Posted: Fri 10 Feb 2006, 10:39 pm
you live in hope.
There's been small input on the official site since day one.
There's been small input on the official site since day one.
If I may drag us back to the " news ", here's the article from Variety:
Seriously
(Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne; 204 Seats; A$34.50 $26 Top)
A David Knox, Dean Lotherington, Shaun Miller presentation of a musical in one act with original music and lyrics by the Pet Shop Boys; additional music and lyrics by Leon Ware, Arthur Ross, Adam Fenton, Dan Stein. Conceived and directed by David Knox. Music director, Dean Lotherington.
With: Maria Mercedes, Tania Doko, David Gould, Paul Ross, Anthony Costanzo.
By PETER H. KEMP
Staged as a kind of intimate oratorio, "Seriously" asks auds to take the heavily synthesized disco hits of the Pet Shop Boys, well, seriously. Dramatically shaped by creator-director David Knox into an interactive "sung-through" piece for three male and two female voices, this emotionally accessible showcase really delivers. Much more than a diverting compilation of theatricalized covers, the show is a well-integrated, engrossing character-journey that sensitively taps the huge potential of the two-man group's catchy tunes and ironically charged lyrics.
The inventive exercise has proven a crowdpleaser at this year's Melbourne Midsumma gay cultural fest, with other national venues to come.
Action unfolds beneath projected chapter titles (such as "Negotiation," "Suspicion," and "Ultimatum") on a spartanly elegant stage of billowing drapes, a bolstered divan, and a plinth-mounted floral arrangement. A simple but engaging plotline focuses on the passions that flow around and between two men (Anthony Costanzo and Paul Ross) as well as a more conventional triangle concerning another man (David Gould) and two women (Maria Mercedes and Tania Doko).
What's not so simple or conventional is the way Knox, musical director Dean Lotherington (on piano, accompanied by a splendid string quartet) and a top-flight cast of fine singer-actors perform the Neil Tennant/Chris Lowe compositions. Bereft of signature disco-thump and monotonal vocalizing, the PSB dance standards transform thrillingly into tonally enriched arias and re-orchestrated setpieces that enhance the situational arcs and mood-swings.
Chief mood-swinger is Mercedes as the older wronged wife. Her wonderfully committed rendition of "Jealousy" (underscored by mellow cello) and the musical reading she gives lines such as "I went to pieces when I should've screamed instead" are just two highlights in a performance studded with memorable moments.
Also memorable are dewy-eyed Costanzo's rapturous tenor treatment of "Miracles" and designer-stubbled Ross' glowering candor throughout "To Speak Is a Sin." Ruggedly handsome Gould brings booming-voiced weight and gravity to his role as an anguished two-timer having an adulterous fling with dynamic Doko, who offers a husky-voiced version of the ambiguously worded "Rent."
At certain key points when all five ensemble members join forces on numbers like "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" or the reflective, bittersweet coda, "Being Boring," the impact is electrifying, and hints at some strange and extraordinary neogenre being pioneered by Knox, Lotherington and co.: "Popera" perhaps?
Never-to-be-confused with prior Pet Shop Boys stage musical, the catastrophic West End flopflop "Closer to Heaven," this latest foray into theatrically realizing the resources offered by these masters of thinking-person's disco is an original and resounding success. Such creative enterprise deserves wide exposure. Seriously.
Sets and costumes, Jeremy Smith; lighting: Ching Lee; sound, Graham Fettling and Gerry McKechnie. Opened Jan 24, 2006. Reviewed Feb 2. Running time: 1 HOUR, 20 MIN.
WOW WOW WOW WOW & WOW !!!
For a Major US Entertainment Publication to give this little show such a glowing review & treat it so, ahem .. Seriously .. is quite a coup.
Memo to all concerned: The time is right for this to make PSB an " International Priority Act " again. Don't blow it _____