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A Little Alliteration Goes A Long, Long Way......
By Melissa Trickey
16th
February, 2008
I
like the name “A PEP Perspective”. It just rolls of the tongue. Say
it aloud; go on, you know you want too! “A PEP Perspective” oooh....
say it again! “A PEP Perspective, A PEP Perspective, A PEP
Perspective!” (Nothing like a good Lion King reference is
there?!?!) So with such a name that so elegantly utilises the
English language, I have to wonder..... what exactly is it all
about? PEP perspective on what? Global Warming? The American
Presidential Race? Scrunching or Folding? There’s only one thing
for it, my avid readers, it is time to do some good ol’ fashioned
investigation. I pick up my hat and magnifying glass and head to my
computer...
 The
power of Face Book is quite compelling, and I hit the book to get
the skinny on the PEP Perspective. First to reply to my message is
Luigi Lucente, and he had this to say: “It's the Long Island Ice Tea
of Musical Theatre.” Hmm, that doesn’t sound too bad, from what I
can recall, I got drunk off a Long Island Ice Tea in fifteen minutes
flat once!! Does that mean I’m gonna get drunk if I go to this PEP
Perspective thingy?? Or does that mean the musical theatre will be
drunk? Does that even make sense?!? Blonde hair withstanding, I
think I need to do some more investigation!
According to Mario Mohorko, “This show tastes remarkably like
Chicken and goes well with a lovely Sauvignon Blanc.” Wait, it
tastes like Chicken?!? Well, if you follow the Monty Python way of
thinking, which you should if you know what’s good for you, the show
therefore is the same as a Kangaroo (as people say Kangaroo tastes
like chicken) which means it would weigh the same as a stocky
man.... say a football player, like, say, Ben Cousins, which
therefore means the PEP Perspective is in Rehab?? That can’t be
right. Or could it....
 Now
here’s an interesting one, in Damien Calvert’s point of few, the PEP
Perspective is “Lacking in Yankees, as in Damned.” Now that brings
in all manner of political and social ideologies, and perhaps I
shouldn’t go there, but I will say this- I object Mr Calvert! I
don’t buy into the American Dream! (For those of you playing at
home, see how I cleverly throw in a reference to Miss Saigon?!? Did
you see Mum, did you see???)
“Musical theatre yum cha... Tasty Morsels of everything you love
about Musical theatre (with no MSG)” says Leah Anderson. No MSG,
that’s healthy, which is great, this is what we need from our
Musical Theatre in a time where Fatty Fast Food is frequented too
fully! (Say that five times in a row why don’t you!!) I wonder; is
the PEP Perspective presented on one of those spiny tables you get
in a Chinese restaurant? If people have to stand on something that
is revolving constantly, will they get motion sickness? (Wait a
minute....The Prologue of City of Angels springs to mind...)
Will Sayers is representing for the Shire of Casey: “More fun than
an open house party in Narre Warren!” As appealing as that sounds,
I fear that if everyone turns up with ridiculous Yellow Sunnies, a
Hoodie, and Jeans that are so low that most of their Bonds Undies
are displayed, The Police Helicopters and Pepper Spray might prevent
any shenanigans!
On a more serious note, Kate Spruce had this to say “Please you come
see my show. If it not success I will be execute.” Hmm, I wonder if
anyone will be wearing a bright green one piece bathing suit....
 Clearly
this is getting me no where. So it’s time to ask the people in the
know. James Kearney, PEP aficionado, Assistant Director of the PEP
Perspective and all-round nice guy will finally reveal to me just
exactly what this PEP Perspective thing is... at last my wild goose
chase is over!
“Basically we're putting together selections from eight different
shows that PEP is considering for the future, and at the end of each
performance we'll give the audience the chance to vote on what show
they would like to see PEP tackle next” says James. “The eight
shows are: Songs for a New World, The Full Monty, Bat Boy,
Assassins, I Love You You're Perfect Now Change, You're a Good Man
Charlie Brown and Parade. We're also doing a handful of songs from
other shows as well, just to mix things up a bit. Whenever you're
choosing a show you have to ask, ‘Will people come and see
it?’ Hopefully by getting the audience to vote on what show PEP
should do next, we can take some of the guesswork out of that
question. It gives us a chance to put some ideas in front of an
audience and see what works and what doesn't, and will hopefully
make sure that our next show is something that appeals to a broad
audience.”
So how did the company choose these eight shows you may ask (and if
you’re the one asking the questions, like, I don’t know, me, you
can!)? “We've pretty much chosen the eight shows for the same
reason: whenever the company has been talking about which shows to
do, these are the titles that have consistently cropped up. And the
reason that we keep talking about them is because they meet our
needs in different ways. We started PEP with a view to producing
small-scale musicals that don't get seen much on the amateur
circuit, and shows like Assassins and You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown play right into that mould. Even something like I Love You,
You're Perfect, Now Change probably fits in that category, although
it'd be fresher in people's minds after Standing Room's production
last year.
 “On
the other hand, you've got something like The Full Monty, which is a
bigger show but possibly easier to market since so many people know
the movie. We've included Bat Boy, which is a newer show and would
give us a chance to show audiences something they haven't seen
before, and then we've got our trio of Jason Robert Brown musicals
(Songs for a New World, The Last Five Years, and Parade), which we
love because they've got such beautiful scores that just don't get
heard on Melbourne stages nearly as often as they should.”
But is there one show that the PEP peeps secretly hope the audience
will vote for? “Of course not! Obviously everyone involved with the
company has their favourite shows, but one of the major reasons we
decided to have the audience vote is to get a different
perspective. We already know which shows we're passionate about,
and now we're interested in finding out what our audience wants to
see.”
Director Julia Roper had this to add: “In putting this show together
we have tried to choose songs that will best represent the eight
productions we are asking people to vote on. I mean, if we're asking
the audience to cast an educated vote on what show we should do
next, then we have a responsibility to ensure each segment gives the
audience an accurate overall feel for each show - and that can be
hard to do as we're limited in how many songs we can present from
each show.
“
Here's a last minute message to anyone coming to see the show: if
you're not familiar with any of the eight shows we're asking you to
vote on, you could always come down to the Cromwell Road Theatre a
little earlier and do some research as a synopsis of each show will
be displayed in the foyer.”
And, for the final word, how does Julia think the show is shaping
up? “Despite needing to learn a lot in a short rehearsal period, the
show is coming together really well which is a credit to the cast.
There's a great vibe at rehearsals and the cast are really working
hard so hopefully the results will speak for themselves.” Any
Highlights? “The whole show's full of highlights! We've managed to
attract such a strong cast that it's impossible to single any one
person out. We've been thrilled with the work that everyone's been
putting in, and it's been great to see the cast taking risks and
doing such a brilliant job with such challenging material.”
So there you have it, who would have thought the PEP Perspective
would have turned out to be a concert?!? Certainly not me! I advise
everyone to check out our What’s On section; all of the details for
the PEP Perspective await you.
In closing, I’d like to congratulate myself for using the phrase
‘PEP Perspective’ no less than sixteen times in this article, no
mean feat I assure you!
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