Gutenberg the Musical by Scott Brown & Anthony King.

Image Description
Presented by Ian Stenlake, Neil Gooding Productions and James Millar. Seymour Centre. (NSW)

 

This is a very serious piece of theatre - an earnest documentary about Johann Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press in 1450.
Bud (David Harris) and Doug (James Miller) have written a big splashy musical about it and need to convince the audience to part with ten million dollars to stage it.
The lyrics are brilliant. Even finding things to rhyme with a rude word is a synch.
Helvetica (Doug)
I’m in a tower with rats and some feces
The man I adore is so close and yet so far
If he were here, I would ask him to squeeze these. (she indicates her breasts)
As it is only a backers' audition, they put the flashy set aside. The use of caps to indicate new characters shows a stroke of genius.
“(Bud holds up two caps that say Rats and Feces and throws them on the ground.)”
The caps even get their own bow at the end. I was sold.
The people in the audience laughing throughout the whole show seemed to think this was a musical comedy spoof.
What idiots!
Bud and Doug I’ll back this show. Stephen Sondheim look out – kids at university will study this gem for years to come.
David Spicer

 

 

 

 

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