There was a memorable photo a few weeks ago. The combined casts (in costume) and crews of the four big musicals playing in Melbourne at the time – Wicked, Les Miserables, The King and I, and The Rocky Horror Show – had gathered on the steps of State Parliament House to celebrate what was being coined the East End theatre district. It sowed the seed of an idea, one that came to fruition over the last few days.
I organised time off work, booked flights and a hotel in the
heart of the city, and purchased tickets to three of those musicals, Rocky
Horror having finished its run.
I decided
if I was going to do this that I would get good tickets. I didn’t want to
travel to the other side of the country to sit forty rows back. That proved a
little expensive but so be it. The other key component of the trip was to see a
football game at the famed MCG, a venue I had never been to. Fortuitously, a
blockbuster was on the cards, Geelong versus Hawthorn. It was to be a lightning
trip – three shows and a football game in three days.
First up was Wicked, a show that was all kinds of
spectacular. The production was just around the corner in the lovely Regent
Theatre in Collins Street. I had a third row seat that was deliciously close to
the action, only spoiled somewhat by the six foot tall dude who sat in front of
me [insert expletive deleted here]. This really was an impressive show. Lucy
Durack was excellent as the comic foil, playing Glinda, and gave a really perky
performance with a healthy dose of physical comedy. But it was Jemma Rix as
Elphaba who was truly outstanding. Steve Danielson was an immensely likeable
Fiyero, Anne Wood had a little Hunger Games going on as Madame Morrible, and
Emily Cascarino quietly shone as Nessarose. The rest of the supporting cast,
including the venerable Reg Livermore as The Wizard, were terrific.
The set was elaborately constructed and moved like
clockwork, no surprise given that clock faces and gears were a recurring motif.
The lighting was superb and this was a glorious production to look at. The
Wizard’s “giant head” prop was something to be seen (and heard) but curiously
the mechanical dragon that loomed above it all was used only in the Overture
never to be revisited. The costuming was colourful and inventive, particularly
the flying monkeys and the whole thing was slickly produced, sounded great, and
was firing on all cylinders. I particularly liked how clever the writing was,
incorporating familiar elements from The Wizard of Oz but shining them through
the prism of a classic storytelling ‘what if?’ What if Glinda the Good and The
Wicked Witch of the West had once been friends? Memo to George Lucas – THIS is
how you do a prequel about a person’s descent to the dark side!
Wicked has maybe the best end
to an Act One ever, certainly that I’ve seen. The staging, lighting, singing
and special effects work on Defying Gravity was outstanding and left the
audience gasping in appreciation as they broke for Intermission. What a way to
kick off my musicals junket!
Speaking of Act One closes, the next production has a pretty
decent one as well! Yes, One Day More sung by the massed company from Les
Miserables with the orchestra in top form is stirring and memorable. This was a
monumental almost three hour show that featured 16 WAAPA graduates including
Simon Gleeson as Jean Valjean who gave a fine performance in such a demanding
role. His Bring Him Home was a highlight but there were so many here. The
orchestra was superb (Musical Director & Conductor, Geoffrey Castles) and
the iconic score sounded wonderful in Her Majesty’s Theatre. The stage somehow
didn’t seem as big as the Regent’s so this felt quite intimate even seven rows
back. And yes, for the second night in a row a tall dude sat right in front of
me [insert more expletives deleted].
The set was quite simple for the first third featuring
mainly backdrops until the wings unfolded when we get to Paris and all sorts of
trickery comes into play that was really quite impressive. There was extensive
use of smoke and dry ice throughout to diffuse the light but also a lot of
shadow and silhouette with characters entering from and receding into darkness
that was visually compelling in key dramatic moments. Unfortunately, a side
effect of so much smoke was the amount of coughing from the audience that was
vaguely preposterous and increasingly annoying in the quieter moments. The use
of projections was inventive with a particularly memorable sequence recreating
the sewers under Paris. I’m still trying to work out how they did Javert’s
death which was utterly filmic in its execution.
