The Wedding Singer - Drew Anthony Creative (20 July 2024)

I confess, I didn't know what to expect with a musical adaptation of the Adam Sandler comedy from 1998. I vaguely remember the movie but didn't have time to revisit it before heading off to Planet Royale. What I do know is that Drew Anthony Creative is at the forefront of production companies becoming increasingly more sophisticated in their promotional materials on social media - video clips introducing each member of the cast (including the ensemble) or showcasing the venue; a slick souvenir program; with plenty of clips and stills from rehearsals. Then there's the pre-show entertainment - in this case, music videos from the eighties projected onto the rear wall of the stage. And yes, I knew the lyrics to every song! 

My confidence level was pretty high though because Anthony is building an impressive track record of quality musicals at the venue; there is a solid core of performers and creatives who are involved in each of these productions; plus the savvy addition of well-known and accomplished local performers such as Marian Byrne, Rachel Monamy, and Tyler Jacob Jones here. 

The show starts like it was shot out of a cannon with It's Your Wedding Day establishing the tone and introducing our main characters. It's a catchy song, the costumes and wigs are peak eighties fashion, and the choreography is an energetic blast. The rear projection sets each scene and there's always some razzle dazzle to the lighting though we'll get to the design a little later. 

I immediately feel at ease as Greg Jarema, mullet wig and all, makes for a likeable and charming lead as Robbie Hart. Even more so when Kate Sisley beautifully sings Someday as Julia Sullivan. Then I'm completely sold in their proper "meet-cute" moment where Julia helps Robbie tone down the amusingly darker lyrics to the love song he is writing for his fiancée, Linda (Awesome). Jarema and Sisley have great chemistry together and there is a tenderness in their interactions that is both refreshingly wholesome and eminently watchable. Their duet If I Told You in the second act is the highlight of the show for mine. 

Of course, things don't go so smoothly for Robbie as he's left jilted at the altar of his own wedding by Linda (Charlize Gosnell). Gosnell makes an impression with a scene in each act where she brings the sass and powerhouse vocals in A Note From Linda and Let Me Come Home. Alas, Linda, you had your chance. Robbie spirals into spiteful self-loathing (Somebody Kill Me) before Jarema embraces the Sandler of it all as Robbie sabotages a wedding he's singing at before launching into Act One highlight Casualty of Love, a big, bombastic rock number where the company cuts loose in a strikingly choreographed sequence. 

Another highlight is the inventively staged Come Out of the Dumpster, again, wonderfully sung by Sisley as Julia tries to console Robbie. It's so good I wish there had been space left to entice the audience to applaud before the action continued. The show meanders a little after that as some plot machinations kick in before rallying with a strong close to the first half with Saturday Night In The City. 

The second act kicks off in style with the villain of the piece, uber 80s capitalist Glen Gulia (Tyler Jacob Jones), extolling the virtues of cold hard cash in All About the Green. Jacobs is such a consummate performer that the slow unravelling of Glen as Robbie increasingly threatens to steal Julia away from him is a delight. 

In a performance that also caught the eye, Lucy Goodrick is excellent as Julia's cousin, Holly. Goodrick exudes confidence as the more worldly Holly and has great stage presence in numbers such as Right In Front Of Your Eyes. Robbie and his bandmates - Sammy (Marshall Brown) and George (Noah Skape) plus the male ensemble have their moment to shine with Single. The songs may all be originals but are infused with that unmistakeable 80s style. George's Prayer, for example, sounds so much like Spandau Ballet's True but is a nice vocal moment for the Boy George-styled Skape. 

As we careen towards the inevitable Hollywood ending by way of Las Vegas we are treated to Marian Byrne's rap stylings as Rosie in Move That Thang and the incongruous guest appearances of fake Tina Turner, fake Billy Idol, and fake Olivia Newton-John amongst others. This is one of the strengths of Anthony's approach - the ensemble is full of performers such as Ethan Churchill who have been leads in his other shows. So hats off to Churchill, Zak Rolton, Will Basson, Izzi Green, Efa Mackenzie, Erin Barry, and Christopher Tierney who dance up a storm, add vocal punch and colour. And of course, Rachel Monamy as Julia's mum Angie who commands the stage in her couple of appearances.

