Review: Muriel's Wedding

Muriel's Wedding: The Musical
Global Creatures in association with Sydney Theatre Company
23 March 2019
Her Majesty's Theatre
to 16 June
murielsweddingthemusical.com

"Muriel's Wedding". Melbourne. Photo by Jeff Busby

A new Australian musical. A phrase full of so much hope and an equal amount of fear; goodness, we've seen some duds. A musical adaption of a film. A phrase full of ... yep, we've seen them, too.  Muriel's Wedding: The Musical is both and, as Muriel and Rhonda would say, it's fucking amazing, and, legit, one of the coolest shows I've seen.

And it's ours. It feels like us, looks like us, bloody sounds like us and might be the show that runs all over the world.

In 1994, PJ Hogan's film Muriel's Wedding was an unexpected hit. If you haven't seen it, you should because a lot of the love for this musical comes from knowing, loving and referencing the film. Future productions may be able to step away from the source, but not yet.

With Hogan adapting his film script and working closely with director Simon Phillips and all the collaborators, it's far from a stage version of the film. It updates the story – you know it – to today with sad and lonely Sunshine-coaster millennial Muriel being as obsessed with social media as she is with ABBA. It expands some characters, especially Betty (Muriel's mum) and Brice (Muriel's first pash) and changes enough to make it a story about now; although, it would be even cooler to lose the 1990's race jokes and have a few less fat jokes.

Most importantly, it takes the story off the subtle screen, where silence, close ups and subtext bring us into character's heads, and into a world that lets us in with song and theatricality. Here, ABBA are out of Muriel's imagination and in her life as guardian angels, who don't always know what's best for her; Brice climbs to the top of Sydney to send a text; and Betty can dance as she makes her heart breaking choice.

"Muriel's Wedding". Melbourne. Photo by Jeff Busby

The first welcome into the world is Gabriela Tylesova's design. The stage is solid-block bright colours that let the action focus to a bedroom and expand to a city – the Sydney Harbour Bridge has never looked better on a stage. And it's framed with a proscenium of fuchsia-pink leaves and petals that could be tongues, scattered with mobile phones to share Insta pics.

While the stage is blocks of colour, the costumes are full of detail so intricate that the only the person who can see it all is the person wearing it. Each design – there are about 360 costumes – starts with character and immediately lets the audience know everything about them. You might not be able to see the detail of her unique shoes  – her shoe designs! –, but you'll never be distracted because everyone is wearing scuffed black show shoes.

Every costume is perfectly a bit too much. Think 1980s Ken Done tea towels and 2010s Lisa Gorman dresses – but with much cooler detail and the colour and pattern turned up. The bridal frocks all have two, or 20, too many frills; the florals are a bit too floral; the boardies would look too much on an end-of-year team trip to Bali – even the 1970s ABBA jump suits are a bit too white. They are all magnificent.

The genius choice though was Kate Miller-Heidke (I loved her music for The Rabbits and let's not forget that she's the representing Australia in this year's Eurovision) and Keir Nuttall for the music and lyrics. (They are also partners in real life and their first baby was born during the workshop process).

Their music doesn't try to to sound like a musical. Here, music and songs don't tell the story, they take us into the hearts of the characters. In theatre, in life, in our showers and cars, we sing what we can't say, and in great musicals, every song brings us closer to the characters' truths. The Porpoise Spit girls sound like the commercial pop they love, Muriel is the heightened emotion of 80s ABBA without the succinctness of their lyrics, Nuttall describes Muriel's father Bill as sounding like a "Rolling Stones tribute act playing in the Twin Towns casino" – and he does! Because the songs start with character, it always feels natural when they sing and the music never pulls the show away from the story.

"Muriel's Wedding". Melbourne. Photo by Jeff Busby

Throw in lyrics that are better than over hearing conversations on trains, ABBA songs by ABBA,  Miller-Heidke bringing in extra for sopranos to shine, and the bonus of Andrew Hallsworth's choreography that's equally as school disco as it is slick, and, well, I'm happy that my current ear worm is a song called "Sydney".

