Canberra Repertory at Theatre 3
21 June - 6 July, 2013
Review by Len Power 21 June 2013
There’s something new in the fourth edition of Canberra
Repertory’s, ‘Jazz Garters’ – an underlying theme! Cate Clelland, the director, wisely uses the
Canberra Centenary to bind this production together.
There was some fine singing from the large cast in the group
numbers, most notably in ‘Be My Friend’.
Ian Croker and the company performed an entertaining ‘Too Darn Hot’ by
Cole Porter and Pamela Jansson, Bronte Forrester and Evan Kirby gave us a
strong ‘Getting Married Today’, the fiendish Stephen Sondheim tongue-twister.
Amongst the solo numbers, Janelle McMenamin was a standout
as ‘The Girl In 14G’, mixing opera and jazz apparently effortlessly. Dick Goldberg was delightful performing ‘I’ve
Never Seen a Straight Banana’ and topping that later in the show with the
hysterical, ‘Model Of A Labour Politician’.
Evan Kirby’s fine voice was displayed in his thoughtful version of ‘Lost
In the Wilderness’ by Stephen Schwartz. Charles Oliver was fun as Lady Denman
but was a bit wasted as a peripheral character.
With more to do, she could have been a major asset in the show.
The band, led by James Court, played the large variety of
music very well. The set, designed by
Andrew Kay, works very well for the large numbers but some of the solos staged
towards the back of the set lost impact as a result. Costumes designed by Helen Drum and co-ordinated
by Jeanette Brown were eye-catching and effective. The choreography by Lisa Buckley was
imaginative, especially in the ‘Hot Air Song’ and the well-drilled cast
performed the dances with energy and confidence.
As with all variety shows, some numbers work better than
others. The longer numbers, regardless of
how well done they were, did sag a bit.
‘Cell Block Tango’ seemed to be in the show only for the one-joke idea
of having a male cast member, Lachlan Ruffy, play one of the girls, but with
nothing especially amusing to do anyway.
Some items just seemed out of place in the show because
there was no continuity ‘hook’ for them.
For example, ‘Come Rain Or Come Shine’, a beautiful song, nicely sung by
Pamela Jansson, would have worked better if somehow related to what came before
and after. Also a problem in past
editions, this lack of continuity between some numbers is particularly
noticeable in this edition where a lot of numbers are successfully linked to
the Canberra Centenary theme.
Cate Clelland’s direction keeps the show running smoothly at
a fine pace. ‘Jazz Garters’ has always
been fun, but it is the Canberra Centenary focus that makes this one a
standout.
Broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 ‘Dress
Circle’ program on Sunday 30 June 2013.
A shorter version was first published in
‘City News’ digital edition on Saturday 22 June 2013.