The sound design is impeccable with the balance between backing tracks and vocals perfect. The one thing I wasn't as fond of was the lighting design - it's a big stage but the show felt oddly dark with performers either dimly lit or in shadows/silhouetted unless directly under a spotlight. The rear projections also weren't as expansive as they were in Saturday Night Fever for comparison.

That being said, the strength of this production is the connection between the two leads, both vocally and in the sweetness of their interactions. It's an unexpected pleasure amongst the broad comedy. 

Directed by Drew Anthony, Choreography by Suzi & Jamie Rolton, Costume Build Annette Stivaletta, Wigs Design Deanna Nishi, Lighting Design Anthony & Richard Timms, and Audio Design Jordan Gibbs, The Wedding Singer is on at the Planet Royale in Northbridge until 4 August.

The Deep Blue Sea - Melville Theatre Company (19 July 2024)

Financial security and status versus impulsiveness and passion. One a secret, both seductive in their own ways. The rock and the deep blue sea Hester Collyer (Anna Head) finds herself caught between in Terence Rattigan's play set in post World War Two Britain. It's all too much for such a sensory woman as Hester who attempts a desperate solution to end her woes. 

It's an arresting opening to a complex and nuanced character study. Hester's tragic plan is only a shilling's worth away from succeeding. She is found unconscious in her flat by the landlady and neighbours who enlist the service of an alleged doctor and call Hester's estranged husband, Sir William Collyer (Neale Paterson) who is an eminent judge. Over the course of that day we meet Hester's lover, Freddie Page (Steven Hounsome), a former RAF pilot who struggles with his own demons by way of the bottle. We begin to understand the nature of Hester's trauma in her interactions with Freddie, Sir William, and various other characters who periodically check in on her, rightfully concerned. 

As an audience we watch in growing fascination and anxiety about where this may all end. Our deepest fears seem justified in one chilling sequence before salvation arrives from the most unlikeliest of sources. We collectively breathe a sigh of relief. It is a rollercoaster of emotions for both the characters and the viewer.

It is a handsomely staged production. Director Barry Park has wisely moved the raked seating closer to the stage which puts us right in the swirl of this most intimate of dramas. The set is beautifully lit and appointed; the costuming is excellent in representing the status and emotional hue of each character; and the original music and sound design adds tension in moments of unease. The repeated use of the song I Only Have Eyes For You takes on subtly different meanings as the story unfolds.   

All this is in service to the performances which are excellent across the board. What struck me most though was the range of those performances. The neighbours, Ann and Phillip Welch, are earnestly portrayed by Sacha Emeljanow and Rhys Lander. They seem genuine in their concern for Hester and the ramifications if the police were to be involved. Lander has a lovely sequence in the second half where that earnestness works against his character truly empathising with Hester. Head delivers Hester's barely contained sarcasm in response in withering fashion. Indeed, there are many great putdowns throughout the script. But, crucially, they are uttered casually without adding unnecessary and showy spice.

Rose McKenna and Zane Alexander add sly humour to their characters, the landlady Mrs Elton and the somewhat mysterious Mr Miller. The comic touches are a nice counterpoint and occasional respite to the drama. In McKenna's case it also disguises, or at least makes entertaining, the imparting of critical tidbits that help move the plot along. It's an amusing portrayal of a woman who can't help but reveal the sort of secrets a landlady would accrue over a lifetime of dealing with all kinds of tenants. 

Alexander crafts a most interesting arc for the enigmatic Mr Miller who is almost a bit player to begin with but blossoms into something far more compelling as his background is slowly revealed. With a clipped German accent and curt speaking style, Alexander mines a lovely seam of incidental humour before becoming a true voice of empathy in a beautifully staged sequence. It's my favourite recent performance of his. 

