The Pitts

The Shady Pines Nursing Home is a drab and dreary place, except on a Wednesday when ‘The Pitts’ roll up and shake up the house with song, dance and comedy routines, that set every blue rinse - wheelie - geriatric on fire and onto the weekly Wellness Program.

After its sell out show at the MC Showroom, the hilarious camp cabaret musical The Pitts is now gaining celebrity kudos for their riotously applauded shows at the Athenaeum.

Carol and Daryll Pitts (Stephanie Marion Wood and Brendy Ford) are cranked for low key success, using their skills through their self-designed six-week theatre course and spouting their five-pillar mantra of wellness at Shady Pines, while zig-zagging their way around their emotional lives.

Co -creators Wood and Ford have extensive experience in musical theatre, cabaret and comedy have devised a marvellous eighties/nineties retro cabaret show that covers many of our nostalgic favourite tunes. Both dressed in neon tracksuits, their particular type of Australian blandness is what makes them unique and funny.

These guys can belt out a tune and their choice of songs is of the era and woven into their Wellness mantra. If you are not “Spinning Around” (Kyle Minogue), you will be beating your heart out to “Simply the Best” (Tina Turner), and or when calisthenics class begins what better song than “Let’s Get Physical” (Olivia Newton John). But when Carol has a break -up moment with Daryll, it is her cheeky rendition of “Beast of Burden” (Rolling Stones) that sees her through.

They are sassy, satirical, sexy and seriously talented. Their two side-kicks - resident Ethel (Leigh Jay Booth) and nurse (Stacey Kelly) have their shining moments when Ethel jumps into “knobbly knee” dance action during the Minogue song and Nurse, always on the alert, joins in.

The Pitts is presented by Brendy Ford and Stephanie Marion Wood and The Athenaeum - it’s a superb, laugh out loud family comedy show - lotsa fun.

Flora Georgiou