There's plenty being written about the awesomeness of the cast and they are all spot on. With a mostly new cast from the original Sydney Theatre Company show, the production is open to personal interpretations. Our new Muriel (Natalie Abbott) and Rhonda (Stefanie Jones) are already so different from the original cast (the soundtrack is free on Spotify) that it's going to be easy to want to see every cast change over the years. Everyone is bonza, but highlights include Pippa Grandison (who was Porpoise Spit Nicole in the film) as Betty, and Christie Whelan Brown as wonderful queen bitch Tania.

Muriel's Wedding is spectacular but never relies on spectacle. It's as daggy as a backyard engagement party, but as complex as trying to describe the perfect pavlova. It's as Aussie as pineapple on pizza (the best), beetroot in a burger (also the best) and hot chips eaten at sunset at the beach with seagulls stalking you for left overs.

What Melbourne Loved in 2018, part 5

One of the many things I love about this series is making headshots optional. I love a bit of Photoshop, but photos that look like you rather than a silicone RealDoll are always better. Today's were chosen by the writers; they are perfect.

Scott Gooding
Renaissance Man

Scott Gooding trying to look like a middle aged white bloke.
Photo by Hotel - Underground Cinema

Favourite moments in 2018
First and foremost this year was Trustees at Malthouse as part of Melbourne Festival. Honest, brutal, thought provoking and funny as fuck. There are few times that theatre stops me in my tracks and I must remember to breathe, but, boy howdy, was this the show. The dissection of class, race and gender in current Australia was always handled with honesty and a daring that I rarely see now days. Also that the cast were of an age to be angry and articulate gave me hope that we all don't start to get old and complacent as theatre makers in this country. There was a true outlandish laugh at Natasha Herbert unpacking her white privilege – "I some time feel like I'm part of the problem" – and with perfect timing Tammy Anderson responded deadpan with "You are".

Fucking glorious!!! Honorable shout outs to Next Wave and the mad, joyous festival that it was. Angus Cerini's Bleeding Tree; MTC's Abigail's Party, House of Bernardo Alba and The Children; La Mama with Four Larks and Essential Theatre's Enter Ophelia, Blasted at Malthouse, and La Mama at BMI with Bachelor S17 E5. Looking at that list, some might think I have issues...

Looking forward to in 2019
Am keen on Malthouse's program for next year. Especially as I will get a chance to see Blackie Blackie Brown, which I missed this year.

23 December 2018

SM: I really really thought I'd written this. I'm so  sorry.
I loved the return of Eric, Eric the Third, at Melbourne Fringe; it was an absolute highlight. Middle-aged white straight men can do amazing comedy about middle-aged straight white men. And he wrote and performed Robert in Crisis at La Mama. This is genre writing at its best and I still don't want to give anything about this away because it really needs to be developed and seen again.

Katie Purvis
Book editor, radio presenter, theatre-goer

Katie Purvis.

Favourite moments in 2018
I saw Calamity Jane at the Fairfax in March, and nothing surpassed it for the rest of the year. I was enchanted by the playing with gender roles, the fabulous performances (both the acting and the music), the intimate staging, the whole-hearted embrace of the audience by the performers (and vice versa), the side-splitting hilarity of it all, and above all the performance of Virginia Gay in the title role.

Honourable mentions to Muriel's Wedding (in Sydney, with the original cast); Queen + Adam Lambert for the best arena concert I have ever seen; The Children by Lucy Kirkwood at MTC, which stayed in my head for weeks; Magda Szubanski's mock funeral at Melbourne Writers' Festival, an event that was stuffed full of love; and the city embracing my footy team with art and other celebrations when they made the AFL finals for the first time in 12 years.

Looking forward to in 2019
I'm looking forward to seeing Melbourne Theatre Company continue to showcase strong women on stage and behind the scenes; to catching Barbara and the Camp Dogs at the Malthouse; and to discovering more great local musicians to play on my radio show and go see live.

SM: Listen to Miss Chatelaine on Joy on Sunday mornings. Katie's a terrific interviewer. I usually only hear the end of the show, which is why I love that it's also a podcast.

Katie always finds a typo that I've missed. I love this. She's a great editor. She was the editor and outside-eye reader for the #IStandWithEJ piece I did for ArtsHub. Once she'd had a look, took out one sentence and made me fix some clarity, I knew it was ready to be filed. When writers work with other people, our writing gets better.

