Therry Theatre. Arts Theatre. 4 Jun 2021
Adelaide is coming apart with stunning non-professional productions. The Hello Girls is another one. People stood, whistled, and whooped as the cast took the curtain of The Hello Girls on Friday, and it wasn’t even opening night.
Indeed, so engaged had the audience been with the truth-based story of World War I American front-line phone operators that it cheered and applauded when one of them was pinned with a Distinguished Service Medal as part of the storyline.
Fair enough. Not only was the character fully deserving of distinction for her work in combat conditions in France but also the performer who today is embodying her on stage was doing so impeccably. The character is Grace Banker, head of the army switchboard team and the performer is Rebecca Raymond, an elegant and highly accomplished singer with the acting skills to command the stage absolutely.
The story of war-time switchboard operators rallied at the command of US General Pershing seems very unlikely for a musical but Peter Mills with wife Cara Reichel have turned it into a big, beautiful and dramatic musical. Therry’s production is its Australian premiere.
It follows Grace and her team from their enlistment in New York through to setting up phone exchanges in Paris and then in the face of fire on the western front. Unlike everyday soldiers, these professional telephone operators were lightning fast and also bi-lingual. They all had to speak French and be quick learners of code since they were to become key to communications of military movements and strategies in France.
David Lampard has devised a strong, versatile wooden set with a raised platform beneath which war action can take place. The movement of sets of stairs and props enables scene changes. It is very economical and effective.
Director Amanda Rowe has ensured not only the tight timing and high calibre of the cast but also of all the other production values: sound; choreography; costumes; hair; lighting; and, under musical director Mark DeLaine, a fabulous nine-piece band. It doesn’t get much better.
There is a very eye-catching performance from Eloise Quinn-Valentine as the perky French teenager who has lied about her age and, together with fellow operators embodied by Cassidy Gaiter, Michelle Davy and Jenny Scarce, there is just a wealth of excellent singing and well-balanced harmonies. Tenor David MacGillivray plays the American captain at first embarrassed that he is in charge of a group of women phone operators. The interactions with his charges are core to the tension of the plot and MacGillivray is heart-breakingly astute in his evocation of this development. One can feel his emotions for every moment he is onstage. Nicholas Setchell may not be gifted in American accents, but he lends size and authority as Pershing while Jared Frost, Jared Gerschwitz, and Deon Martino-Williams are absolutely sterling both as soldiers in the fearful face of terrible war and in the lighter moments of song and dance.
One hears that bookings are high for this show so the recommendation is not to hang around thinking about seeing it but to grab tickets while you can. It is a fabulous new musical and a masterful production.
Samela Harris
When: 2 to 12 Jun
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
StoreyBoard Entertainment. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 28 May 2021
It would be hard to fit more people on the stage. In this touring semi-staged version of Chess the Musical, in lieu of trucks of traditional sets, the production is performed on a raised chess board flanked by a 40-strong Elder Conservatorium choir and 25 members of the Southern Cross Symphony Orchestra.
It works.
Indeed, this production may be described as more of an aural spectacular, the orchestra rich deep, light and bright, pulsing forth the irrepressible Abba beats of Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus with the choir underlaying the singers with a magical depth of mighty sound.
As another test of the strengths of the new Her Majesty’s, it is a soaring success.
The storyline, elicited by Tim Rice’s 1980s book and lyrics, follows the fates of the Russia versus USA chess champions through political intrigue, commercial exploitation, and heartrending love. And, of course, the musical features some of the great show tunes the world has come to know and love: One Night in Bangkok, I Know Him So Well and You and I.
Clad in Dan Barber’s gorgeously tailored black and white costumes, the dance corps colours the stage with vitality, poetry, and emphasis, just beautifully choreographed by Freya List. The music is spirited and evocative, foot tapping and dramatic, and the dancers’ really make it so as very busily indeed they reflect the cultural traditions of chess-competition locations Italy and Thailand, and the nations of the two rival players.
Natalie Bassingthwaighte carries much of the emotional weight of the show as the American love interest, Florence Vassey. Her vocal power and stamina are well honed and she harmonises delightfully with Paulini when it comes to I Know Him So Well. Paulini is heralded as a rising star on the Australian musical stage and she proves it with bells on in this role as Svetlana, bringing the audience to a state of bliss as she sings Someone Else’s Story.
As directed by Tyran Parke, her errant Russian chess master husband Anatoly is given a deeply moody, smouldering presence by the splendid tenor Alexander Lewis. It is a complex role as core to the dramatic pressures of both heart and state in this politically fraught love story. But, of all the power players on the stage, it is Eddie Muliaumaseali’i as the manipulative Russian chess lord, Molokov, who possesses the musical muscle with his huge, beautiful baritone-to-bass range. Swoon.
The characters move hither and thither on the stage chessboard, pawns and rooks in the games of life and politics, Rob Mills is on steely charm offensive as the symbol of crass commercialism and Brittanie Shipway is crystal clear as the voice of the Arbiter. Mark Furze, braves the role of the boorish American loser, Trumper, with the rich tenor tones of a musical-theatre voice.
