Review - Broadway or Bust

Heloise-Laure Ruinard, Damien Lee and Brooke Williams feather it up.

Broadway or Bust

Studio Theatre

637 Wynnum Road

Morningside

Brisbane

Bookings: (07) 3399 3333

This latest production from Studio theatre is like a Judy Garland Mickey Rooney movie from the 1940s – “hey guys we got a show, we can make to the big time.”

The scene is back stage in an amateur, committee ruled theatre with Tyler, a camp director in a pink cap (Damien Lee) trying to get his reluctant and not very good actors to play Romeo and Juliet with a Inga, a German-accented Brooke Williams as Juliet. Romeo is played by Bob (Dallas Fogarty) who just wants to get on with the show.

Randy, played by Sam Tully, is a stagehand who yearns to be in the spotlight and Paula, (Colleen Crisp) is the cynical bossy boots of the company.

Then we have Tony, played by Matthew McDowell, who is Tyler’s sidekick and the sexy Heloise-Laure Ruinard who plays Felicia. Her sophistication points to experience well above the amateur group.

Oh and Tyler feels he is the running for a pro job with a top company.

No one wants to do Romeo and Juliet and the company decides to create one of their own – a musical. This is to be written by Tony, who unfortunately only writes children’s plays. So, a strange mix of moods follows as a sort of children’s pantomime that includes a cat is created.

This gives Heloise-Laure Ruinard the chance to get into a slinky body-hugging cat suit and sing Rum Tum Tugger from CATS!

There are lots of the best songs from stage musicals over the years, which were mostly well-sung, particularly by Damien Lee – and I did enjoy the duet I will Never Leave You with Heloise-Laure Ruinard and Brooke Williams in the second act. The “Gay or European” song from Legally Blond and I Want to be a Producer from The Producers were bright spots.

The top songs helped out a flimsy script that wandered in too many different directions. It did include a lot of one-liners and “boom boom” jokes that the audience enjoyed. There was dance too, including a cute tap number, a big finish from the hard working cast when all dreams were realised – and pair of nearly naked male backsides.

There were a couple of things that distracted me, costume wise. It was not a good look to see actors wearing ordinary pantyhose rather than stage tights and in the neatly executed male strip scene, it was a bit slack to see the radio mic gaffer-taped to the guys’ arms. It was not a good look at all.