This is not for those wanting pretty tunes, vacuous plots and happy endings. It is not just the name that confronts. The script deals with many of the issues that face people in modern society. It could almost be described as an Australian "Rent", although unlike that production it doesn't seem to focus on one issue.

The music is strong and interesting and certainly gets the message across. Some songs have the potential to haunt after the production is over and all are emotive. Definitely more like a rock opera than a musical.

The cast is uniformly strong and each of them engages the audience's emotions at some stage. Abbie Cardwell as Red is accessible and easy to identify with, her rendition of Eulogy is haunting. As her live-in lover Jack, Andre? Eikmeier is likeable and fallible, an everyman. Jack's mate Adam, Alexander Jenkins, is the geek, the IT wizard in love with the mysterious Belle. Quiet, unassuming, Jenkins makes this a sympathetic character. As Belle, who earns her money with a phone sex line, Lisa Sontag could have overplayed. Instead she delivered a vulnerable believable portrayal of a girl alone.

Sean Peter's music holds it all together and Geoff Crowhurst's tight direction delivers a thoughtful and thought provoking piece that reflects the issues affecting the younger members of our society. The soundtrack is strong and unforgiving, supporting the actors and painting the scenes.

The set deserves a special mention as its multi layers worked well and the combination of audio visual effects enhanced the action in many spots. In all this is something new that deserves a look, but be warned the ending may not be what you expect.

Adelaide Theatre Guide – Fran Edwards

"...music that sounded like the radio but worked like an opera..." Sean Peter - CD liner notes

Sean Peter lives up to his promise on all counts in this superbly recorded/produced Australian Cast Recording (all too rare, these days), that is challengingly operatic in structure while exploiting just about the entire vernacular of the top 40. It never rests in rock, R&B, funk, trance or pop - though they are there too. It's a real 'hold on to your hats' CD, stylistically.

The 4 singer/actors are uniformly superbly cast (how often can we say that these days?) and each has shining moments on the 2 CD set: Abbie Cardwell's (Red) naughtily observant shuffle 'On The Bus' and her guttingly-honest 'Eulogy'; Andre Elkmeier (Jack) propels the narrative with his soaring rock tenor rendering of 'Boom Baby Boom' and his grippingly dangerous work in the ensemble 'Told Us' (it was here that I had to tell myself that this was in a studio not a theatre). Alexander Jenkins (Adam) nails the innocence required for the analogous 'elleB' - he is singing of the name of a computer virus to Belle who, he does not know, is existing with a virus of a different kind but of equal menace. His'Not Gonna Worry' (a musical salute to Billy Joel and Elton John) is deft in portraying the character's denial. Lisa Sontag (Belle) brings her music theatre stage hours to 'TV Compared' and 'Belle Tells' and this particular brand of surety is a highlight of the CD for this listener. Her 'Waiting for The Storm' transplants the Sleeping Beauty story into a very present setting. It's simplicity, much like the fairy story, is, well, scary.

The unquestionably starring omniscient bass work of Cameron Undy is intoxicatingly crutch-driven (that's what I said) and provides an unspoken musical underbelly almost like a 5th character but with a very present voice. Occasionally this role is hand-balled to the guitar of Glen Hannah with equal elan.

Sean Peter's hand is all over this work. This is a radio-phonic opera that Wagner may have written in 2007: complex, makes you work but the work is worth it. Get it!

Will Conyers, Host Broadway at Bedtime. Joy 49.9

Composed and written by Sean Peter, 'Everything's Fucked' is an attempt at a modern Australian stage musical, and it's a mighty achievement. Perhaps mightier still is the attempt rather than the end product, for it is to Peter and his team's credit that they persevered through what remains a most difficult time for original Australian works of performance art. 'Everything's Fucked' took something over five years to reach this point, and it might never have survived at all but for the determination of some key believers. The notion of time is important because the action is fixed at September 11th 2001, a seminal date in the minds of several generations.

Despite the passage of years the audience - one and all - feel the stab of fearful recognition as they understand the fleeting references to 'planes' and 'towers'. It's quite masterfully suspenseful theatre, and it works, because we all recall the precise details as we first watched the unfolding horror.

Yet, this is not a musical about 911; that would be gauche. Sean Peter has written a work about the loss of hope, the loss of innocence, the aspirations of ordinary young people living and working in a city. Abbie Cardwell (as Red), Andre Eikmeier (Jack), Alexander Jenkins (Adam) and Lisa Sontag (Belle) share house and work their way through the emotional highs and lows of just getting ahead... Red and Jack are planning their wedding yet going through some tough times at their respective jobs. Belle is a phone sex girl, with whom the computer geek Adam is entranced. By the intermission, it seems clear that the four will simply buckle under the weight of expectation...

Alex Wheaton - db

AMONG other things, Sean Peter's musical carries a warning of sex scenes (well, there's moaning on the phone), nudity (one bloke's bare bum), drug use (coffee) and frequent coarse language. It delivers all of these - particularly the latter - in the upbeat opening number alone. Four twenty-somethings share a house and a lack of direction. As would-be corporate climber Jack, Andre Eikmeier belts out big rock tunes with real dramatic punch.

His fiance Red is more of a dreamer, played with waif-like charm by Abbie Cardwell, who turns On the Bus into a bop-along-in-your-seat pop masterpiece.

Alexander Jenkins' computer geek Adam seems suitably lost in cyberspace until his big heartbreak number. The reason is Belle (Lisa Sontag stealing the show with powerhouse vocals), who takes endless sex calls while watching TV.

Patrick Macdonald - Adelaide Advertiser

"The author/composer Sean Peter has woven a plot around four twenty-somethings sharing a house, each with their own preoccupations: one with climbing the corporate ladder, one with TV (which finally consumes her) and her terminal diagnosis, one struggling with faith and death and love, and one off with the pixels in cyberspace. But they all also share a common disillusionment about the futility of life…

… these very accomplished young actors (Abbie Cardwell, Andre Eikmeier, Alexander Jenkins and Lisa Sontag) have individual appeal and undeniable ability. They portray these disparate and sometimes desperate characters with intensity and fine authenticity - and they can all sing. The coordination of sound, pre-recorded accompaniment, lighting, stage levels and other technicals was excellent, and complemented the fine acting and singing, so that the whole moved with pace and credibility….

… The Adelaide Festival Centre and Autopilot Productions are to be commended for this important venture. Any such adventurous experiment as this is to be lauded: without these attempts, theatre has no growing edge."

Australian Stage Online – Peter Bleby



The four young actor/singers who play the four characters are to be congratulated for their sensual physicality, their versatility and focus. Abbie Cardwell, Andre Eikmeier, Alexander Jenkins and Lisa Sontag are cast extremely well as the Gen-Xers striving to find their true purpose.

The lighting, sound design, costumes, choreography and direction all amply support this brave new musical. The use of projected computer graphics was particularly effective in Act Two, and in both acts of the musical, it underlined the all pervasive technological mindset that is our contemporary reality.

Arts Hub – Kathryn Pentecost

"… technically excellent, with a well-designed set boosted by brilliant lighting and multimedia effects, and music that is mostly catchy and modern…"

Adelaide Messenger

"… the performances are excellent, the singing fine, and the arrangements zippy and tight…"

Sunday Mail Adelaide – Michael Harry

"The ensemble cast is extremely talented and charismatic, and work well together on stage. One can't fault Geoff Crowhurst as director and Kathryn Sproul's set design is inspired. Multimedia is employed cleverly and to great effect, while the conventions of musical theatre are duly acknowledged."

InDaily – Clementine Ford