|
Jack O'Hagan's
Humdingers
Presented by:
Lilydale
Athenaeum Theatre
Reviewer:
Glen Barnett
I went to see “Jack
O’Hagan’s Humdingers” on Wed December 2nd not knowing
anything about the show or what it was. I wasn’t sure what to
expect. In my mind I envisaged an extremely long and drawn out
Aussie drama or something along those lines. I am extremely happy
to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Not only was
there singing and dancing, but I left the theatre feeling strongly
patriotic and extremely satisfied.
When my partner and
I arrived, we were greeted by the friendly staff of the Lilydale
Athenaeum Theatre and a complimentary sherry. The venue itself is
magnificent. It has the feeling of history about it but at the same
time does not feel as though it is out-dated. We settled into our
seats admiring the simple set and how the patterns all matched. I
can’t help but notice if things don’t match. The lights dimmed and
off we went.
The show opened
with Barry Baker, playing Jack O’Hagan, on the piano, and from there
we were taken on a roller coaster of songs, dance, entertainment and
even a bit of Australian history. The cast worked fantastically
well together in delivering excitable characters, enjoyable
choreography and well balanced harmonies. The six performers’
voices blended extremely well together.
During the course
of the show, songs were sung as solos and group numbers. The group
numbers had some deliciously good harmonies and stand outs for me
were “There’s A Part Of My Heart In Wonthaggi” (solo line sung by
Angeline Thompson), “Boy Up North” (male trio), “Carry On” and
“Along The Road To Gundagai” which was the closing song of the
show. Again, the balance of vocals between the performers was
fantastic and the harmonies were delivered strongly and
confidently. Shirley White, the Musical Director, has done a
marvellous job, as well as playing the piano for the show.
During the first
act, there were times that the cast were masking each other. During
some of the group numbers the spacing between them seemed a little
random and some of the cast were completely hidden by other
performers. The lighting for the show was simple and effective.
There was, however, one spot on stage left that was constantly in
shadow. Every time a performer walked past this spot, their face
“black-out” for a second. For the most part, the sound was easy to
hear and well balanced. There were a couple of times that the
keyboard was a bit to loud which made it hard to hear some of the
solo lines and during the closing song of act one, a sound effect of
fireworks was played during the singing that was very much too
loud. Other than that, I heard every word and song.
I really liked the
use of the projector screen at the back of the stage. It was used
to show footage of the era and was used quite well. There were two
times, in particular, which stood out to me. The first was when the
boys were singing “Our Don Bradman”. They sung through the song and
then cried out “EVERYBODY”. The words came up on the screen and the
audience joined in with the singing. It was a lot of fun. The
other time was when WWII was announced. The stage became silent and
there was the image of a wireless and the voice of the announcer
saying that war had been declared. It was actually quite haunting.
All six performers
should be extremely proud of what they have created. I have to make
mention of Daniel Mottau and Gabrielle O’Brien. These two
performers have exquisite voices and commanded the stage when
performing. Gabrielle’s solo rendition of “When A Boy From Alabama
Meets A Girl From Gundagai” was particularly spine tingling. Laura
Slavin and Angeline Thompson were both fantastic. Their voices were
sweet and their energy was constant. Ian Frost, like the other
actors, portrayed several characters. His voice, while not as
strong as the others, was smooth and well controlled. His comic
timing while playing the role of “Buddy”, the American sailor, was
vastly entertaining, particularly during the song “I’m Gonna Hump My
Bluey”. Finally, the man himself, Barry Baker playing the role of
Jack O’Hagan. Barry is a strong performer with a beautiful voice.
He had the right amount of emotion at any given time. For me, when
Jack received a letter saying that his song was not chosen for the
National Anthem, was particularly poignant.
Overall, director
Alan Burrows, musical director Shirley White, the cast, crew and
production team created a vastly enjoyable piece of theatre. I
would highly recommend this show to anyone.
|