Musicals can touch on deep moments in shows like Dear Evan Hansen, but they can also be comedy gold like The Producers. With The Musical of Musicals (The Musical), Producer and Director Matty Hurst hopes to bring the best of musicals together for two evenings.
Within 90 minutes, the cast of four repeats the same story five times in different musical styles.
The cast includes Renan Teodoro (Anyone Can Whistle), Jennifer Harraghy (The Wizard of Oz; Parade), Caroline Featherstone (Dr Zhivago), and Joseph Dennington.
The tension of the show is the demise of musical theatre, and the desperate need for a hit so the landlord will not throw them out of the theatre.
The Phoenix Arts Club is a fantastically decorated venue and is an homage to theatre (much like the show). However, in a basement venue with cabaret seating, you are not always fortunate with your view, and so you become entirely reliant on strong audio. Unfortunately, the show was plagued with audio mishaps.
From the start of the production, there was a clear imbalance between piano and vocals. Unfortunately, the audio challenges continued with microphones repeatedly cutting out throughout the entirety of the show.
As a critic, it is hard to critique what you cannot hear, but what I can say about this show is how clearly passionate the cast and director are about musical theatre.
There is a line in the show that really sums up the cast's efforts: ‘They gave it their all.'
They shimmied like they were in Chicago, dramatised Sondheim, and made a spectacle of Webber. A hilarious highlight was when the show put Webber's Joseph on roller skates as though in Starlight Express.
They got every nuance of every show down, which is exactly what you want to see if you have chosen to come to a parody of musicals.
Despite the speakers not being able to manage Harraghy's high notes as Abby, or pick up Dennington's low notes as Billy, we still got to hear the best of the bits in the middle.
Harraghy takes on the best comedic moments and her expressive manner really carries her into a range of these comic roles. Highlights include her Sound of Music and Sunset Boulevard skits.
I do think this deserves a second chance. My advice, keep an eye out for the next show with Matty Hurst Productions if you're hoping for a comedic evening, and if you are planning a trip to the Phoenix Arts Club, book a front row seat to avoid disappointment.
Tickets are available from the Phoenix Arts Club website.
Review: James Dix Photo: Nigel Martin