Calvin Berger

Calvin Berger, by Barry Wyner, makes its Western Australian premiere at Roleystone Theatre, with first-time directors Tyler Eldridge and Madeleine Shaw steering a very impressive production.

Loosely based on the play Cyrano de Bergerac, it takes the original story, sets it in a high school and makes the most of teen insecurity, angst and first love. It features four extremely capable teenaged performers who work beautifully together. 

Seamus Harrison anchors the show in the title role. A consummate, professional performer, Seamus perfectly embodies this young man, insecure about his looks, driven to desperate measures to try and win the girl of his dreams, singing beautifully and winning the audience.

Matthew Manning shines as his namesake Matt, Calvin’s love rival and mouthpiece. Given the opportunity for a gorgeously over-the-top dance number, (choreography by Madeleine Shaw) in which he shows excellent skills; he is excellent as this wonderfully naïve pretty-boy.

Bret is beautifully played by Stephanie Shaw, very believable as a young lady in love with her best friend, who simply doesn’t notice. Owning the power ballads, this is a highly nuanced performance.

Jennifer Gadecke makes an outstanding community theatre debut as pretty girl and love interest Rosanna, matching her more experienced co-performers in a performance with lovely vocals and much depth.

A minimalist but clever set has surprise touches, and the contemporary costumes are well chosen. Tyler Eldridge’s lighting design uses colour and focus to effect. Daniel Toomath successfully battled a tantruming sound system, which I am informed refused to mute, meaning that the cast and crew played the whole show with live mikes. Kudos to all, that through umpteen quick changes, this was not noticeable. 

Liam Gobbert leads a very tight band – using Roleystone’s orchestra pit. Opening night featured a deputy Emily Gelineau on piano as pianist Joshua Haines was being awarded his PHD – but music remained strong.

A strong production of a new show – with an amazing small cast – its unknown quantity makes it a hard sell. The opening night audience adored this little gem. It is well worth the trip into the hills to see this very funny little musical.

Kimberley Shaw