Cats - WAAPA (11 September 2023)

What a ride the graduating musical theatre students have been on - from Sondheim (Assassins, Sweeney Todd) to Andrew Lloyd Webber by way of a pit stop in small town America (Footloose). I confess, I was a little wary going into Cats as I've always found it an oddly constructed musical but damn if the performers, musicians, and the production & design students didn't win me over, especially with a cracking 2nd Act. I still have no idea what a Jellicle cat is or what actually happens when one is reborn but it matters nary a jot with this amount of talent on display. 

Instead of wondering about the tenuous narrative through-line, it struck me early in the 1st Act that this is like a 1970s concept album or, perhaps more appropriately, a Showcase of sorts. Each song is a distinct set piece as different cats are introduced who have their own characteristics and personality expressed through lyrics and movement. Experienced through that lens I sat back and let the performances speak for themselves. 

Two aspects are immediately apparent - this is a dance heavy production with Jayne Smeulders' stunning choreography testing the performers' stamina and athletic limits; and the music students in the 16 piece orchestra (including 5 staff members) under the baton of musical director Craig Dalton are featured as equally as the performers on stage.

This was notable from the get go. All of the musicians are visible in the 'pit' in front of the stage so are part of the visual presentation. I really liked how the cast gathered stage right and listened intently to the Overture then applauded along with the audience before taking up their positions. Prior to the commencement of the 2nd Act, a sparkly attired Dalton asked the musicians to stand for applause which was another lovely touch. And applaud we did as they played out the show after final bows. The musicians did the keyboard/synth infused score justice and then some. Sound design by Dale Kerrison ensured the balance between music and vocals was spot on. 

Then there were the smart decisions that reinforced the "Seen through new eyes" tag line on the poster. Significantly, there isn't a tail or a whisker or a litter of lycra bodysuits in sight. Featured cats such as Jennyanydots (Eilidh Sinnamon) and Bustopher Jones (Mitchell France) are given distinctive, colourful costumes while the bulk of the company are all in black; sleek, sexy, and sensational. Sure, there is the occasional pawing motion or flick of an imaginary tail, even a hiss or two, but this show is designed for perpetual motion. 

To assist that kinetic momentum, the stage design is sparse to maximise the space for the nineteen strong company to cavort, tumble, and slink about in. There are numbers designed around a piece of movable set such as a wardrobe, street lamp or piano with the use of a scrim at other points to project surtitles onto or to enable startling shadow work. The lighting design uses a lot of spotlights to highlight individual performers for their moment in the moonlight but also use of shadow and darkness to disguise the movements of one mystery cat in particular. Excellent work by set and costume designer Elouise Greenwell and lighting designer Amber Lorenzi.

Which brings us to the MT students and what a marvellous cohort they are. 

Matthew Manning embodies a real sense of showmanship with his Munkustrap, like an emcee in this strange, feline world. I'm always a sucker for a tap routine which Sinnamon leads during The Old Gumbie Cat. Patrick Friedlander offers up swagger aplenty as a cross between Stuart Goddard's alter ego and Billy Idol as Rum Tum Tugger. France is an affable fat cat with padded cushion and all while Curtis Kossart and Emily Lambert dazzle in an early highlight with Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer.

Cameron Taylor has a gorgeous singing voice which lends his Old Deuteronomy enormous empathy. Genevieve Goldman sings the hell out of the iconic Memory and looks resplendent in a sequined evening gown as her Grizabella ascends to cat heaven. 

The first act ends with a prelude of that song right after the extraordinary dance sequence of The Jellicle Ball, a balletic and acrobatic tour de force that rightfully drew raucous applause. The WAAPA Marketing department has been doing a terrific job on social media posting behind-the-scenes clips one of which was the before and after of that sequence. Now I know why the performers were drenched in sweat! 

I was utterly charmed by Gus: The Theatre Cat as a quiet interlude early in the 2nd Act as Mia Beattie (Jellylorum) introduces Asparagus (Tim Brown) with such a deft touch. Then director Crispin Taylor cranks up the energy even further and the show rockets into another gear. Brown leaps forth to launch a full on charm offensive as Gus regales us with the tale of The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles usually reserved for Munkustrap. In this he is assisted by terrific shadow play on the scrim and other cast members engaging in some delightful whimsy... as humans playing cats playing, um, dogs. 

Before you can catch your breath Marcus Frost's Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat, is dancing up a storm with the rest of the cast using everything from umbrellas to old-fashioned lamps, suitcases, and brooms as props in another burst of eye-catching choreography. Then it's time for my favourite song, Macavity: The Mystery Cat, where Hanna Harvey (Demeter) and Grace Alston (Bombalurina) are seductive and playful as the song builds and the orchestra swells into a brassy crescendo. Patrick Volpe exudes physical menace as Macavity in a year that's also seen him play a brooding Sweeney and an intense Chuck from Footloose. There's a lovely piece of stagecraft that proves that Macavity was indeed not there. 

Then it's time for some audience singalong to Mr. Mistoffelees led by Friedlander while Declan Allen engages in an acrobatic dance routine that Cirque du Soleil would be proud of. Mia Guglielmi (Jemima) leads us into Goldman's showstopper and then we're racing towards final bows. In a move that surely was intended Volpe and Guglielmi are placed together in those final moments, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett reunited.  

