Disco Inferno

The smoke machine set off the alarm at the Bexley RSL, so before a note had been played the audience enjoyed the unexpected appearance of the fire brigade on stage.

This was appropriate for a jukebox musical which has a lead song and title Disco Inferno comprising the lyrics Burn Baby Burn.

Thankfully there was smoke but no fire and without much delay the Disco Ball started spinning.

I must declare my interest up front.

I am the agent for this musical which I discovered a decade ago when the writer Jai Sepple sent me the script.  It’s based on the Faust legend – a young man is granted his wish by the Devil’s right hand lady to become an international pop star, in return for his soul.

Since I started representing it hundreds of productions have been licenced in Australia, NZ, UK and USA - including outings in countries as exotic as Zimbabwe and Jamaica.

However until now I have only ever seen it staged by a school or two.

This community theatre production had lots of exciting trimmings.

The first highlight was the lighting.

The President of the Canterbury Theatre Guild is Cameron Lewis. Every community theatre company needs one like him! In his garage is an LED lighting board. 

He had it fired up to add splashes of colour and fireworks to many scenes.

The next highlight was the choreography. The fancy footwork under the direction of Ste Casimiro was energetic and cute as a button. It had the audience ready to join in ready to do the Crocodile Rock and Boogie Nights spin.

The band under Kane Wheatley also clearly enjoyed the hit songs and shared that with the audience.

The lead was Claudio Acosta as Jack Flash.

He was nursing a broken finger and (he told me afterwards) a recent bout of laryngitis. Not that anyone could tell as nothing was going to slow down his performance which was slick and endearing.

The stand out performer was Rachael Thompson as Lady Marmalade – she had the stage charisma of a real devil woman.

Relative stage newcomer Paul Adderley as the Duke oozed charisma, Greg Paterson as Nick Diablo provided comic relief whilst Phoebe Wynne was sweet as Jane.

Some have suggested that Disco Inferno could do with a few songs cut in the second act – but the Canterbury Theatre Guild made it a breezy night to remember.

David Spicer

Earlier coverage and more details