-or-pretend-we're-cats piece of Music Theatre. People who hate the genre will love this because it mocks the cliches of Broadway, High School Muscal, Glee etc and people who love Music Theatre will love it because there's heaps of singing and dancing!