I also LOVED today's matinee. As implied above, this is both a send-up and a love letter to musical theatre, and it works as both.
Some spoilers follow. . .
All 4 performers had their moments:
Though Jennifer Caldwell got the affecting title number, it was when she performed "The Diva is in the House," (the titles weren't on the free programme, so I'm making them up) in which she portrays a grand diva voguing like "Sunset Boulevard," deliberately elongating her every moment on stage, pouting and posing expectantly at the expense of all the other actors, that she really had me laughing out loud. Maybe she SHOULD play Norma Desmond lol!;
Rhidian Marc was amusing, wishing he could be a "Serious Actor," with the lyrics cleverly undercutting his pretensions (his pronunciation of "Sophocles" as Sofuculs was particularly funny);
Sev Keoshgerian showed great versatility, pulling our heartstrings in "Standing By," as an understudy who gets so close but never seems to catch a break, but his performance of "I'm sick" (aka the Hypochondriac song) was even more masterful, as he attempted to get ovations for otherwise ordinary singing by evoking sympathy through sickness. His childlike moping, coupled with his electric desperation for approbation, was complicated wonderfully by the unsolvable ambiguity of whether he was hyping real ailments, faking ailments or a total hypochondriac, as the lyrics imply. Regardless, Keoshgerian's multifaceted performance of this song was a comic highlight of the show;
Possibly the greatest comedic highlight of all, though, was Julie Yammanee's rendition of "I Love to Sing," about performers (typically famous for something other than singing) cast in musicals who inevitably struggle. Yammanee's control of her voice, with her ability to inject different levels of nasality, different levels of fruitiness, different levels of pitch missing, slipping and sliding, all the while nailing every gag with perfect comic intonation and timing, was a masterclass.
On other songs, the fab four would perform together, with the aforementioned "I Love Musicals," depicting footie fans, and the like, in the closet about their love of musicals, a highlight.
On "Superfan," I started laughing when Yamanee showed up in an Elphaba costume and I continued laughing until the capper when Marc showed up with the Phantom eyepatch.
In "The Kiss," a performer with bad breath (Caldwell) must kiss a performer who loathes bad breath (Keoshgerian), and the way Caldwell tries to eat Keoshgerian's face off, while he gurns frantically, is hilarious.
On this board, the audience misbehaviour thread has indicated that there's always one annoying person, and god forbid they sit next to you. The refrain of this show's song about audience misbehaviour references "The One," and describes all the various ways "the one"can make your life a nightmare. I thank the lucky stars that the one is usually not sitting next to me, except at the Dominion theatre, which I fear above all other theatres lol.
Some songs had less impact for me. "Change the Key," about the tendency to think all musical mishaps can be fixed by changing the key, I found a little laborious.
But by the time the four performed the ultimate love letter to theatre, "Magic's Making Me," which is more complex and rich and affectionate than the title song, I had some imperceptible tearing up in my eyes.
All in all, this is a short (70 minutes straight through) but sharp, funny and endearing love letter to musicals, both performers and audiences. 4 stars from me.
