NORMIE The Musical

Normie The Musical has three spectacular things going for it. Normie Rowe, who proves himself the consummate professional throughout in the role of Harold Holt; the fabulous songs of the sixties – if you ever doubted that pop music was better then, you have only to listen to this score to change your mind. The third thing is the amazing young Musical Director and Orchestrator David Wisken - a “wunderkind” of great proportions, who leads his orchestra through his own terrific orchestrations with great style and skill.

These three assets are a huge plus when workshopping a new show, eventually destined for the commercial stage. Old Scotch Music and Drama Club has been brave taking on a musical in development and must be applauded. It’s an ambitious task and the producer reminds us that, apart from Normie, this is a cast of “amateurs”, which makes it doubly praiseworthy. Unfortunately the spectacular trio has three things that don’t work to balance them. These are the script, the script, and the script.

I understand that Graeme Johnstone is a journalist and that may possibly account for the lack of any depth or insight, or indeed any dramatic dynamics. The characters are drawn as two dimensional cut-outs, and there’s nothing offered that couldn’t be read on a Wikipedia page. Instead of making the show a snapshot of Australia in the 60s, with a deeper theme of a young hero’s triumph over adversity, we are regaled with humourless references to long forgotten singers and incidents. Theatre isn’t a documentary – it’s about involving an audience in a hero’s journey, about making them feel what he feels. This text would suggest that Normie really felt nothing except superficially, and I know that’s not the case. I will not even ask why, in act two, the dialogue is in rhyming couplets. Having spent most of the last 30 years as a stage and screen writer I would offer this advice (for what it’s worth) before heading for the commercial stage…..tweaking lines and scenes will not work unless there is a proper dramatic structure with a working subtext in place first. Even if it never happened, the show cries out for a scene where Ivan Dayman (Normie’s manager and not the nicest man I’ve ever known) rails against Normie’s conscription and tries to get him out of it (Normie was his biggest meal ticket) and Normie is caught in a moral dilemma and fights with him…..before doing his moral duty, and going to war in spite of knowing that it could mean the end of his career (and even his life). This is what I mean by dramatic dynamics. That’s heroic. Currently Dayman has no reaction at all. The show needs an antagonist to provide emotional light and shade, and he is the obvious choice.

The cast works well with what they’re given, and Julian Campobosso shows great promise vocally. What a pity he wears a nylon blonde wig throughout the first half. Normie was never platinum blonde and the wig pulls focus from what is a good performance. Young Nathan Hotchkin–van-Neuren is engaging as the young Normie and handles the vocals well. Marcie Jones (Emma Newman) is so under-drawn as a character that it’s hard to relate, or to see what Normie saw in her (in real life I remember her as an effervescent teenager, full of life), but Emma does have one number that she does proud. Stephanie Phillips is a stand-out in the small role of Marjorie and adds her obvious professional expertise to the ensemble, but really the show needs more proper dancers and better choreography. Drew Collet is impressive as Johnny Young and other characters. Gail Bradley (Zara Holt) and David Maclean (Sir Robert Menzies) deserve more than the director’s vision of (respectively) a hard-edged bitch and a Gilbert and Sullivan buffoon. Despite the two actors’ obvious ability, the rewriting of history does nothing for the tone of the show.

Stage waits, particularly when musical intros are too long and need to be started earlier or cut by eight bars, lighting and sound mishaps, and some clumsy staging are all things which currently distract, but can be easily tweaked

In spite of the shortcomings, there is a seed of a terrific 60s musical here. With a new book and a couple of purpose written Musical Theatre songs (“How do I Sell a War?” is almost there) and a skilled director, we could well be paying top dollar for a seat at Her Majesty’s. So thank you OSMaD for letting us all be part of the process.

Coral Drouyn