A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Rock Musical

A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Rock Musical
By George Griggs. Normanhurst Uniting Church (NSW). May 10 – 25, 2013.

Premiere – be it World, Amateur or state - is an exciting prospect for any community theatre company.

On the same night, and at the opposite end of the spectrum to CLOC’s big budget World Amateur Premiere of tried-and-tested mega hit The Phantom of the Opera, NUCMS in the northern Sydney suburb of Normanhurst bravely staged a far more obscure offering, the Australian Premiere of a rock musical version of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedy, which has only played fairly limited American regional dates.

The piece itself desperately ‘needs work’ structurally and musically, though the company did achieve positives within its limitations.

The opening number of the show, ‘Come With Me’, where the four lovers bravely compete vocally against each other in a mediocre song, with little joy, was not a promising start, and no-one seemed confident. Thankfully all four personable young lovers get better moments later in the show, which they grab – usually in solos or duets, some of them rock numbers, some of them quieter moments. As Helena, Nikki Malvar comes into her own in a torchy ballad, Peta Stathis (Mia) shines vocally in the unaccompanied opening to the Act 1 finale, while Sam Henry (Alexander) and Michael McPhee (Dimitri) eventually establish some credible rock style and delivery (both characters are rock musicians) in duets with Helena and Mia.

Better fun came quickly with the first appearance of this show’s version of the Mechanicals, a very Aussie interpretation as a council crew / landscape gardeners, who, appropriately, form an intentionally very bad rock band, instead of an appalling theatrical troupe.  Their ‘A Lot of Soul’ isn’t a great song either, but it’s right for the context, and performed decidedly tongue-in-cheek. We don’t see them again until early in Act 2, and that feels like a big structural mistake. Their third and final scene, a rock performance at the wedding reception, is a hoot. Director Ian Wesley has made a good choice with this localized interpretation, though the comedy these characters are given is pretty weak by comparison with Shakespeare’s original comic gems.

The show gets a boost in energy when the location moves to Luna Park from the nominally contemporary Sydney setting in this production.

From there the musical becomes very much Puck’s show as Jessica Knight, as head sprite, and her backing trio take the stage. Knight’s characterisation is cheeky, exuberant and knowing, and she gets easily the best and most abundant chances to shine, which she does with relish. The supporting trio of Hannah Paul, Nikki Brown and Annelise Hall is sassy and lively.

Oberon and Tytania seem to have been left on the fringe of the script at times. Oberon’s best chances come when the lyrics stick closest to Shakespeare, but Dom Augimeri is handed some pretty dire dialogue and lyrics as Oberon, and as the mayor, Theo. Bryony Visser looks gorgeous as the pouting Tytania, vocally seen at her best in a torchy number at the start of Act 2.

I’m told Musical Director Isaac Reefman only had a vocal line and chords to work from for this production, which makes the efforts of his compact band all the more impressive.

It’s a brave undertaking by NUCUMS, on a miniscule budget, performing in a very basic church hall facility, and they’re to be commended for seeking out something outside the usual repertoire, though too often this under-developed musical provided little for the enthusiastic young cast to work with.

Neil Litchfield.

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