Loving to death

Camille Paglia listed the Star Wars saga as one of 100 key works of Western art*. I prefer to include West Side Story. We saw Free Rein Theatre Company performing WSS last night at the Q Theatre and it was sensational. Remember, this is a semi-professional company, so its show was pulled together from a range of skills from schoolkids up. And schoolkids is appropriate. WSS is an undated Romeo & Juliet, and the central characters are kids. Who else can love so strongly? But what a story of tragedy, of slips and errors, of social conditions and misunderstandings and at the end, perhaps of hope for a better future. All accompanied by the hugely infectious music of Bernstein. Not for nothing that this work is so loved. I have a copy of the red sleeved LP and it’s played to death so the words are inpinged on my mind. I feel every musical line from the first dots of the overture. I know most of the spoken lines, too. So I was a bit surprised to find a few unexpected segments: a strangely unrecognised musical intro to one tune (was it I feel pretty?); a repeat of the rumble death scene and a dance scene in red and black that I couldn’t place; only girls singing America. That’s perhaps the difference between the stage and film versions. I’ve read of a few scene changes from Broadway to film.

But what of this performance? I could not believe the effectiveness and joy of the dancing. They had limited space on stage but this was hugely vibrant and capable. Plenty of angled ankles displayed extensive training. Similarly the fun and details, like Maria’s three mates, Rosalia, Consuela and Francisca, in the I feel pretty scene. The love was believable and the tragedy was deeply felt, accepting the fantasy of theatre; the confusion and cock-sure offense of the kids was willing. The two gangs, the Jets and Sharks, were effective, although I have to give it to the Sharks for dignity and presentation: latins just have sexier moves than us whites. The voices were stunning at times, well in tune, powerful and wonderfully amplified and true to the original, even if some high notes were a struggle. I loved the operatic counterpoint of a few scenes, although I preferred the street, pop voices to operatic styles. This is art of the streets and the purity of opera voices seems out of place (I disliked the concert version by Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras although it’s conducted by Berstein himself, but loved the quirky Songs of West Side Story with artists including Chick Corea, Patte LaBelle, Steve Vai, Aretha Franklin, Brian Setzer and Little Richard singing I feel pretty). Soprano Maria is young, even if wise in love, so actually less interesting to me than alto, Anita, the older, worldier girlfrend of Maria’s brother. It’s Anita who learns from the purity of Maria, but it’s Anita who lives in the world. She’s the one who leads the Sharks girls in singing for America. What a great scene. As was Gee Officer Krupke, that witty play on justice and delinquency. There were so many good voices, but I have to mention the guys, lover Tony, Jets Riff and Action and Shark Bernardo. They were outstanding. Anita was a blast, too. Maria was just lovely in her too-early lost innocence. Plenty of great dancers but Anybody’s, the tomboy hanger-on to the Jets, was prominent and boyish, and sometimes even dignified when out of role for a bit. Feminists might not like her suddenly womanly as she walks Maria out at the end (Tony: “you’re a girl, act like a girl”). As for the music, this is Bernstein. It’s busy and balladic, frantic and occasionally floating, melodious and dissonant, syncopated and presumably hell to read, fabulously orchestrated. It has melodies that cut to your heart and energy that has you out of your seat. Which brings me to the musicians. This was an orchestra of 19 plus conductor. Admittedly, I concentrated on words and vision, but this was hugely impressive. I heard a few wobbly bits, but this was played with verve and love that this music demands. Great!

So, to put it simply, I’m in awe of this show. Both of the work of Gershwin and Laurents and Sondheim and Robbins, and of this semi-professional but long-standing company that can pull it off so well. The highest of praise from your emotionally devastated reporter. Catch it if you possibly can.

I can’t list everyone, but West Side Story was presented by the Free-Rain Theatre Company with Anne Somes (director), John Yoon (musical director), Lisa Buckley (choreographer). Key actors were Lachlan Whan (Tony), Nicola Hall (Maria), Zack Drury (Riff), Jordan Kelly (Bernardo), Amy Dunham (Anita), Michelle Norris (Anybody’s), Max Gambale (Action). The orchestra comprised Major Geoff Grey (conductor), Bernadette Evans, Tony Barker, Jess Stewart, Steve Hally-Burton, Jordan London (reeds), Carly Brown (French horn), Cameron Smith, Claire Leske (trumpets), Matt Ricketts/Simon Hukin (trombone), Elizabeth Charlton, Elysia Fisher, Jane Bairnsfather (violins), Annie Collett (cello), Jace Henderson (bass), Rhys Mottley (guitar), Steve Richards (drums), Alicia Perritt (percussion), Matt Rankin (synthesiser) and John Yoon (piano).

