She Loves Me: The Classic Broadway Musical in Concert - Western Sky Projects (10 August 2024)

Classy. The word that immediately comes to mind to describe not only this fabulous production but the entire experience at the matinee performance. From the pre-show tour of the Liberty Theatre that had lain dormant for so long in the heart of the city, to the cast interacting with the audience before the Prelude, to the joy of the show itself, and the post-show Q and A, this was sheer class from top to bottom.

While the two sold out evening shows catered to an audience of some 160, the matinee was specifically tailored to be a more intimate affair of around sixty. The tour conducted by director, co-producer, and Western Sky founder, Andrew Baker, along with cast member Noah Humich (Arpad Lazslo) was a lovely touch. Especially given that the Humich family has played such a significant role in bringing the space back to life and is committed to developing more arts venues in the city precinct. There was an inescapable authenticity and enthusiasm as Humich guided us around the heritage listed venue. This included passing through the green room where the cast was preparing. We will return to the significance of this later. Another benefit of the tour - front row seats!

Mark Flower Photography

The performers, all fabulously costumed, enter and begin to mingle with the audience. I'm asked what perfume I would like to sample by stylishly attired Chris Gerrish in character as Ladislav Sipos, an employee of Maraczek's Parfumerie. The year is 1934. The place, Budapest, Hungary. The rustic nature of the Liberty suits this perfectly. There may not be a $100,000 set but what we do have is a multi-tiered series of platforms that give the perfume shop depth; great set decoration and props; and the inventive deployment of furniture and lamps in the wings to efficiently depict other settings. Set design by Trace Co with effective lighting design by Production and Lighting Facilitator Adelaide Harney. 

Then there's this - the four piece orchestra, stage left. Who begin to play under Musical Director Joshua Haines who's also on keys. We quickly come to realise that this is a sublime score that is expertly played by Haines, Alex Barker on drums, Cooper Williams on trumpet, and Ruth Klein Cook whose violin playing elicits so much emotion in what we will soon recognise as a wittily realised romantic comedy. 

Indeed, this is but one incarnation from the original 1937 play Parfumerie that will also see the Hollywood movie adaptation You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Here our lead characters, Georg Nowack and Amalia Balash, are wonderfully played by Will Groucutt and Amy Fortnum. Georg and Amalia, in a classic romantic comedy trope, immediately dislike each other whilst unknowingly communicating back and forth by letter. Shenanigans ensue. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1963 and, again, there's a real sense of class all over the writing, the songs, and the music.

Mark Flower Photography

Baker has put together an exceptional cast - the vocal talent across the board is superb; the acting is excellent; the comic timing and staging impeccable. You can sense a real camaraderie between the performers. Yes, the production is described as "in concert" which means performers will often have script in hand but this in no way detracted from the overall experience.  

Fortnum sings superbly with Act One closer Dear Friend one of many highlights. She displays very good comedic chops, especially in the second act with numbers such as Where's My Shoe? Groucutt impresses as Georg realises the entanglement he's in before embracing the possibility of love. Showcasing an expressive singing voice, Groucutt combines beautifully with Fortnum vocally. 

Lainey O'Sullivan has a lovely arc as her jaded Ilona Ritter ends up finding love in an unexpected place with that trajectory perfectly personified by, firstly, the defiant I Resolve to the charming A Trip To The Library. Ryan Hunt as Steven Kodaly might be the closest thing to a villain of the piece as Kodaly woos then abandons Ilona while also fraternising way above his pay grade with all sorts of ramifications. 

Gerrish brings a light touch to Ladislav Sipos and is so good in support of comic set pieces such as the visit to the Cafe Imperiale where Georg goes to meet his pen pal for the first time. Speaking of that sequence, Robert Hoffman makes for a magnificent Head Waiter adding another potent singing voice while bringing the funny in spades. 

Mark Flower Photography

Robbie Burns adds an understated gravitas as Mr. Maraczek while Humich is all youthful eagerness as Arpad transforms into Mr. Lazslo. There's also an embarrassment of riches in the ensemble with Alan O'Neill, Jess Clancy, Sophia Matthews, Lindsay McNab, Lynzie Bremner, Andrew Baker himself, and, in a delightful surprise, Cooper Williams jumped out of his chair in the orchestra to participate in the fun! This all comes together in perhaps my favourite moment which was like a movie montage - Twelve Days to Christmas where the cast becomes increasingly frenetic as festive season sales boom. 

Special mention to Sound Designer Michael Fletcher who I spoke to earlier in the year to better understand how critical his work is to shows such as this. Humich had mentioned in the tour how good he thought the acoustics at the venue were but I suspect a lot of skill and effort has gone into ensuring that the balance and clarity between the performers and the orchestra was so good. 

To finish, after rapturous applause at final bows, the Question and Answer session hosted by Jess Clancy was insightful. Two observations that were notable - the 'in concert' approach meant that the cast, many of whom have full time jobs, were able to do the show as they didn't have to spend so much time absorbing the text. Then Amy Fortnum, also a co-producer, spoke so passionately about what musical theatre could and should be and how she wanted to break down the fourth wall between audience and performer, hence the trip through the green room and the cast mingling with the audience before and during the show.  

