Oh Muse, tell us a story…

Before screens, before the written word, oral storytelling and song defined humanity. It was in this era that The Odyssey was born. One of the great wooden boat tales, Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen voyage through these oft sailed waters to create a spirited and irreverent musical version of the Ancient Greek epic poem.

Who was Homer? Was Troy a real place? Were Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen really there? This vibrant retelling turns the story as we know it upside down, casting light on darkened corners and playing with notions of heroism, hedonism and homecoming. Antipodean Odyssey – The Long Way Home, is a grand adventure, at once timeless and relevant to the contemporary world.

With violin, clarinet, piano accordion, double bass, guitar and voice, Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen plunder and pillage pan-European folk styles, mid-20th Century popular music and classic film scores to create a genre-defying form of music that is very much their own five headed beast.

The group have plied their trade for over a quarter of a century, though mythical sources place them in Ancient Greece at the time of The Odyssey. They’ve garnered accolades and a worldwide following with sold out shows from the Sydney Opera House to London’s West End to the back blocks of Budapest, releasing four inimitable, cherished albums along the way.

For the Australian Wooden Boat Festival performances, the group will be joined by Hobart’s swashbuckling women’s choir Up She Rises.

★★★★
Gloriously hilarious, musically astonishing and emotionally heart-punching
ArtsHub

★★★★★
These are performers at the top of their game, in complete control of their audience
The Scotsman (UK)

Credits 
Original script and songs by Mikelangelo & The Black Sea Gentlemen  
Directed by Louise Morris