Hayden Tee was a worthy adversary as Javert with Kerrie Anne
Greenland excellent as Eponine. Emily Langridge and Euan Dodge worked well
together as Cosette and Marius while Lara Mulcahy and Trevor Ashley gave an
hilarious comic performance as the Thenardier’s with Master of the House a
highlight. The Ensemble was also terrific and this is a show where they get
their own moments to shine such as Lovely Ladies and, of course, the work on
the Barricades which was nicely designed and executed (pardon the pun). Patrice
Tipoki gave a heart-wrenching performance as Fantine with, as ever, I Dreamed A
Dream an early highlight.
Special mentions to the young boy who played
Gravoche who was amusingly cocky; and the young girl who gave a lovely
rendition of Castle on a Cloud. All in all a rousing production that sounded
superb vocally and musically.
The final production of the trip was the newly minted Helpmann
Award winning Best Musical for 2014, The King and I. What immediately strikes
you is this – Lisa McCune is a star. She gives a commanding performance (pun
fully intended) and, I must say, looked stunning in an assortment of costumes
befitting the period. McCune sings beautifully, shows a deft touch with the
younger cast members, and had good chemistry with Lou Diamond Phillips
especially in the more comic sequences. Phillips, while perhaps not that strong
a vocalist, gives a charismatic performance and is clearly enjoying himself in
the role of the King of Siam. He delighted the audience at final bows, hamming
it up a little as the curtains closed.
The costumes are sumptuous and there is an array of gorgeous
drapes that provide backdrops throughout. The set itself is very simple
especially when compared to the intricacies involved with Wicked and Les
Miserables. I also found it a quite static production which is perhaps as much
to do with its construction (it is, after all, 63 years old) rather than the
staging – long dialogue passages with many of the set piece songs essentially a
featured performer or duets only. It’s not until
The Small House of Uncle Thomas in the Second Act that there’s real
movement and, of course,
Shall We Dance?
that soon follows.
The child cast are charming and each has a featured moment during
the introduction to the King’s children. Adrian Li Donni (as Lun Tha) and
Vivien Emsworth (who played Tuptim for this performance) had a couple of lovely
duets as the illicit lovers in We Kiss In
A Shadow and I Have Dreamed while
Marty Rhone was suitable stern and officious as The Kralahome. The orchestra
was strong and there are well-known tunes and standards here that were done
very well with McCune at the forefront (I Whistle A Happy Tune, Getting To Know
You, and Shall We Dance?). It was certainly interesting to compare the distinct
stylistic differences with its more modern brethren and it’s perhaps
appropriate that the show was staged in that grand old dame of a theatre, The
Princess.
To round out the trip I changed gears and went to the jewel
of the Australian sporting landscape where theatre of a very different kind is played.
That place is the MCG and what a stadium it is! It truly is world class and
even from the fourth level in the Olympic Stand the view was
tremendous. It was a big game too – over 72,000 to see Hawthorn play Geelong in
a blockbuster towards the end of the AFL home and away season. Only about
30,000 more people than I’ve ever seen at a football game before! I was sitting
in a predominantly Geelong section though my friend is a mad Hawks supporter
who found her voice in the second half after Hawthorn stormed back from a 5
goal deficit at half-time to win convincingly.
What did surprise me though was that the atmosphere wasn’t
quite as electric as I’d hoped – maybe it’s because I was a neutral observer
(my team was playing back in Perth) or the fact that the game itself was
actually a little lacklustre. But as a sporting venue it is quite exceptional.
I also liked the fact that we walked back into the city with a mass of people
and it was all so good-natured on a lovely Saturday evening. In fact, I was
lucky with the weather throughout this trip.
Finally, I was fortunate enough to talk with WAAPA graduate
Ben Hall (ensemble, Marius understudy) after Les Miserables, and Tim Cunniffe
(assistant Musical Director and keyboards) after The King and I who were both
generous with their time providing interesting insights into their respective
shows. It was inspiring to see so many WAAPA graduates in all three
musicals, with headliners coming from the acclaimed academy – Lucy Durack
(Wicked), Simon Gleeson (Les Miserables), and Lisa McCune (The King and I).
As I prepare to watch the next round of WAAPA acting and musical
theatre productions in the coming week it is a timely reminder of the sheer amount
of talent being trained right in our own backyard to be the next generation of Australian
theatre stars.
It proved to be a wonderful trip and an inspired decision to
go.
