Top Ten Shows - Fringe World 2016

I do love a good list and while it is impossible for one reviewer to see anything but a fraction of the 700+ strong programme this is as good an excuse as any. I ended up seeing 32 Fringe shows – 27 that I was comp’d to review, 4 as a paying audience member, and 1 that was also an adjudication for the Finley Awards (and therefore can’t be considered here).

The overall standard was very high and there are a couple of shows that were desperately unlucky not to make the final list. I also had a shortlist of some 17 performers for 7 slots so that proved a difficult decision to whittle down as well.

My greatest impression from this year’s Fringe is the absolute value of storytelling skill. The ability to craft an engaging tale and execute it well is priceless. You know it when you see it; you feel its absence when it’s not quite there. This list is testament to that skill.

Here is my Top Ten:

1. La Soiree - La Soiree Australia

This was a true spectacle that combined world class entertainers with unbelievable feats of athleticism.

"I felt like a young boy again sitting in wide-eyed wonder as my brain tried to comprehend what my eyes were seeing. Thankfully my hands retained the ability to clap non-stop while the vocal chords hollered on their own accord. My grey matter lurched at the sheer improbability of feats I couldn’t even dream were humanly possible."

2. 17 Border Crossings - Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental

Thaddeus Phillips exhibited tremendous storytelling ability with exceptional stagecraft. Enthralling.

3. The Great Ridolphi - The Last Great Hunt

Beautifully crafted script, cleverly staged, and supremely acted by Steve Turner.

4. Bx - Becc Sanderson

Nostalgia may have led me to buy a ticket but the performance itself was testament to Sanderson's potent vocal ability 27 years on from those early days of The Sweet Blue Midnights. 

5. Dr Felicity Rickshaw's Celebrity Sex Party - Holland St Productions

The award winning creative team of Tyler Jacob Jones and Robert Woods present their raunchiest concoction yet.

"This is raunchy, laugh out loud funny, and performed with verve and chutzpah. There’s also a touch of pathos to ground the shenanigans but ultimately you’ll know in your heart that love truly is the driving force in the universe."  

6. Impromptunes: The Completely Improvised Musical - Impromptunes

A riotous and impressive demonstration of an ensemble cast totally in tune with each other and the musical theatre form.

"One of the beauties of Impromptunes is that no two shows will ever be alike. It’s the genius of the premise that sees a completely self contained one hour musical performed every night. Not even the cast know what’s going to happen or even what the topic is going to be."

7. Tonsils + Tweezers - Black Swan State Theatre Company

The second play in the Loaded double bill, this showcased writer-director Will O'Mahony's adeptness with cracking dialogue and a few surprises along the way.

"O’Mahony’s dialogue is exceptional and he clearly has a love for language, words and wordplay. It all races towards a surprising conclusion that is cathartic for both the eponymous duo and, dare I say it, the audience."

8. Sincerely Yours... A New Musical - Stray Cats Theatre Company and Mad Cats Theatre Company

An originally written musical with an impressive score and ambitious book that featured several current WAAPA students and alumni.

"... this was a mature and accomplished piece of musical theatre with an excellent score and well delivered songs that had some great moments of genuinely affecting dramatic acting."

9. Viva La Restoration - The Midnite Youth Theatre Company

Another originally written musical that had been reworked from its 2013 debut at UWA. It is very heartening to see two locally originated musicals do so well at Fringe.

"Plaudits go to Messrs. Griggs, Owen and Silberstein on continuing to develop this 90 minute, one act musical. It’s a devilishly tricky form to get right and this is an enjoyable production that showcases great potential for future endeavours. A recommended addition to the local music theatre scene." 

10. A Sting in the Tale - Richard McKenzie

A total sleeper that came out of nowhere for me. This was stitch inducing funny and McKenzie had such a naturally engaging ability as a spinner of hilarious yarns.

"All of these stories were told with such flair and great comic sensibility. There was a poignant moment at the end that circles back to his father that was touching and funny. This was an excellent way to end the night and the venue was perfect as an intimate setting for McKenzie to work in."

Male Performer of Fringe - Thaddeus Phillips

Excelled in all facets of a multi-layered one man show (17 Border Crossings) that was funny, engaging, thought provoking and showcased impressive stagecraft.

Female Performer of Fringe - Amy Russotti 

I had not come across Russotti before but her performance as the dowdy Amy and especially her alter-ego Dr. Felicity Rickshaw was a comic tour de force.  

Special Mentions:

Lincoln Vickery - gave an assured and likable performance in Tonsils + Tweezers delivering O'Mahony's rat-tat-tat dialogue with relish.

Becc Sanderson - if nothing else her Cry Me A River was one of the highlights of Fringe. Hopefully she'll be back in Perth soon. 

