In 1974, it was announced that
Robert Helpmann would direct a production in 1975 to feature Livermore, Jon English and
Jeannie Lewis, produced by Packer in partnership with
J.C. Williamson's. "We're dealing with something that will be as big as
Hair," said Clyde Packer. This production did not eventuate and rights lapsed.
1977 Adelaide production In mid-1977, the
Adelaide Festival Centre Trust started planning for the first production of
Ned Kelly, to open in Adelaide. Livermore was director and designer, with Keith Bain the choreographer and Michael Carlos musical director. "It's not really a rock opera," said Livermore, "but it's got rock opera in it. The music will run a gamut of styles. The whole thing will be a spectacular show. I'm not reducing it to folkky trivia like that Tony Richardson film." Livermore later said he did "a major overhaul of the then fairly laborious script; discarding almost all of the historically accurate but arguably dull dialogue I wrote new lyrics to cover the discarded material; the show would now be entirely sung and played without an interval. " There were 31 numbers. Livermore reflected:
Ned Kelly is a very difficult show to bring off: it has elements of music theatre, rock opera, of real opera, likewise vaudeville and burlesque. It asks an awful lot of its performers, and of its audience in terms of notional adjustments; yet everything has to be seamlessly followed through. As wonderful as it looked, for me there was always a sense of stop and start about the show, the proceedings were hampered by scene changes that took far too long... The music was another cause of disappointment for me, since bringing its components together was not the work of just one person. Livermore later reflected the reviews "were so bleak, so awful, I had to question whether the critics and I had actually been at the same event. They certainly had it in for us." He felt critical reception was influenced by the amount of money the show had cost. "I believe in the show," said Livermore. Audiences were still more than sixty percent capacity.
The Age reviewed the Adelaide production saying "there was plenty in the non-stop two-hour show to grab the eye and ear." The production transferred to
Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney on 4 February 1978, where critical reception was substantially more positive. After two months, the production closed in Sydney. An expected Melbourne season at the
Palais Theatre from early April 1978 did not occur.
Revival The New Moon Theatre Company toured a revival directed by Terence O'Connell to the Queensland regional cities of
Cairns,
Townsville,
Mackay and
Rockhampton in January and February 1982. A production by
Victorian Opera at
Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat played in March 2026. The cast included Ethan Jones as Ned Kelly,
Maria Mercedes as Ma Kelly and
Robert Grubb as Superintendent Hare, with Livermore appearing in a cameo role. == Recordings ==