Sarah Collins 
Writer/performer 

Sarah Collins. Photo by Christopher Downs. 

Favourite moments in 2018
STC’s Muriel’s Wedding. I haven’t seen an entire audience jump in their collective seats the moment a show opens like we did here. The force from stage, my god. Then I cried so much in the second song in, "The Bouquet", that I could not make out the stage. Like, SOLD dudes. You’re totally blurry! You win! But then we need to talk about Christie Whelan Browne as Tania Degano. What witchcraft casting. The friend I saw the show with called me yesterday -– we’re now 11 months on from seeing it – and we were still talking about her performance. Then, of course ,the musical genius of Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall, whose collective years of people-watching in Queensland have contributed to some of the most memorable lines ever sung in an Australian musical. “The men, are men, we dress like proper men ... they can do a heap of push ups”. YOU ARE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE. And Maggie McKenna’s Muriel? Forget Gaga. This was my Star Is Born moment for 2018.

Looking forward to in 2019
Muriel’s Wedding in Melbourne. Duh!

SM: We haven't seen a new work from Sarah for a while – kids take up time – but I had many favourite moments when she and her family discovered Japan. My late-night Facebooking was filled with photos that made me want to get on a plane. Then I just got jealous. Many great stories, but the Hello Kitty Shinkansen not turning up is my favourite. It was like she'd written it herself. Ask her to tell the story.

Review: The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple
Melbourne Theatre Company
12 November 2016
The Sumner
to 17 December
mtc.com.au

Shaun Micallef, Michala Banas, Christie Whelan Browne, Francis Greenslade. Photo by Jeff Busby

“Is she pregnant? No just fat.” Boom-boom. It’s such a good week to remind us that women are best kept pretty or pregnant.

The Odd Couple is the MTC’s end-of-year already-close-enough-to-sold-out cash-cow show with Shaun Micallef as Felix, the neat-freak cow, and Francis Greenslade, as Oscar the messy bull.

The Neil Simon play opened on Broadway in 1965 and became better known by its 1968 film and the 1970’s spin-off TV series. It’s about middle-aged straight white men with comfortable incomes, and based on the absurdity that two men could live together as a couple. When Felix’s marriage breaks up, he moves in with his lonely divorced mate Oscar in his New York appartment. To make it easy to understand the ha-ha, Felix likes doing girl things like looking nice, cooking and cleaning.

And even though this feminine side creates chuckles, it’s still stronger than the women in the play. The two onstage woman talk about taking off their clothes in front of the fridge when they are hot – silly girls – but they are very pretty and their impact on the story is minimal. There are more offstage women: wives and ex-wives who annoy the men by calling on poker night (there are four poker buddies) and are complained about, laughed at and lied to.

Sure, it was written at a time when nasty women didn’t get involved in politics or write much about peecee theatre – but why bring it back? Neil Simon is a terrific writer, but would he write this now?

There’s more to the script than easy jokes, but it’s hard to see much exploration of it. There’s plenty to reflect on about men who have been broken by the end of their marriages, but Micallef crying like a buffoon and mugging does little more than resemble emotion.

It’s as hard to see irony, reflection or self awareness on the stage. Apart from the face-slap irony that Micallef and Greenslade have created some of the sharpest political satire on television. And that it’s presented by the same company that recently gave us Straight White Men, which ripped the privileged dead heart out of plays like this, and Lilith the Jungle Girl, which put a queer heart back into anyone who has never seen themselves represented on a commercial stage.

Is The Odd Couple the commercial price for these shows? But why this show? There are lots of commercial, funny, successful, money-making plays that these actors could have done. There are plays that don’t have a cast of six middle aged white men and two pretty young women.

If it’s just harmless escapism for the subscribers, who are these people who want to escape to a world that’s dominated by middle-aged straight white men who laugh about how they deceive and trick women, and think that “Chinese” food is exotic? Are they really the people who subscribe?

At least there wasn’t a pussy-grabbing gag. But maybe that would have said something about us and now.

This was on AussieTheatre.com..

