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Leader of the Pack: The Ellie Greenwich Musical
Presented by:
Cardinia
Performing Arts Company
Venue:
Cardinia Cultural
Centre
Reviewer:
Anne Dewar
Date Reviewed:
Sunday 22nd
February 2009
Leader of the Pack is based around the life and songs of one of the
most prolific song writers of the 60’s, Ellie Greenwich. Many wont
know her name, but they will be familiar with the plethora of hit
songs she penned – including “River Deep Mountain High”, Do Wah
Diddy” “Be My Baby”,”Christmas, Baby Please Come Home”, “And Then He
Kissed Me”, “Chapel of Love”, “Da Doo Ron Ron” and the title song
“Leader of the Pack”. The story-line may be shady and the dialogue
shallow, but that’s not really the point of the musical! You can’t
help but tap your feet and bop along to the fantastic songs, even if
you don’t immediately recognize the songs, you’ll love it by the
end.
We
see a young 13 year old Ellie (Victoria McCann) writing her songs
with the help of an accordion. Cut to New York, and a recently
graduated Ellie (Ashleigh Barnett) introduces herself to the
legendary producer Gus Sharkey (Dan Bellis), and instantly lands
herself a job as a Songwriter at the legendary Brill Building. In
the process of the musical; Ellie meets, falls in love with,
marries, alienates and divorces Jeff Barry (Matthew Hall).
As
is the case with most juke box musicals, the music is the real
standout. There were so many songs, so many routines, and SO many
wonderful colourful costumes! In the first act, there were fifteen
songs alone. One of the great things about this musical is that it
gives many soloists a chance to sing a whole song. There are
characters that don’t have a lot of dialogue, but have a handful of
songs each – that of Darlene Love (Corenna Rogers), a real 60’s
singer, and the trio of Shelley (Crysten Daniels) Annie (Monica
Kwiecien) and Jasmine (Rebecca Keating). These girls looked gorgeous
and every time they stepped up onto the stage to sing with their
perfectly styled beehive wigs and mini skirts it made you feel like
you were stepping back in time to an old “BANDSTAND” show.
I
particularly liked Monica Kwiekien in her solos …she looked cute and
her voice sat so well with that 60s sound, it was hard to take your
eyes off her as with Crysten and Rebecca….they really looked like
they had just stepped out of the 60s.
Ashleigh Barnett as Ellie was well cast and looked the part. Her
vocals were excellent and one of the highlights of the show. Matthew
Hall as Jeff and Dan Bellis as Gus Sharkey were very believable and
competent in their respective roles and Matthew has a lovely voice.
Corenna as Darlene, commanded the stage and handled the narrative
extremely confidently as she did with smooth vocals in every one of
her songs.
The
title song “Leader of the pack” was sung by Rebecca Keating….
complete with revving Motorbike on stage…what a treat and very
effective!
Rebecca handled the song well but I would like to have seen her push
it even more being the title song but it was still a great number.
The stage is all yours in that song Rebecca so just go for it!
One
of the standout songs for me was “Christmas, Baby Please Come Home”
sung by Deb Noonan and backed by the girls. What a lovely powerful
voice Deb has and she sold the song with just the right amount of
exuberance and was such a pleasure to listen to.
Congratulations to the very talented Robert Mulholland for capturing
the very stylized choreography essential for this show…the girls’
hand and body movements were perfect. The choreography was very
tight throughout… a very polished group of dancers…. it was well
rehearsed, well done Robert!
Lee
Geraghty’s delightful direction really captured the era for the
audience both in the lighthearted and serious moments and Kim
Thomsen as Musical Director achieved a really fantastic 60s sound
with the band that further complimented the visual look of the show.
The
simple but clever set design consisted of strategically placed
stairs and round tri level rostrums and a gold curtain used in the
second act really added to the feel. Either side of the House
curtain were large LP records that were lit periodically, the
lighting was quite effective.
The
costumes were fabulous; they looked so authentic. The story carries
over into the 70s then 80s…but at times it looked like they were
still in the 60s…it’s a fine line though and Ellie didn’t appear to
age over a twenty year period which was interesting but it didn’t
actually detract from her performance at all because I think you
just get so wrapped up in the music that it didn’t matter. I really
did love the overall look that the costumes created so
Congratulations to Sheila Daniels and team for a fantastic job.
It
was such an entertaining afternoon that my feet were tapping all the
way through and I just wanted to jump up on stage and join in with
them. The audience was small but appreciative which is a shame as
this is a great little show with around 25 songs that move along so
quickly that you are sort of left wanting more.
So
bop along to the Cardinia Cultural Centre and take yourself, Mum,
Dad, Nan or Pop, Aunt, Uncle even the kids on a journey back in time
to the 60s…you’ll love it, they will love it!
“Leader Of The Pack” runs Friday 27th –March 1st
then again Thursday 5th – 7th March.
To
book tickets phone
Phone 0407090354
A/H 95871750 Email
rrene70@hotmail.com $30 Full / $27Concession/Child u 16 $22
Website
www.geocities.com/cpakky200
Anne Dewar is well known in Musical Theatre circles; and has over 30
years experience in both professional and non – professional
Theatre, Pantomime and Television appearing in commercials and mini
series and on Rove Live in Comedy Sketches. Anne has played many
roles in Musical Theatre. Her favourites include Dolly Levi in
“Hello Dolly” and Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls” receiving a
Music Theatre Guild nomination for best actress. She has worked with
many theatre groups including Whitehorse, CLOC, Dandenong, Festival
Theatre, Nova, Phoenix and Eastern Musical Theatre. Anne has also
designed sets for many shows and directed and choreographed
productions at the Karrilyka Theatre, the latest being the
successful Australasian Premiere of the comedy play M*A*S*H in 2008.
Anne recently played the role of Vicki Nichols in Phoenix Theatre
Co’s “The Full Monty”, receiving a Lyrebird Nomination for her
efforts. She is looking forward to her next project which is
directing the “Kids on Broadway” concert for Phoenix in May this
year.
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