The Boy From Oz, Free-Rain Theatre Company, The Q, 1-20 Oct

 

Full disclosure - in 2010, I was on the stage crew for Philo's production of "Boy from Oz". Weirdly enough I never saw the production from the front, but I loved working on the show - it's a musically rich show, and presented various challenges in stealthy piano-moving - and it was fun to watch Jarrad West milk an audience from the wings. Weirdly enough I never watched it from the front, but it was a delight to re-encounter various musical and dramatic moments 14 years later. Inevitably I'm going to make mental comparisons between the two productions, but hopefully I'll be able to keep that in check (though our piano movement was much more stealthy than this production, which doesn't use curtains to conceal anything). 

For those of you who don't know the show, it's a look at the life of Peter Allen, song-and-dance-man extrordinaire. Free Rain's production sets the period of the 70s and 80s, Allen's most productive decades, through the pre-show mix of music and advertisements from the era - particularly the Channel 9 light-entertainment era of Don Lane and Mike Walsh which Allen fitted into so well (for anybody who grew up in this era, this is going to be a nostalgia bomb) - and the show segues into Allen directly addressing the audience during a late-in-the-tour-concert telling of the high-and-low points of his life as he meets Judi Garland, marries and divorces Liza Minnelli, hits the hights of big scale concerts, writes songs that are immortal, falls in love with his partner Greg Connell and loses him to AIDs, and wears a whole lot of very very loud shirts. Nick Enright's script squeezes 25 of Allen's songs (plus one he didn't write) into an emotionally rich portrait of a career in showbiz that condenses 25 years of career into two and a half hours with a combo of wit, oneliners and some occasional loose sense of chronology (including saving a key early childhood psychological insight to late act two to ensure the show musically ends with a set of all--time-bangers).

Jared Newell is a singing-dancing-acting frenzy as Peter, delivering Allen's personality and simultaneously self-agrandizing-and-self-effacing style delightfully as he drops one-liners, sings up a storm and throws his leg over a piano just like a Peter Allen should. Supporting him is a rich array of talent - starting with Janie Lawson as his mother Marion, delightful as she looks after her boy in his youth, gossips with him as he calls in from overseas and devestating when she delivers "Don't Cry Out Loud" near the end. Meaghan Stewart's Judy Garland is a great impersonation, capturing all the rich notes of Garland's voice and letting Garland be pained, witty, bitter, gleeful and thoroughly fascinating. Stephanie Bailey's Liza Minnelli is similarly delightful, emerging from the shy daughter to the spectacular star in a Fosse-inspired "Sure Thing Baby" to spectacular effect. Lachlan Elderton's Greg Connell is a sweet supporting partner whose loss breaks the heart. Mitchell Clement's young Peter Allen is full of the glee of discovering and exploring your talent on stage. And Kara Sellers' gleeful Yvette Anthony is a total scene-stealer as she embraces Peter's talent. 

Kristy Griffin's direction is tight and skilful whisking the show across its several moods and locations - though there are one or two songs which feel slightly overly illustrated when they might sit better just simply sat and sung to let the songs stand unadorned. James Tolhurst-Close and Griffin's choreography goes from Fosse to Radio City Rockette Busby Berkley to disco to buck-and-wing-tap to Bandstand Beachparty Rave Up with skill and variety. Callum Tolhurst-Close's musical direction gives us an ensemble with great harmonies and Ian McLean's conducting is, as always, a joy to behold as his band is tight and clear. 

Particular mention to Zac Harvey's lighting design - the rich reds during the sillouetted "Sure Thing Baby" and the intense lightnig during "Love don't Need a Reason" are beautiful and finely illustrative. 

This is a show I adore given a delightful revival - objectively I can sit back and say that it's got a little bit of cheese in it, but it's a kind of cheese I kinda like with some strong blue veins in it giving it life and tastiness.