Downtown! The Mod Musical

St George Theatre Company's Downtown! is a slick, vibrant production. Highly entertaining.

Set in England during the swinging 60s, Downtown! is not so much a jukebox musical as it is a revusical (remember those?) using pop hits of the era. This may bother those who aren't familiar with the revue format and prefer strong narrative with loads of subtext. With the songs of Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, plus a bit of Nancy Sinatra, Lulu, and others, the audience is taken on a fast-paced, brightly coloured tour of the social mores of the time.

Our guides are five young women, known only by colour instead of name, and intentionally given little backstory. There's married housewife Orange (Clare Mack), Paul McCartney fangirl Yellow (Lauren Kenyon), easy girl Green (Lauren Nalty), awkwardly shy Red (Jamie Lee Kemp), and "with it" Blue (Ebony Black), who is starting to realise that men may not be her cup of tea. Their common denominator is the "Dolly"-like "Shout" magazine, and the replies given to them by that magazine's agony aunt. The questions and answers are done as monologue and voice over, with the always excellent Michele Lansdown providing the patronising school marm voice (a British Miss Baltimore Crabbs if you will).

This revue shares lineage with book musical Hairspray, in that it uses the device of posing as a bright frothy pageant to make serious social commentary of the times. Nowhere is this brought home to us more than when we hear the advice given to the girl suffering spousal abuse. While responses to the girls' problems have changed over the decades, we see that the issues these girls faced back then haven't really gone away.

This is a well cast show. All five girls are talented and come across as likeable. My favourite was Clare McCallum's Orange. I felt her rendition of "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me", after realising her husband is cheating on her (with possibly another man) was an emotion-charged show-stopper. No doubt you'll have your own favourites. How those girls managed to dance and negotiate the set in those shoes while still looking classy is beyond me. The Laws of Physics were tested.

Written for just five performers, this production is augmented by a talented female Chorus, cleverly used. Elle Zatter's direction is spot on (it's nice seeing a show where you don't notice the direction). Craig Nhobbs's chorey is to die for - he captures the spirit of the swinging 60s perfectly. Josh Ransom's professional musical direction yields a tight band that sounds balanced within itself and never overpowers the cast. Chae Rogan's Set and Lighting design are awesome. The set uses black Saul Bass lines and quads against bright colours. It sets the scene without upstaging the cast. This was impressively built by Tyler Hoggard (incorporating into it a tribute to gaff tape). The lighting, ably operated by Rodney Bertram, used modern technology to effectively light us back to the 60s. I do not envy Liam Clifford as sound operator, who managed to make the cast clearly heard in a venue that was a cavernous echo chamber. On that point I wonder how the show would have gone over if played in a smaller venue.

This show may not suit all ages, as we see drug taking and displays of sexual liberation. After getting stoned and singing the James Bond theme to the word "vagina" the girls give us a different take on "Goldfinger."

Lasting only 90 minutes there is no interval. There is no listing of song credits in the programme, which given the target audience is no problem. Some of the 60s jokes and pop-culture references may go over the heads of some but that's the case with any show that comments on a particular era.

My only disappointment is that the season is so short. One weekend? Seriously?

Peter Novakovich

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