What should you do if you become aware that someone is being sexually harassed?

This is the quandary explored by a bold and thoughtful new musical production that challenges traditional mores and explores the issue of harassment, especially in the context of diverse communities.

‘Hidden Tunes’, created by Jun Bin Lee, focuses on the role of bystanders in sexual harassment while also exploring the themes of power structures and hierarchical societies.

It is a Mandarin language musical, with English subtitles, that blends Mando-pop with traditional Chinese instruments.

The musical is an update of an original work that premiered in 2024 as part of La Mama’s Festival of Mother Tongue, receiving critical acclaim and a Green Room Award nomination.

Set in a prestigious music academy and inspired by the #MeToo movement, the story follows the ripple effects of a sexual harassment case on campus – examining how friends, fellow students and professors respond when the truth is revealed. 

The role of bystanders in addressing sexual harassment is at the heart of the story and while no actual depiction of harassment or sexual assault occurs in the show – the characters’ references to it and clever use of shadow and light makes the distress palpable.

Song writer and co-lyricist Jun said there were two seeds to his exploration of sexual harassment in a musical.

 “The first stemmed from playing music with three other traditional Chinese musicians. We were having a meal and the conversation turned to sexual harassment cases we had heard about.

“It was a brief talk, but it planted a seed to explore the issue through music.

“Then two years ago in Taiwan, we saw the second wave of the #MeToo movement in which senior politicians and big artists were accused.

“All these stories started to come out about harassment in colleges and universities. So, combining the two things we thought maybe we should write a musical; and that it was important to support people and classmates going through it.

“We saw it as a way of encouraging people to stand up to power structures. And we put an Asian layer over the story because these power imbalances can be worse in Asian settings because of the hierarchical nature of societies.”

Jun said another inspiration for the musical project was the fact he is a graduate of a Prevention of Violence Against Women course run by AMES Australia.

“The connections I made with other graduates through the course gave me the confidence to go ahead with the project,” he said.

Jun said he hopes audiences will take away some food for thought.

“Even though we say the show is about bystanders, we want to convey a sense of the journeys of victim survivors and their experience,” he said.

“And we want to challenge the perpetrators and myths around survivors; narratives tat say they should have run away from these situations or not got close to the perpetrators.

“We are asking questions about ourselves as bystanders. What should we do, and not do, so that we support people and not cause more harm.

“It’s also important to say that we are not experts on these issues, we are not telling people what to do. We are just asking people to think about the issue.”

Jun says music is his life-long passion and way of making sense of the world.

“I’ve been doing music since university. It’s been a passion of mine but I’m not formally trained, I just learn as I go,” he said.

Jun has written 12 musicals. He trained as a civil engineer but now works in community development and with youth.

“My dream though, is to have a career in music,” he says.

“There are not many Asian faces in musical theatre in Australia but that is changing and it’s exciting for me.”

While Jun wrote the music and lyrics, the production of Hidden Tunes is a collaboration between Jun, the show’s producer Bingyao Liu and director and choreographer Sarah Yu.

Bingyao said Hidden Tunes was borne out of a conversation among musician friends about sexual harassment in the music academies. 

“We’ve always heard about the ‘hidden rules’ in the performing arts industry. We treated them as gossip, shook our heads and told ourselves that that’s just the way things were,” she said.

“The recent emergence of #MeToo movement in Asia highlighted the grave consequences of the victims. It forces us to ask the question: ‘Is this the best we can do?”’ 

“When we, the bystanders, accept this abuse of power as part of the ‘norm’, we create space for the perpetrators and silence the victims/survivors. 

“It’s very special to create an original musical to talk about these issues. It’s even more special that it’s entirely in Mandarin and that we got to work with a very talented Mandarin-speaking cast. Opportunities like this don’t come very often.”

The show’s director Sarah said: “As a rare Mandarin-speaking musical in Naarm, Australia, it’s more than just a performance – it’s a space to share our stories, struggles, and growth. It’s about bridging human experiences and inviting others to reflect on their own journeys.”

The show has a seven-member cast, five musicians and five production crew. 

Hidden Tunes runs for 90 minutes. It is showing at the Clayton Community Centre theatrette between August 29 and September 5.

The Saturday afternoon performance will be followed by a panel discussion on the theme of ‘Education and Advocacy Through Arts’.

Go here to get tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/hidden-tunes-musical  

Please use promo codes: FOA4, FOA6, FOA8 and FOA12 to book group discounted tickets of 4, 6, 8 and 12 respectively.

See a trailer here: https://youtu.be/Wwr47Iwqpwk?feature=shared