There was no standing ovation from the full house at Her Maj on Friday night, but an audience clearly happy at a big-scale show with all that solid choral and orchestral sound under David Piper’s baton.
Samela Harris
When: Closed
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: Closed
Red Phoenix Theatre. Holden Street Theatres. 20 May 2021
It’s a huge, gutsy history play. It’s a landmark play. It’s an incredibly uplifting play.
It’s about women’s rights to an education, in which context it is a tale of the underclass fighting the establishment. It is about the smugly ruthless soul of the patriarchy and their way of demeaning academic women with the label of “blue stocking".
And, also, on stage at Holden Street, it is about the talent and enterprise of one Libby Drake, who has directed this deep and dark spectacular.
There’s a cast of twenty on the stage, everyone in handsome period costume and appropriate tonsorial style. There are myriad set changes, all of which are executed by the cast, swarming in quiet and swift co-ordination around the stage hauling heavy chairs and tables and erasing chalk boards in what is clearly a fairly daunting workout. Such a style of set moving is usually clunky and annoying but not so from Drake’s well-honed cast.
The success of this diligent production feat relies upon a deft and utterly precise lighting plot, which is expertly delivered by Richard Parkhill.
’Tis all tickety-boo, as they rarely say in theatre.
It is a long play which in this production does not feel long. It describes lots of concurrent themes: equality, class, love, hate, justice, ambition, suffrage and, most beautifully, as it turns out, the balance between the understandings of art versus science.
It is the first play by Jessica Swale, a rising playwright in the UK, and it has won encouragement awards and is already in the drama school syllabus and set to grow into a TV series. It depicts a group of bright, pioneering women who have made it into Girton College in Cambridge and are seeking a future as scientists and teachers, as women with the same elite education as men. Pivotal to their quest in 1896-7 is to be allowed the equality of academic graduation but this becomes entangled with the women’s suffrage movement of the times and their environment is fractured into adamant camps of pros and cons.
The story is delivered in snappy scenes, each introduced by titles written onto a large, moving blackboard. This big prop requires that all cast members can write in cursive.
The cast works as a thoroughbred ensemble but, of course, there are some outstanding performances. Brant Eustice plays the villainous, sexist psych professor with such venomous scientific bias that one can hear women throughout the audience gasping in horror. It is surprising no one has leapt onto the stage to attack him. He is brilliantly repugnant.
Bart Csorba, on the other hand, gives an eloquent depiction of the emancipated Dr. Banks and, oh, what an excellent voice he possesses. Interestingly, director Drake has cleverly gathered around her a cast of good, well-trained voices. It is another facet of the finesse of the production. Matt Chapman fits in here and also Tom Tassone, while Sebastian Skubala sings a wee folk song of exquisite beauty. Kate van der Horst leads the women as the principal student balancing the dilemma of career and love. She is a very engaging actress who draws the eye. Around her are Jasmine Leech, Laura Antoniazzi, and Rosie Williams each of whom achieves defined characterisations. Kate Anolak properly commands the stage as the wise, authoritarian Mrs Welch and is nicely balanced by the simpatico characterisation by Rebecca Kemp as Miss Blake. Jackson Barnard and James Fazzarli add fine support, as does each minor player.
It is an engrossing, intelligent, and relevant show well directed and well played.
If there are any seats left, grab one.
And, Brava, Libby Drake.
Samela Harris
When: 20 to 29 May
Where: Holden Street Theatres
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
The Metropolitan Musical Theatre Co. of S.A. Inc. Arts Theatre. 12 May 2021
The Met’s production of the modern American musical about modern American girls, Legally Blonde - The Musical, is one rollicking ride of aural and visual pleasures.
Legally Blonde began life as Amanda Brown’s novel - later filmed in 2001. The musical emerged on Broadway six years later and although it won zero awards from 17 nominations, the subsequent West End production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical.
Success is assured at The Met with the creative team of Carolyn Adams as director and set designer, Ben Stefanoff as musical director and Jacinta Vistoli as choreographer. This top trio never let the energy drop – it is a fireball of colour (especially if you like pink) and movement (especially if you like night club dance). Also kudos to Carmel Vistoli and Leonie Osborn for the stunning outfits, and most notably, Ms Carey’s pink ensembles in the lead role.
Thin plot-wise, Elle Woods is the UCLA sorority president whose ambitious boyfriend announces he’s off to Harvard Law School, without her. Yes, he underestimates his Malibu chick. She passes the LSAT and delivers her personal essay in person with her showbiz pals in a song and dance routine, showing enough love to gain admission to Harvard as well. Lover Warner has already re-partnered, so Elle is mentored by a very nice man while school features a professor from hell, and she constantly fights the blonde bimbo bias thing - quite successfully you wouldn’t be surprised. In a fish-out-of-water theme, the creative team perfectly contrasts the West Coast ditz with the East Coast ivy.
