Metropolis

The Little Egg Collective has pulled off a little gem of a production.

This is no mean feat, because turning an iconic science fiction silent movie from 1927 into a musical on the little Hayes Theatre stage, is degree of difficulty nine point nine. Especially when you consider that the action takes place in a large cave factory underneath a huge metropolis.

The original movie is now a museum piece of how limited the special effects were back at the dawn of cinema. This production evoked its vision and tone with a jaw dropping set designed by Nick Fry. It included scale models of skyscrapers of the futuristic city, centred by a striking mural on the stage and a backdrop of windows and lights. Fry’s piece de resistance was a metallic woman Futura who spookily came to life with some adroit puppeteering.

There was clarify in the storytelling in the very tight first 45-minute first act. Freder (Tom Dawson) heir to the Metropolis fortune stumbles into the underground factory where his father exploits labourers. He is horrified at what he sees, and falls in love with the leader of the resistance Maria (Shannen Alyce Quan).

The music and orchestrations from Zara Stanton has a range of delicious flavours. It starts off with an almost chamber opera intensity, mixed with pop beat, musical theatre style ballads and Weimer Republic cabaret schmaltz. The audience was even treated to a performance by a violinist and singer during the interval break.

In act two the music and costumes dips into the direction of a wild modern Berlin nightclub which was delightful to drink in, although a little hard to fathom how it fit into style of the piece.

Moving back to more mainstream musical theatre fare was a strikingly beautiful song in the second act was “I am Extraordinary” sung by the heroine Maria.

Always commanding on stage was Joshua Robson as the father Joh Fredersen, alongside his lieutenant Thomas Campbell menacing in the character of Rotwang.

The story reaches a chaotic conclusion which was brought to a visceral reality by a crisp soundscape from Christine Pan and a stunning lighting design from Ryan McDonald comprising 280 globes.

The artists aimed for artistic excellence and achieved this leaving the audience breathless.

David Spicer

Photographer: Grant Leslie