Rocky Horror and The Hatpin

[Hannah]

Just a quick review of both...

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
Brilliant piece of fun. Great cast. iOTA is the most brilliant musical theatre performer today - so much truth, he almost had me in tears in his emotional numbers. Plus he's just beautiful and also wickedly fun. The rest of the cast were great. Though Sharon Millerchip's Adelaide (from Guys and Dolls) accent didn't do much for me, and Tamsin Carrol tended to fade into the background. Stunning costumes - just beautiful. Just a whole lot of fun.

THE HATPIN
This is the best piece of Australian musical theatre I've ever seen (though, I haven't seen Keating! yet), but it really appears to be still a piece 'in the works'. I think it has the potential to be one of the best musicals ever, but it has to be edited to get there. I have a feeling only friends have critiqued it and thus have been too kind on the bits that need cutting. The scenes are really well-written (the dialogue is great), and the music is beautiful - the solos and duets are great.

Caroline O'Connor is witty, tender and has brilliant comic timing. Although, I wish she'd stop singing as though she's got something in her mouth, or as though she's trying to impersonate Sean Connery. it really bugged me, as that was not her speaking voice in the show.

Michelle Doake was hilarious. Very skilled. Gemma-Ashley Kaplan was astounding in her solo. Amber Murray has a beautiful voice and does a good 'distressed mum', but she's nothing to write home about.

The men in the show are fairly forgettable.

However the chorus is terrible. I understand that there are small cameo roles that must be played by other actors than the leads throughout the show - the way the show is written, this is a necessity. However, it seems to me that the writers thought "well... we now have a medium sized cast and most of them are on stage for only 1 scene... we might as well make a chorus!" The chorus songs were completely unintelligible (though a large factor in this was the shockingly bad sound system in the Seymour Centre) and more to the point, were unnecessary. They broke the mode - this is a very serious piece (with comic relief moments) so it is very much in the mode of realism. However, the chorus songs could not decide if they were realistic or surreal, and hence there were quite a few moments that provoked laughter where clearly we should not have laughed.

SPOILER ALERT
The worst moment in the piece was the disembodied adult male voice of the baby Horace singing a duet with his mother about how he's ok. This child barely grows a month during the play, and so it is laughable to even give it a child's voice, let alone an adult male voice. It actually made me laugh it was such a bad moment. I was told by one of the techies that the decision had been made 2 days before I saw the show to cut the appearance of an adult male silhouette at the moment of 'baby' Horace's vocal debut. This silhouette would have made things slightly better, but still - really, this duet should be cut. Keep it a solo and don't make the audience laugh in the middle of a sad moment.

Overall, I feel as though it's a brilliant show with some utterly terrible moments. if the terrible moments were culled it could be the best of the best.

[Hannah]

Ok, so maybe the THE HATPIN review wasn't so quick.

[Hannah]

Oh, just thought of something more I wanted to say.

I believe the faults of the show lie in the writing. Although the direction was bad at times, sometimes there's little you can do to help bad moments.

If they just fix these little glitches, it will be amazing!

[accentuate]

Have to disagree with you on alot here Hannah. Hatpin cast, particularly the lead girl, were extraordinary. Never seen anything like it. That cast and the production and the storywere a knock out. Finally someone telling australian stories in a funny, chilling, human way and everyone involved in that production did. I also think that peter cousens deserves a clap- he was so scary. I really want this production to come to Melbourne.
If we are disucssing script and writing can someone please please tell me what Rocky Horror is actually about? But I thought Tamsin and Kellie Rode were amazing and by no means 'in the background'. Different eyes see things differently i think.

[Talissa]

Different eyes see things differently indeed. While I will agree that the piece is not yet perfect (Although I think we tend to be overly critical of our theatre. There are pieces with massive holes in them that make it onto Broadway, some of which are even successful), it is certainly heading in the right direction. Unfortunately Australian theatre doesn't have the chance to test the waters before launching a new piece other than workshops, which don't offer the full extent of benefits available to American and British works, so for something thrown right into the deep end, it's very well done.

