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Presented by: Babirra Music Theatre Venue: Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading Reviewer: Kym Davies Date Reviewed: Friday 29th May, 2009
Fiddler on the Roof; the beloved musical story of Tevye, his wife, his five daughters and their Jewish community explores the universal themes of family, tradition, love and displacement. This timeless, superbly crafted piece of theatre has been enthusiastically reproduced by Babirra Music Theatre for an appreciative and willing audience.
I admit I have never seen Fiddler before in any format and with this ignorance went down to the Whitehorse Centre for the gala opening night, not sure what to expect. I was surprised by the beautifully structured balance of humour and character, mixed with dramatic themes of loss, change and love.
The cast performed each role with vigour and zeal that seemed brought of individual interpretation, while still embodying the main personalities of the production. I feel while such interpretation and investment had been well envisioned it could have been more clearly attained through in depth character and scene work. On a whole each character was animated and showed a well rounded and thought out framework, infused by each actors’ commitment and hard work. More work could have been done on the consistency of the accents, in a story that is bound by the local traditions of turn of the century Tsarist Russia.
Adrian Carr as the one and only Tevye was an absolute standout. His accent, character and ability to perform with a comfortable ease was second to none. I loved him in this role. His delivery of pathos and humour as the understanding father of tradition and understanding, gave life and hope to the story and the show.
Clara Adams played Chava, the headstrong and determined third daughter that breaks tradition running away and marrying the Russian Fryedka. Her performance was understated and focused bringing a realism and genuine understanding to the role. Matt Brodie was charming and affable in the role of Fyedka.
Kara Wilson as the fifth daughter Bielke was a delight on the stage. Watch out for this one in years come.
Perchik the conscious of the piece, with big ideas and bigger plans is played Daniel Mottau with heart and a beautiful voice. His vocal performance was a highlight of the show.
And to Mr Owen Davies; actor and President of Babirra, you were a standout as Nachum the beggar, in every scene you were in.
The Musical Direction was genius. Ben Hudson, you are a star. With my limited but enthusiastic knowledge of the musical theatre band, each note and entry was perfectly measured in understatement and delivered with grace and good timing.
The visual design was well constructed with an aesthetic reminiscing the time that it portrayed, making good use of the facilities gave the audience a well rounded perspective of the different area’s in the landscape. I adored the false pro arch filled with little houses with set electric lights in the windows. I loved the silhouette trees, the spectacular raked stage, the stunning fabric drops and overall production design and scenic art. Great job Catherine Branch. However the use of fly' and staging choices were baffling with static scene transitions and sterile blocking. The space and the staging options delivered by the set design were not utilised to the full extent. I found myself asking why in fact wasn’t the fiddler on the roof?
The costumes designed by Louis Moran were generally of the era and displayed a consistent and visually interesting colour scheme. However the costumes lacked a distinct sense of style and could have utilised some distressing techniques and attention to detail. All things aside it all looked very slick and not unappealing.
Lighting design by the one and only Jason Bovaird was beautiful in its colour use and dramatic nature with darkened purple, blue, orange and green. It was perfectly matched to the production design and highlighted the costume colours and textures. The side lighting and curtain warmers were a highlight with plenty of stunningly rendered speckle and just the perfect amount of haze. Unfortunately overall the lighting direction was courageous yet obtuse in timing and in use. I am of the opinion that lighting changes should only occur during a transition in mood or intent of the scene. Several mid scene lighting changes detracted from the emotional content of the scene arc.
Conceptually Babirra’s Fiddler on the Roof was right on the mark, but failed to become fully realised. However, with a few shows under their belt this wonderful ensemble cast will only excel and delight. The audience, absolutely packed to the rafters had a ball, some singing every word; this was confirmed by one charming gentleman’s comments during the gala supper…. “What a fabulous, wonderful show”…..! Babirra Music Theatre obviously is doing something very, very right.
Kym has a Bachelor of Arts-Drama from LaTrobe University and since then has been heavily involved in all facets of theatre, both on and off stage. Her Directing credits include King Oedipus with BATS, Popcorn with Dandenong Theatre Company Inc, Lottery with BATS for the Melbourne Fringe Festival and Short and Sweet Communities Festival. Her extensive acting credits include Belinda in Noises Off, Farrah in Popcorn, Truvy in Steel Magnolias, Mavis in Dimboola, Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Susan in Dons Party. Kym’s talents extend to Production, Set and Costume Design with many credits including Lottery, Sweeney Todd, Fame, The King and I, Dinkum Assorted, Gypsy, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Steel Magnolias, Popcorn and Noises Off.
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