Red Peppers / Hands Across The Sea. Holden Street Theatres. 16 May 2024
In an era when short plays were really not the thing, Noël Coward decided to write a slew of them, primarily to showcase himself and Gertrude Lawrence. Under the collective title of Tonight at 8.30, the ten play cycle was intended to feature three plays across three evenings.
Holden Street Theatres is presenting two of these under the Cowardy Cowardy Custard moniker, which references Cowardy Custard (1972), a biographical revue featuring Coward’s work, produced in the latter years of his life. Red Peppers and Hands Across the Sea were written in 1936 and are quite contrasting in their depictions of society at the time.
Red Peppers was described by Coward as an “interlude with music” and so it is. Played respectively by Geoff Revell and Martha Lott, George and Lily Pepper are a very ordinary vaudeville act, playing the very ordinary vaudeville circuit in the days when England had such a thing. It is Lily’s bungle at the end of the first musical number Has Anybody Seen Our Ship which forms the basis of the ruckus that occurs in the dressing room afterwards. There’s a sadness to the second-rate, and both Revell and Lott portray the still burning ambition with an experienced balance, moving from pathos to cruelty to mutual affection with aplomb. Revell brings his marvellously mobile face to the role as he navigates the pair’s ongoing battles with the theatre manager (Brian Wellington) and orchestra conductor (David O'Brien) and defends his relationship with the star of the show, a fading Mabel Grace (Rebecca Kemp).
Rather than the Coward’s usual high society settings, Red Peppers is more the vaudeville set at the fag end of its era, with the pretensions of grandeur displayed by Mabel Grace an irritant to Lily Pepper, who in reality aspires to be where Mabel is (or has been).
The second play Hands Across The Sea is set in the high society drawing room of Lord Peter and Lady Maureen Gilpin (rumoured to be based on Lord and Lady Mountbatten). Lady Gilpin, known as ‘Piggie’ (Martha Lott), and her companion have been on a tour of the colonies, and have invited numerous people they met on their travels to come for tea when they are next in London. When one such couple turns up (Mr and Mrs Wadhurst, played by Geoff Revell and Rebecca Kemp), she mistakes them for another she has invited, and of course there is much comedic confusion as this is sorted out.
John Doherty as Lord Peter, a commander in the Royal Navy, portrays the character effortlessly, and is a strong anchor on the stage while Lott is the rather frizzy and dizzy foil. Piggie has invited other friends over at short notice to help out with the unexpected arrivals; Helen Geoffreys as the Hon Clare Wedderburn and Lieutenant Commander Alistair Corbett, known as Ally, played by David Archidiaco. Adding to the confusion is young Mr Burnham (Christopher Cordeaux) who arrives with plans for a speed boat for Lord Peter and is roundly ignored, being mistaken for someone else of course.
It is in this second play that Goers shows his hand at the direction of physical comedy. From slippery sofas to telephone cords and cumbersome cardboard tubes, there is some deft play here. Again Revell’s face is a star – he has few lines as the hapless Mr Wadhurst, but doesn’t really need them – he is a delight to watch.
At times the terr-ribly posh accents render the words unintelligible, and for both plays, the interaction between the characters is often left wanting. There is an over concentration on delivery; lines are spoken, cues are waited on, more lines are spoken; sometimes the characters don’t seem to be speaking to one another, so intent are they on reciting their lines.
Coward’s popularity may have waned over the years, but the writing is still very witty and diabolically clever. When the words are allowed to speak for themselves, these wonderful plays can be as enjoyable as they were for all the bright young things of his time.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 16 May to 1 Jun
Where: Holden Street Theatres – The Arch
Bookings: holdenstreettheatres.com
The Hills Musical Company. Stirling Theatre. 11 May 2024
The Hills Musical Company’s latest offering Urinetown - The Musical, now playing at the Stirling Theatre, first premiered in 2001, picking up 3 Tony Awards. It is based on the book of Greg Kotis with the musical was co-written by Kotis and Mark Hollman.
