Supa
Productions
ANU Arts
Centre until 29th March 2014
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
More “Sex in
the City” than “The Sound of Music”, “The Witches of Eastwick”” is a raunchy,
adult musical about three unhappy divorcees who each become entangled with the
same mysterious stranger in their quest for love.
Louiza
Blomfield, Kelly Roberts and Vanessa de Jager are a formidable trio of leading
ladies. Each offers superb singing and a strong characterisation. Their trios
are especially impressive.
Jarrad West
as the mysterious interloper impresses with a strong, committed performance, but
needs to dig deeper into his own undoubted personal charm to make the boorish
behaviour of his character palatable.
 |
| Louiza Blomfield, Kelly Roberts, Jarrad West, Vanessa de Jager Photo: Garrick Smith |
Michelle Klempke
has great fun chewing up the scenery as the interfering town busybody. She gets
great support from Dennis Bittisnich as her ineffectual husband. Laura Dawson
and Alexander Clubb are charming as the young lovers, while Georgia Foster
playing the little girl steals the best laugh of the night with a surprise
twist.
Good songs,
very well sung by all the cast, arresting performances from the principals, big
production numbers featuring energetic dancing, some impressive scenic elements
and Rose Shorney’s taut and terrific band, should have guaranteed first night
success. However, despite
everyone’s valiant efforts, the huge
technical challenges ultimately proved too much, with principal characters too often unlit at
crucial moments, stage hands much too visible, unfocussed direction and
occasional moments which blurred the fine line between sophistication and
tackiness. Recommended for adult audiences.
