For the past twenty five years, Craig Christie has been at the helm of No Mates Productions creating original plays and musicals in educational, community and commercial settings. These innovative productions have toured extensively throughout Australia and internationally and place Craig in the unique position of being the only Australian who makes his full time living as a writer of musical theatre.
Craig first came to prominence in the field of commercial music theatre with Crusade (1998) which, at that time, was the largest concert presentation of an original Australian musical (performed in the then Melbourne Concert Hall). Crusade was later presented at the Edinburgh Festival (2000) to standing ovations and rave reviews.
Other musicals include The White Rose (2003) which premiered in Melbourne, then toured Singapore, and the international hit Eurobeat. From its humble beginnings at the 2004 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Eurobeat went on to win Best New Musical at Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2007), followed by an acclaimed UK tour and London West End season (2008). It was nominated for Best New Musical in the Evening Standard and was voted third most popular New Musical of 2008 in the Whatsonstage awards. During 2008, Eurobeat also toured South Korea, headlining at the Daugu Music Festival. More recently (2009), Eurobeat delighted audiences in a season of performances at QPAC in Brisbane.
Since first establishing No Mates Productions, Craig has written original musical productions that have toured primary schools every year celebrating Children’s Book Week. These have been seen by over 1.8 million children in Australia and internationally. His recent productions Totally Amazing and And The Winner Is… have now been seen by 500,000 students worldwide and current productions Worlds Apart and Space Jump are seeing annual audience figures continue to expand.
Craig’s work as a playwright and songwriter has spanned a number of fields. He has a passionate interest in the use of storytelling and song writing in a positive social context and has employed his writing skills to a number of ground breaking community projects such as Water Into Wine (2000) and Right Where We Are (2002). His musical Hey Florence! which was developed with the nurses at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee premiered in September 2009 to standing ovations at every performance followed by acclaimed performances in New York. It has enjoyed standing ovations in Singapore July 2011 and a return season in Nashville November 2011. Most recently he has explored the theme of cyber bullying and relationships within social media with My Friends Dot Com (2009) which has already enjoyed an excited response in schools throughout Australia and New Zealand. These themes are explored in greater depth and for a more mature audience in his most recent musical Connected which premiered at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe festival and will be touring Australia in 2015.
Currently, Craig is working on exciting new projects for stage, film and television in Australia, the UK and the USA. He is currently writing a new musical Villainy which has had readings in New York and London and a new chamber piece called Shaken with composer Tim Hubler which is being developed in Salzburg, Austria.
Craig Bryant is an Australian composer and arranger based in Melbourne. Since graduating from the Victorian College Of Arts in 1993, he has been known primarily for his work in Film, TV and Musical Theatre. Craig also works extensively as a producer and orchestrator for an array of professional projects around the world.
Musical score composition and production works include:
• Sesame Street Presents Elmo’s World Tour (Australian Tour 2012)
• The Octonauts LIVE! – Operation Reef Shield (Australian Tour 2015)
• Chuggington LIVE! – The Great Train Rescue (USA Tour 2015)
• Scooby-Doo Live! Musical Mysteries (Australia, USA and Sth Africa 2011-2016) for Warner Bros
• Looney Tunes Live! - Classroom Capers (Australian Tour 2011) for Warner Bros
• The Balinese Princess and the Funky Monkey (Australia 2010-2011)
• The Amazing House (Seasons 1&2) – TV Score
• You And Your Stupid Mate (2005) – Feature Film Score
• Let’s Get Skase (2000) – Feature Film Score
Theatre music arrangements and production works include:
• Voice Of Tomorrow (West End, London 2009)
• UPRISING (Australia 2004)
Craig worked as Orchestrator on David Hirschfelder’s Film Score for Baz Luhrmann’s AUSTRALIA and also on Human Nature’s hit album People Get Ready: A Symphony Of Hits, both in 2008.
Notable Artists that Craig has worked with include Olivia Newton-John, Craig McLachlan, Silvie Paladino, Gabriella Cilmi, Harrison Craig and Missy Higgins.
More information about Craig and his studios at Paxus Productions can be found at www.craigbryant.com
Craig Bryant is an Australian composer and arranger based in Melbourne. Since graduating from the Victorian College Of Arts in 1993, he has been known primarily for his work in Film, TV and Musical Theatre. Craig also works extensively as a producer and orchestrator for an array of professional projects around the world.
