Written by Elise
McCann and Richard Carroll
Directed by Helen
Dallimore
Performed by Francine
Cain and Anthony Harkin
Musical Direction by
Anthony Harkin
Luckiest Productions
Q Theatre, Queanbeyan
25 May 2015
Review by Len Power
Like most people of my generation, I have fond memories of
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and their TV show, ‘I Love Lucy’, from the early
days of television in Australia. That
does make it a little difficult to accept a modern actress playing Lucille Ball
and the character, Lucy, on stage but Francine Cain does it rather well in
‘Everybody Loves Lucy’.
It’s a curious show that, while entertaining, doesn’t dig deep
enough into the background of the show or the performers’ lives. Mention is made of their marriage breakup but
we’re only told that Ball left her husband because Arnaz couldn’t take being a
success. We don’t get his side of the
story and he disappears early in the show which then concentrates on Lucille
Ball only.
The story is interspersed with songs sung very well by
Francine Cain. Lucille Ball was not
known for her singing so I assume the songs were added to give this show some
variety. The song, ‘Make Someone Happy’
from the 1960 musical, ‘Do Re Mi’, becomes a repeated theme for this show but
was never associated with Lucille Ball in real life. It is at least chosen from a relevant time
period. Only at the end of the show is a
song associated with Lucille Ball used – ‘Hey Look Me Over’ from the musical
‘Wildcat’ which Ball appeared in on Broadway in 1960, the year of her divorce
from Arnaz.
It was fun, however, to see a few of the famous comedy
sequences from ‘I Love Lucy’ recreated and Francine Cain does them very
well. Anthony Harkin is a very good Desi
Arnaz, too, and his piano accompaniment for the songs throughout the show is
excellent. Helen Dallimore’s direction
is tight and moves the show along at a good pace but the sound amplification on
the show was uncomfortably loud.
I liked the additional character of a TV-watching housewife
of the period giving her opinions on the show and the actors, assuming the
stars must be happy together in real life because they were portrayed as so
loving in the TV show.
The show as played at the Q Theatre was exactly an hour long
and the minimal detail left me a bit unsatisfied. I wondered if there is a longer version of
the show. On the Q’s website, the detail
about the show says, ‘We are introduced to a woman, who could make the work
laugh while the actress was crying inside, a woman who was not just a clown but
a voice for independence’. The show
didn’t go into all that in any detail and might have been more satisfying if it
did.
