Shout! The Legend of the Wild One

Choreography is the star of Shout! at Miranda Musical Society.  And, of course, the energetic ensemble cast who give their all to pull it off in such great style.

Kira Nelson has choreographed a series of vibrant dance routines, often so cleverly shaped and patterned, which are worth the price of admission alone, transporting the audience back to the studios of the TV pop music shows of the late 1950s or early 1960s, or lounge rooms of an era when small black and white screens were bursting with exuberant dancers.

Colourful skirts and jackets complete the look in those numbers, while director / designer Bob Peet wisely keeps the concept for a show with 30 scene changes as simple as possible, using a fixed central platform and minimal props, together with some excellent period projections.

The rock score, combining classic Australian Top 40 rock’n’roll and other hits of the period gets a strong treatment, vocally and instrumentally.

I can’t remember ever suggesting that the music should be louder, but the excellent band, led from the keyboard by Jennifer Parbery, really deserves a bit more juice from the sound system to get things really rockin’ n’ rollin’.

The show, I’ve neglected to say, is a jukebox bio-musical celebrating Aussie rock legend Johnny O’Keefe, and Luke Loseby displays a great feel for the Wild One’s songs. James Jonathon, Nathan Sandercock, Tim Wotherspoon and Rory Chatterton land well as iconic pop quartet The Delltones (though it’s a shame that big bass voice came from the shortest member), while Chatterton’s Col Joye cameo is great fun.

One small criticism for some of the rockers and the director; the devil is in the detail, and while you’re using personal radio microphones for the actual sound, the audience is meant to believe you are actually singing into prop period mics, but sometimes you seem to forget.

The dialogue of Shout! really does little more than segue between Top 40 songs, but the acting is as good as the sketchy book allows. And why the authors decided to send the audience out on such a downer at intermission with a car crash is one of the mysteries I’ll never grasp.

When the show interpolates other pop tunes as character songs, rather than as pop performances, the context is sometimes shaky, but the interpretations are generally good, particularly from the delightful Erin Bruce, who joined the show less than two weeks out as O’Keefe’s first wife Marianne and delivers a couple of stunning turns.

The bar has now been set very high for bio musicals by Jersey Boys (which also works so brilliantly as a play in its own right), while Australia’s own The Boy From Oz is an infinitely superior show.

It’s a tribute to Miranda’s production for mine, that while I have very real reservations about the show itself, I left Sutherland Entertainment Centre on a considerable high, having had a terrific night.

Neil Litchfield

Images: Andre Moonen Creative

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