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| Zach Raffan as Rob with Rob's past girlfriends |
Book by David
Lindsay-Abaire
Music by Tom Kitt
Lyrics by Amanda
Green
Directed by Nathan
Patrech and Sarah Hull
Musical Director:
Jenny Tabur
Choreography by
Jordan Kelly
Presented by Phoenix
Players
ANU Arts Centre 6-21
February 2015
Review by Len Power 6 February 2015
‘High Fidelity’, based on the book by Nick Hornby and the
movie of the same name, is about Rob, the owner of an independent record store
that attracts some pretty weird vinyl record collectors. He might know a lot about music but he isn’t
doing too well with his love life.
First time directors Nathan Patrech and Sarah Hull have done
a fine job of staging the show. It moves
along at a good pace and there are some strong performances from the large
cast. Zach Raffan sings and plays the
leading role of Rob extremely well and Josie Dunham matches him every step of
the way as his troubled girlfriend, Laura.
Will Huang gives probably the most appealing performance in the show as
the store’s shy employee, Dick, and he sings some high notes wonderfully
well. A pity some attention-seeking morons
in the audience had to scream and shout at the wrong time, wrecking a perfect
silent moment in one of his songs. Max
Gambale sang his role very well but his character was too dominant in relation
to other characters and became rather wearing.
The directors needed to judge a more appropriate level for his
performance.
I was particularly impressed with Miriam Miley-Read in the smaller
role of the singer, Marie LaSalle. This
actress knows how to command every moment she’s on stage. Amy Dunham gave a heart-felt performance as
Rob’s good friend, Liz, and Tim Stiles scored as The Most Pathetic Man In the
World, giving us a real character rather than a cliché. If there was time and space, I would mention
everybody favourably.
Choreography by Jordan Kelly worked fine and was danced very
well, especially by the five girls playing a kind of Greek chorus of Rob’s past
girlfriends. Costumes by Jennie Norberry
were well chosen for the types of characters in the show.
The colourful and busy set by Anita Davenport and Steve
Galinec gave the right atmosphere for the show.
The lighting design by Andrew Snell seemed shadowy at times and there
were dead spots in the centre and on the right hand side that needed attention. Musical director - another first-timer -
Jenny Tabur, did an excellent job with the music. Sound levels in the first act made the lyrics
hard to understand but the levels seemed fine in the second act.
How much you’ll enjoy this musical depends on how well you
respond to the characters. I felt no
empathy for Rob or anyone else much in the show but I had a similar problem
with the characters in the movie. By the
way, if you like to hear the F word a lot, you’ll feel right at home watching
this. The show had only a short run on
Broadway in 2006. Still, it’s colourful and the music score is
very clever.
Photography by David Burke (OrangeDrummaBoy), Peter Stiles (Apple Snaps Photography), Amy Dunham
Originally broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 ‘Dress Circle’ showbiz program
with Bill Stephens on Sunday 8 February 2015 from 5pm.
