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Zanna, Don't
Presented by:
Quirky Productions
Date
Reviewed: 30th January, 2009
Venue:
Chapel off Chapel
Reviewer:
Simon Parris - Theatre People Editor
All photos courtesy of Adam Rafferty
L-R: Nic Riley, Drew Downing, Kate Williams, Samuel Kitchen, Luke
Taylor,
Nicole Kapiniaris, Chris Buchanan and Jessica Carbone
Quirky Productions have made their debut with an enthusiastic
production that bodes well for future achievements. In a perfectly
selected offering for Midsumma, the show offers socially relevant
material, camp designs, a disco-like score and lashings of eye candy
thrown in for good measure.
Suffering through
Melbourne’s
unprecedented heatwave during production week, the dedicated cast
somehow found plenty of energy reserves to perform at their peak on
opening night. Often literally dripping with sweat, they had the
strength to persevere through multiple costume and wig changes and
vigorous dance routines.
Set in an alternate world where gay is the norm and heterosexuals
are shunned, Zanna (Samuel Kitchen) magically puts the ‘extra love’
of his friends to use by pairing them with each other. Chess
heartthrob Mike (Chris Buchanan) falls for new quarterback Steve (Nic
Riley) while overbearing Roberta (Jessica Carbone) is paired with
bull-riding champ Kate (Kate Williams).
Samuel Kitchen as "Zanna"
After performing a musical about straights in the military (don’t
ask, don’t tell!) Kate and Steve are scared to share their newfound
attraction to each other with their schoolmates. Zanna attempts to
use his magic one last time to help the world accept these tortured
straight lovebirds.
 Kitchen
gets his groove on, executing tight dance moves and maintaining the
focus and pace of the action. Buchanan is in fine form, commanding
attention whenever he is on stage and providing the night’s best
ballad with ‘I Could Write Books’. Making a welcome return to the
stage, Riley projects a likeable presence, and has a warm baritone
voice. With a build more like a linebacker than a quarterback, his
ten push-ups were very impressive! Solid support was provided by
Luke Taylor and Drew Downing in a range of roles, with a highlight
being their mulletted butch lesbians.
Carbone, clearly a talented music theatre performer is not well
served by a directorial choice to have her constantly at full
volume. Light and shade is a clichéd term but that is what was
needed here, although there were still many enjoyable moments of her
performance. The character of Candi (Nicole Kapiniaris) is already
written as domineering, so this did not help distinguish these two
characters.
Kapiniaris skillfully played a couple of other
supporting roles, with differing looks achieved quite effectively.
L-R:
Luke Taylor, Samuel Kitchen, Nicole Kapiniaris, Kate Williams, Chris
Buchanan, Nic Riley,
Drew Downing and Jessica Carbone
Choreographers (and Artistic Directors of Quirky Productions) Tamara
Finch and James Rooney have the company constantly moving, with
dance occurring naturally in the story as required. The moves were
tightly executed and fun to watch, although some positioning had the
company too close to the front row for audience further back to see
them fully. The cast had clearly been very well drilled to allow
them to perform so energetically despite the heat.
Unfortunately sidelined due to illness, Musical Director Julia
Buchanan has prepared the cast and small band to play at a cracking
pace, with the singers coping quite well with the diction needed to
deliver the rapid fire lyrics. Luke Taylor’s costume designs were
cheeky and showed off the sexy physiques to full effect. Highlights
included the bull-riding team in pink Kylie cowboy hats and the
glittered army fatigues.
 The
show itself has some flaws, with characters set up in the opening
number never seen again and couples that were established throughout
the story gone in the final scene. Still, there are many funny
lines, with some sly music theatre references, and the catchy songs
make the score instantly accessible.
Zanna, Don’t! is a lively, enjoyable night out, and is a chance to
see a rarely performed show. Readers of Theatre People will be well
acquainted with the cast and crew, and will surely show them their
full support.
Booking information is listed in
What’s On
Mini-rant #1: legit music theatre singers don’t need ‘madonna
mikes’ in front of their mouths – they just make the sound raw,
breathy and harsh, and get in the way for kisses, taking clothes off
etc
Mini-rant #2: conditions in the auditorium at chapel off
chapel were absolutely unbearable for the cast and audience. How
does a modern, popular venue get away with such poor ventilation?
L-R: Drew Downing, Samuel Kitchen, Nicole
Kapiniaris and Luke Taylor
Simon has appeared in more than 30 productions over the past twenty
years. Recent roles include Uncle Henry/Guard of the Gate in The
Wizard of Oz (Catchment) and Eugene Fodor in Crazy for You (Whitehorse).
Other favourite roles include Mr Fox in Mack and Mabel, Max in The
Sound of Music, Freddy in My Fair Lady, Julio in Paint Your Wagon,
Marcellus in The Music Man and Grantaire in Les Miserables.
He is also a keen audience member, having seen over 50 shows in five
weeks on a recent trip to New York and
London.
Simon has choreographed Urinetown and Little Shop of Horrors for St
Michael’s Grammar School. He is currently directing Hot Mikado for
St Michael’s, to be staged at the Athenaeum Theatre in May. Simon
has served on the Music Theatre Guild of
Victoria
Committee for five years, and is currently Treasurer.
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