Tom Gleisner On Bringing His Aged Care Musical ‘Bloom’ To Sydney

There aren’t very many, if any, musicals set in a nursing home other than Tom Gleisner’s Bloom. The Aussie comedy veteran is most well known for hosting Have You Been Paying Attention? and writing credits on screen like Utopia and The Castle, but Tom decided he’d give the musical a crack.

“There were two things that led to Bloom,” he explains to City Hub. “The first was the fact I spent a lot of time in and around aged care over the past decade or so. I’ve had parents and parents-in-law living in aged care. My mother-in-law Anita only passed away 18 months ago at age 100, and she was there for quite a few years, so it was a lot of visits.”

“During that time, I got to meet so many fascinating residents and carers, the unsung heroes, and I remember thinking it was a fascinating world with so many stories within them. Then the second part was I read a newspaper article from The Netherlands that they were offering local students free board at nursing homes in return for helping out with domestic duties, and I thought ‘Wow, that’s a story!’ And that’s where Bloom was born.”

Bloom follows the residents and workers of Pine Grove Aged Care after the owner Mrs MacIntyre (Whelan Browne) comes up with a cost-effective scheme to give free rooms to uni students in exchange for free labour as care workers. However, the arrival of the rather underqualified but kindhearted Finn (Slone Sudiro) throws a wrench into the usual function of the facility.

Bloom is “very much a collaborative work”

Tom explains the reason why Bloom felt right as a musical. “I genuinely love musicals,” he says, “and I find nothing sells emotion and allows a character to speak to what they’re feeling like a song does. Bloom could have been a play or television series, but I felt that a musical would capture the emotional beats so much better than anything else.”

Writing comedy through the lens of a musical in collaboration with composer Katie Weston has also been a new experience for Tom. “It’s been an absolute joy, and it’s been very collaborative too! With my other projects like Utopia, there’s not much change, whereas with Bloom it was a very different approach.

“We sat down, read the script with the cast and everyone was invited to offer feedback. I think I was a bit defensive initially, thinking ‘Hang on, you can’t change my words!’ But it didn’t take me long to realise how valuable the feedback from these performers was, so Bloom is very much a collaborative work.”

A universally pleasing play

If you missed out on seeing the show during its 2023 Melbourne season, Tom assures that apart from two recasts in the ensemble of ten, it’s largely the same show as when it first debuted.

Tom sings the praises of cast members both new and old in the show: “I’ve realised watching this new iteration how much musical theatre actors rely on each other. It’s a massive trust exercise, musical theatre; and they do eight shows a week! It’s a wonderful bond.”

Bloom has been praised for its uniquely Australian sense of humour compared to other musical productions – indeed, it’s unusual to hear an Aussie accent in a powerful mid-show ballad. But for Tom, he feels like he’s only doing what he knows best.

“I don’t think I’m capable of anything else!” he says. “I’ve only ever written comedy and I don’t think I could ever write something that doesn’t have at least one laugh a page. And as for the comedy, it’s my style, our style. It’s Australian because I am. But I think, I hope, the themes are universal, and that anyone in Australia will recognise themselves in one form or another.”

Bloom is playing now at the Roslyn Packer Theatre until May 11th. Book tickets here.