There's no doubt about it, my initial scepticism was swept away and this was an impressive way to end an impressive year.  

Wise Children - WAAPA (9 September 2023)

"What a joy it is to dance and sing!"

What a joy it is indeed as the graduating actors close out the year with a sumptuous theatrical treat. The first thing that dazzles your eyeballs on taking your seat in the Roundhouse Theatre is the amazing set. The amount of detail is quite astonishing to recreate a lodgings for wayward performers and the backstage of a theatre itself. Bedecked with lamps, costumes, and all manner of practical items and curios, set designer Sarah Halton and props supervisor David Packer have truly excelled. Spread over two levels, with the musicians nestled at the top, it is one of the best I have seen at this venue.

It is enhanced by outstanding lighting design by Michaela Gosby under the mentorship of professional lighting designer Lucy Birkinshaw who is well-known to Perth audiences for her work with Black Swan State Theatre Company and Barking Gecko amongst others. With such a rich canvas to highlight, the lighting adds colour and vibrancy in line with the more theatrical moments, with shadows and silhouette used when the action skews far darker. The Trinity Test in the movie Oppenheimer isn't the only impressive explosion you'll see this year. Then there's a "chandelier" that might rival Phantom's for visual impact early on in proceedings. It's bloomin' great! 

But wait, there's more! Sarah Halton again, this time as costume designer, has crafted a bevy of costumes to cover the various time periods of the story for a cavalcade of mainly over-the-top performers, echoing vaudeville, Shakespeare, with even a hint of Monty Python thrown in. Fair to say this production is a feast for the eyes. 

All this is in aid of a quite complicated story which, in its essence, is highly theatrical in nature, drawing on the aforementioned Bard. Embracing this, director Adam Mitchell has pushed the students to perform 'large' and there's ribaldry and plenty of shtick to go around. This is aided by the work of choreographer and movement coach G Madison IV who puts the cast through their paces with mock fighting, dancing, and pratfalls. But there are also beautifully crafted moments of tragedy; one where blood is spilled and another that changes the fate of a character forever.  

That story is the tale of the Chance sisters, twins Nora and Dora, who come to terms with an entangled parentage as they pursue a career as showgirls with their actual father who has disowned them. The telling of the tale with all its twists and reveals is framed around an upcoming birthday party that is the catalyst for a deluge of memories. We will see not one but three iterations of the sisters over the course of the show - as 75 year old women reminiscing on the past; as young girls oblivious to what fate has in store for them, and as teenagers who blossom both sexually and as performers in their own right. There is a swirl of characters around them, notably Grandma Chance, their real father Melchior Hazard, his brother and their legal father Peregrine Hazard, and Melchior's wife Lady Atalanta with whom he has two children, Saska and Imogen Hazard. That will suffice as a rough sketch as to expand it further would spoil all kinds of machinations.

To the performances and Edyll Ismail and Lauren McNaught are our narrators as the elder Nora and Dora Chance. There is a warmth tinged with sadness here that draws us in early with likeable turns that have the weight of a long life in the theatre and emotional trenches. Elyse Phelan and Lucinda Smith play the youngest iteration of the twins with convincing childlike mannerisms and impetuous behaviour. The showgirl versions are perhaps the most clearly delineated with Estelle Davis portraying Nora with bawdy confidence and impulsiveness while Tess Bowers' Dora is more reserved and yearning. 

Kelsey Jeanell grabs the spotlight early as Estella and later as the spiteful Saska. Ruby Henaway is an audience favourite as Gradma Chance; her blunt characterisation is a hoot and if you thought the surprise waiting in the tunnels of the horror movie Barbarian was shocking wait until you get a load of Grandma's antics! By contrast, Aida Bernhardt makes for a most elegant Lady Atalanta. 

Will Lonsdale (younger) and James McMahon (older) play the famous Shakespearean actor Melchior with amusing vanity and slippery obliviousness to the harm Melchior has caused. Tyler Redman (younger) and Joseph Baldwin (older) tackle a tricky role with skill as Peregrine is a character whose arc is not as clean-cut as we'd been led to believe. Tre Maclou ends up a slightly tragic figure as his comedian, Gorgeous George, is reduced to the fringes of society while Jesse Vasiliadis and Harrison Gilchrist get to vamp it up with some gender-swapping flair.  

To add to this entertaining brew we also have plenty of songs with musical direction by Joshua James Webb. I was particularly taken by the use of xylophone which contributed a dreamlike quality that was entirely appropriate. While the actors may not be up to the quality of the musical theatre students when it comes to vocals there were some very effective moments - Estelle Davis singing The Way You Look Tonight; the Girls Will Be Boys song by Davis and Tess Bowers that skewered Shakespearean plot antics; a sunglasses clad Lucinda Smith crooning away on the upper level; and the massed vocals on the closing number that was, well, fun. Plus there's an eighties classic I haven't heard in many a year for the performers to cavort to. 

In all this was an outstanding way for this cohort to end their public performance slate at WAAPA. It was big, entertaining, challenging and a triumph for all the disciplines involved. The work of the Production and Design students this year has been exemplary and what a space they provided for the actors to play in. One they seemed to acknowledge and relish.