Curtains

Curtains
Book by Rupert Holmes. Music by John Kander. Lyrics by Fred Ebb. The Production Company. Directed by Roger Hodgman. Arts Centre Melbourne. August 20th-28th, 2016

There is much fun to be had by cast and audience alike in Curtains. Rupert Holmes book is witty, smart and suitably 1950s hokey when appropriate. It lampoons musical theatre, critics, untalented stars and Whodunnits in a deliciously sophisticated and satirical way. The story is simple, yet complex. The leading lady is murdered on the opening night of a show bound for Broadway – but who is the murderer?

As the lead character, Detective Frank Cioffi (who puts the theatre into lockdown), Simon Gleeson shows a side we haven’t seen in his more serious roles. With a great sense of timing, and a talent for physical comedy, he is wonderfully endearing and even adds tap dancing to his box of tools.

Yet, with all of this, one can’t help but feel that even the great Kander and Ebb can have a “bad day at the office”. The music, for the most part, is average at best and doesn’t make a lot of impact. There is no Razzle Dazzle ‘Em  or ‘He Had It Coming’ from Chicago, and nothing approaching any of the score from Cabaret. The stand out number is “A Tough Act To Follow”, in which Gleeson pairs with the very beautiful and equally talented Alinta Chidzey for a quasi Astaire and Rogers duet in which beautiful girl dancers suddenly appear for no particular reason. The whole thing is a delight.

The other big number is “Show People”, seemingly an homage to Irving Berlin’s “There’s No Business like Show Business”, but without the style or panache of that iconic song. It’s just second rate, no matter how hard the cast tries.

There are three different versions of “In The Same Boat”, before they all come together in counterpoint - but that’s no surprise. Anyone with even a layman’s modicum of musical knowledge would spot the same chord structure as soon as they heard version two. The love ballad is totally forgettable and Alex Rathgeber and Lucy Maunder aren’t able to make their stilted roles zing without at least one great number. There is, however (and I suspect they are Holmes’ lyrics) a delicious song which lampoons theatre critics and first night audiences, with some very pointed looks to front of house.

Melissa Langton ,as the co-producer Carmen Bernstein, belts out her numbers with great style and has terrific command of the stage. She’s totally right for the 1950s style too (Ethel Merman eat your heart out). As her reprehensible husband Sidney, John Wood has only a spit and a cough, but Wood is one of those actors that always makes an impact. Christopher Belling, The Director, is a great comic role which Colin Lane doesn’t capitalise on. He’s not flamboyant enough and the performance is too small and wooden, and would work better on a TV screen. Stephen Wheat excels as the obsessed critic and Simon Maiden gives a lovely performance as stage manager Johnny.

John Foreman conducts the orchestra with great aplomb, and even has a small role as Sasha. Nikki Wendt’s cameo is hilarious and Zoe Coppinger gives us a performance as Bambi which is not entirely credible, but highly entertaining. But through it all it’s Gleeson’s star that shines brightest.

Roger Hodgman’s direction is as professional as always, but the lack of rehearsal time and the constrained budget do show this time round, possibly because no-one is familiar with the show. It just feels like the whole production - set, lighting, costumes etc - need a large injection of “oomph” … “Chutzpah” … show biz magic.

You will be entertained, but you may also be disappointed that the great Kander and Ebb leave this as their last offering.

Coral Drouyn

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