Well, let’s start at the top. You could be forgiven if after the show you thought there was only one person in it. Lucy Carey plays an unstoppable Elle Woods in this gigantic role. Perfectly cast – looking remarkably like Laura Bell Bundy from the Broadway production, as I presume she needs to be – her creation of Elle’s bubbly, irrepressible personality through song, voice, dance and presentation is a joy to behold. Brava!
In fact, Lucy Carey is superbly supported by prodigious acting, singing and dancing talent, and not one, but two dogs. When you need a musical theatre performer who is a terrific actor, you call Kristin Stefanoff. Jay Mancuso as the hard-boiled lawyer-lecturer-lecherer is imposing in body and voice and entirely believable. Daniel Fleming plays the nice guy guiding Elle through law school with tremendous empathy and bursts into song with gusto when required. Eve McMillan is wonderfully warm as the hairdresser-rescuer and her songs of wistfulness are heart-rending. Simon Rich delivers a feature star turn as the hunk with the packages in his tight delivery uniform. Shane Huang’s rap dancing is eye candy and Iman Saleh as the evasive witness is a hoot. Their short duet is laughable. Indeed, the short court scene discussing the stereotypes of homosexuality and getting away with it is great mirth.
Then there is all the rest of them – energetic Greek chorus/sorority girls and law students – all delightfully choreographed by Vistoli and snapped into sonorous voice by Stefanoff.
I don’t normally review this late in a season, but maybe I should, because the young cast was having the time of their lives having nailed it and everything went swimmingly well. Bravo!
David Grybowski
When: 6 to 15 May
Where: Arts Theatre
Bookings: themet.sales.ticketsearch.com
State Opera South Australia. Her Majesty’s Theatre. 11 May 2021
The organ prelude is ominous. Shafts of light spray down on the dark stage. Slum London flanks the stage as towering wooden scaffolds. As the audience braces for a horror story, a deafening scream shatters the air. No, it is not a scream. It is a vicious whistle. Audience members jump in fright. Some cover their ears. And thus, with a shock, begins a shocking opera. The darkest and scariest of them all. The stuff of nightmares.
For the State Opera South Australia, director Stuart Maunder wraps the terrible tale of the tonsorial serial killer within an oppressive underworld of squalor, cruelty, and madness; confirming a credible ugliness of the period. Maunder’s aesthetic partner in crime is Roger Kirk, one of the great theatre designers of our time. His seasoned expertise swings style with every stunning pleat of the Beadle’s great coat, with every shred of the beggar’s rags. And also, in the lethal barbershop itself, perched vertiginously centre stage on a revolve, whence the barber’s victims are launched comically into the netherworld.
The Sondheim opera of Sweeny Todd has long played abroad on the world's stages, but no two incarnations are the same, and one dares to assert that Maunder’s Sweeney is in a class of its own. It is not only the mood and the aesthetic but a clever manipulation of the message and extraction of the humour, irony, and absurdity of its terrible all. He brings us bursts of laughter and even, when murderous revenge is served, bursts of spontaneous applause, for, indeed, the audience is with him through every nuance of this beautifully layered and exquisitely sung production. Well, maybe not for the factory whistles. But where Sondheim offers wit, Maunder takes it in both hands and plays it to the people. Dark as it may be and politically incorrect as it most definitely is, we laugh in the face of its Grimm-like consequences.
Just as this work is classic melodrama in the guise of musical theatre, so are we human beings secret monsters in our taste for the appalling. Her Majesty’s Theatre proves herself once again a world of excellent sound and sight-lines and, against the blackness of the dark saga, we see exciting designs wrought by Philip Lethlean’s lighting and we hear, sometimes too well, the voices and harmonies of the cast.
With Anthony Hunt leading a creamy ASO orchestra and the choral discipline of the State Opera Chorus, one is embraced by rich professionalism.
It’s is nothing less than a superior production and it is peopled by a cast of excellence, principally that powerful one-time construction worker, Ben Mingay, in the lead as Todd. But, with him, as his partner in crime and the world’s most opportunistic baker, is Antoinette Halloran who takes the role of Mrs Lovett and makes it her own. Her vocal range is matched only by her fulsome acting skills. She steals the show. This is not easy when Mat Verevis is up there showcasing his talent in the role of dear, gullible Tobias.
Of course, there are the old hands of opera, solid and reliable, able to thrive in the worst of roles as does Douglas McNicol. He is sleazy and reprehensible as Judge Turpin but oh, so luxurious on the ear. Adam Goodburn, who sings the flim-flam rival barber Signor Pirelli, is rich and wicked and funny, one of those stalwarts who has never turned in other than excellence on stage. He’s nasty and funny. Similarly, Mark Oates as Beadle Bamford. He’s a villain character with a wee scene of his own in which to show the drenching beauty of his voice. The audience swoons and breaks into spontaneous applause. Nicholas Canon and Desiree Frahn play the “straight” roles of the young lovers and do it nicely, by the book. They are the least interesting characters and the only ones left standing, which says a lot about life, and about the dark and thorny path that Sondheim has chosen for this musical which, unlike most of its characters, refuses to die - and for very good reason.
Samela Harris
When: 8 to 15 May
Where: Her Majesty’s Theatre
Bookings: bass.net.au