Alex Comstock as Jackie Jackson felt a little young for Freddie's knockabout, former RAF buddy but acquits himself well. Hounsome, as Freddie though, gives another layered performance that was a little trickier to pin down. Freddie could be construed as a cad - and there's no doubt Hounsome gives the former pilot a theatrical bent verging on narcissism at times - but there's far more at work here. His hinted at alcoholism hides fears that he is past it - as a test pilot and maybe as someone who can continue satisfying Hester's yearnings and needs. It's a nicely judged performance.

In contrast, Neale Paterson's Sir William Collyer is a representation of reason versus Freddie's theatrics and Hester's emotional tumult. Superbly attired as befitting a man of Collyer's status, Paterson is all stillness and formality. You sense that Sir William does indeed love his wife and wants her back but has no way of understanding or connecting to her emotional and physical needs. Paterson gives the judge a slightly exasperated air of someone who can't understand why money, status, and the platitudes of love aren't enough.

Then there's Anna Head as Hester. What a character. What a performance. Full of layers, complexity, and contradictions. Head plays her at times as bursting with emotion verging on the melodramatic and, at others, as repressing her true feelings whilst putting on a brace face. She can be restless onstage, prowling around or fussing about with folding clothes or polishing shoes; or still and measured when considering her next steps, some of them awful. A vast range of emotions flicker across her face as Head lets us into Hester's inner turmoil. Park knows the calibre of performer he has as his lead and lets dramatic beats linger, fully trusting Head such as in the closing moments. We sit with Hester and watch, rapt, as the play masterfully concludes. 

Barry Park continues to tackle complex plays such as The Deep Blue Sea with great precision and empathy. Several of the coterie of actors he regularly works with feature here - Head, Hounsome, Alexander & Comstock. He also enlists the services of top notch designers and crew such as Costumier Merri Ford, Lighting and Set Designer Mark Nicholson, Music Composer Myles Wright, and Sound Operator Charlie Montgomery. This is a well performed, nuanced character study that is handsomely presented and beautifully executed. Well worth a look.

The Deep Blue Sea is on at The Main Hall of the Melville Civic Centre until 3 August.  

Photos by Grant Malcolm.

Top Girls - GRADS Theatre Company (6 July 2024)

A good story, well told. It's what I hope for every time I go to a theatre production. Make me laugh, make me cry, make me think, make me feel. Most times a tale washes over you as you sit there and simply enjoy the storytelling. Sometimes you have to work for it. Top Girls by Caryl Churchill falls into the latter camp. The rewards for your patience, your curiosity, your attention are immense. This is a famous play with an iconic opening scene. It's complex, endlessly fascinating, boldly structured, and thematically dense. There's a moment where it all clicked into place for me which was sublime. But we'll get to that later. For now I want to track my reactions as the play unfurls and slowly reveals its secrets...

We begin with Marlene (Solonje Burns) literally 'running up that hill' as she climbs and reclimbs a set of stairs, giddy at the news of her promotion at an employment agency. She celebrates at a restaurant that is beautifully presented with Chinese lanterns overhead, patterned flats, a curved booth, and table. Her friends arrive but they're no ordinary people - they have been conjured from history and fiction in a striking and eclectic mix of women. Here's where the work for the audience begins on multiple fronts - I was familiar with Pope Joan (thanks, Rest Is History podcast) but not overly with Isabella Bird, Lady Nijo, Dull Gret, and Griselda. We glean information as they reveal who they are and interact but this is complicated by extensive use of overlapping dialogue. Costuming helps us place these women in time but it's not until fairly late in the scene when we are specifically told they are centuries apart. Common strands begin to emerge in their conversations - the significance of childbirth, ownership, sacrifice, and navigating the whims of men in their respective times. 

