Reviews

This musical is based on the life of Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum over the period from 1835 through 1880, as he followed his belief that there is a sucker born every minute and, with the right amount of humbug, you can achieve wonders that people will pay to see. He is supported by the rationality of his wife, Chairy, as he introduces the oldest woman in the world, Tom Thumb, Jumbo the elephant and tours with Swedish opera singer, Jenny Lind. He runs for mayor of Bridgewater, and wants to be a Senator.

This little-known musical (known as Shout! The Mod Musical outside Australia and New Zealand) was presented to sold-out audiences in Manpac’s Fishtrap Theatre, as a community partnership between Primadonna Productions and The Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.

This juke-box musical, is what it says in the title, as it follows a group of young women, fans of a popular magazine “Shout” from 1962 through 1970, featuring twenty-eight of the 1960s’ most memorable songs.

The overriding theme of this Maestro, series with works by Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok and Sergei Rachmaninov, was that they were all works that premiered in America.

Sometimes what is promised on the box is what you get, and this twenty-year celebration of the first production in Adelaide was packed with masterful singers.

The semi-staged production of the third act of Wagner’s only comic opera delighted the full house with the quality of the music, played superbly by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under the assured baton of Nicholas Braithwaite, returning to Adelaide for this special performance. The music they created soared and melded beautifully with the singers.