This was an exceptional afternoon. If the final show hadn't already been sold out I would have been sorely tempted to buy a ticket and go right back in to watch it again. 

Western Sky Projects' ethos of supporting local talent for the benefit of performers and audience alike is genuine. Taking a risk as a not-for-profit production company on a Broadway classic that hasn't been performed in Perth in over fifty years at a venue that hasn't been in regular use for over forty is laudable to say the least. 

The fact that it ended up as a triumph is a testament to the vision, creativity, talent, and hard work of all involved. 

Catch Me If You Can The Musical - Koorliny Arts Centre (14 June 2023)

The suit jacket. Elegant, refined, a mark of status and authority in the sixties. With the right jacket, well, you could be most anyone. A substitute teacher, an airline co-pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, even an FBI agent. After you served a few years in jail for bank fraud of course. It also helps if you have charm, confidence, and the ability to churn milk into butter, mouse-like. This is the tale that awaits us in the musical adaptation of the movie Catch Me If You Can, itself an adaptation of the book written by our charming protagonist Frank William Abagnale Junior. A young man who conned his way across America and beyond, cashing forged cheques that eventually totalled in the millions.

It is significant then that costuming plays a prominent role in this production staged at the Koorliny Arts Centre. Frank Jr. (Joshua Firman) is coming to us Live In Living Colour where his attire marks his progression from teenage runaway to notorious ‘paperhanger’ and all the professions he brazenly inhabits. By contrast, his nemesis, FBI agent Carl Hanratty, and his associates are doomed to don “black and white” as Hanratty doggedly pursues the con-man until the bitter end. It is a lovely touch when Firman sheds the garb of jacket (and tie) once Frank Jr’s goose is cooked and all pretence has finally been dropped.

The ensemble, even more so, is given a wonderful array of colourful and sixties-styled costumes from sleek airline hostess outfits to the risqué nurses’ uniforms in the Act 2 attention grabber Doctor’s Orders which sets young Frank’s heart all a flutter and jolts the audience out of any post-intermission lull. Excellent work by Head of Wardrobe Lyn Leeder and Costume Assistant Neroli Sweetman.

But back to our story. I rewatched the Spielberg movie starring Leo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and Christopher Walken a couple of nights ago to familiarise myself again with the plot. I wondered how certain aspects would translate into a musical. The answer in the Book by Terrence McNally, Music by Marc Shaiman, and Lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman is to break the fourth wall, go meta and turn the whole thing into a ‘show’ and blast through exposition in the early musical numbers. It is all so breezy, fast paced, and cheeky that the conceit works an absolute treat. In this it is helped immeasurably by a swinging 60s-themed score, stylish choreography by Kate Leeder, and the substantial stage presence of Joshua Firman in the lead role.

Firman brings considerable charm, acting chops, and the best singing voice I have heard at Koorliny if not in all the community theatre shows I have attended over the years. He soars vocally in the penultimate song Goodbye and sings throughout with such joy that it is palpable. There is a twinkle in his eye which hints at the childlike wonder Frank Jr. feels when he lucks into his next con. But there is also the hurt over the failure of his parents’ marriage which is a contributing factor in Frank Jr’s behaviour.

He is well-matched with two other important performances. Chris Gerrish is excellent as the FBI agent determined to get his man, Carl Hanratty. Interestingly, a lot of the pathos in the tragic figure of Frank Sr. played with understated brilliance by Walken in the movie, is transferred to Hanratty in the musical. This is most apparent in the blues-infused number The Man Inside The Clues. Gerrish also excels leading the showy Don’t Break The Rules. The closing number Stuck Together (Strange But True) sees Firman and Gerrish play off each other to great effect and it’s clear that there is a real onstage camaraderie at work here.

The other performance is by Matilda Jenkins as Brenda Strong who appears as the love interest in the second act. Jenkins makes for a forthright and competent Brenda and has a show stopping moment with her wonderful solo Fly, Fly Away which echoed another Shaiman & Wittman song, I Know Where I’ve Been from Hairspray.

John Taylor gives a perfectly fine performance as Frank Abagnale Sr but the role as written somehow feels diminished. Here, Frank Sr. is pitched more as a man who falls into booze after his wife betrays him rather than a far more complicated and tragic figure in Frank Jr’s life. He shares a heartwarming father-son duet with Firman in Butter Outta Cream and, similarly, the confrontation between Frank Sr. and Hanratty turns into the buddy number Little Boy Be A Man.  In both cases the feel-good mood dictated by the overall tone of the musical undercuts the troubled nature of a man Frank Jr. looked up to and wanted to make whole again.

Other performances that caught the eye include Catherine Archer’s classily staged Don’t Be A Stranger and Rp van der Westhuizen’s bumbling agent who reminded me of an exaggerated version of Oscar Wallace played by Charles Martin Smith in The Untouchables.  

This is a show with a magnetic lead performance, an excellent supporting cast, and an ensemble who all look the part and play up to the inherent fun and sexiness of their multi-faceted roles. The numbers are breezy and well sung (Musical Director Kate McIntosh) with Director Katherine Freind delivering a high energy, brisk production that looks and sounds fantastic.

I would not be surprised if this show features heavily in Finley Award nominations at the end of the year. It is a shining example of the best of community theatre in Perth.