Against the then-emerging topic of climate change this is the story of the imaginary town of Urinetown, where after a 20 year drought private toilets are banned. Urinetown is but one of many towns throughout this world - and a poor one at that. It could even be Your-town, and so (as in all good revolutions), the seeds are sown and germinated of greed, power, and struggles, and ultimately rebellion - and sacrifice. But who will prevail?
This Urinetown is a victim of climate-change. But they are not immune - for there are Urinetowns everywhere - now and into the future. And if not climate change - what's next off the list? This is both political and social commentary in a musical guise and it beguilingly draws us in. And powerfully so. This is a well-crafted work - delivered with class, style, and excellent production & design values.
If Act I is its theme, then Act II is its story. And so intertwined.
Act I focuses on Urinetown - the town, its people and its 20 year drought, where only pay-as-you-go public toilets remain, its impact and impost on the poor, and against the perfidy of the big-end-of-town.
Act II is the rebellion and the replacement of something better. More equitable. Yet does it ultimately deliver this true panacea?
In one vein, Urinetown may not even be a musical - only a political piece with music. If so, then this Hills Musical Company production at the Stirling Theatre dispels any such notion. Quite simply this is both ambitious and outstanding. To suggest that it has transferred easily from the page to the stage would be incorrect - for it has all the hallmarks of thoughtful casting where everyone can (no must) sing, dance, act, and play comedy. This is brilliant ensemble stuff.
Urinetown has a mighty strong principal cast and is a great strength. Yet too the collective, and the individual performances are the strength of the on-stage delivery - particularly as this is as much about comedy, as it is musical. It just all works!
For Director, Ruby Pinkerton this is a remarkable collective group of skilled people who embrace and deliver beyond the plot on the page. She is well supported by the production team. Jemma Allen's choreography is pivotal to the pace and the continuity of the show.
If this is a courageous production - with some risk, then bravo!
Brian Wellington
When: 10 to 25 May
Where: Stirling Theatre
Bookings: trybooking.com
Adelaide Festival Centre. Dunstan Playhouse. 10 May 2024
It’s a bit of a jolt when you realise that the first Harry Potter book was released 27 years ago. It seems just yesterday the first wide-eyed millennials lined up outside bookstores for the second book as Harry and Hermione fever swept the world. With the final instalment released in 2007, the alpha generation has also embraced the wizardly adventure series, although for many of them, the films have been their primary source. Nonetheless, Book Week Hermiones and Harrys still far outweigh other characters during the costume parade, and the musical ran for four years in Melbourne, a fair indication of the enduring popularity of JK Rowling’s septology.
Created by British actors Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner, Potted Potter has been running for almost as long, with the first production being a five-minute street show performed to the aforementioned fans waiting in line for the 2005 midnight release of Book Six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was quickly developed into an hour-long show, and the seventh book added on its release in 2007. With various actors stepping in, the two-hander has toured the world for almost two decades and is now doing an Australasian return run.
The actors in this production are Scott Hoatson and Brendan Murphy, as Harry Potter and ‘everyone else’ respectively. In a tightly scripted 70 minutes, Director Richard Hurst takes the actors through their paces, encapsulating the story lines of all seven books using a variety of media.
Hoatson is the Harry fan, and insists on playing the character, believing that Brendan has assembled a cast of the best West End actors to accompany him. Hmm, whoopsie. Having failed to secure anyone (as a budget measure) Murphy must take on the other 350 characters. This makes for some hilarious situations, particularly in terms of fast changes.
If Potter heads are looking to follow the plot of each book in any comprehensible order, forget it. While the books are referenced and each plot line explained, it’s so brief and so loose as to be just recognisable. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter; they’re almost just a hook on which to hang some outrageous comedy and quick improv thinking. With lightning-fast scripting between the two as they argue about production values, the ‘play within a play’ has much to offer beyond the actual Potter storyline.
The use of video (Tom Hillenbrand) to explain Book Three is genius, and the audience participation in the quidditch match beautifully broke up the unrelenting concentration on the rapid-fire stage action.