Photo by Grant Malcolm

It's a boisterous scene as Marlene becomes increasingly drunk and it's all pitched as a girls night out with Director Virginia Moore Price clearly encouraging the cast to play. I loved the physicality as Burns clambers over the booth, stands on the table, and is all grand gestures as are her guests. Suzannah Churchman is bold as Isabella Bird; Sarah Plummer crawls over the stage in a startling papal birthing moment; while Jenny Howard's Dull Gret bursts into life at the end of the scene. Lady Nijo (Kelly Cleary) is more elegant and beholden to her 9th century male overlords and Emilia Lawonski's Griselda, the latecomer to the party, exhibits a brittleness that will become important later. The set is a mess by the end of it as bowls and other props fly everywhere, most amusingly as the cast stomp along to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights and Howard unintentionally sends a bowl scooting into the wings with the force and accuracy of Cortnee Vine's penalty kick that propelled the Matildas into the World Cup semi-finals.

As I puzzle over what it all means it hits me that Marlene has summoned these women from her imagination which means she's actually celebrating alone. This is a significant realisation for later. 

We are then thrust into a scene set in a backyard where a girl, Angie (Lawonski), hides from her mother, Joyce, with a friend. Unfortunately this is under a set of stairs temporarily located at the foot of the stage so my view was obstructed from the 8th row. It takes a dark turn as Angie confronts Churchman's Joyce with no small amount of tension as the threat of violence hangs in the air. What a way to go into intermission!

Sadly, we lost a fair view audience members after the break. All I can say is, yes, the opening half may have seemed obtuse and challenging but you missed out on a superlative second half.

Which opens with a set design that will give me nightmares for weeks! Having worked in offices for the better part of 30 years the use of eight, overhead fluorescent lights was genius. The only thing that could have traumatised me more was if one of them were flickering (there's always one!). This sequence in the Top Girls Employment Agency plays out as a sly satire about the modern workplace circa 1982 from a woman's perspective. Significant aspects include - the employees exhibiting male traits and perpetuating male stereotypes as a way to get ahead; Marlene all cock-a-hoop as she is about to become the top girl; and a visit from her niece, Angie, who clearly idolises her. There's also a cleverly written and delivered inversion where Win (Georgina Teakle) after being bored by the details of a candidate's resume ends up blurting out her life story to another candidate. Another fascinating moment is when the wife of the man Marlene will replace, Mrs Kidd (Howard), basically asks Marlene to step aside because her husband won't be able to cope, being a man and all! 

Then we get to the true showstopper - the final scene. It's set one year earlier where Marlene has travelled to visit her sister Joyce at the behest of her niece Angie. Set in Joyce's kitchen as the two sisters sit across from each other under an old style light fixture. Marlene has brought presents which excites Angie no end including a significant call back to an earlier scene. Then the sisters get down to business. They bicker back and forth and it's clear they have made vastly different choices which have led to this moment. A secret, that until this point has been well concealed, is revealed. 

That's when one of those rare theatrical treats you crave kicks in. It was like I had been staring at a slightly blurred photograph when suddenly it snaps into focus. Everything made sense after that revelation. This scene is a microcosm of the dreamlike opening. Of course the dialogue was overlapping - sisters having this sort of fraught conversation don't politely wait for each other to finish their lines. Of course Marlene was getting increasingly drunk. And of course the stories those historical and fictional women were telling related directly to this moment in devastating fashion. It is brilliantly written and brilliantly performed by Burns and Churchman. Where Virginia Moore Price had let the cast run riot in the opening here she embraces stillness especially as we close on Burns as the lights dim; Marlene broken down and vulnerable in direct counterpoint to her sly bitchiness and confidence in the preceding scene. It's a sublime ending.

Solonje Burns is superb throughout. Suzannah Churchman matches her in that exquisite final scene. Emilia Lawonski makes an impressive community theatre debut as Angie in a very physical performance as the awkward teen. The cast as a whole are terrific - Jenny Howard, Sarah Plummer, Vicky Williams, Georgina Teakle, Giordana Marra, Kelly Cleary, and Amanda Langton. 