Review: Rocky Horror Show 2014

Rocky Horror Show
Ambassador Theatre Group & John Frost
26 April 2014
Comedy Theatre
to 13 June 2014
rockyhorror.com.au

Having toured the UK for a year to celebrate Rocky's 40th birthday, the Australian-cast version have snapped on their fishnets in Melbourne.

It was great when it all began. So I've been told.

In the 1970s, the Rocky Horror Show was this raw subversive show that shocked mainstream theatre and found an unexpected and long-running connection with an audience who were just as raw and wild. It wasn't long after opening in London and the US, that this weird rock and roll show about a transvestite alien ran at midnight in an old cinema in a dodgy part of Glebe in Sydney. It was rough and unpredictable and, just by going, you declared that you were part of the generation ready to tell stuffy old Australia to get real and loosen up.

I know it's impossible to see that Rocky, or even one that's anything like it, but it doesn't stop me wanting to.

The current production is so far from those first ones that it's hard to even see them as the same work.

When Erika Heynatz's Usherette opens with a simply sung "Science Fiction" in front of a ripped curtain, the tone hints that it's going to be something that goes back to the roots of the show.

But it doesn't. No fishnets have holes, no makeup runs, the blood is offstage and everything is shiny sparkly and glittery clean. It's just so nice! And with an audience of lovely people who are able to buy expensive tickets and wear their best frocks and buy Rocky-branded phone covers and nail polish from the merchandise stand, it's as subversive as the big red hands in the Coles ads.

Which isn't to say it isn't good. And as a slick commercial professional production of Rocky Horror Show, it may be as good as it's ever going to be.

The design pays loving homage to the past productions (and the film) but, with the likes of a taxidermied dodo and its own curtain-call costumes, it has an originality that lets it stand alone. The cast are all ridiculously beautiful, there's no hint of a missed step or note, and each obviously love being in this show and bring something new to their so-well-known characters. Throw in a live band and a lighting design that's reminds us that it's a rock show and it's hard to fault.

And maybe that's the problem. The show's played like everyone knows exactly what's going to happen. There are no surprises. Maybe there are no surprises left? It finds its own moments (thanks Vaso), but it's such a reflection and celebration of 41 years of Rocky that it's never given the chance to be or find itself.

Which also leaves us watching the super-lovely Christie and Tim instead of Brad and Janet. And Erika, Kristian, Tony, Ashlea, Brendan and Nichols are all bloody marvellous, but none find a new truth or bring a reality to their characters that lets us care when things go bad for them.

But every Rocky is remembered for its Frank N Furter.

Since 1992, Craig McLachlan has been Frank a few times in Australia and the UK. He's hilarious and sexy and adorable, and milks every laugh he can – even before they come – then milks some more. I can't decide if his over-playing to the audience is endearing or needs to be stopped. At first it felt out of place, but he wins everyone over with his repetition and constant wink to the audience that it's all a big joke.

It may be unfair to compare Craig's Frank to Reg Livermore's 1974 Frank, especially being based on hearsay, photos and the Australian-cast recording, but Reg said this:

"My advice to any prospective Frank is this: if you're remotely concerned about whether the audience thinks you're really like that, if you care at all what an audience thinks about you personally, you'd be well advised to take off the corset and head home. Frank is like that; he's worse, and must be played that way. Frank is the fearless embodiment of all that's unspeakable, let alone the unnatural; his antics encourage many laughs, but first and foremost he presents real and terrible threat. Never forget, the audience must be wary of him, they should never take their eyes off him, and if they do it's at their peril."

Now that's a Frank and a Rocky Horror Show I'd love to see.

This was on AussieTheatre.com

Photo by Jeff Busby.

Review: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 
John Frost
27 October 2012
Her Majesty's Theatre
to December 15
funnything.com.au

After the degustation of emotion, politics and confrontation of the Melbourne Festival, what better than a mouthful of fluffy sugar and an almighty fart? A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum has no pretentions about being serious art.

First performed on Broadway 1962, it's ancient Rome, where slaves were whipped, women were bought and political correctness meant wearing the right toga to the senate. Giving a finger to the romantic gentility of musical theatre at the time and celebrating the ancient-Greek influences on vaudeville, there are tit, eunuch and fart jokes galore, as it asks the timeless dramatic question, "Who gets to de-virgin the teenager: the virgin boy, his dad or the stranger who bought her from her pimp?".

