Sally! A Musical

Lively, fun and funny, this production of ‘Sally!’ A Musical is a light and delightful ‘rags to riches’ story.

It features an innocent heroine (Susannah Firth) who is down on her luck but meets a bumbling wide-eyed hero (Jason Cavanagh).  In a smoky nightclub/restaurant a swanky opportunistic entrepreneurial type (Tom Molyneux) and his brash girlfriend (Freya Pragt) open the show with a fairly hopeless attempt at ordering dinner.  The narrative complicates to include European royalty (Sebastian Gunner), an exotic dancer, an heir to a fortune and his socialite mother.  And just about all actors play the slave-driving restaurateur at one time or another, including the fabulous piano player and musical director David Bramble.

On opening night the show had the fluidity of an under-rehearsed work that was still getting its final touches. It was a bit ‘up and down’, and ‘hit and miss.’   But that’s to be expected after a rehearsal period of five working days - and, frankly, who cares!  Some of the jokes worked, some barely hit the mark. Much of the singing hit the right notes, some did not. But don’t let that put you off.  As the second work in 5pounds Repertory season it is great, naïve, romantic, engaging silly good fun, with nobody asking to be taken too seriously. 

This is actually the type of show one would expect to see in a Mechanics Institute many miles from the Metropolis of Melbourne and as such, is a damn good romp – refreshing and entertaining.

So much fun to see 5pounds’ innovative, inventive response to getting shows up and running and wowing audiences with this ambitious repertory exercise.

I am a dedicated audience member and keen to see what they come up with next.

Suzanne Sandow

Review of Pygmalion - previous productionin  5pounds' repertory season.