Alphabetical Sydney

All Aboard!

Alphabetical Sydney: All Aboard! is an ambitious and original musical which premiered in Sydney in 2023.

Created by Hilary bell, Antonia Pesenti and Greta Gertler Gold, All Aboard! is an immersive and imaginative adaptation of best-selling picture book ‘Alphabetical Sydney”

Merging performance, music, interactive/participatory theatre and creative play. All Aboard! is immersive and imaginative, encouraging children connect with their city, and allowing adults to rediscover their own sense of curiosity and adventure. The theatre set and puppets are designed by Antonia Pesenti and Isla Shaw, a unique collaboration between the illustrator/architect and theatre designer.

The bus is driven by Nana, a leathery, chirpy woman who likes things tidy, neat and ordered. She has carefully planned a tour of Sydney suburbs, in strict alphabetical order. But Ibis has other plans, hijacking the bus to show us his Sydney, and all that’s grimy, chaotic and unpredictable.

Towards the end of the show, in a magical transformation, the bus turns 90 degrees and becomes a ferry, floating in the Sydney Harbour twilight.

The relationship between Nana and Ibis, between rules and anarchy, forms the thematic journey of All Aboard! The battle between order and disorder reflects the essential Sydney dichotomy of natural wild beauty and the urban environment.