Musical Theatre is a very broad church, but among its writers are a handful who are worshipped especially fervently by their followers. Their music and their styles are so popular they have seeped into the general consciousness and are instantly recognisable, even by those who aren’t lovers of their work. It’s this popularity that Eric Rothwell and Joanne Bogart have capitalised on in their 2003 comedy The Musical of Musicals (The Musical), which enjoys its first regional revival at Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre this week.
Taking as its basic conceit the idea that there are no new ideas, the show re-works a single, thinly drawn plot in the styles of Rogers Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb. June is a young woman who can’t pay her rent and her unscrupulous landlord Jitter demands payment either in cash or in kind. Her young admirer Willy tries to rescue her from his clutches, while her wise old friend Abby offers advice with varying degrees of unhelpfulness. Meanwhile a narrator drives the story forward at speed whilst contributing various bit-parts along the way.
In this production, a debut for Director Sharon Byatt’s newly formed Laffan Productions, a black box set with keyboard accompaniment from Jordan Alexander throws the entire focus on the cast, each of whom have been perfectly chosen for their parts. Tori Hargreaves and Dominic Treacy are June and Willy, and produce both the vocals and the melodrama in spades. From Willy’s opening number ‘Oh What Beautiful Corn’, which simultaneously rips off Oklahoma! and South Pacific, to June’s ‘I’ve Heard That Song Before’, a biting satire riffing on Tell Me on a Sunday, they have huge fun with the increasingly desperate facial expressions as the musical parody gags come thick and fast.
Eithne Browne showcases both her legendary vocal range and her skill in physical comedy in her series of characterisations as Abby. She is the most memorable turn in the Jerry Herman segment, which is possibly the show’s weakest point, giving us a synthesis of Dolly Levi and Mame rolled into one, complete with multiple costume changes. Browne also gives us extraordinarily hysterical renditions of ‘Follow your Dream’ (The Sound of Music), ‘Over the Top’ (Sunset Boulevard), and especially ‘We’re All Gonna Die!’, an inspired take on Company’s ‘The Ladies who Lunch’.
In fact it is the Sondheim-based act entitled ‘A Little Complex’ (set in a small apartment complex) that is perhaps the most successful of Rockwell and Bogart’s brilliant pieces of pastiche. It is here that John-Paul Birss probably has the most fun out of his five variations of Jitter, giving the Sweeney Todd version of his character a particularly cutting edge. He also puts in a rather fine Phantom and a deliciously seductive Emcee, in his ‘Hola, Aloha, Hello’ in a sequence that combines Cabaret and Chicago into one shoulder rolling, jazz handed Fosse-fest.
Amy Leek ties the whole thing together with her slick, stylish and beautifully sung narrator, omnipresent and all seeing, and able to fill in the gaps and keep everything moving along at a pace.
Of course the whole thing is funnier if you are familiar with all the source material that inspired this show, but it really makes no difference whether you are a fan or a detractor of each of the artists whose work is parodied here. Either way this is a very funny show, and you can either revel in the jokes it makes at their expense (it is particularly acidic about the apparent familiarity of Lloyd Webber’s music) or take delight in the constant game of ‘Name That Tune’.
The Musical of Musicals (The Musical), treads a very fine line between biting satire and affectionate tribute, and this new production, pared down in staging for a studio space but packing a mighty punch, uses its outstanding cast to maximum effect and delivers both music and laughter in equal measure.
The Musical of Musicals (The Musical) continues at Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool until 27th November.
This review was originally written for Musical Theatre Review
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| Eithne Browne |
Star Rating: four stars
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