I actually didn't have a problem with the way the chorus was used at all. I came out thinking that they were well-used to set the scene and provide moments of rest from the heart-scouring of the main plot, without losing the dark tone of the piece as a whole. Out of curiosity, where were you sitting? I didn't have trouble with the sound where I was, so maybe I was lucky. I do notice a recurring trait in Sydney theatres, though... Not that I'll get into that debate right now!

As for Holding You, I'm actually glad they didn't have the silhouette. It's a very difficult moment in the show, I think, and has definitely improved since the original concept, but I think does still need tweaking. However, I didn't think the problem was so much in the vocalisation of Horace, which has the potential to be very chilling and moving.

I won't say much about cast, other than agreement with every other review in saying that Gemma-Ashely Kaplan was outstanding. It's a lovely role, and has some different possible interpretations, which is what makes me find the role utterly intriguing, but I think hers was among the best of those the show will ever see. Oh, and the three ladies who played the other mothers were vocally excellent. Their voices, each individually strong, blended stunningly and really gave body to the beautiful music.

All in all, I love the piece and find it very brave in dealing with such dark themes, but it handles them excellently. It definitely deserves the praise it's had, and I'm certain the writers haven't put it to bed, but are still working very hard on making it the best piece of theatre it can possibly be.

[violet]

It should soooooooooo come to Melbourne. I've read all the reviews and it sounds really really good. I wanted to go to Syd to see it bit couldn't Good on them for getting so many good reviews, though!! Please come.....

[flames]

best show i have seen in a long time. It was more like a play than a musical. Whatever a musical actually is. Which is what Hat Pin really toyed with. The music is beautiful and the story is a real thriller. Hard to explain but captivating. I went up to see it, but i think Melbourne would love it. I just cant work out where it would play down here because it requires a theatre in the round. Malthouse?

[Hannah]

James emailed me about my quick review of the show. He's very receptive to and appreciative of constructive criticism, and I think that's a really valuable and admirable trait in a writer.

accentuate, I think Rocky Horror's script is about on par with CATS. But then again, I think I expect more from The Hatpin because it's such a great show BECAUSE of it's plot and story-telling, rather than because it's 'just a bit of fun'. Kellie played Janet yes? She's was great in her role. I guess I expect Tamsin to be the sole stand out, so when she's not (because she's surrounded by stand outs) it's odd.

Talissa, I was sitting not in the centre seats, but in the first block to the left, closest seats to the centre, half way up (i.e. good seats). The sound should've been good, but it wasn't...

flames, it's not in the round in Sydney - it's on an apron stage. I think it could adapt well to a traditional proscenium though. I don't think it depends critically on a certain type of stage.

[Yonkers]

Hannah, you say " iOTA is the most brilliant musical theatre performer today". Gosh, that is one mighty big call. In Sydney? In Australia? In the world?

[Hannah]

In my opinion.

[accentuate]

Wow that is a big call. Out of men AND women Hannah? Is he better than Edina Menzel? Is he better than Phillip Quast or Bernadette Peters or Mandy Patinkin or Audra Macdonald? Who comes a close second in the world competition?

[Hannah]

I don't think it's a big call at all. I've just qualified the statement (which I should have done straight up, but I'm sure you'll forgive the small oversight, seeing as though my little review - if you could even call it that - is very informal and was written at night when I was very tired) with the words "in my opinion".

As far as I know, I don't have to provide evidence for my opinion. My opinion is just that - my own, and completely subjective.

Obviously, everyone's opinion can only come from what they know. I'm not rich, so I haven't had the opportunity to travel the world many times to see international performers. However, from what I have seen, he is the best.

In my opinion.



(Yes, better than Phillip Quast, not sure about the others as I've never seen them live. Oh, and it's Idina I believe.)