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In Verse
Presented by: SLAMS
Venue: Bayswater Community Centre, Bayswater
Reviewer: Anne Carne (Dewar)
Date Reviewed: 2nd February, 2008
The show was
done in a concert style format directed by David Woods who did a
commendable job. It consisted of songs from different musicals
strung together then broken up into three sections with labels such
as LOVE, HATE, SAD, HAPPY, DREAMS OF HOPE, DESPAIR etc.
While it was
quite a good concept, I felt that the show would have benefited from
more dialogue with the audience between the transition from one song
to the next, as at times it was a bit disjointed and unrelated to
the next song so didn’t really flow as well as it could have.
The cast
dressed basically in black and white and added accessories and props
when needed.
The Set
consisted of some nicely draped curtains at the back of the stage
and some black rostrums stacked in a clever formation to the right
of the stage and keyboard players to the left. One gripe…it did
annoy me that the rostrums were chipped and damaged on the corners
facing out to the audience and from a set designer’s point of view,
I found this distracting.
Surely with
such little set on stage the better side could have faced the
audience and clean lines on the rostrums would have made for a much
nicer overall picture.
The audience
was seated at round tables giving it a floorshow feel but the stage
was too high to really feel fully floorshow. Food and beverages were
available at the start and at each of the two intervals which by the
way I felt were far too long, a break of 5-10 minutes was all that
was needed as people were getting a little restless.
The night was
entertaining but there were only a few standout performances.
Brigid DeNeefe
is a born entertainer, this lady knows how to handle an audience and
did so with confidence and ease. Her songs “I Hate Men” and in
particular “The Dieter’s Prayer” grabbed the audience’s attention as
she had them in fits of laughter and her lovely strong voice was a
pleasure to listen to.
Another
standout was Noni Garrett with her rendition of “All The Men In My
Life Keep Getting Killed By Candarian Demons” from Evil Dead. Noni
has an awesome voice with great projection and a presence about her
that just stands out. Juter Zilm, Mark Woods and Anthony Dean
supported with wonderful vocals and helped sell the song
successfully. It was very funny indeed and clearly an audience
favourite.
Noni’s other
song “Housewares Employee”, sung with Glen Barnett, was one of the
best if not the best number of the night! Glen, by the way, was also
Musical Director and on Keyboard for the evening alongside Julia
Roper (Talented lady, just love her work!)
Glen did a
fine job of musical direction producing some awesome vocals in some
of the ensemble numbers especially in “I Love You You’re Perfect Now
Change” but I would loved to have seen more of this young man on
stage as he has great presentation and a great voice to match.
The rest of
the cast all gave it their best voice and performed well and I
really liked Mark Woods and Anthony Dean’s rendition of “I’m All
Alone” and Anthony singing “Pilates Dream” from Jesus Christ
Superstar was superb. Anthony is quite a versatile performer who
knows how to sell a song, I really liked him.
Unfortunately
there were moments in the show where some songs were beyond the
capabilities of the performers. At times I found it distressing and
probably the performers did as well….I know the audience did.
Please, please…when one has a microphone in one’s hand, please make
sure one can actually sing well! Hand mikes show up every breath,
every fault in your voice and I felt that in doing this sort of
concert style show that the singers needed to be equal which wasn’t
the case. Also there were a few sound faults throughout the evening
including a performer’s microphone not being on at the beginning of
their song plus numerous other sound hitches and as I happened to be
sitting right in front of the speaker it was a bit annoying at
times.
Having said
that though, overall it was an entertaining night with some great
talent on display!
Congratulations to SLAMS for trying something different.
Anne is well
known in Musical Theatre circles and has over 30 yrs experience in
both professional and non – professional Theatre, pantomime and
Television appearing in commercials and mini series and on Rove Live
in comedy sketches. Anne has played many roles in Musical Theatre
including her favorites Dolly Levi in “Hello Dolly” and Miss
Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” receiving a Music Theatre Guild
nomination for best actress. She has worked with many theatre groups
including Whitehorse, CLOC, Dandenong, Festival Theatre, Nova and
Eastern Musical Theatre. Anne has also designed sets for many shows
and also directed and choreographed shows at the Karralyka Theatre.
Anne recently played Miss Flannery in Nova’s “Thoroughly Modern
Millie” and is currently Directing the Australasian Premiere of
M*A*S*H with Phoenix Theatre Company.
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