Yearning to escape her unhappy life in Porpoise Spit, Muriel Heslop made it as far as Sydney in the 1994 movie Muriel's Wedding.
But the bright lights of Broadway may beckon the downtrodden dreamer when the Australian film is transformed into a musical, according to Kate Miller-Heidke.
"Look, that's the dream," she said. "We've got to make it first. But that would be amazing."
Miller-Heidke and husband Keir Nuttall will compose the music and lyrics for Muriel's Wedding the Musical, which premieres in Sydney in November 2017.
There are high hopes the musical version of Muriel's Wedding will find an audience beyond Australia.
The show is a co-production between the Sydney Theatre Company and Global Creatures, the company behind musical adaptations of Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom, which open in Britain in November, followed by a run in Toronto in 2017, and Moulin Rouge!
The chief executive of Global Creatures, Carmen Pavlovic, said she believed Muriel's story, like the story of Strictly Ballroom's Scott Hastings, will resonate with overseas audiences.
"The instance of Scott Hastings daring to go against the establishment to be who he wants to be; Muriel Heslop's experience of loneliness and shame and then finding that success is the best revenge – these are all ideas that people the world over can relate to," she said.
"And then I think there is a real fondness around the world for the style and humanity with which these stories are told and there's no doubt that this 'style' is uniquely Australian."
Miller-Heidke said every fibre of her being rejoiced when she was asked to join the creative team for Muriel's Wedding the Musical alongside director Simon Phillips and the film's writer-director P.J. Hogan.
"Not every story is ripe for musical adaptation, but Muriel's Wedding ticks all the boxes for me," she said. "It's larger than life, it's absolutely iconic and its themes resonate hugely with me and I think with everyone who's ever felt like a bit of a misfit.
Miller-Heidke said she hoped there might be a growing confidence in telling Australian stories, adding that there was also a worldwide resurgence in musical theatre.
"I hope it's not all down to the success of [TV show] Glee," she said.
"For me, as a musician, the fact that recorded music is so devalued, I think people are really seeing the value of live performance more than ever. It's something you can't get online and when it's good, there's nothing that comes close to it."
She said it was hard to create a good musical, partly because they were "bloody expensive".
"It's really hard for all of the elements to come together in just the right way," she said.
"That's why it's extra encouraging that there seems to be this faith in our own stories."
The Boy from Oz and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert are two rare examples of Australian musicals that have had success on the international stage.
Perth's Tim Minchin, meanwhile, has won acclaim for his work on Matilda the Musical and Groundhog Day, which is playing at London's Old Vic theatre.
But imported US productions dominate the musical theatre stages in Australia despite the success of local productions such as Eddie Perfect's Shane Warne the Musical and Casey Bennetto's Keating!
Perfect said Australians were making a "very slow, long overdue incursion" onto Broadway. Although he also said it was discouraging that Australia's musical theatre talent had to look to the US for collaborators and investors.
Perfect's new satire with songs, Vivid White, is part of the Melbourne Theatre Company's 2017 season.
He is also collaborating on a musical, which is yet to be revealed, with an American creative team.
"Where it ends up, I don't really know," Perfect said. "Whether it ends up in Broadway or a public toilet, it's still the same amount of work."