* Glittering images : a journey through art from Egypt to Star Wars / Camille Paglia. New York : Pantheon Books, c2012.

What’s a surrey?

O…klahoma where the da da da-da-da-da daaaa. That was about all I knew about the musical, except a discussion in recent weeks about the origin of the word “dashboard” that quoted a line from The surrey with the fringe on top, a song from, you guessed it, Oklahoma! The surrey was obviously a horse-drawn carriage, but I wasn’t too clear in my mind about that either. Oklahoma! was the first musical of Rodgers and Hammerstein and it was a great success on Broadway when released in 1943 running for a season of 2,212 performances. It’s a story of a central romance (Curly and Laurey) and a secondary comic romance (Ado Annie and Will Parker) set in early 20th century Oklahoma. There’s a subtheme of farmers versus cowpokes, a touch of Persian derogation (a wiley plot by Ali Hakim to avoid a shotgun marriage to girl-who-can’t-say-no Ado Annie), a good bit of dance including a long dream scene and a dramatic plot involving a misfit farm-worker (Jud Fry). The story is light, mainly centered on sexual politics around the box-social where males lasciviously donate to the school to win the hampers prepared by their favourites). The dramatic story centres on Jud who pines for Laurie and fights with Curley for her. This drama was out-of-place for me but the play obviously needed something more substantial to get through the 2 ½ hours. I found Jud’s death at the hand of cleanskin Curley and subsequent town-meeting judgement of “not guilty” that allowed the lovers to catch the train due 20 minutes was difficult. I expect the US is much more aware of murder and they also have strange rites that take local democracy to a level that’s absurd to our Australian sensibilities.

But how were the performances? I loved it. It’s an amateur cast and orchestra and they did it bloody well. Not like you’d expect on Broadway, of course, but very, very well done. Accomplished dance; decent voices; easy acting. I particularly liked Curley’s voice, but the other main characters were very good and the crowd scenes with harmonies were also harmonious. Ado Annie’s presence was madly effective as the flitter-brained floozy. The stage set was decent, and the cowboys’ thumbs in belts and womanly presence were effective and Aunt Eller’s presence was sensible and mature and held the story and the characters together. The accents stood out a little, but it was all a bit of a joke anyway. And the orchestra. Leisa Keen was the musical director. Sally Greenaway was to be the conductor, but was sick. The band included several jazz school graduates from these pages. The music was comfortable from the first bars of the overtures: well intoned and relaxed, although I did feel the chops were tiring by the end. And the instrumentation interested me, given a sound that was surprisingly full although obviously not orchestral. The music is light, but there are a few memorable tunes: Oh what a beautiful morning, The surrey with the fringe on top, I cain’t say no, People will say we’re in love, and of course the eponymous title song.

I was also interested by the associated history. Oklahoma! is set in early 1900s. Oklahoma (the state) was only declared a state in 1907, after it use in previous decades for relocation of Native American populations and subsequent ranching. It was also the dust bowl of 1930s fame.

So, a wonderful performance of an entertaining musical and much enjoyed. You couldn’t help but come out with that feeling … oh what a beautiful day, everything’s coming my way. Nice one and congratulations to Free-Rain Theatre Company. Some selected performers are: Barbara Denham (Aunt Eller), Dave Evans (Curly), Jenna Roberts (Laurey), Mathew Chardon O’Dea (Will Parker), Amy Dunham (Ado Annie), David Spence (Jud Fry) and Tony Falla (Ali Hakim). The orchestra comprised: Leisa Keen (keyboards1, bass), Ale O’Sullivan (keyboards 2), Derrick Brassington (percussion), Kiri Sollis (flute), Matter O’Keefe and Reid Furlanetto (clarinets), Jess Odonoue (oboe), Carly Broan and Curtis Gordon (horns), Jono Apps, Ax Long and Claire Leske (trumpets), Valdis Thomann (trombone). There are numerous others front- and back-stage who deserve mention too, but no room here.