There’s a lot of referencing of other books, films, and shows – and maybe it’s time for an update to a more current zeitgeist, as some of it was going over the heads of younger audience members. While Shrek, Frozen, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Lord of the Rings and Mary Poppins made it in safely, Tina Turner for example, did not. And while I can’t think of another character to channel while wearing a fuzzy red wig, breaking into Tomorrow from Annie drew a lot of blank looks from my alphas (memo to self – check DVD shelf to see if copy of 1982 film is still extant).
The show closes with Book Seven …The Deathly Hallows, abridged to the tune of Gloria Gaynor’s now iconic I Will Survive. The audience loved it, clapping along with Harry and Voldemort until the end.
A lingering thought is that Potted Potter is more suited to being a Fringe show rather than a full theatre stage production, as it was in its early iterations. Still, a highly entertaining 75 minutes.
Arna Eyers-White
When: 10 to 12 May
Where: Dunstan Playhouse
Bookings: Closed
The Metropolitan Musical Theatre Company of South Australia. Arts Theatre. 10 May 2024
One can usually depend upon The Met to turn out a competent musical production, often with the proverbial cast of thousands.
The Addams Family fills this bill, especially with the well-honed swarming song and dance chorus of the white-clad, living-dead “ancestors". There’re a lot of talented and classy workers up there spreading the gorgeous ghostly good spirit.
Writers Brickman and Elice have done a jolly job on representing the idiosyncrasies of the famous Chas Addams characters and Andrew Lippa’s score is pretty much gold. It’s a beaut modern musical, here directed by Carolyn (of the single “d”) Adams with Jane Feast in charge of the live music.
Oddly, the orchestra opens with such a scrubby overture that one’s heart sinks.
Blessedly, it is all upwards from there, albeit erratically. When this production is hitting its straps, it is a joy. In the off patches, it is a pity. For instance, Selma Britz as Morticia is absolutely five star on her big number Just Around the Corner. She looks great and moves well, despite the fact that her beautiful black costume is missing Morticia’s usual fishtail. But she never quite gets the accent. Unlike Jon McKay who absolutely nails that dear weirdo character, Uncle Fester, accent, intonation, and all. Top marks.
In this Addams Family creation, daughter Wednesday enlists her father Gomez’s support in bringing together their madly macabre family with that of the “normal” parents of the boy with whom she is in love.
Crazy old Grandma Addams, hilariously incarnated by Elizabeth Slee, is in charge of powerful potions, one of which is accidentally consumed by the boy’s “normal” American mother to outrageous good effect.
That mother is played by Kristel Dally in a torrent of classic over-the-top cliche Americana. She steals the stage.
Her dreary husband, Mal, is well drawn by Andrew Mair, also with their son, Lucas, just fresh-faced and sweet as depicted by Tom Sheldon.
Vanessa Crouch could not look better as young Wednesday. She brings the classic image to life, moves well, works hard, but struggles in some of the songs. Young brother Pugsley, played by Phoebe Clark on this of alternating nights, sings like a dream but looks all wrong in inadequate padding.
Overall, Carmel Vistoli’s costuming and wigs are good with Jacinta Vistoli’s choreography terrific. Vistoli is a respected name in our non-funded musical theatre world.
Jason Clark deserves a mention as Lurch. Very tall and elegantly deported, he adds a few vocal surprises to the show. But, of course, the weight of the Addams Family rests with the character of the father, Gomez, and here Ben Todd shines once again in both song and dance. He’s a very watchable performer.
So, while Carolyn Adams has not pulled off a directorial coup, she and her spirited cast deliver a comical and rewarding night out. And, the audience whoops its thanks.
Samela Harris
When: 10 to 18 May
Where: The Arts Theatre
Bookings: metmusicals.com.au
The Broadway Musical. Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre. Scott Theatre. 18 Apr 2024
It is always exciting when the Elder Conservatorium turns on a production.
Therein is arrayed the promise of tomorrow’s big musicals. It’s a showcase of student talent - students who are under rigorous training in the musical stage arts.
The Elder shows have been a treat. Sometimes they are but a bare whisker short of Broadway standards.
Ironically, the latest production bills itself as a "Broadway musical".
Of all things, it is a staged version of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women - book by Allam Knee, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein.
It is nice to feel that such a 19th century classic still has cachet with the TikTok era.
