The Boy From Oz
If you are a Peter Allen fan (and I never really realised just how many there were) then you will love Noosa’s The Boy from Oz.
It is a slick, polished, sequined soaked, tight, bright, shiny, sparkly, mirror-balled colour fest – but with enough poignancy and social reflections to give it a bit of weight and a lot of backbone.
The Boy from Oz was always going to be the ultimate “Australian” musical. Peter Allen had international fame. He was from Cabaret. Cabaret is the love child of music and theatre. So many boxes were ticked before this was even written.
As a musical it is attainable – well once you have scoured your local community theatres to find a triple threat to play Peter Allen. This is so important. Without such a triple threat don’t attempt the show.
In one aspect the show is an “informal” chat by Peter Allen with the audience, He tells and shows through multiple flashbacks his growing up as a young boy in the rough and ready “man’s world” of Northern New South Wales. His ruthless work committed scaling up the entertainment ladder. His meeting and lifelong friendship with Judy Garland. His consequent marriage and relationship with Liza Minnelli. From the cultural wastelands of Tenterfield to having the world at your feet.
Its stroke of brilliance is the inclusion of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. These two torch-song chanteuses and icons / divas of the Cabaret world added so much to the show. The fact that these relationships existed gave credence and momentum to the storylines.
Director Ian Mackellar wisely kept the cast down to 15. The average community stage is quite small and can get swamped so easily. By getting all the cast to double / triple up and to play the choruses on demand created a tight manageable ensemble. Of course, if it was played in a larger arena then this could easily revert back to a large 40+ cast.
And now we move onto the production.
Sam Henderson was excellent as Peter Allen. It’s one thing to sing, dance and act – but the role included continually breaking down the fourth wall and sharing / relating / talking directly to the audience. He did that well. He had the talents that suited the role and the role suited his talents. He continually brought energy onto the stage.
But a show is only as good as its weakest link. Such was the dedication, focus, talent and discipline of the ensemble – there weren’t any. From Oriana Packman’s bourbon-soaked diva to the maternal outpourings of Robyn Moore’s rough diamond – Marion (Peter’s mother), the cast was uniformly good. They all sang, they all acted, they all danced and they all worked their arses off. I loved the joy of performing that poured out of Ariah Alello, Ava Crozier and Tessa Robertson as the backing vocalists / the Rockettes. Even though they were working so hard, the joy still shone through.
The two stand out performers for me were AJ Wildey as Liza Minnelli and Aaron Sinclair as Greg Connell. It wasn’t just AJ’s big voice for a big occasion but her incredible attention to detail in her characterisation – down to the squeaks and giggles that Liza is renowned for. Aaron on the other hand sensitively, and more importantly – naturally, played Greg (Peter’s partner). In a sea of huge personalities, he played him as the only real person in that sea of over-the-top characters. His talents were good enough to not be swamped by the OTTs. His version of “I honestly love you” was a standout.
Nicole Kaminski’s choreography was a standout for different reasons. She understood the limitations of her workspace, adapted accordingly and created routines that would fit and work the space and stretch but not break the ensemble.
Ian Mackellar’s directing was bang on the money for a work such as this. There was the obvious firm hand and clear vision throughout the production. Nothing was left to chance. Congratulations. Triple threats are one thing but coordinating the theatre side, the music, the choreography, the costumes, the lights and the set of a production is an entirely different thing. I sensed he demanded thousands of collective hours in rehearsing for this project because he knew you only have time to get this right – and he did.
The costumes, lights, sound etc were all great and complimented the performance and where necessary drove it. As I said – no weak links.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the natural mentoring process that has happened during this show. Whether it was by default or design it happened. I’m talking of the empirical lessons learned by the younger members of the cast.
There are three Young Peters rotated through this season. I saw Matthew Bartley as Young Peter. Big ask for a very young man. He was dropped in the middle of a very talented ensemble and far above any standard he’d be used to. There was an obvious safety net in play here but not one picked up on by the audience. And that was the complete support and backing by the cast for Matthew. He certainly didn’t sink – he swam strongly. Theatre generally thanks Noosa for this investment of time and energy with Matthew and the other two Young Peters – Saxon Mitchell and Xavier Vass (from all accounts they have also swim strongly). Bodes well for our collective futures.
Conclusion. To be honest I’m not a big Peter Allen fan. My Kabaret is more Jacques Brel and Robyn Archer. However - great night for Peter Allen fans, very entertaining night for Musical fans and a fun night for a jaded old Kabaret fan like myself. I would usually say “Book a ticket for it now” – but it has already sold out. Congratulations Noosa.
Simon Denver
Photographer: Travis Macfarlane.
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