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. 

Bright Star - WAAPA (2nd Year Musical Theatre) - 13 November 2021

The second-year cohort introduced themselves to the public with this toe-tapping and thoroughly charming production written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. I was delighted by its slow southern drawl and banjo-picking depiction of North Carolina in the 1920s and 1940s as the ramifications of a harrowing personal event are played out. Aspects of the story do strain credulity but it’s carried by an excellent score and such enthusiasm that you can discard such misgivings. 

All departments are on top of their game, from the wooden beams and crates of the main set design (Charlotte Meagher) that reminded me of a huge barn; to the eight-piece orchestra (MD Craig Dalton) that added so much to the pace and mood of the story. The music brings an authenticity of time and place, reinforced by the period costuming of Nicole Denholm. It's a handsome production with the lighting design (Shannon O’Neill) creating additional locations, notably the riverside. Kudos to sound designer Dale Kerrison, especially during a critical reveal in the second half. 

There are joyous moments aplenty as the orchestra ups the tempo and choreographer Jayne Smeulders has the cast kick up their heels in such numbers as 'Another Round'. But Director Adam Mitchell also brings plenty of dramatic chops to the darker elements; one set on a train that actually had my jaw drop as a terrible act unfolds. 

Then there’s the cast. It’s always a joy to see a new cohort for the first time and there are plenty of bright stars amongst this group. The vocal talent of the principals is outstanding with all of them embracing the southern twang but I was particularly impressed with Brittany Carter as the older, officious Alice Murphy; Madeleine Betts as the younger, more playful Alice; Sarah Monteau as the lovelorn Margo; and Campbell Parsons who has a voice dipped in molasses and was superb as Jimmy Ray. Betts and Parsons, one of the key couples, have excellent chemistry with ‘What Could Be Better’ a highlight, followed soon after by Betts unleashing a powerhouse vocal performance in the gripping ‘Please, Don’t Take Him’. Mentions also to Jackson Britza as the earnest writer Billy Cane freshly returned from war and Hayley Parnaby who provides comic relief and pizzaz as Lucy Grant. 

While I’d expect the singing to be good (here it’s fantastic), it’s the quality of the acting that surprised me. The nature of the story means there’s nowhere to hide with the emotional stakes involved and the cast handles those aspects well. There’s a quiet moment, for example, where Carter’s Alice lies to her father (Anthony Garcia) to spare him further pain which is beautifully handled.

The musical wraps up perhaps a little too neatly but I left the Roundhouse Theatre with only one word on my mind – wow!