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Shlobaglob
Presented by: ITT Productions
Venue:
The Cardinia Cultural Centre
Reviewer: Cathy Kohlen
Date Reviewed: 12th July 2007
SHLOBAGLOB – sounds like a Jewish curse. Visions of Golde from
Fiddler on the Roof came to mind, “you want to tempt the evil eye?
Ooi!” Imagine my surprise when I realised I was in fact on a road
trip to Pakenham to watch a kids musical about fairies. Not the
kind that I normally hang out with, but ones that frolic in the
forest, wear lovely frocks, weave their magic and rejoice in song &
dance! Actually.. hmm..
Shlobaglob is a work in progress and a brand new children’s musical
with immense potential! As such one should be careful about going
hard with criticism because at the end of the day it is damn
challenging mounting a new show. A huge cast of mainly young people
being just one of those challenges. This show is the brain-child of
Kate Lawson. Sholobaglob is the name of a little fairy she used to
blame her childhood naughtiness on (wish I had me one of those!).
From discussions with hubby Phillip she was encouraged to write and
so the book was born and from there spawned the musical! It’s
essentially a story about family, growing up and finding your true
calling.
Bringing these pages to life often entails cuts and it must be
heart-breaking knowing that you just can’t put everything in your
show. This show is an epic. Three hours is a long time and a
challenge for any audience, let alone children. In the interest of
maintaining audience interest I felt the show would benefit with
some trimming. Having said that I was very impressed with the young
cast to sustain their energy for this time - quite incredible! Who
was that 6-year-old little chickie with the bop that didn’t stop?
You put us oldies to shame!
The musical Shlobaglob of two acts is split into two distinct
adventures.
The first act concentrates on the fairies community and their
frustrations.
Shlobaglob the princess fairy is born and seemingly an unwanted baby
(social comment?) and shipped off to the forest to be loved and
nurtured by her kooky fairy grandparents. “It really is an awful
bore”, exclaims the Queen (birth mother of Shlobaglob). I found
myself praying that the indifferent Queen would change her tune. I
feel an adventure coming on….
We are introduced to the adult Shlobs thru her entrance out the back
of the audience. How nice for the kids in the audience to get so
close to the action! “I’m fairy Shlobaglob, I’m fairy Shlobaglob”
she sings (do I smell the theme from ‘the smurfs”. Who cares? I
still have that tune in my head two weeks later!) We learn it’s her
time to return to the kingdom for magic lessons and to take her
rightful place with the royals. Emma Sparrow does a great job as
Shlobaglob. It’s a big role and she has the pipes and energy to
burn!
The Superluminaryautotranportilator number is a fun ride (Do I smell
Jellicle Cats from “Cats”. Who cares again? It’s a very catchy
number!) Dance offs by the fairies with their jazzy moves, clicks
and splits, oh my! These kids sure are Bendy! Nice job Mr Jimmy
Rooney. Nods also to Robbie Mulholland and Nicole Davis for their
fabulous turns in lycra! The dancing energy was infectious and all
the cast were obviously enjoying themselves (with not an inch of
cellulite in sight - greeeeen with envy).
Opening night suffered a few techy probs, which no doubt have been
ironed out. The mikes popped a little but the cast had very good
projection and soldiered on. The band was rocking and tight. The
simple controlled lighting states worked a treat and were nicely
balanced by the effective scene projections (spoiler alert: watchout
for the bush fire).
The Elf Rugworth, played by Danny Medica, has an important part as
the storyteller (a nice choice by the writer and directors to use
this as a feature. It works well). Danny has great expression and
charm plus the chicks will dig him! I was at a loss to understand
the purpose of the Rocky & Bullwinkle hat in the second act. Perhaps
I missed something? (we lost some great facial moments in the
massive fur).
Back with the Royals after her happy upbringing in the forest,
Shlobs has a few barriers to contend with. Head honcho of the
castle, By-the-book (great name!) has it in for the princess. He’s
all about efficiency and having a good time is not on the agenda,
“an efficient fairy is a happy fairy” he says. But the princess is
bringing passion into the castle. Baldy isn’t impressed and
threatened by her presence. A great role that Mario Mohorko
performed with great relish! His rap number is hot stuff and a fun
affair he shares with the talented quintet of servants from the
castle.
The
Land
of Sobs was a highlight for me with the cozzies reminiscent of Ziggy
Stardust. How very sci-fi these five little rotating orbs! Thumbs
up too for the cute cutlery routine by the fairies and royals at the
dinner table. Fab timing guys! Nice a capella moments and the jazzy
lights on the whiz-bang transportilator gave the audience variety in
spades.
The Tastebud Tango (sung by servant Chef) was a delight. Ilsa Cook’s
classical vocals were sweet as honey. As she’s a petite lass, at
times I felt frustrated that she got lost in the masses. Perhaps a
little elevation could have got her out there more?
Shlobaglob is a show that takes us on adventures thru different
dimensions. One such dimension is the land of The Gruesome Grubs.
These dudes were a hoot with their cute mullets and moves.
Rock’n’roll meets the ferals from Mad Max! I did feel genuine fear
in this scene and wondered what their evil intentions were. Perhaps
the princess has a quick thinking plan up her sleeve? As an aside,
who made the orange cozzies which look like they’ve been attacked by
the office shredder? Brilliant! And how I do love a spectacular
collapse at the end of a dance number. Gives it Hootspa!
In the second act we are taken into Human Land (gives the story a
nice contrast). Here we meet a broken-hearted man, a dissatisfied
working mum (wudda been interesting if she’d been single?) and the
sad busker yet to find his voice (and what a voice when it comes
out. Where has this lad been hiding?? More please from Graham
Foote!) All these human characters come to realise their dreams with
the help of Shlobs. Her motivations are pure, yet it seems she has
to prove herself to the jury after a small rule was broken. Don’t
you just hate red tape? There are three stories running in Human
Land that are all very creative and cleverly linked. I’m not sure if
we needed this many? There are a lot of levels for the kids to
absorb. However all actors were terrific in their portrayal and had
worked hard on their characterisations.
The Cardinia Cultural Centre is a good space for such a
larger-than-life show. The prices are kept low and this is great
value particularly for families. The FOH staff were friendly and
efficient. There was a real sense of “team effort” in the atmosphere
with all the behind the scenes crew (which always pleases me). This
is a show I can also imagine working on a smaller scale, perhaps
even on tour? I’m not sure what the production team’s future goals
are, but they’ve obviously worked extremely hard to get this show
off the ground. I applaud anyone willing to put their own work out
there for the world to see. If the kids are getting out to some
colourful theatre away from the WII, the playstations and the
dribble on TV then I say the end result is worth the hard yakka!
Catherine has been
involved with theatre and music for over 25 years. Inspired by her
creative family she studied classical singing for 10 years and has
dabbled in piano, flute & dance tuition for most of her adult life.
As a child, Cathy had dreams of being a ballerina until she could
stand no more of her strict German instructor and promptly turned to
acting instead. Since her departure from high school 20 years ago,
Cathy continued to play in the world of musicals, dinner theatre,
theatre in education, fringe festivals, TV, film, voiceovers, &
bands. During the day time Cathy is an office manager at a film
production company. By night she runs a cop-operative theatre
company, “the Act-O-Matic 3000 Inc” together with 4 other very dear
ex Perth-ites. Their aim is to get people out of their living
rooms, stop watching Big Brother and inspire them back to
challenging theatre. |