Reviews

One thing that can always be assured, Empire Theatre’s annual musical will be put together with a high degree of professionalism and this year’s production of Legally Blonde was no exception. From the original design work of Grant Lehmann, the assured direction of Morgan Dowsett, to the top notch cast who worked their butts off, the show about sorority sweetheart Elle Woods and her rise to glory at Harvard Law was musical theatre at the top of the community level scale.

In great comedy tradition, a few observations could not be overlooked when approaching this review. If Jack Gow is indeed "One of the finest emerging comedians in the country" why then stick him in the cramped, David Lynchian confines of The Loft?

A Young Woman (Katherine Innes) needles A Young Man (Reece Vella) about how they never do anything, they never go out...  She means him.  He won’t even go to the store.  He just sits around.  Her friends won’t come inside the house because of him.  He tries to ignore her, reading his book.  He is a would-be writer, but publishers reject whatever he sends them. 

The Gondoliers did not start well. The director came out to tell us how wonderful the show would be, and that there would be a raffle at interval. A loose sheet in the program would be been more appropriate.

Then the overture started and some of the well-known melodies appeared to go missing. This is the first time GSOV has performed at Darebin, and it was very obvious the orchestra was amplified, something I had not observed at previous venues. Perhaps the venue demanded it, but sometimes the counter melodies overwhelmed the main tune, which was disconcerting.