I've really tried to like this show.

                                                                    From the original recording LP

It was Stephen Sondheim's first score (music and lyrics; his previous work was the lyrics for West Side Story) and the book was co-written with Larry Gelbart (the dude who wrote the best episodes of MASH). If you're expecting dark and biting satire with music that stains your soul, remember that it takes time to hit your stride as an artist. Musically it's forgettable, but hints at the glories that followed, and book-wise there's jokes and structure without a hint of depth or complexity. It's a simplified world where men are manly or limp, and women are lovely and stupid, vejazzled and bendy, or old and sexless.

So why do it? It's as satisfying as a bucket of fairy floss.

Geoffrey Rush wanting to play Pseudolus the scheming slave is the lines-at-the-box-office answer. It's an old-school, star-led romp – and who can resist a romp with our-Geoffrey in a toga? Looking like he's having more fun than he dreamed of, this is Geoffrey's fart-in-the-general-direction to anyone who forgets that it's meant to be fun.

And throw in the commercial-dream cast of telly and theatre must-sees who have earned their first-name recognition because they are all damn good and totally watchable.  There's Shane Bourne, Magda Szubanski and Gerry Connolly for the oldies; Hugh Sheridan for the youngies;  Mitchell Butell, Christie Whelan-Browne and Adam Murphy for the theatries; and Bob Honery for everyone (Bob was in the original Australian production in 1964).

It may be the best that a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum can be.

Director Simon Phillips turns the serious to 0 and the giggle-and-hoot to 11. And Gabriella Tylesova's design of cardboardy houses and tassled-togas is as witty as any of the jokes. Like her design for Love Never Dies, it's an eye-orgasm to look at with detail that creates the world and the characters in an instant.

It's a show where the cast are applauded before they open their mouths, corpsing is compulsory and anyone daring to question its politics or guts will be scoffed at.

This appeared on AussieTheatre.com

Photo by Jeff Busby

Review: Anything Goes

Anything Goes
The Production Company
20 July 2011
State Theatre, the Arts Centre
to 24 July

"In olden days, a glimpse of..." You know the rest, and the only thing stopping the audience from singing along to The Production Company's Anything Goes was that we wouldn't have heard the wow-em-dead cast inject freshness and glittery life into every number of Cole Porter's favourite musical.

Anything Goes is 1930s Broadway. Before Sondheim made us cry and musicals became boutique, there were dames with long legs, sailors with full flasks, matrons with big hats, criminals with violin cases and delightful plots full of de-lovely conveniences, disguises and shenanigans.

Which doesn't make it especially easy to present to savy contemporary audiences, especially when the plot celebrates alcoholism, women are graded on how they fill a girdle and resolves with a the kind of racial stereotyping that is far more shocking than any glimpse of stocking. Oh, I can see the eyes rolling and hear the cries of "political correctness gone mad". Anything Goes is a product of it's time, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't look at it with the sensibilities of our time.

Luckily, directors Andrew Hallsworth and Dean Bryant (whose direction  of MTCs recent Next to Normal was so beautiful) appreciate the issues and find a balance between homage, indulgence and satire that creates a hoot of a show that even the most jaded among us have to love.

They ham up the nostalgic glitz, remind us that things like celebrity-mad media never change, and let the audience and the cast have fun with the not-so-pc moments

And having a cast that deserve to run for a year doesn't hurt. Amanda Harrison's sassy Reno tops Ms Merman's, Todd McKenney's Lord Evelyn left even a vego like me wanting more ham, Christy Sullivan (Natalie in Next to Normal) shows that an ingenue called Hope can be more than a floaty dress,  and  Christie Whelan's (Erma),  Alex Rathgeber (Billy), Wayne Scott Kermond (Moonface), Anne Wood (Evangeline), John O'May (Elisha) and the whole ensemble give us the kick that we don't get from champagne.

The Production Company are the nearest thing we have to a time machine to take us back to old-school Broadway. The budgets are tight, but with people like Adam Gardnir creating gorgeous sets from nothing and a team willing to create with their hearts for the love a show, it's not wonder that Anything Goes is the rat's pyjamas.

This review was on AussieTheatre.com

Photo: Jeff Busby