As is the creative team Virginia Moore Price has put together including Merri Ford's costume design, choreographer Amanda Watson, and props & stage art work by Kresna, while Price also did set, lighting and sound design. 

You hope going in to get a good story, well told. Sometimes you get a great story, exceptionally well told. 

Top Girls is on at the Stirling Theatre until July 20 and is a must see. 

Frozen Jr. - The Production Academy (5 July 2024)

One of the most recognisable songs from Frozen is Do You Want To Build A Snowman (it's an an ear worm I've been singing in my head ever since the show finished) and in a lovely early scene Young Anna (Lucia Sodano) and Young Elsa (Anna Secker) do just that with toys and magic because, hey, who wants to sleep when you can make Olaf? It's an important moment in a couple of ways - it sets the tone for the thoroughly charming and entertaining 65 minute production but also this: do you want to build a viable pathway to train talented youngsters in the music theatre space? 

Okay, maybe not as pithy as the song title. However, when I look at the professional creatives who've brought this show to life such as producer Christie Blizzard, director Dixie Farinosi, and costumer designer Nicole Jenkins; the impressive production values; and the roster of young performers onstage you get the sense of a true springboard for our potential future stars. This is reinforced by what amounts to a mission statement in the (very polished) souvenir programme about assembling the strongest Creative Team and ensuring the Company has access to the best training available. In this sense the show is a roaring success. 

It also hits the mark with its key audience demographic - children, of which there were many in attendance - who know the story, all the songs, and the cast of memorable characters. "What should we call him?" was met with an immediate chorus of "Olaf!" at the end of that scene. I witnessed a young girl stand and turn in utter fascination as she watched Hans (Lachlan Stevens) and several of the ensemble ascend the aisle in search of Elsa. In the finale, as the whole company filled the aisles on either side, two even younger girls high-fived Bronte McLennan (Anna) with such glee as their dad beamed. Anneka McLennan's rendition of  the iconic Let It Go was greeted with rapturous applause as were the cast at final bows. 

The show looks fabulous with bright and vibrant lighting design by Richard Timms which was perhaps best showed off during In Summer with the juxtaposition of cold and warm colours as snowbound Olaf dreams of warmer climes. The lighting is also cleverly woven into the crisply projected images on the rear of the stage that depict all the various locations. The costuming by Jenkins invokes the well known appearance of the characters from the movie and there are a couple of magical costume reveals for both Anna and Elsa at different stages. The design for Olaf is a delight as is the representation of Sven the reindeer. 

Sound designer Mason Vellios and vocal director Veronika Panzic have created a well balanced soundscape though occasionally the exuberance of the singing overshadows the backing track which is unusual but a sign of the enthusiasm of the principal cast. Farinosi and choreographer Kenisha Yam make very good use of the large ensemble and performance space with Hygge being a notable, feel good highlight. There are also some very clever transitions as Young Elsa & Anna become Middle Anna (Lilia Sodano) and Middle Elsa (Macy Daley); and when Anna, Kristoff (Walter Gittens) and co are cast off the mountain. You can see and feel the attention to detail that has gone into staging the production across all disciplines. There's even some extra razzle dazzle with a barrage of unexpected pyrotechnics as a well earned, visual exclamation mark. 

I was impressed with the performances across the board but the ones to especially catch the eye were Olivia James who displayed terrific comedic chops as Olaf; an expressive Bronte McLennan as Anna; her twin sister Anneka McLennan who is far more stoic by comparison as Elsa; Walter Gittens exuded a relaxed stage presence as Kristoff that was oddly compelling; and Addison Blizzard who ramped up the energy as Oaken. Lachlan Stevens gets to play a nice character reveal while Milla Sweeney amused with a fussy portrayal of Weselton. 

A well-staged production that looked and sounded fabulous with a young cast of varying ages that promises bright things for the future. 

Photos by Stephen Heath Photography