The Musical of Musicals Music by Eric Rockwell Lyrics by Joanne Bogart. Book by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart .
Creatives: Musical Director: Nick Griffin Lighting Designer & Stage Manager: Nikki Fitzgerald Set Designer: Jarrad West Costume Designer: Fiona Leach. Stage Manager and Lighting designer Nikki Fitzgerald. Original production directed by Duncan Driver and Duncan Ley Cast Jarrad West,Louiza Blomfield, Hannah Ley, Will Collett Presented by Everyman Theatre. ACT HUB. Causeway hall. Bookings: (02) 6210 8748
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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Louiza Blomfield (Aunt Abby), Hannah Ley (June),Will Collett (Willy) |
From the cornfields of Kansas to the Speakeasy of Chicago The Musical of Musicals is a ride you won’t want to miss. The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye and there’s enough of it in Everyman’s wacky parody of musical favourites to keep you tapping and clapping and laughing and screaming through an evening of over the top send-up. Merrily roll along in the company of superstars Louiza Blomfield, Hannah Ley, Will Collett and Jarrad West with Musical Director Nicholas Griffin at the piano and Duncan Driver doubling as the Narrator and director of this gem of a production.
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Hannah Ley as June and Will Collett as Willy |
For musical buffs it’s a clever game of Guess the Musical as the quartet of performers lampoon Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim Jerry Herman and Kander and Ebb. It’s all bundled together with June (Hannah Ley) having to pay the rent to Jitters (Jarrad West) only to seek the advice of Abby (Louiza Blomfield) and eventually be rescued by the dashing Will (Will Collett).
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Jarrad West as The Phantom Jitters and |
This clever montage of musical snippets with music by Eric Rockwell and Joanna Bogart and lyrics by Joanna Bogart would test any professional performers of musical theatre and Everyman’s dazzling troupe of acting. singing, and dancing musical stupendoes rise to the occasion. Under Nicholas Griffin’s musical direction and with snappy original choreography by Hannah Ley and Jarrad West, re-rehearsed by Meg Millbrand The Musical of Musicals is a must see night of musical theatre for any lover of the uplifting compositions of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Herman and Kander and Ebb. In the Off Broadway tradition the actors open in basic blacks and gradually assume costume add-ons by designer Fiona Leach for their singular numbers. It all makes for a sharp, snappy and rollicking good time.
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Louiza Blomfield as Abby with |
Rehearsal director Duncan Driver keeps the action moving at a high energy pave., interjected by wry comments by Driver as a somewhat wry narrator. Each performer has their moments in the spot and every one of them shines. There’s Will Collet’s affable Curly from Oklahoma, Hannah Ley’s dizzying rendition of I’m Not Getting Married from Company, Louiza Blomfield’s Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard,, Jarrad West’s drag number I Am What I Am from La Cage Aux Folles and the company’s divinely decadent Medley from Chicago.. This is just a taste of a banquet of spoof. The Musical of Musicals was first performed in 2003 at The Courtyard Studio with West, Blomfield and Ley in the cast, Collett is a recent addition to this music theatre melodrama. Ley makes a welcome return from her home in England with husband Duncan Ley, who with Driver directed the original and subsequent seasons. Ley, like the other veterans of the production has lost none of the vitality an pizzazz of performance over the intervening years.
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Louiza BHlomfield and Hannah Ley |
So, get along to ACT HUB’s Causeway Hall for this night of fun, song, dance and frivolity. Cheer the Hero, Willy (Collett), Sigh with Heroine June (Ley), Hiss the Villain Jitters (West) and Hear! Hear! the advice of wise Abby (Blomfield). At a time when entertainment is sorely needed, The Musical of Musicals spreads a bright golden haze on the meadow. A must see production for all lovers of musical theatre and top notch performances.
Photos by Michael Moore - Captured Moments Photography