Nice Work If You Can Get

Some shows demand a lot from an audience – they believe entertainment comes with a price beyond the value of the ticket. Not this show. This show is an old friend you haven’t seen for ages who is delighted by your presence and says “Sit down, relax and let me make you feel good.” And feel good you do, like you’ve just had strawberries and cream on a summer’s afternoon watching the ocean.

A new musical by composers who have long since left this mortal coil might seem like an oxymoron, but writer Joe DiPietro has done a marvellous job in crafting a new book and choosing which of the Gershwins’ extensive catalogue becomes the core of it. Thus we have songs we all know…. ‘ ‘S Wonderful’, ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’, ‘Nice Work if You Can get it’, ‘By Strauss’, ‘Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off’, ‘Fascinating Rhythm’   and others  coupled with some we may have never heard before like ‘Blah, Blah Blah’ and ‘Demon Rum’ and ‘Delishious’. The story of a high society playboy who falls for a female bootlegger might need to be weighted down to prevent it flying away like a feather, but it has enough wit to ground it and a little quirkiness to stop it feeling like one long cliché.

Added to this delectable confection is a dream cast and delightful direction from Roger Hodgman, who really is an expert at making these limited runs ZING.

Rohan Browne (Jimmy) is the quintessential all-singing, all-dancing leading man. In the style of the 1920s, where the show is set, he’s wildly theatrical and mugs like crazy – but that’s all just right. The superb Esther Hannaford’s style is very different, more rooted in realism, edgy, slightly geeky. It’s perfect for the tomboy Billie Bendix, but a little at loggerheads with Browne’s style. Nevertheless, the opposites work and Hannaford’s fabulous voice – which is also far removed from the usual “Musical Theatre” soprano  - absolutely nails the Gershwin numbers. Christie Whelan Browne, she of the sensational looks and figure and exceptional talent, proves she has a slapstick comic style we never suspected, as Jimmy’s ditsy fiancé Eileen Evergreen – the self-proclaimed world’s greatest exponent of Interpretive Dance. She is simply hilarious, drawing applause on every exit, and totally owning the bathtub scene where she sings “Delishious” to herself in two mirrors while chorines in bubbles dance around her and the auditorium fills with bubbles. It’s more than Delishious …it’s a fantasmagorical segment.

The supporting cast are all excellent and it’s lovely to see John Wood on stage again, and the lovely Nicki Wendt who steals the last ten minutes of the show.

But the night belongs to Gina Riley (The Duchess of Woodford) and George Kapiniaris (Cookie McGee) as the society prohibitionist and the street-wise bootlegger. They bring a wealth of comic experience which is no surprise….but Kapiniaris also shows Music Theatre chops in singing and movement and Riley’s voice ( and musical interpretation of such songs as By Strauss) is just sensational….and watch out for the chandelier! They completely owned the stage.

John Foreman brings extra panache to Orchestra Victoria, and ‘S Wonderful to hear Gershwin’s “classical” repertoire – snippets of Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, Cuban Overture and others integrated into the arrangements. Christina Smith’s clever set is stylish and Isaac Lummis’ costumes are a treat. Dana Jolly’s choreography works but for the most part seems late thirties rather than twenties.

This is the perfect show for this stressful world….it won’t make you think, test your emotions, tax your brain or lose sleep. But it WILL make you smile from ear to ear. It’s called Entertainment.

Coral Drouyn