INXS sign deal for musical while greatest hits album goes diamond

INXS stopped being a touring band on November 11, 2012 but the legacy of their songs continues, with the band achieving two milestones in recent weeks.

The Very Best album hit the 500,000 mark in Australia, giving it Diamond certification. They join an elite group in Australia including Taylor Swift, Eminem and Ed Sheehan.

Christopher Murphy, the band’s creative strategist and founder chairman of their Petrol Records, told TMN that INXS are the biggest selling Australian band of this decade.

Now Petrol’s new theatrical division, Petrol Live, has signed with Australian-based global theatrical producer Michael Cassel to develop and stage a musical which has its sights on playing the legendary Broadway in New York and London’s West End.

The idea is for the still-untitled production to reach the heights of Abba’s Mamma Mia and Queen’s We Will Rock You musicals, which have generated billions of dollars at the box office.

The Michael Cassel Group’s productions are Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Les Misérables, Kinky Boots and Priscilla Queen of the Desert concert tours, the Australian premiere of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, and brings the Broadway smash Hamilton to Sydney in March 2021.

“This presents an exciting opportunity to create a new theatrical story, using an extraordinary catalogue that has been enjoyed throughout the decades both here in Australia and internationally,” Cassel said.

An international writer with a hit track record has been enlisted to carve out a storyline from the 200 INXS songs which sold 70 million units worldwide.

Murphy and Cassel have been speaking about the musical for almost a decade.

Coincidentally, they both attended Kiama High in regional NSW, but didn’t know each other then.

Murphy said that INXS has reached a younger audience over the past decade.

This has been through licensing their songs to brands as well as projects like reinterpreted albums and movies, including Mystify and Live Baby Live.

The latter, a restored production from their 1991 album and David Mallett-directed video, last year sold out over 1,000 screens in 21 countries.

“Streaming has brought them new audiences in Asia and South America,” Murphy said. “Latest sales figures show that the UK has overtaken Australia as their biggest market.”