Kaitlin Nihill - Yalaria Rogers - Rhianna McCourt - Jessy Heath - Petronella Van Tienen in "The Hello Girls" |
Music and
Lyrics by Peter Mills – Book by Peter Mills and Cara Reichel
Directed by
Jason Langley – Musical Direction by Alexander Unikowski
Choreographed
by Amy Orman – Set Design by Monique Langford
Costume
Design by Sarah Hordern – Lighting Design by Antony Hately
Sound Design
by Kyle Sheedy – Stage Management by Brittany Myers
Canberra
Theatre Centre Playhouse September 7 – 9th 2023.
Performance
on 9th September reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
Yalaria Rogers (c) - (l - r) - Petronella Van Tienen -Kaitlin Nihill - Rhianna McCourt - Jessy Heath |
It’s
refreshing to see a local company take on a relatively unknown musical then bat
it out of the ball-park with a brilliant production that deserved a much wider
audience than had the opportunity to see it during this pitifully short season.
Heart Strings
Theatre Co. was founded by Canberra Actor/Director Ylaria Rogers with the ambition
to create professional opportunities for artists in Canberra. Her inaugural
Heart Strings production, “Urinetown The Musical”, was so successful during its
Canberra season that it transferred to the Hayes Theatre in Sydney where it
enjoyed a sell-out season.
Her choice
of “The Hello Girls” for Heartstrings second production was a brave one. A contemporary
chamber musical with an ensemble cast of five women and five men, the show is based
on a true, but little-known story, of a group of women who volunteered to travel
from America to France during the First World War, to serve in the U.S.Army as
bilingual telephone operators, thus becoming America’s first women soldiers.
Yalaria Rogers - Petronella Van Tienen - Kaya Byrne - David Hooley - Jerrod Smith - Joel Horwood Jessy Heath - Kaitlin Nihill in a moment during "The Hello Girls"
All the
names of the characters in the musical are real, but only the stories of Grace
Banker and General Pershing are entirely faithful to the known history; the
others are composites of actual men and women who served in World War 1.
WAAPA
graduate, Rhianna McCourt, performed the demanding role of Grace Banker,
brilliantly capturing the steely strength that becomes apparent as her character
grows into the role of leader and stopping the show with her thrilling
rendition of the eleven-o’clock number “Twenty” in which she lists all the
reasons her team deserves to be recognised as members of the U.S.Army.
Rhianna McCourt (c) with The Hello Girls. |
As Cpt.
Joseph Riser, Grace’s superior officer and a stickler for rules and order whose
scepticism of the women’s presence in the army is finally won over, Joel
Hutchings impressed with his appealing combination of strength and
vulnerability, particularly in his final solo “The Lost Battalion”.
Yalaria Rogers as Grace’s tough-talking friend, Suzanne Prevot; Petronella Van Tienen as the small-town farm, Helen Hill; Jessy Heath as Bertha Hunt, the older and wiser den mother, married to a Navy Officer; Kaitlin Nihill as the fearless, flirty Louise Lebreton; portrayed the members of Grace’s team, with distinctive easily recognisable characterisations.
Apart from Hutching as Captain Riser, each of the men portrayed a specific significant character as well as providing a choreographed ensemble of soldiers, doughboys, and various officers and interviewers as required.
Grace (Rhianna McCourt) demonstrates her switch-board skills in a key moment during "The Hello Girls - (l-r) Kaya Byrne - David Hooley - Joel Hutchings -Jerrod Smith |
Joel Horwood
portrayed Pvt. Matterson who worked closely with Riser as his assistant; David
Hooley played the inflexible General Pershing, the Commander of the American
Expeditionary Forces; Jerrod Smith played Signal Corps operator, Pvt. Dempsey; and
Kaya Byrne, fresh from the touring company of “Come From Away”, played Lt.
Wessen, Head of the recruiting centre for the Signal Corps.
Joel Hutchings (Cpt. Riser) - David Hooley (General Pershing) - Rhianna McCourt (Grace) in a tense moment during "The Hello Girls" |
Rogers
achieved a master-stroke by securing the services of director, Jason Langley,
who delivered an imaginative, intelligent production which showcases the
individual talents of this accomplished cast, within Monique Langford’s deceptively
simple setting of metal radio masks and twisted telephone lines.
Antony
Hately has taken advantage of the possibilities offered by the components of
this setting to devise a colourful lighting plot, which together with Amy Orman’s
inventive choreography, create a succession of eye-pleasing stage pictures.
Peter Mills’s
tuneful score, superbly interpreted by Alexander Unikowski’s polished
five-member on-stage band, is awash with catchy melodies and lovely harmonies.
Each of the actors is given opportunity to shine, supported by the rest of the
ensemble. A fastidious sound design by Kyle Sheedy ensures that every word of
the informative lyrics are clearly heard, even as the cast are busily moving
props and furniture around the stage in response to Langley’s inventive
staging.
The result
is an outstanding production of a warm-hearted and informative musical with an
important story to tell. It was performed and staged with a professional sheen
which should ensure that it will emulate Heart Strings inaugural production and
be seen in theatres beyond Canberra.
Images by Jane Duong
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au