Olivia Everett - has a real knack for playing comic tinged characters and in Viva La Restoration she shone as the lead. 

Steve Turner - the local answer to Thaddeus Phillips with a wonderful showing in The Great Ridolphi that was beautifully nuanced.

Andre Drysdale - a complete revelation in Sincerely Yours with his acting ability matching his vocal talent to impressive effect. 

So there it is. Another Fringe World for me done and dusted. Thank you to all the performers, publicists and producers who contacted me and provided tickets. Apologies to those I couldn't squeeze in. The earlier the notice the better! 

Viva La Restoration - Fringe World 2016 (11 February 2016)

Imagine a world where colour doesn’t exist. Where people only vaguely recall it from a children’s fairy tale about golden and crimson monsters battling black and white knights. Where the powers-that-be consider colour dangerous as it incites emotions such as red for anger, blue for sorrow, yellow for fear, and orange for… well, let’s forget about orange for the moment.

Of course, this horrifying dystopian nightmare is quite familiar to anyone who is colour-blind (raises hand sheepishly). But this is the premise for the originally written musical Viva La Restoration or, more accurately the reworked version as this initially premiered back in 2013. Back then it was under the auspices of the University Dramatic Society (UDS). Featuring the same creative team of Jackson Griggs (Music) with Book and Lyrics by Thomas Owen and Cal Silberstein, this production has now been picked up by The Midnite Youth Theatre Company and directed by Gregory Jones.

It stars an excellent young cast of musical theatre performers, headlined by Olivia Everett as the whimsical Gwen Archer; Rupert Williamson as the intense Elias Kane; and Erin Craddock as Mayor Vera Donahue. To quell stirrings of unrest in this black and white world, Craddock’s Mayor announces a competition where Archer’s painting of an eye trumps Kane’s own creation. Both, however, are dissatisfied as something is missing. That something is of course colour that each discover in startlingly different ways. Archer through seeing colour in the eyes of her friend Lucy (Amy Fortnum) and Kane in more brutal fashion as red blood flows freely from one of his admirers Anna Meeler (Amber Kitney).

While Archer sets off to find the almost mythic Professor Perkins (Ben McAllister) who was banished for insisting that colour exists, Kane dazzles the local populace with his bloody art. Red becomes all the rage. The Mayor, advised by a bumbling duo of Councillors (Daniel Kirkby and Kieran Lynch), struggles to keep things under control, instructing her chief enforcer Officer Ambrose (Luke Wilson) to restore the monochromatic peace. It all ends in a showdown between Kane’s towering ambition fuelled by blood and Archer’s childlike idealism aided by the Professor’s dubious science in the creation of true colour.

The show started a little slowly but I really enjoyed this. The predominantly black and white design in costuming and projected images with splashes of colour, particularly red, is striking. The lighting also created great atmosphere with movable wooden frames holding old fashioned blinds rearranged in different combinations to diffuse light and provide the background for those images.

It showcased an excellent piano and guitar driven score that was very well played by the band of Ben Hogan (Keyboard/Conductor), Josiah Padmanabham (Guitar/Keyboard), Gwyneth Gardiner (Bass) and Andrew Silberstein (Drums) that added a lot of mood and texture.

Everett continues to impress with a deft comic touch that I really enjoy. Williamson was all brooding malevolence while Craddock presented a sleek and stern Mayor. Kirkby and Lynch worked well together as comic foils while Fortnum’s change in allegiances was heightened by the earnest loyalty she imbued Lucy with. McAllister gave an offbeat performance as the Professor but gets away with it because we immediately recognise the mad scientist archetype. The ensemble provides great support with strong vocal talent amongst its ranks.

Unlike their previous collaboration How We Ruined MacArthur’s Markers where the lyrics attempted a Sondheim level of complexity, the songs here are simpler and far more effective because of it. Highlights included the dark Living Masterpiece and the lovely Horribly Horrible where Everett’s Archer, faced with the failure of her quest, sings of how she wanted statues. Yes, both lead characters are not short of ego!

But this is one of my quibbles – it took a while for the show to settle into a groove that I thought I’d found when Archer meets the Professor and we get some shtick and the light-hearted I Believe In You. Ah, musical comedy, of course! The very next scene dashed that thought entirely when things took a very dark turn indeed. These two competing tones battled each other throughout the production – the light comedy styling that Everett pulls off so well versus the intense psychological drama that Williamson embodied. It sort of works as both represent diametrically opposed forces on the colour spectrum but the changes in style could, at times, be jarring.

The other minor suspension of disbelief issue emanates from the Book – in a colourless world colour exists in nature as depicted by the eyes and the flow of blood. It was as if no-one had ever noticed this before, not even after a minor cut or scratch.