Then again, the general adaptation, albeit of the 2000s, feels a bit clunky and many of the songs too formulaic and long.
The one Off to Massachusetts number, sung by Beth and old Mr Lawrence, shines as the only memorable take-away tune.
The story, if one needs reminding, revolves around the March family of Concord, Massachusetts, in the time of the dreadful American Civil War. Father is away serving as a pastor to the troops leaving mother, aka “Marmee”, to raise their four girls in somewhat humble circumstance. Jo, the second daughter and a feisty tomboy, is convinced that her talent for writing gutsy stories will single-handedly relieve the family’s circumstance. She’s chief protagonist, her three sisters, Meg, Amy, and Beth adorning the narrative in the appropriate hierarchy of siblings at their respective ages.
It’s a semi-autobiographical story and the author’s family actually lived there in Concord.
They have interactions good and bad with the rich man over the road and with the rich Aunt March. There are romantic entanglements, loss and sorrow, and in the end, even the will-never-marry writer, Jo, finds love.
All of this is encompassed in the show, but one spends some time puzzling about the way in which this production has made it happen. If one is a stickler for period accuracy, one is hung-up on odd production choices. Yes, Jo is unfeminine, but did any girl wear trousers in 1850s USA? If they did, they were bloomers. So one is arrested with a costume puzzle very early in the show when Jo replaces her full skirt to wear tight trousers at home.
Thereafter, the costumes continue to be a distraction. Lack of budget is a lacklustre excuse for lack of research. Women of the day wore crinolines and their petticoats, as my companion noted " did not hang out like viscera behind them".
Then there is the lead actor in the role of Jo. There are a host of star students at Elder and alternating casts in the show. Alana Iannace scored the opening performance and demonstrated to the world that she has super powerhouse capabilities. It’s a big voice she has, startlingly strident at times. She is an extremely confident singer. Indeed, Iannace dominates the stage so long as she is upon it.
It is almost as if she’s starring in a concert.
The other performers are in her shadow, but each has a chance to rise and show their stuff and each has a great deal to offer. When it comes it delivering an empathetic characterisation, Sophie Volp shines as Marmee. Her well-modulated voice also is a pleasure. Amy McCann is on pitch as lovely Meg, and she really looks the part while Emily Simmons does a fine transition from the kid Amy to the sophisticated lady. Jelena Nicdao is simpatico as Beth, but this Broadway version of Little Women shortchanges the utter poignancy of her character’s place in the story.
This is a classic women’s narrative but there are some delicious, nay, charming roles for the male performers. Sascha Debney-Matiszik, elegantly flicking his fine locks in the role of Professor Bhaer, has a touch of the matinee idol to him. Then again, watching Darcy Wain as young Laurie Lawrence, one is sure we will be seeing more of him onstage. He has a bit of the old comic “it”. Brendan Tomlins does well to melt hearts as not-really-mean old Mr Laurence and, with Jelena Nicdao, he has the best duet in the show with Massachusetts. Tayla Alexander is top notch as odd old Aunt March, Jay Scott is a pleasure to watch and to hear as John Brook with Ava-Rose Askew solid as Mrs Kirk in a company that generally works very well as ensemble. Harmonies are nice. Timing is spot-on. The show races along and there is some sterling talent up there. It does not disappoint.
And, the orchestra, under Martin Cheney and shielded in darkness at the back of the very interesting-looking stage design from Simon Greer, maintains a very fine balance against the singers. High competence with some oddly tricky scores. Composer Jason Howland is no Sondheim.
Erin James’s direction, however, is strangely loose. While the scene-changing business with assorted chair-moving to create beds and pianos etc is pretty slick and one admires those cast members who so swiftly perform the changes, there are a few quaint credulity issues and period clashes distracting from a streamlined entity.
Then again, it is just a two-night quickie and one should not be too picky.
There’s a fabulous crop of new talent being groomed and seasoned up there onstage and one can only be proud that Adelaide, crucible city of the Australian performing arts, is turning out another crop of future stars.
Samela Harris
When: 18 to 21 Apr
Where: Scott Theatre
Bookings: humanitix.com