Other than that this was well played, well sung, looked terrific and featured a great young cast. Plaudits go to Messrs. Griggs, Owen and Silberstein on continuing to develop this 90 minute, one act musical. It’s a devilishly tricky form to get right and this is an enjoyable production that showcases great potential for future endeavours. A recommended addition to the local music theatre scene.  

Viva La Restoration is on at the Subiaco Arts Centre until 20 February.  

How We Ruined MacArthur's Markers - Ludicrous Displays (24 June 2015)

One of the exciting things about independent theatre in Perth at the moment is that there are new emerging creative teams that are young, ambitious, and staging challenging work. They are surrounded by a troupe of regular performers such as the case with Ludicrous Displays that appears to have its origins at UWA. Members of the production team, cast and band have worked together recently in varying combinations on productions such as the musicals Spring Awakening and Assassins, as well as The Importance of Being Earnest. Here, however, not only are they presenting an original musical comedy but a revival of said show! I understand this is a pared down version of the original incarnation with more emphasis on comedy and a smaller cast number with the chorus removed.

There may be nothing more challenging in the performing arts than writing musical theatre, in this instance a 90 minute one act musical comedy. Last year I saw a couple of (good) productions that were billed as musicals but felt more like plays with songs. There is a crucial difference and How We Ruined MacArthur’s Markers certainly is a musical with the songs moving the narrative forward and informing the story. In the early going though the songs felt like they were striving to be too clever with overly elaborate word play and rhyming patterns. This meant that they were not, as Sondheim himself made mocking reference to in Merrily We Roll Along, “humma-mamumma-mamum-mable melodies”. Once this settled down the show found a nice groove and was much stronger after the mechanics of the set-up.

The story itself was a little hazy for mine as I wasn’t entirely clear on motivations and backstory but the decision to de-emphasise the drama and push the comedy meant it kind of gets away with it. In essence, the Patriarch has died leaving his eldest son Marcus (James Cohen) in charge of a business that sells pens. Unbeknownst to that heir he has a brother Felix (Ben Thomas) who still lives with their mother who is dying of *cough cough* The Cancer. He applies for a job at the company but doesn’t reveal his true identity while charged with saving it from demise and falling for the Head of R&D, Erica (Amy Fortnum). Marcus has a close relationship with his financial advisor Lewis (Sven Ironside) while loathing his mother Lillian (Olivia Everett). All the while company lawyer Alexandra (Madeline Crofts) amuses herself with booze and writing severance agreements. Ultimately plans are hatched and plots are gleefully foiled.

It’s told in flashback with Crofts’ boozy lawyer giving a wry, almost film noir style commentary on events as she immediately breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience. It’s a jaunty performance that is snarky and funny as the lawyer becomes increasingly drunk at a bar recounting the tale. Crofts also has an excellent voice as she demonstrated in Spring Awakening and her showpiece number More Fun That Way as she extols the virtues of booze is a highlight.

The other standout is Ironside playing the loyal and protective advisor who is wary of Felix typified by his number Head Down. He has some funny moments but it is in the more dramatic aspects that he excels. Cohen has perhaps the most unforgiving role as the son who fails to live up to his father’s business acumen and is unaware of who Felix really is. I never really understood the venom he directs towards his mother but Cohen has a strong moment in the second ballad of the show after his own personal epiphany. Thomas, who was impressive as Algernon in Earnest, displays a very good singing voice but is essentially playing the straight man role (and mummy’s boy) and he does this with unadorned, ahem, earnestness.

Fortnum gives Erica a bubbly persona that is a nice counterpoint to Alexandra’s cynicism and she has the strongest song with the ballad Just A Little, itself a catchphrase that is paid off nicely. Everett continues to impress with her comedic talents playing another off-kilter character in the supposedly *cough cough* cancer-ridden mother who manipulates her son and anyone who gets in her way. The conceit is that she’s playing a much older character but her showpiece You’re Fired is feisty and sassy. The band of Benjamin Hogan (keyboard), Scott Collison (reed), Gwyneth Gardiner (bass) and Rosie Taylor (drums) under the baton of Jackson Griggs plays the jazz influenced score well though there were times they were a little too loud for the unmiked singers.    

This started a little slowly but had a certain charm with some genuinely funny moments and, when not trying to over-impress with lyrical dexterity, good songs. How We Ruined MacArthur’s Markers is playing in the studio at the Subiaco Arts Centre until 27 June. Book and Lyrics by Thomas Owen and Cal Silberstein with Music by Jackson Griggs, it is directed by Owen and stars Ben Thomas, James Cohen, Amy Fortnum, Olivia Everett, Sven Ironside, and Madeline Crofts.